★★☆☆☆ Simon is SO sad

And Deeps Below and Sacrifice Your Tears

Seanan McGuire

And Deeps Below is Seanan McGuire's November 2021 Patreon reward and Sacrifice Your Tears is the February 2022 reward. They are really just the two parts of a two-part story, so I am reviewing them together. She warned us that they should not be read before A Killing Frost, and thus I had to hold off until finishing that (which I did yesterday) to read them.

The two stories recount some of the events of the end of A Killing Frost from Simon's point of view. Specifically, And Deeps Below is about his rapprochement with Dianda and Patrick, learning that Patrick loves him in a more than Platonic fashion, and their proposal that he become the third wheel in a three-way marriage. Sacrifice Your Tears is about the marriage itself and surrounding events.

Simon has become very poor company since Toby restored his way home to him. He is droopy, and full of self-pity and self-loathing. He was abused by Evening Winterrose and his lover (using the word loosely) Oleander, and he did evil things. When he was loathsome he was full of self-confidence, and now that he has shrugged off his loathsomeness he is full of self-loathing.

He is the world's worst company. You may feel sorry for him, but you have to wish he would figure out a way to live with himself that doesn't involve being such a drip.

Yes, I am a horrible person.

And Deeps Below on Patreon

Sacrifice Your Years on Patreon

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