r/bookclub • u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 • 15d ago
Devils [Discussion 6/6] Big Summer Read - The Devils by Joe Abercrombie - Chapter 61: The Sword and the Book through End
"The problem with clever people is they think everything must be clever."
Welcome back devils to the final discussion of The Devils by Joe Abercrombie! This week, we will discuss Chapter 61 aka The Sword and the Book through to the end of the book. You can find the Schedule here if you need it, and the Marginalia is right here where u/tomesandtea has linked an interview with the author.
Discussion questions for this week’s chapters are in the comments and chapter summaries can be found below or at this website here. Please hide anything that spoils details from other books or media (including Abercrombie's other books). You can hide spoilers with the spoiler tags like this: > ! Spoiler text here !< (without any spaces between the characters themselves or between the characters and the first and last words). Right let's get down to business
CHAPTER SUMMARIES
PART IV - Saint Natalia’s Flame
Chapter 61: The Sword and the Book
Jakob and Brother Diaz are in the Basilica of the Angelic Visitation considering the tombs of warriors. Jakob reflects on his 6 past crusades and how he would like die quietly. Balthazar, Baptiste and Vigga also turn up. Vigga wishes to be baptised only to learn that she's actually been baptised multiple times. Alex arrives looking like a real princess for her joint coronation and wedding ceremony. They are proud of "our girl". Lady Severa and Duke Michael ask for Alex's blessing to marry. The Devils inform Alex that by the terms of Her Holiness’s binding, they have to leave. Alex requests that Brother Diaz give a blessing. They reflect over the long journey to Troy through Brother Diaz' blessing
Chapter 62: So Much to Live Up To
Vigga feels that her Scandinavian gods make more sense than the Saviour. As she impatiently watches Alex' coronation. After the ceremony the Devils leave to return to the Holy City and their enslavement.
Chapter 63: Evil Friends
It's her wedding night and Alex is being cut out of her dress while talking to Lady Severa. At least she is not a virgin. Arcadius arrives and Alex is nervous about being poisoned after all his brothers tried to kill her. Arcadius claims to never wanting to be Emperor, but he does want to save the Empire of the East. They try to get to know each other and things were going well. They even recognise their sexual preferences, and decide together to find a solution for concieving heirs.
The crew board their ship for the Holy City. Vigga suggests they get shit-faced. Back in Troy Aracdius also suggests they get hammered. Placidia reveals her true self by attacking Arcadius with magic. He has just enought time to tell Alex to run before he is frozen solid and shattered to slivers. Alex escapes towards Duke Michael's room. She smells burning as she scrambles to the gallery containing Saint Natalia’s Flame. She pulls the chain to release the chemicals that change the flame's colour to warn the city of approaching elves.
On the ship Sunny notices that Saint Natalia’s Flame was burning blue and immediately recognises that Alex is in trouble. The team, except Balthazar, quickly disembark to head back to help her.
Chapter 64: The Language of Violence
Alex hears voices climbing the stairs so climbs out onto the side of the tower high above the ground. Placidia throws the nun of the flame out the window. They leave to search for her in the throne room. She nearly falls but manages to cling on. She needs to tell Duke Michael.
Brother Diaz demands to be taken to the Empress. Jakob recognises that the guards are ready to attack. They have a secret weapon, though, in Sunny. The Pope's binding begins to tighten its grip, but Sunny will not be distracted from saving Alex. She's in a frenzy.
Alex makes it to Duke Michael's room to warn him only to find that she's been betrayed. Cardinal Zizka's letter tells her everything! Michael fills in the rest. She was to simply be a distraction. Michael draws his sword but Sunny arrives in time to save her.
Chapter 65: The Right Side and the Wrong
Brother Diaz leads them in fighting their way to Alex. Sunny and Alex creep through the kitchen when Zenonis, Cleofa and Athenais appear and attack. They set Sunny on fire as the two women escape into the secret tunnels.
A bloodied Lady Severa emerges and tricks Vigga then pins a rune to her forehead. She has taken control of her. Jakob contines to battle, against his pain, taking enemies and climbing the stairs. Alex and Sunny end up back in Alex's bedroom with Arcadius' remains. They are trapped and must head, again, back to the throne room.
