The Angel of Death

Nights 462-482

This week has lots of short stories. First, it's a few about the Angel of Death coming for various wealthy people. Then we get some stories about piety and how Islam is superior to Christianity. Overall, it's not a strong week. One of the best is a story of God’s mercy in Night 479. Although it was formulaic, I thought it was a good version of its formula.

Otherwise this week is notable for a few Magic cards. We’ve already seen el-Hajjaj. He returns again in Night 470, imprisoning a character in a cell that resembles the Magic card “Oubliette.” I believe we also meet the Repentant Blacksmith of Magic (Nights 471-472). I could not find anything in his story that resembled the flavor text on his card. Maybe another repentant blacksmith will come later? And last, we meet the leper Abu Ja’far (Night 482). He has some mystical powers, but they do not resemble what I expected from the mechanics of his Magic card. In Magic, I assumed that he infected them with his leprosy. In the Nights, he helps people find their faith.

Poetry Writing Constraints

Chapters 78-80 Tons of plot in these chapters. Most importantly, we get the deaths of a major character (Cao Cao) and minor characters (Xiahou Dun, Hua Tuo, Liu Feng). Hua Tuo’s death is one of my favorites, given my love of lost books. His “Book of the Black

The Devil Goes Down to Arabia

Nights 681-695 After the last couple weeks, I was worried that I was tiring of the Nights. But there was some good stuff here! My enthusiasm for the Nights has been restored. We can thank al-Asma’i, who the index says was a real-life expert on the

Head is a Hot Potato

Chapters 76-77 With the biggest death of the book so far, and likely one of the biggest in the book overall, we really get the sense of the end of a great one. Sun Quan beheads Lord Guan and quickly regrets it. Sun is advised that Liu Bei will

Seriousness replaced absurdity

Nights 649-680 It’s hard for me to say why I found this story so much more tiresome than what came before it. Maybe I’m getting tired of the Nights. Maybe work is particularly stressful right now. If I were to look for an objective reason, I’d

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Poetry Writing Constraints

The Devil Goes Down to Arabia

Head is a Hot Potato

Seriousness replaced absurdity