Okay I still enjoyed the second Saevus Corax because the narrative style is just so fun, but I have to vent on the long lost wife and child storyline.
I was already finding it a stretch that Saevus believed his wife had died on the basis of very flimsy evidence despite the number of enemies he has and the known factor of her mother, but fine, grief, shock, and we believe the things we fear are true. Whatever.
...But in what universe does Apoina buy the story that Saevus, her up to now loving husband, has cheated on her and is trying to Kill her. Oh and not just hey-I'll-get-round-to-it trying, but eagerly desperately hunt you to the literal ends of the earth trying to kill her. And Apoina supposedly buys this story from the unimpeachable source of her insane, manipulative mother. (It's not even a clear motive Saevus could have just fucked off wherever he liked with the mistress there would have been no need to kill her.)
This is worse than a plot hole to me because to accept it as part of the story I implicitly have to accept that Apoina was apparently a gullible fucking dumbass. Which means now I'm judging Saevus for getting with her in the first place, let alone risking life and limb and liver to forcemarch across socialist cannibal utopia to find her. Like girl you can do better
And then he doesn't even See her which is presumably cause they had to keep her off camera given how do you fucking resolve that set of character traits. Ugh.