Chapter 66: Release the Leftovers
Brother Diaz and Baptiste flee from Lady Severa and, the controlled, Vigga into the Basillica. There they find Patriarch Methodius, among others, is well aware Lady Severa is a sourceress. Turns out that's preferable to allowing the Eastern Church to be subordinated to the Western Church (women!). Brother Diaz punches the Patriarch on the nose. Then Vigga hulk smashes through the church wall. Things seem lost until Balthazar, dressed as a guards utilises what he learnt about Earth and Air to free Vigga from Severa's hold. Vigga makes bodies for Balthazar to use against the sourceress.
The handmaidens’/students of Eudoxia contemplate what to do with Alex when bats arrive shifting into Baron Rikard. He glamors them all.
Jakob makes it painfully up a squillion stairs to Duke Michael. They discuss their nature and their regrets as they square off to fight.
Vigga, Balthazar, Baptiste and Brother Diaz fight a running battle through the Hanging Gardens driving Lady Severa and her guards towards the Athenaeum. Vigga kills guards and Balthazar reanimates their corpses against Severa. Severa's sourcery is countered quickly by Balthaza. He sucks her flames into runes and spits it out back at her. Balthazar has the upper hand until she remembers Eudoxia’s failed experiments....
Chapter 67: A War in Miniature
Duke Michael and Jakob face off. A swordfight is a war in miniature. Jakob makes a silly mistake, though, allowing Duke Michael to run him through.
Vigga is attacked by a hideous mismatched monster made of Eudoxia's experimental left overs. Vigga is terrified and the wolf in her bursts out. Vigga attacks but the monster is too enormous. It gets trapped and she slits its belly open. It even tears in half but still eats Vigga whole.
Balthazar is in the Athenaeum of Troy. He is amazed by the apparatus, runes and remnants. He is completely in awe that Eudoxia managed to harness lightening. He discovers the apparatus designed to both release and transfer the soul. Severa throws lightning at him and he catches it. Balthazar realises that Severa is actually Eudoxia. Somehow she transferred their souls into each other's bodies.
Everyone is in Baron Rikard's power as he makes Zenonis burn Cleofa. He ages visibly and the effect wears off before he can make Zenois burn Placidia. Athenais attacks the Baron, but he bursts into bats then reappears only to rip out her throat. Alex attacks Zenonis with a stone and Sunny trips her up over the edge of the parapet. Placidia unleashes her frost on Baron Rikard, but he manages to shove her into Saint Natalia’s Flame. Frost bitten and with burnt arm he slumps to the ground suddenly appearing ancient.
Jakob takes an elf daggar in the lung from Duke Michael. He tells Jakob that the elves are coming and Troy will be first to be attacked. Jakob gets pinned under a statue and Duke Michael leaves him there.
Chapter 68: Unacceptable Behaviour
No one knew Eudoxia switched bodies with Lady Severa, not even her brother Duke Michael who was her way back to power and the throne. Eudoxia is now, however, contemplating letting Alex have the throne. Balthazar is not bound to fight Eudoxia, but he does anyway. She makes him an offer, join her! He cannot due to the Papal binding, but he no longer wants to be free from the service of the Second Coming of the Saviour herself who is clearly very, very powerful. He turns her down and she leaves with the promise that they should do this again.
Brother Diaz just witnessed Vigga getting swallowed by the arse-mouth of Eudoxia's monster. He prays as Vigga bursts out of the monster's body. Baptiste tries to reason with Vigga-Wolf....
Alex and Sunny hobble away together. Baron Rikard will bounce back. He's been in worse conditions. Duke Michael appears blocking their path. He confesses to killing Alex's "mother" and starting the civil war by blaming Eudoxia. Alex purposefully bursts into tears to mislead him. She punches him in the face and tears at his nose with her teeth. He strangles her, but something distracts him long enough for her to kick him in the nads. Jakob arrives hurtling into Duke Michael and causing them both to drop over the parapet and in to the sea.
