"Two summaries:

1) Weber is a beautiful writer of the internal experience, expressing emotion, philosophy, theology, fears, questions, consolations, and the rest in lovely and erudite prose. She is not as good at the rest of narrative writing, especially dialogue, and unfortunately those amateurish elements kept pulling me out of the story.

2) This is comforting and inspiring as a believer but there are few skeptics or seekers that I’d give this to, at least in 2024. For some particular old-school artists or CS-Lewis-style questioners it could be a helpful testimony but I think it’s much more compelling to those who are already on the “inside.� My sense is that the Christian jargon and personal interactions she has that were formative to her but sometimes strange to us readers who don’t experience them directly (like how TDH treats her) would be off-putting to a lot of people.

Recommended for Christians who want to be refreshed about why they believe and the beauty of what they believe."

"I read this in Latin, starting in summer 2022 and finishing fall 2024. I am thus free now of one part of my rash vow made at Chesterton Society in spring 2024.
I love Bede very much. I love his ablative absolutes like Deo auctore and divina gratia auxiliante. Two things I think are weird: his praise of celibacy seems a bit extreme when he praises a married king for leaving wife and kingdom to become a monk--what happened to duties to one’s state in life?--and I doubt that Bede now cares very much about the controversies between the Irish and Anglo-Saxon churches over Easter and the tonsure.* I love that in Bede’s world, being a monk means studying the Bible: searching the word scientia will call up many descriptions of clerics steeped in the scriptures.**

My favorite part of the whole work is the conversion of Kent. There is a famous scene in the witan when the unnamed counselor compares human life to a bird flying through a bright, warm hall in winter.*** Less well known is King Edwin’s rather long process of conversion; he thinks long and hard before choosing a new faith for his people. Best of all is the speech of the high priest Coifi: Iam olim intellexeram nihil esse, quod colebamus; quia uidelicet, quanto studiosius in eo cultu ueritatem quaerebam, tanto minus inueniebam. Nunc autem aperte profiteor, quia in hac praedicatione ueritas claret illa, quae nobis uitae, salutis, et beatitudinis aeternae dona ualet tribuere. “The more zealously I sought truth in that religion, the less I found it.� Coifi had outgrown his unsatisfactory pagan religion just in time to receive the good news from the missionaries. (2.13)

Some favorite quotes:

Linguistic diversity in England (haec’s antecedent is insula):
1.1 Haec in praesenti, iuxta numerum librorum, quibus lex diuina scripta est, quinque gentium linguis, unam eandemque summae ueritatis et uerae sublimitatis scientiam scrutatur, et confitetur, Anglorum uidelicet, Brettonum, Scottorum, Pictorum et Latinorum, quae meditatione scripturarum ceteris omnibus est facta communis.

1.27 Respondit Gregorius papa: Nouit fraternitas tua Romanae ecclesiae consuetudinem, in qua se meminit nutritam. Sed mihi placet ut, siue in Romana, siue in Galliarum, seu in qualibet ecclesia aliquid inuenisti, quod plus omnipotenti Deo possit placere, sollicite eligas, et in Anglorum ecclesia, quae adhuc ad fidem noua est, institutione praecipua, quae de multis ecclesiis colligere potuisti, infundas. Non enim pro locis res, sed pro bonis rebus loca amanda sunt. Ex singulis ergo quibusque ecclesiis, quae pia, quae religiosa, quae recta sunt, elige; et haec quasi in fasciculum collecta apud Anglorum mentes in consuetudinem depone.

“For things should not be loved for places, but places should be loved for good things.�
“For places should be loved for good customs, and not customs for places.�

This guy could speak Latin and Greek as well as his native Old English: 5.23 Anno post quem proximo Tobias Hrofensis ecclesiae praesul defunctus est, uir, ut supra meminimus, doctissimus. Erat enim discipulus beatae memoriae magistrorum Theodori archiepiscopi, et abbatis Hadriani; unde, ut dictum est, cum eruditione litterarum uel ecclesiasticarum uel generalium, ita Grecam quoque cum Latina didicit linguam, ut tam notas ac familiares sibi eas quam natiuitatis suae loquellam haberet. (See further in this section for the Irish bishop Tatuini, clearly the namesake of the famous desert planet.)


*To do him credit, Bede does acknowledge that there were good Irish clergy who honestly disagreed with the Roman custom.
**Here is a link for those inclined to try this:
***This is referenced in Guthrum’s song in Ballad of the White Horse."

"Wasn't sure if I was going to make it past the fourth book, but I did. If nothing else, to satisfy my curiosity about Sanderson's worldview and conclusions for the thematic elements in the series.
There's enough of a conclusion to the series in this book that I feel satisfied I understand now.
And it's *so* unsatisfying.

The characters argue back and forth about the necessity of an absolute truth, or law-- the conclusion is that "you should be allowed to choose for yourself, except under certain circumstances."

Some characters continue to struggle with the same things they've been thinking about for the past four books. There's barely any character development, just repeating the same conflict over and over again. We have the added element of "therapy sessions" this time around, which are awkward and while technically helpful for one character, aren't enjoyable to read.

I won't spoil it for those who want to finish, but I'm unsatisfied by the ending of this book-- I know, the series is far from finished, but this conclusion feels like a cop-out. The characters became so backed into a corner that there was no chance of true redemption for some of them.

The one thing I do appreciate about this series, and this book in particular, is its emphasis on human depravity-- the conflict in this book mirrors our own conflict well. The fact that we live in a wholly broken world, where humans repeatedly make the wrong decisions, breaking oaths, and ruining relationships, is extremely apparent. There's a true sense of hopelessness in the characters' frustration because they recognize that our only hope is simply to "try to do better."
This, in itself, is also unsatisfying. But I think it's an important thing to recognize. I only wish that Sanderson had a better conclusion to this problem. "Trying to do better" will never fix who we are on a heart level.
It seems like Sanderson's conclusion leads toward an ascendence to godhood that aligns with the Mormon/LDS beliefs-- which is interesting, considering how flawed and imperfect the "gods" are in this story.

It makes you ask the question, "is there any answer to get us out of this mess? Is *anyone* perfect? Does 'trying harder' truly redeem me from my past mistakes? What happens if everything I do... isn't enough?""