AQATSA: Chapter Thirty - The Squib Laws

[inverarity]

Illustration by *MioneBookworm.

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Comments

[(Anonymous)]

This was a nice chapter to read this morning! Loved the illustration before the chapter began. The Ben conversation with Alex was a bit informative, especially about who he reports to. I am a bit curious about HOW mary dearborn knew the hag had Alex's mirror, and that she got it back. The promise of dueling sounds fun, can't wait to read that section when it comes. Glad to see that Alex is SLOWLY acting and behaving like a real girl. I always love it when charlie brings about subtle comedic relief. The pretty bird reference after Alex's beauty charms was funny to read, and him preening in front of the mirror with the reflection of glossy black feathers was a nice touch too. What really got me laughing was David's reference to a certain Ozarker twin. hahahahaha reminded me of myself when I was that age.*oy!, I feel old now?!* hahahhahhaa
Torvald is getting bolder as he grows up now huh?! I mean actually kissing alex in front of everyone and the expected, yet no reaction from Alex was quite telling. The David kiss was....well I don't know what to write at this point. Just that the kiss lasted longer than normal. Sonja sleeping in....hmmm...*cue the guitar with the wah-wah pedal jk* hahahahhhaahahah Who knows..maybe her a Stuart hooked up??????
But the Barrenness Curse, that's pretty low...and probably the spark that help create the fire to help transform AT into the person he is in the story today. And finding out it was then Governor Hucksteen of Roanoke. If it was me knowing who did that to one of my daughter's....oooooooooooo I'd be a Abraham Thorn too!!!!!

[tealterror0.livejournal.com]

I probably wouldn't murder hundreds (?) of innocent people, but yeah if that happened to my child I would do everything possible to ruin Hucksteen's life...

ooops......

[wodcdre.livejournal.com]

forgot to log in to add my previous comment. That was me wodcdre

[shinygobonkers.livejournal.com]

hold crap. awesomely terrible reveal.

lovely art.

[tealterror0.livejournal.com]

When I beta'd this chapter, one of my comments was "Holy crap. Wizards are assholes." ;)

But seriously: Wizards really are huge assholes. :O

[shinygobonkers.livejournal.com]

methinks mr. hucksteen in particular be a winner of a rather large asshole prize. i get the feeling that this was less about claudia being a squib in itself than somehow related to trying to attack/get back at/put in his place a rival through his kid which is...:/

several US states had sterilization programs as part of the whole eugenics pseudoscience movement so in any case its not wizards only on the asshole thing...

[tealterror0.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, he was undoubtedly trying to get at Abraham. The natural question, then, is why?

Yeah, I knew about eugenics. It was...well, not a very good time in our history to say the least. But at least we Muggles managed to get rid of those laws before the 80s...

[shinygobonkers.livejournal.com]

according to wikipedia, the last legal forced sterilization in the US occured in 1981...

[tealterror0.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that. I can't find any details about it though, so there may be extenuating factors.

On the other hand, while researching I did find this out:

1) In the 1970s Richard Nixon had Medicaid give "voluntary" sterilizations to poor people, mainly minorities.

2) Today, 17 countries in the European Union sterilize people who want to legally change their sex.

So, um...yeah. Maybe in this area we are as asshole-ish as wizards are. :(

[shinygobonkers.livejournal.com]

yeah, also in the 50s-70s population control was a big thing in international development in the sense of belief that controlling population expansion in developing countries was key to economic development, which led to international institutions supporting some...unfortunate things. indhira ghandi in India specifically took the whole forced sterililization to ridiculous lengths...i took a women in the world economy class once and we watched this horrifying video...one part had this doctor who was like 'I can sterilize 100 women a day no problem! if it wasnt for those pesky restrictions i could do even more!' :/

[tealterror0.livejournal.com]

...Holy crap. Every time I think I can't get more cynical...

Compared to that, I suppose China's one child policy can be considered the lesser of two evils.

[kerneyhead.livejournal.com]

Thing is, considering that China's one policy is relatively even handed (one for everyone) and has some justification given the circumstances it is an improvement over eugenics programs that bluntly target people who others decide just shouldn't breed.

[(Anonymous)]

And here I thought this was a pleasant filler chapter with some cute scenes and hints about ships, and suddenly you drop that bombshell of a revelation. Given the rapid pace of revelations in this story, it is becoming unconscionable to delay AQ5 :-).

--Geneva

[(Anonymous)]

guess that's why Abraham Thorn hates Hucksteen so much. Alex had gotten the impression that it was personal.

[rheymus.livejournal.com]

And here was me about to praise you for giving us a nice relaxing Soap Opera after the action overload from the previous chapters, but then you deliver the sting in the tail.

Hucksteen is pompous and corrupt, but he has never done anything deserving death until NOW.

Also I liked the bit with the Rashes behaving themselves during the formal dances. It gives them extra lvls beyond being cardboard villains.

Great work

[(Anonymous)]

So far so good, after the third entry in this series I almost didn't give this one a chance, maybe not your fault but the last one just never grabbed me. However, I had some free time and at 28 chapters posted figured you were done and told myself I would give it a few chapters to see if I got into this one. Read all 28 chapters in a few days only to realize I had been fooled lol. Despite its length this book has seemed a little more polished and focused on Alexandra's complex family as well as the journey and roller coaster of discovery she is embarking upon in the American wizarding world you have shaped. These are the things that made the first two entries into this series so good and I am glad you have begun building upon those themes. Keep up the great work.

And feel free to post the final chapters at an accelerated pace lol.

[ascot-gavotte.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Claudia is aware of what happened to her. I remember reading about women who were sterilized in the 60s/70s and didn't realize it until they were older and tried to have children.

Also, it seems odd that General Hucksteen would be the one to sterilize her. You'd think sterilizing Squibs wouldn't be on his agenda. I guess it was because she was the daughter of an enemy of the Confederation.

[rheymus.livejournal.com]

Huucksteen didn't cast the curse, he signed the order because we was the responsible authoritah. I read it that this was why Abe BECAME an enemy of the Confed.

[rheymus.livejournal.com]

Next chapter shows that I was right that Claudia's curse was why Abe became Publicq enemy #1 and I was wrong about Hucksteen's involvement.

I thought Hucksteen was standardly signing chits as per standard Governor's duty. Hucksteen deliberately interfered in a state outside his jurisdiction. The plot thickens.