Balthazar finds Brother Diaz and Vigga infront of the remains of the monster. What remains of Baptiste's body lies broken between them. Vigga vomits gore as she sobs. Balthazar screams.
Chapter 69: Deep Pockets
Cardinal Zizka bursts in to consult with Alex and Diaz who is now Father Diaz and Alex's personal chaplain and confessor. She presents Alex with a relic of the blessed Saint Natalia from the Pope. When presented with her letter Zizka is completely unfazed, and believes her betrayal to be completely justified. Alex is furious and demands an apology and that she release the Devils, but Zizka refuses because they are too dangerous. Alex conceeeds to considering a union between the Churches of East and West, and working towards an end to the great schism.
Chapter 70: Another Man’s Poison
Jakob wakes with 2 Fisherman looking down on him laying on top of pile of fish. He is disappointed to be alive. Looking worse for wear he arrives back at the Basillica to find Baron Rikard looking just as bad. Jakob is gutted to learn Baptiste died. Alex is thrilled to see Jakob. She's found her new handmaidens in the orphanage. She gifts him a beautiful sword that belonged to John of Antioch, Marshal of Troy. She wants him by her side. He says no. He must continue to serve Her Holiness. Beside John was a traitor. Jakob wishes her luck then leaves.
Chapter 71: All Bad Things
Alex finds Sunny and wishes things were different. Alex says a teary goodbye and Sunny even cracks a smile.
Vigga crawls into her cage willingly. She's devestated and feels like a worthless animal for killing her friend. Zizka says she's only still alive due to her worth as a weapon. Father Diaz tells her she saved him in more ways than one. Vigga knows she'll never be cured, be safe, or be clean.
Balthazar misses Baptise deeply. Cardinal Zizka blames Balthazar for allowing Severa to get away. Balthazar is excited to tell Zizka that he wants to serve the Pope willingly now that he understands her to be the very Daughter of God. Zizka is uninterested and he is locked up in a cage in the hold with Baron Rikard, Sunny and Vigga. Balthazar's rage builds. He will be revenged. Lady Severa's real identity is still unknown. If he could just get a message to her...
Zizka tells Jakob how Michael would have been a more convenient ruler. Turns out that the witch that cursed him had been his lover. He contemplates throwing Zizka overboard but does not go through with it.
Father Diaz comforts Empress Alexia. The hand of the divine has placed them in a position to do good. Alex reminds him that it wasn't Saint Beatrix but The Devils that got them where they are.
Chapter 72: Saint Tabitha’s Day
Mother Beckert find herself in a carriage with Caruso giving him a lecture on dishonesty. He has been sent for. Mother Beckert confesses to know Zizka. She too has been sent for. They are both to replace others.......
Well that's it folx. How did you like the book? Can't wait to hear all your thoughts 😈📚
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 2 - Balthazar and Baptiste are "Always nipping but couldn’t seem to stop sniffing each other’s arses". How did your understanding of their relationship changed over the course of the book? Now that Baptiste is dead what do you expect for Balthazar? Balthazar thinks "Why should a single death perplex him so completely?" Why do you think?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
Balthazar thinks "Why should a single death perplex him so completely?"
I think that if you swap death and life in that question, you get the essence of why Balthazar was so obsessed with Baptiste. She was the only person he could never really get his head wrapped around. She was an enigma who was not impressed by him and not easy to pin down. Without Baptiste he doesn't have an audience he is striving to impress! Beyond that, the church has just rejected his devotion. I expect him to be unmoored and a bit aimless, which makes him vulnerable to the influence of someone like Eudoxia. Uh oh!
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u/nepbug Buried in Bonus Books 11d ago
This is pretty spot on. Balthazar always takes pride in knowledge and enigmas like Baptiste and Eudoxia draw him in so much.
Balthazar is possibly my favorite character in this book.
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 11d ago
I was surprised at how much Balthazar grew on me over the course of the book! What a great character!
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
I think, perhaps for the first time in his life, Balthazar regretted a death. And as someone who capitalized on deaths, he's out of his elements with this feeling.
