Lol, I noped out of those books far sooner. They're so thin and boring, with little of any real importance happening in them. Seriously, The Space Merchants, a novel not even 150 pages, has more plot than the first three books of Eragon.

Lol, did that this morning. David Drake is a highly questionable writer, if all his books are written like Bird of Prey. So often he'll describe a character saying something or making an expression, and then in the next sentence he explains the meaning behind the expression. Things to the nature of "he smiled. This was an emotionless, reflex-like smile, not a true show of emotion." So. Often. Uggghh....

No, this seems like an observation of a guy's behavior, not a statement of her own. It's true that people are often attracted to people they can't have, so probably she's just saying he's doing that.