"I learned more about Komarr. They do terraforming and people need to wear masks to go outside. In a few chaters it is described a bad marriage that the husband blames everything to his wife, who is really suffering. It is so annoying and upsetting. However, meeting Miles chages her returning real herself. "

"I like this comedy because it is good to know that most characters, especially Mark, had hard lives and now they are having happy lives. I burst into laughter when Nikki says 'Punch'em in the nose?' when Miles and Ekaterin discuss how to deal with the slander they have been facing. "

"Reread in August 2024 so that I can continue with the series. Politics haven’t changed much in the last 2,000 years. I fear we may be on the verge of losing democracy the way Rome lost its republic.

There were 3 copies of this book in my high school library due to its promotion by the excellent and popular Latin teacher (thank you, Mr. Steadman). So much of the Roman Republic politics described sound modern and illustrate that democracies can fail with ambitious, unscrupulous leaders and dark money funding elections. Looking forward to continuing the trilogy.

(Cicero) “always maintained that it was no business of the advocate to worry whether his client was guilty or not: that was for the court.� 21

“Sometimes . . . if you find yourself stuck in politics, the thing to do is to start a fight, even if you do not know how you are going to win it, . . .� 37

On voting: “It embodied something marvelous—some impulse of the human spirit that had sparked into life half a millennium before among that indomitable race who dwelled amid the hard rocks and soft marshland of the Seven Hills: some impulse toward the light of dignity and freedom and away from the darkness of brute subservience. This is what we have lost.� 118

Cicero: Politics is not a fight for justice, it is a profession. 148"