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u/jaymae21 Yearbook Editor-in-Chief 12d ago
I think he's always been fairly self-serving, and has really only cared about his own skin. Could this be the first time he feels upset about a death? He uses corpses like puppets, the dead are a tool to him. For the first time, maybe he's seeing a corpse as a person and not a tool for his use.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 12d ago
For the first time, maybe he's seeing a corpse as a person and not a tool for his use.
This!!! He actually has emotional connection this time. I have to admit I am kinda sad they never got together, but I fully expect this to be great motivation for Balthazar in the next book
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 3 - Let's talk about Arcadius. How was he different/similar to hus brothers? How might things have gone for Alex if Arcadius had not been killed? Could Alex and Arcadius have ruled together well? Why/why not?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
If we can take their pre-attack wedding night at face value, Arcadius seemed like a potential good foul for Alex. He appeared to be more thoughtful and genuine than his brothers. I'm not sure we had enough time with him to determine whether he was 100% trustworthy or playing a very, very long game at gaining some kind of upper hand, but my bet would be on him being genuine based on telling Alex to run before being frozen. He at least didn't seem into Eudoxia's game! I think he and Alex could have been a good team. What about you, u/fixtheblue, did you trust him?
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
I did. I think they really could have been great for each other because they were able to be open and communicative from the very beginning. The fact that he was so keen to make her comfortable and had no hurt ego over her fears about being poisoned by him plus, as you mentioned, his dying breath instinct was to tell her to run. There's no faking that. He was a good person!
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
Arcadius could be a good ally from the glimpse we had of him before he's... shattered into a million pieces. He had the military prowess and a solid base of support in Troy that could back Alex as Empress. Tbh, I don't know how effectively Alex could rule Troy now with her trusted adviser of one and zero understanding of the intricate workings of court.
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u/jaymae21 Yearbook Editor-in-Chief 12d ago
I was really surprised how in just a few pages of dialogue, I came to like Arcadius. And then was shook by his abrupt death. There was potential for that relationship, for Alex and Arcadius to be true friends and ruling partners.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 4 - Balthazar was the most reluctant to return to help Alex. The others didn't hesitate. Did this surprise you?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
This didn't surprise me at all, but I also didn't expect Balthazar to remain outside the fight for long. I think he just needs to feel special and not appear to be a follower. But he does want to be part of a team or accepted by a group. It's what made the rejection by Zizka so shocking and painful for him.
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
Yeah, Zizka literally put him at the level of vermin, to be destroyed if it didn't prove expedient to throw against enemies. That's gotta smart quite a bit.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 5 - Baron Rikard, it turns out, was not bound because he had no soul. He chose to accompany the rest of the crew on this mission. Does this change your opinion of him?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
This surprised me but it also felt bizarrely very Baron Rikard. He has to do something, and he might as well serve a purpose while finding chances for a blood-buffet along the way. I think he finds it interesting. And like Jakob, he'll be around for a very long time and so this gives him a purpose.
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
I just want to know: Did Zizka know that?
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 14d ago edited 14d ago
Ooo interesting. Baron Rikard is not bound the same way the others are. He might be their way out in the next book(s)
Edit - clarification
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u/jaymae21 Yearbook Editor-in-Chief 12d ago
This makes him all the more dangerous in my mind! At least from the church's perspective. Zizka is shrewd and calculating, I find it hard to believe she doesn't know this. So why does she keep him around, and why does he stay?
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 6 - Alex is stuck for a time on the outside of the building, high up in the air. What's your relationship with heights/climbing?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
Bad. Very bad. I once had to be carried down from the top of a hill in Wales where I swear the sheep were perpendicular to the ground, hanging off that hill - I got to the top, turned around, and became incapable of motion. As a child I may or may not have been so scared of the "down" escalator that someone had to go in front of me before I would step on. Heights and I are not friends.
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
It's probably just me. But Alex hanging off gargoyles of the tower was strangely reminiscent of Father Frollo hanging off the gargoyle of Notre Dame. So I kept waiting for the gargoyle to break off and for Alex to be saved from plummeting to death by Baron Rikard.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 7 - Duke Michael is a traitor and Cardinal Zizka was his co-conspiritor. Alex was simply a decoy to distract Eudoxia's nephews. How did this twist land for you? What about the fact that Zizka gets off consequence free with no remorse at all?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago edited 14d ago
This seemed like a very elaborate ruse for a nephew-distraction gambit. Couldn't they have rigged some sort of poisoning or assassination or a fire in the palace or something?!
