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Simon, Anne – The Empress Cixtisis
Watch out, this is a sequel to The Song of Aglaia! Which isn’t that big of a deal, as this stands alone quite nicely, just a public service announcement. This one is going to be difficult to sum up, despite being a lot more linear than a lot of comics that befuddle me. Cixtisis and Aglaia each rule their respective kingdoms, but Cixtisis has a much larger army, so she can more or less have her way with them. The book starts off with Cixtisis on a very long journey for negotiations with Aglaia, as Cixtisis has kidnapped most of her male population. Cixtisis seems to be an absolute monster in every other way, but it’s still shocking when she announces that the men that she kidnapped have all been castrated. Which is maybe a bit of a spoiler, but it happens early, and “I’VE CASTRATED THEM ALL” is in large letters on the back cover. Anyway, negotiations obviously take a turn for the worse at this point, but she had noticed that there was a pregnant woman at court, which is confusing since she thought they had all the males. A brief search later, the hideout is found, and the rest of the book is dealing with the fallout/preparing for war. With the hopes of convincing an army of french fries to help them. Yeah, you thought it all seemed normal enough before that, right? This book is also relentlessly funny, although often in a grim sort of way. I’m going to go back and read the first book immediately, and there’s a sequel coming called Boris the Potato Child, and good luck keeping me from reading that one. As for this book, yes you should read it, of course you should. $16.99
