Storyline

Remember he made a promise of hope to Jayd actually. Glinda was looking for kriffin's tears. Said something to the effect that they would be found when redemption was at hand.

In my mind Reah is a person who takes on responsibility and does all she can (and then some) to get the very best results for everyone else. She neglects herself and her own well being for others needs / wants.
Ildevar giving Reah a planet to be queen of right now is another obligation not a reward. If Ildevar had given her Thiskil later on when she had had some time to heal, then maybe, it would be a reward but at the moment it seems to me that it is just like with the High Demons (looking after the badly injured and repaying their debt etc). It's a "fix it for me" situation all over again. Reah would do an amazing job of it - she always does but at what cost to herself.
I am also very disappointed in Lissa - where is the kick ass lady we are used to seeing and loving. Those girls are her grandchildren too and she did not say anything about the way Reah was being treated. Lissa is Kifirins equal and the balance now - where is the balance or justice in what has been done to Reah.
Reah has been given mates - she has not chosen most of them for herself. Many of them have treated her badly and not just when under Kifirin's influence but for their own purposes or pettiness - don't know that grovelling for eons would be or should be enough to justify her forgiveness.
I do hope that Reah gets mates that she deserves and kicks the dead wood to the curb in the next book.
Appologies for the rant.

Ok - here is my devil's advocate-y-ness for the day:

Tory: Good gosh, it's true that he wasn't manning up and stepping up to the plate, but when you have a million years in front of you, I think that 30 is pretty dang young. Thus is makes sense that he wasn't being responsible enough. The chip just worsened things. From my perspective - it will be what he does next that matters most. Does he actively try to integrate with his girls and their mother? Or does he get impatient?

Wylend: Which of those among us has never had a snit at a mate? Which of us has never said something we regret? Which of us has never had an emotional moment where the world looked bleak only to wake up later and realize it wasn't that bad? Granted his choices were stupid, but so are Reah's in some ways. Reah was damaged by so many around her, BUT at what point did she ever take responsibility for her own health, emotionally? At what point, did she take any of the help that was offered instead of staying in a pity party? Many of her statements are true ("I shouldn't have to"), but staying locked in shouldn'ts will lock you up emotionally for life. To heal and grow, one has to take responsibility for one's own emotional health. And I LOVE Reah, there are so many things she does right! But just as she is not perfect, neither are any of her mates! THe expectations are too high from her to them and in some ways from me (as a reader) on them!

I was super glad about Ry. I love Ry and she deserves him. I just wonder at what point, he helping with Karathia is going to convince Reah he doesn't care. Because that's her default response.

I am actually hoping that this breaking point gives her a chance to actually heal from the inside, not just scab over the wound.

I do think that we finally saw Kifirin's tears. So redemption is at hand.

And believe it or not, I was a little disappointed in Nefrigar. Yes, he saved the day in more ways than one, but throughout the book, I kept thinking of all the ways that he WASN'T helping. Sometimes I can't tell where non-interference stops and protect my mate is allowed to kick in. I just don't know. I don't envy him his position, but it seems to me that he was the one that knew a lot and wasn't sharing. And I'm not talking about pirates. I mean about Reah, for the last 25 years.

Also a little ticked at Reah's girls....I mean seriously, I get it when they're little, but when they are grown, at what point do they stick up for their mom? At what point did they use their resources to help take care of her? At what point, did they point things out to their myriad of "dad's"? At what point, did they throw a fit to Glinda and Jayd? Oh that's right, they didn't, because they were too busy being spoiled little brats.

Glinda and Jayd seemed to be starting to get a clue.

now - onto the people I would rant about:
Garde - what a freaking, argh, curse, blah, blah, blah, blah. BUT - for a little bit of defense for him, what father wouldn't be mad if his only son was that stupid?? My dad would. And he would blame his daughter in law. I have no doubt about it. What I can't forgive on Garde's part is how he dealt with that. With him, it wasn't one little snit (like with Wylend)...oh no, with him it was year after year of subjugation and blame. And then reaping her rewards! At what point does Reah get paid instead of giving it all to the Crown? At what point does Garde apologize?

Kifirin - I have no words for how angry I am at him right now.

Lissa - We finally saw a bit of her JUSTICE role kick in with Ilvan et al. But come - freaking - on. She lived so many of these atrocities, how can she watch them happen to someone else??

Lendill - I was pretty sure he was going to be King of the Elves at some point. But I'm with others who said that what I can't forgive is his expectation that she watch others be raped and be raped herself. That was out of line. She willing submitted to the kidnapping, I get that. But the rape was too much! And maybe he would have interfered, but I don't think so. He was just watching. Unforgivable.

Think I'm done for now. I'm putting on my trench coat to protect my clothes from all the rotten tomatoes that are about to be thrown my way.

As a victim of abuse I don't think Reah knows how to ask for help for herself.

perualpaca, I think you do have some valid points so I am not going to throw any tomatoes!

I do think Reah should be more assertive. She thinks her mates can read her mind and come to her but that will not be the case even without Kifirin interference. But I also agree with Tanya that as a victim of abuse and a very cold childhood (no hugs and kisses for her), she does not know how to do that. Her default response is to think her mates don't care.

Reah also has a very different situation with mates that Lissa in that there is not one central 'home' that they all live together.

But I think there was some Kifirin's influence on Reah to act docile. That along with her personality kept her isolated the way it did. Also once you get into a 'rut' in how you live your life, I think it is hard to get out of it. She was helping all those disabled workers, working an orchard that has a harvest every 3 months, etc. There is not a lot of free time to stop and evaluate your life.

I have really mixed feelings about Tory. I was really mad at him at the end of Demon's Quest. But here he has been a victim for 25 years and now have 6 children who are really grown up. It is like he has been in prison for all those years. But since no one knew this, Reah and everyone else have thought he kept away because he wanted to.

I think Kifirin should be severely punished for what he has done.

Somewhere Nefrigar talks about that maybe the High Demon race should not be saved (I really should look up the quote but being lazy). I agree with him.

The entire series has a lot of people who have very single-minded goals and very driven so they rarely look up and see how they affect other people around them such as Lendill, Norian, Teeg. In some sense, they do come around at times and regret what they have done but then they also go right back into their work.

I agree with perualpaca (so no rotten tomatoes from me either!) But I also agree with the additional comments by JeanneM and Tanya - if you are the victim of abuse - and Reah suffered both physical and emotional abuse - it is hard to change yourself nevermind the paradigm. For all the years that have passed since we have been introduced to Reah,very little has gone in to showing her development as a person, a woman and adult. And now, DR has shown her to be robbed of growing as a mother.
At times passages in the book were painful to read simply because Reah was once again being subjected to bullying behaviour by the people she should have been able to rely on for trust, support and love. And so even while I was holding my breath when Reah made the decision of life or death, I was pleased because in my mind her choosing to live meant just that and I forsaw positive changes moving forward because actually SHE made the choice. As a sidebar I was devastated that Teeg only seemed to think of his baby at that point and not the woman he supposedly loves. I'm not going to be too judgemental on him for that though as its an impossible situation for him.

One thing that I do keep repeating now though is, she's immortal so while its been a crap 50 years, she has many more in front of her to grow and develop and come into her own. The fact that she keeps be save by the One also indicates there are more great thingss to cone in her future. Without meaning to reduce it to a slogan - no pain, no gain - and I'm reminded of Ashe Evans when I say that.