"a loyal lonely literal bonehead who sincerely believes in the inheret power of puns" ASLKDJALKSJD YES! And o m g all the bodyguard tropes. That whole, I will protecc but also poke fun and dick around because I'm a shithead. Honestly I've been waiting for a protagonist like Gideon my whole damn life. I hestitated for a long time because I was like, am I even into a story about necromancers?! This isn't really my dealio, but I'm SO glad I finally read it.

Yes!!! There’s nothing more charming than a character with some good contrasts. And she is such a gallant, glorious dickhead. And she’s so outwardly spiteful but like, she’s been genuinely mistreated all her life and her vengeful response is to fantasize about juvenile pranks she never acts on and then run off to save her nemesis’ life?? What an unbelievable gentle loser.

Honestly I hesitated too cuz generally the higher the concept, the messier the execution, and the less chance for the characters to have any sincerity which is a tradeoff I can’t accept. And especially with this comedic tone which is even harder to pull off. But this book sure does hoooly fuck!! I’m having a fucking ball with this book