User blog comment:SaynaSLuke/Seven Tears Shed/@comment-2142396-20161012191209

Yay, I finally got to ‘Seven Tears Shed’! :D Read chapter 25 so far, but there is already so much I want to comment on. It was good to see Rasconza again, though I’m disappointed we didn’t see the actual confrontation between him and Ublaz’s fleet. I mean, it was probably an awesome battle, if Rasconza managed to sink at least some of the ships! But since Rasconza is fabled for his cunning, I was also expecting that he would attempt some kind of trick when he returns to Sampetra – I mean, we know that Ublaz knows that Rasconza turned traitor, but Rasconza didn’t know that, so he could’ve tried for a more complicated plan. But his smugness when he talks to Slashback, oh my! He saved his crew from a bloodbath, of course – yep, go and blame Romsca, good tactic. XD He is just so subtly manipulative. I do wonder why there were so little monitors in the streets at the night of Romsca and the crew’s escape – we know that the ships and probably ratguards were off fighting Rasconza, but monitors would be useless in a ship-to-ship battle, considering they can’t swim. I suppose they could participate in the boarding fights, as they can probably jump from one ship to another if close enough, but the risk of losing too many monitors to the sea is too high… Haha, I bet it was Lutran who took Waveworm! Which makes me think about Rasconza who is currently heading to the Whispering Caves – if the dragons patrol the shores regularly, there is a chance that they can run into his ship as well.

I still wonder why Hood is so determined to never let anybeast see his face – I know that he is scarred, but the shame with which he speaks about the subject makes me think that it’s not only about his appearance. I get an impression that he just wants to isolate himself from the others, whatever his reason is, and hiding his face is a good way to keep distance. Oh Grath, Grath, no! Wrong decision! Right, I can see why she would want to move on with their plan as quickly as possible, but it’s way too risky to blindly go into a vermin port. Granted, actually arriving on the pirate ship gives the advantage and allows them to blend in, but they know nothing of the city at all. If I were them, I would’ve docked the ship somewhere in the uninhabited part of the isle and went out to scout first.

Ooh, and we get an insight into Ublaz! We’ve seen him plotting and interacting with Sagitar before, but this is the first time we actually see things from his PoV. And the Emperor does have his own nightmares, that’s unexpected. Well, at least it seems something did happen in the past to make him hate otters in general and holt Lutra in particular so much – one more point to my theory about Ublaz being a member of the crew that sailed with Romsca’s grandfather in search of the pearls. ;) On the other hand, it’s worth noting that Ublaz didn’t try to take revenge on holt Lutra – he wanted the pearls to be brought to him, true, but he didn’t specifically order the holt to be razed or the otters killed.

Hmm, it seems that Sagitar’s relationship with Shilo may be more complex than I thought – at least it seems that there was a touch of sadness in her when she tells of Shilo’s supposed death. And then there are her words, ''‘[Shilo] is a shame to me and the ratguard, but he is not a traitor. I had hoped ... but no.’'' After this, I had the strangest notion – what if Sagitar actually pushed Shilo about and was so harsh with him because she had hoped that he would snap and rebel, or at least grow a spine enough to oppose her authority? Because disobedient and defiant son is better than a timid one and a coward… I admit I hadn’t even wondered on the matter of Shilo’s father – Sagitar had always seemed to be married to her job, so regardless of whether or not Shilo’s father was still in the picture, I figured he wasn’t of any importance anyway. And Shilo’s friendship with Sayna is so sweet. I feel that so far she is the only of the group who really pays him enough attention, so him sticking with her and helping her however he can is quite touching.

Merith is a sly one, isn’t she? Something tells me that not all that gold will go to Kage, though she still ought to really care about him to put so many efforts into nursing him back to life. Romsca’s interactions with Arashi were reasonably awkward – I had hoped that they would bond over their memories of Conva, since both of them loved him more than anything, but I understand why this topic would be painful for Romsca. But otherwise, she and Arashi are pretty much strangers…

Even though I knew that Sampetra had a rich past that goes further than its inhabitants being just pirates, I still didn’t foresee the fact that there used to be more cities in the past or that they used to live over wider territory, mainly because I didn’t expect them to give up a part of their land after turning pirates, especially since they are terrified of the Wilds and it would stand to reason that they would try and keep all the territory they have got. Though after some pondering, it did made sense that after becoming pirates it would’ve been very hard for the vermin to keep their hold on the large stretch of territory, since large part of able-bodied population is away raiding for long periods of time… am I on the right track or did something else happened, like the dragons’ attacks?

It’s uncommon to see Val take charge over the group and be so assertive, as she usually stays on the position of a supporter, but I liked that side of her personality surfacing. She had been a secondary for so long, but it seems that she is no longer now due to her connection with Lutran. I did suspect that Val's happy demeanor was coming from her desire to focus on the bright side of the things, no matter what really happens, though. And angry Val is... well, pretty much like an angry hamster, I suppose. She may look funny and giggle-worthy to you until she actually bites you. As a person who used to keep hamsters, I can just tell you of my hamster Xena, who didn't get her name for nothing – a real biter, she was.

Lutran is back! :D It was way too long since we saw him, the fellow had been absent for a whole book. And while I knew that his meeting with Romsca and her team wouldn't be a happy reunion, I at least thought that his reaction to seeing Val would be more heartfelt, as I considered them to be friends... Another thing that caught me off guard was how cold and emotionless Lutran was in his manner – I always viewed him as someone motivated by his anger, and anger is a strong emotion. However, I can't help sympathizing with him and even admiring his audacity as he proceeds push all the right buttons and to tear up even the morals of Redwall and woodlanders. He actually reminds me of Surt, who also has no regard even to those who stand on his side and doesn't care what anybeast thinks of him. ;) Maybe they would get along, though it's more probable that they would kill each other first. :D

You know, while Lutran’s hatred toward Romsca is biased, his gripe with Barranca is much more serious – after all, he was one of those who led the attack that had left only four – four! - survivors out of the whole holt. It wouldn’t be easy for him to redeem his past deeds, more so than for the youngsters or Arashi who was absent from Sampetra for seasons. So this is more than ‘he killed my sister’… though in a way, Conva and Barranca were the ones who brought the monitors that had killed Aqua, and Barranca was the one who captured Coral, thus indirectly being the reason of her death.

So far we saw very little of Shui and other dragons, but their priorities are rather dazzling – they may find Val and other of their captives funny and joke with them, and then contemplate eating them nonetheless. Like when Shui said that calling Rocks a mindless killer isn’t nice… except that their intentions toward Xzaris was not very nice, either. :D