The Great BDH Easter Egg Hunt:
Yes, there is something left to say here.
By Thio Isobel Moss
Of all the things I thought I might write about in my first post back after spending a week wrestling with bronchitis—the kind where you brace your torso when you cough so you don’t accidentally hack up your own ribs—I did not foresee writing about This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me again. However, this has to be done.
If you, too, are a member of the fluffy and beloved Book Devouring Horde (Ilona Andrews’ fandom), you may have seen a post on Instagram the other day from House Andrews indicating that not all the Easter eggs in This Kingdom had been found.
Even in my malaise, I realized I’d completely lost the plot—and, for once, that realization delighted me. If you’ve read my review of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me or my follow-up post, you know that I critiqued the book for accidentally mimicking previous works.
It wasn’t accidental.
I cannot believe I missed this.
This Kingdom is a love letter to the BDH—dedicated to the BDH. It’s literally a story about falling into your favorite book. House Andrews is over there singing the song of their people—of which I am proud to be one—and I’m humming along thinking, “Hey, this sure sounds familiar. They’re recycling their products!”
The joke is on me, and it is epic!.
Not only were those echoes intentional, but they were intricately and scrupulously done—deliberate callbacks woven in as Easter eggs for longtime readers. I have finished rereading This Kingdom and have already started a second reread because these details are so well executed. Some are less subtle than others; some, I’m certain, have sailed clean over my head without even ruffling my hair.
I am not going to try to hunt down every Easter egg, but I have found several more. I suspect I’ll be finding them for years to come. Mentally, I’m raising my review of five stars to a divine tier that transcends mortal quantifications. This level of detail is just ridiculous.
Ilona and Gordon, I salute you!
Fellow readers, if you’re a House Andrews fan and read This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me without spotting at least seven Easter eggs, I highly recommend a reread—with hunting in mind. This is the next level of fandom: interactive reading!
Happy hunting!
