The Firebird’s Tale by Anya Ow

[james_davis_nicoll]

A prince learns the reality behind fairy tales.

The Firebird’s Tale by Anya Ow

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

"...it seems likely Aleksei would have died young of natural causes, such as being poisoned, stabbed, shot, and/or thrown out of a high window."

So the usual fate of people inconvenient to the government of Russia.

-Awesome Aud

[scott_sanford]

"Being assassinated is natural causes for a king." -Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

[scott_sanford]

Strangely, a culture of relentless betrayal has not engendered in its members superlative skill at conniving or noting other people’s plots bearing down on them. Indeed, if anything it seems to have produced a population of people who are simultaneously paranoid and gullible, unable to distinguish between imaginary malign intent and the genuine article.

As a resident of the United States, I got to watch this in action from, oh, about 2016-2021 when it was on TV a lot. I think some of the characters never did figure out the repeated lesson.