The reveal in The Will of the Empress and Battle Magic that Rosethorn is a polyamorous bisexual in a relationship with monogamous lesbian Lark make their interactions in the first quartet (Lark being what Rosethorn misses most when she's in quarantine, for example) much more obvious.
The three attempts to force Sandry into marriage correspond to three typical rape scenarios: by a stranger (Dimiter get Holm), by an acquainted person (Finlach) and by someone who seemed a friend (Shan).
Briar's character can be Fridge Sadness if one read the series while young and then reads it again as an adult. He acts a LOT older than his foster-sisters thanks to his street-orphan upbringing, and it is often hard to remember that in the original Circle series, he's TEN YEARS OLD. Rosethorn mentions to him that when she was growing up, her village got raided and her best friend got gang-raped, and his only response is a resigned frown and how he hoped that she didn't get raped as well.
Kugisko genuinely needs firefighters, because almost all of the city is built from wood. But after the man who introduced firefighting to the city and trained its firefighters was discovered to be a serial arsonist and mass murderer, it's likely that firefighting in general will soon become a thing of the past in Kugisko- for one, there's no one to lead the brigades and train the firefighters, and for two, the taint of being associated with Ben will likely rub off onto firefighting as a whole.
Alternative Title(s):Circle Of Magic, The Will Of The Empress, Battle Magic