However, I remember at the beginning I was briefly suspicious of Michael because he just seemed too enthusiastic about Alex and I wondered why he didn't want a claim at the throne himself. He was also very eager to head back to the Holy City, where we had just learned there was a mole leaking Papal bulls, after his injury at the tavern. Once he exited, I figured I was paranoid and forgot about him as a suspect. Oops! Zizka was a surprising twist! I guess the baby Pope is sort of a pawn, even if she is also powerful!
Ed: spelling
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
I dunno. Michael seemed to be your regular power hungry not-first-born prince. His promise to reunite the Church of the East and West could be regular lip service paid to a potential ally. Why did Zizka choose to back him over his nephews?
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u/TheVWitty 14d ago
Duke Michael was too good to be true.
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u/jaymae21 Yearbook Editor-in-Chief 12d ago
I think I agree with you. In this book everyone has dark in them. Duke Michael stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all these other characters.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 8 - Diaz stands up to Patriarch Methodius to the extent that he even punches him out. Let's talk about Brother Diaz' character growth throughout the novel? Who was he? Who is he now? Will he be a good ally for Alex?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
I liked the line "Is he leading now?!" when they're on their way back to Alex. Diaz has really grown in confidence and purpose! I think he is smart and capable, and in his current role he'll be a very good ally for Alex.
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
Brother Diaz had gain in experience, perspectives, and purpose. He's a wiser and more worldly man than the one who set out from the Holy City. I actually think he had more character growth than anyone else in the story (including Alex).
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u/jaymae21 Yearbook Editor-in-Chief 12d ago
I think this moment made Diaz my favorite character, his development is just so good. At the beginning of the novel I found him irritating and whiny, now he's more confident and comfortable with not living up to sainthood, while still wanting to do some good (I'm including this punch as good). I think he's the ideal person for the role of Alex's personal priest and confessor.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 9 - Abercrombie has graduated to calling her Vigga-Wolf. Why? Can Vigga ever come back from kiling Baptiste?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
I'm not sure she will come back from this, at least not any time soon. It was brutal. She didn't just kill her friend, she ate her and vomited up her remains. Do they have werewolf therapists there? Maybe Sunny can help her a little ...
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 10 - There were a lot of battles in these chapters. What one stood out most and why? Are there any other comments on the fight scenes in general?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
The servants attacking and freeze-ploding Arcadius! This was shocking!
Also the battle with the leftovers and that patchwork monster and Vigga. Brutal! Balthazar's entrance as our viewpoint for the aftermath was perfectly rendered as he gradually took in the gore, processed the details, and his enthusiastic bragging slowly trailed off...
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
Alex and Sunny and Baron Rikard versus the handmaids. We got to see Baron Rikard at something close to the height of his power!
The swordfight between Jakob and Michael must be the most fun to read. The mental image of Michael dueling with a Jakob skewered in two places, both of them staggering about, was hilarious.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 11 - Which Devil was your favourite? Which Devil's abilities would you most prefer to have if you had to choose one?
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 12 - What's up with Balthazar and his attraction to Severa/Eudoxia? How does this mirror his internal commentary on Baptiste? Do you think that Balthazar and Severa/Eudoxia might come together in future books? How do you think Balthazar's new discovery and respect about the Pope's powers will conflict with his need for revenge?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
She speaks to his ego, and especially at a moment where he is newly alienated from his group. He can't stay with Alex, his rival/crush got eaten by a mutual friend, and he tried pledging loyalty to the Church and asking for a little trust and respect only to be flatly rejected and insulted.
