Hardship giveaway for the sake of my storage space.

I most definitely live in the US.

I'd like a copy of either 1)Chimes at Midnight or 2)An Artificial Night.

I'd dearly love a copy of Chimes at Midnight. First, because the title references my favorite (film) Shakespeare moment. Yes, I realize the scene in Branagh's Henry V, when Hal realizes he'll one day have to disown his friend Falstaff isn't the same as how the quote was originally used, but it's stuck with me. That realization that a friend might not always be a friend because of the duties we have is one of the first times I understood how hard growing up can be. Chimes definitely lives up to that idea, what with Arden having to step beyond her safe anonymity into the most public of roles.

Second, it pays off a lot of my favorite threads in the series. Quentin finally admitting who we all suspected he was (well, I suspected it, pretty much from the moment Sylvester first sent him to get Toby. No normal noble is THAT snobby, even in a culture like the Fae's.). Toby accepting her loss of Conner and finding new purpose in her role as a knight of the realm. Tybalt and Toby's Slap-Slap-Kiss antics finally really paying off. Finding out what "Arden lives" meant (damn you for being cryptic, Luidaeg).

Third, it's the book I feel most closely tied to. I originally listened to it on a trip with my then girlfriend (since a then fiance and now wife) for our first anniversary. Many of the book's most memorable moments are tied to images of that weekend. For example, shaking my girlfriend awake when I realized she'd dozed off during the tense moment where Quentin told Arden he understood how she felt, and why. To be fair, it was ten at night and we'd been up since five.

Only An Artificial Night comes close to Chimes for me. Raj's first appearance, as well as the broken nature of Blind Michael, make it something wonderful to read. I still cry every time I read the final conversation between Toby and the Luidaeg, especially the end of it where Toby is reflecting on how Michael died. Just thinking "How many miles to Babylon? Sorry. I don't care." makes me tear up. The fact that you can practically hear Mary breaking down when she reads that just makes it so much more powerful in my mind. For me, Mary Robinette Kowal IS Toby (and never ever Pat Rothfuss. xD)

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this, and thanks for spending time with us in Toby's world. It's a place I treasure visiting, and that wouldn't be possible without you.