The Emperor's Enemy
Cut along the dashed lines and pass the cards around the table.
Where were you when you read this, and did you need a blanket, a fan, or both?
Be honest: did you pick this up for the fantasy war or for the man who cannot look away from her?
Zora is skilled, capable, and used to surviving alone. Did her self-sufficiency feel comforting to you, or a little lonely?
Forced proximity is cozy and claustrophobic at once. What is the smallest moment of shared quiet between them that stuck with you?
This book sits obsession right next to devotion. Which scenes made you feel cared for, and which made you want to crack a window?
War is the backdrop, but so much happens in close rooms. Did the intimacy of those spaces soothe you or wind you up?
By the end of your reading, had your feelings about his intensity softened, hardened, or just gotten more complicated? Walk us through where you shifted.
Zora spends the book deciding how much of herself to hand over to someone. Thinking about your own life, what made her choices feel understandable to you?