On Attolia's wine cup:

Spoiler

Attolia murdered her first husband by poisoning her own wine cup, knowing that when he finished his wine, he would grab her cup from her. Obviously Gen remembered that fact and it amused him.

I don't have time to go through the last 4 pages and respond to everything (although I'd like to!), so I'll just post a few of my impressions now, and then come back later and hoard over everyones posts that I don't have time to read now.

A Conspiracy of Kings took a dreadfully long time to arrive for me, and when I finally got it, I read it straight through that evening. I was in such a dead state of concentration and fearfulness that I just read, read, read, so I need to go back again and reread to pick up all the little details. I didn't feel really excited or jumpy, just very serious and centered while I was reading it. They're such deep books!
I really liked CoK; I don't want to say it's my least favorite, but I do like the others a *tiny* bit more I think. Which may change when I reread it later.

Theories/ideas/disjointed-wonderings that were written out in a pm, and that have probably all been covered in here.

Spoiler

Sophos did seem like Gen quite a bit at times, when he was narrating. But when you come to think of it, all of those characters have the same sort of delightful bitter-sweetness here and there.
I gobbled up everything about Eugenides that I could. What is it about him that's so fascinating? He's so raw and earnest and confusing. And so brilliant. Every time he makes a mistake, it's not a mistake. I loved what little interaction there was between he and Helen. Golly, when he said about needing two knives if she ever turned against him, and then she said -

You know what I loved? It was something about the way Helen treated Sophos. How she had to treat him a certain way, almost take care of him, because he was one of the few people who had Gen's heart in his hand. That made me feel so-vulnerable.

Sophos and Gen's conversation when they're going down the stairs to that inn.
And when Sophos tripped Attolis!
And when Sophos and Eddis quarreled at the end.

Another impression: there seems to be a sort of impending doom hanging over these last few books in the series. As if, Gen was just waiting for the day to come along when he finally and irrevocably offends the gods. He's so scared of them. And then, Eddis and her volcano. That makes me all sad inside. I feel like something irreparably bad is going to happen at the end of the series . . .

Attolia are such good books. They are so different, and offer such a unique look at personalities. A Conspiracy of Kings left me all quiet and secret inside.

I have no idea why that spoiler box has "lines".

Rivulus, glad you've got to read ACoK!

Sneaking in super quickly to answer Valia...

Me too. I'll try to figure something out... maybe learning to resist temptation? It would be good for me to learn that anyway; it should help me to beat this procrastinating habit of mine! (At least mostly.)

Paragraphs are awesome, especially if it's MWT's writing. I'm definitely doing the same, if only so you can find the TT reference easier. And to further show off the way MWT writes Eddis even when she's not talking.

Oh, where are the references in TT and QoA?

In TT:

In QoA:

Huh, I read that part when I was looking for it and passed right over it. I guess I thought it was a literal dancing bears reference like the others. It makes sense though.

In reference to my post above, y'all have earned the privilege of having this Special Feature stay open awhile longer. This discussion just refuses to die down.
Enjoy!

*comes in very, very excited* Hurray, the SF thread's been extended just in time for me to share why I'm excited! (Thank-you, SO mods!)

Well, today we had some extra time while running some errands and CSLN and I had the opportunity to make a trip to B&N and to see if they had CoK. A guy who worked there helped us find it, and he and another customer got really shocked when CSLN and I let go and got really excited. Anyways. We had enough time for me to read 2 chapters and CSLN to read 3. (I like paying attention to details, and she likes to know what happens. ) I must say, I really enjoyed the glimpse of it I got! Of course, we had to leave at the suspenseful part...

Catchup:

Thanks, Nionel and Lady L for answering my question! It answered to much satisfaction, thanks. I'm really curious to read the short story now!

Mhm, it was pretty fun that the librarian knew about the series. Ahee!

Thank-you for your sympathy, Valia! =] I've placed a hold on it at the local library here, so it should arrive some time or another.

*can't wait until she can come back to this thread and read all those fat, juicy spoilers*

Please note that this Special Feature will close this upcoming Tuesday evening, May 11. After it closes, you may direct all Attolia-related discussion to the Books thread. Thanks!