Gen's earlier description of the moment he fell in love with Irene.
But I'd always thought he'd loved her from the dancing-under-the-orange-trees incident. This puzzled me.

I wonder if that's why he cried when he saw Gen's present.
Maybe! I'd thought it was because he realised what he had to do with the gun: basically murder/assassination. I have to say, to me it lacked finesse. And I wonder why he took so long to see what it was. I wouldn't have been able to wait.

Who is the mysterious sand bestower?
I wanted to know more about that too.

I'm not sure how to read this sentence. Is he being sarcastic and in fact he is there but NOT as originally planned? Or is he being totally serious and this is all part of the big Scheme he and Gen cooked up in the tavern
I thought the first when I read it, but with hindsight, I think the second.

I'm so worried that MWT is going to kill him off in a tragic battle with the Medes that he wins but loses his life in
I'm more worried about his health (the arguing doctors, the comment in QoA (?) that his health had been broken. :-(

So, is this a reread of the ARC or the published book? Are there many changes?