Seth

I love how the stakes feel low in a "this isn't 'The Hero of Destiny'" kind of way; the main pivot in the political intrigue is secretly resolved off page and is a result of previous work, leaving the more personal stakes to be resolved on the page satisfyingly. (The stakes are, on that personal level, high--we gotta get a witch's kidnapped wife back!!) Everything feels so soundly set in time and space and the characters, while previously critical in world changing affairs, are kept as simply people trying to do good for those they care for and take life one step at a time. It's tight in a water-tight, fully finished sense, but not in a "this is short and aggressively paced" sense (it's almost the oposite, what with it taking the time to give just enough detail about people and places to make you go "wait--what?" before moving on; it's Very Nice)

it feels big and small in all the right ways and I like it.

readin' Martha Wells' new book Witch King and appreciating as ever her attention to fashion and "oh yeah, that's an ancient ruin that probably only six people know anything about at this point"

I wanna draw some doodles cuz everyone is clearly wearing good clothes.

And this time so far we get not one, not two, but three people who might actually know what it's about so you get the off handed narrator mention plus a small snippet if a character knows about it and regardless you're always left with that museum sensation of "wow, the world is old and cool and this is all just so neat"