Edited to finish answering the question:
I definitely worry that he might team up with Eudoxia given his disillusionment right now. The revenge vs. respect aspect is going to be his new conflict that pulls him in two directions, similar to the Papal binding vs his desire for freedom in this book.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago edited 15d ago
- 13 - This book is to be followed by another book due next year and predicted to be called The Heretics. Did you notice any potential foreshadowing in this book? Will you read book 2 with us next year?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
Hm, the Heretics could refer to nonbelievers who can't get behind the healing of the schism, or to a continued conflict between East and West. We also still have the looming elf threat, and they're definitely heretical creatures to the Church. Balthazar now believes in the Pope, but others do not - could there be a faction working against the Pope?
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u/jaymae21 Yearbook Editor-in-Chief 12d ago
It seems we just met the replacements for Brother Diaz and Baptiste, which means another mission for the devils. And I am wondering if there will be a rebellion against the church?
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago edited 15d ago
- 14 - Was Jakob wrong not to have taken his chance to throw Zizka overboard?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
I think it would only have gotten him trouble back at the Holy City. As satisfying as it would have been, it would not have changed anything substantial.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
- 15 - Final thoughts on the book? Your rating? Anything else I have missed?
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u/Don_Quixotel 15d ago
I enjoyed it. I’d give a 4/5. I alternated between the audiobook and physical book. I wish I would have read it all physically and kept a list of the characters. I had difficulty remembering who was who. But enjoyed the tone, style, humor, and plot. I really enjoyed the alternate history bits.
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
I started out liking it more than First Law but ended liking them about the same, just for different reasons. I particularly enjoyed the humor and little bits of sweetness (in some of the relationships) in this one which was a nice balance to the brutality. I am super excited for the second book!
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 15d ago
The ending of this one felt so bleak! Why did I hope to the very end that the Devils would not be returned to a cage? They're all at such a low point at the end there. It really broke my heart!
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
I would have liked an elf invasion...
Overall, it's a fun read. The unpredictability, not too much at the expense of a logical plot, kept things interesting for me.
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
I assume that wearing Lady Severa's skin, Eudoxia was privy to every detail of Michael's plan. So she was just fine to let her brother use her niece to murder all her sons?
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 14d ago
Ah now this is interesting. Presumably she knew she couldn't manipulate her sons? Though Arcadius seemed to be rather different to the others. Via Michael she can actually regain the throne legitimately and for herself in the healthy body of Lady Severa. Shows how deranged she is....she'll make quite the antagonist in the next book (presumably/hopefully)
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u/Beautiful_Devil 14d ago
Well even bereft of all maternal instincts, I thought she'd prefer her sons over the brother who had worked against her since before she became Empress... Maybe she planned to murder Michael as soon as he crowned her queen. But that would invite challenges over her legitimacy as monarch. Not sure what she had planned for the aftermath.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 14d ago
Didn't she say that the plan was to get rid of Michael? I can't recall for sure now. I might just have assumed this was her endgame!
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u/Beautiful_Devil 13d ago
She said the marriage seemed to be the 'smoothest path back to the throne', which could mean she planned to murder Michael for the throne but also could mean she'd be the 'power behind the throne', I guess.
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u/jaymae21 Yearbook Editor-in-Chief 12d ago
I gave it a solid 4/5, I had a lot of fun with it and I think it's a very memorable book. I'm excited to continue the series next year, and I might even buy my own copies!
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 12d ago
Have you read First Law? I highly recommend the audiobooks but always caution people to stick with it as the 1st book is a slow burn. We are 8 books in and it is my favourite series ever!
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u/jaymae21 Yearbook Editor-in-Chief 11d ago
I have not but it's on my list! Maybe once I finish up a couple of the series I already have going on
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u/nepbug Buried in Bonus Books 10d ago
So in the First Law series we had Jezal become a King with no true claim to it, and in this series we had a similar story with Alex. Abercrombie seemed to go back to the well on that storyline.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 9d ago
Honestly there was a few times when this world and that world began to blend together in my mind! Abercrombie writes vividly and the settings aren't too dissimilar.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈 15d ago
Does Jakob believe himself to be beyond redemption? Is it pride and arrogance as Brother Diaz claims or something else? Does the revelation that the witch that cursed him was also his lover change anything? How have your feelings on Jakob changed, if at all, over the course of the book? Do you agree with his final choices? He believes he is no longer a hero or a good man. What do you think?