2023 Reading: Victoria Goddard (Numerous)

My experience of the works of Victoria Goddard, so far:

• various people discuss The Hands of the Emperor in ways that make me go "meh, maybe eventually."



• years later, K., a good guide for overlapping tastes, loses her mind over same. Invocation of beloved tropes is involved.



• several months ago, norabombay said, "if someone had mentioned the whole 'can't touch the Emperor' thing is because people tend to die when they do it, because of the magic system, and not Because Emo, I would've read this years ago. Go get a copy."

Naturally I looked at Goddard's bibliography and tried to read in publication order, and also naturally I still read out of publication order. Stargazy Pie (2016) was published after The Tower at the Edge of the World (2014) and Til Human Voices Wake Us (also 2014).

( Long commentary is long, and under a cut. )

A notable number of people in this fandom do not stan Pali Avramapul And The Emotions Struggle Bus. I stan it strongly enough to have Thoughts, so there will be future commentary on The Pali Problem.

There's a fan-run discord linked from the FAQ page on Goddard's website. Some cut scenes and other bits are available via the Discord, which as of this writing is about 1,000 people strong, with a smaller core of active members.