The Not a Book Club Club discussion

Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events of Part 2.

No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling this for your good read friends.

Please do not discuss events from later chapters. Referring back to events from a previous section/book is fine.

I’m a bit confused (surprise, surprise) about what we learn with the chronicler. Was the person mentioned near the end the one who took over Vaelin’s brother in the first book? I forget that guy’s name already.

I’m enjoying the book, and slowly recalling some of the details, but I probably could have stood to reread the first 2 to jog my memory on a lot of things. Of course even freshly read my memory for names is terrible, so it may not help much here.

Lyrna wants to build ships and send her armies to invade the empire. Someone had predicted that earlier to Vaelin, though I forget who already. I hope her anger gets reined in at some point.

I sort of stopped taking notes for a few days due to outside stuff. I like that Lyrna is making better use of some of the prisoners rather than just killing everyone. I’m glad Frentis is given a chance, but can’t say I’m surprised. Locking him away would have made for a boring POV. :-P

So Vayln has had a prophecy about him?

Even having reread the first two I am having a hard time as we are introduced to more and more characters. Guess with more povs the author always needs to add more supporting characters. Really like when authors(Martin and Erikson come to mind) provide character lists.

I am kind of dissapointed that Ryan has Vaelyn travelling away from the main war.

Bill wrote: "Even having reread the first two I am having a hard time as we are introduced to more and more characters. Guess with more povs the author always needs to add more supporting characters. Really lik..."

Yeah. This is one of the comments I made in my review. I think all books should have it, but especially for audio books. It'd be nice to know how things are spelled too.

Just finished the section.

Vaelin's story is kind of a let down for me at this point. I think it has gotten bloated with the introduction of too many characters and a loose focus on what they are doing.

I really like Frentis's part with his Spartacus type storyline. I am glad that he got to prove and redeem himself.

I may need to pick up the kindle version just to help get some of the characters straightened out.

Bill wrote: "Just finished the section.

Vaelin's story is kind of a let down for me at this point. I think it has gotten bloated with the introduction of too many characters and a loose focus on what they are ..."

Yeah. I think that kind of sums up why this book didn't get 5 stars while the last two did.

I am enjoying Frentis in this part of the book. His liberation of the slaves and building of a small army. Vaelin's journey was a rough one but the last page was interesting with his picture in the cave (I think was him). Also it sounds like the woman will be taking on the shell of the emporer or empress? Lorna better be on her toes!

Haven't finished this section yet - But interesting that the guy Vaelin saves in the woods in book one is the immortal of legend. And didn't he have that girl with him who could dominate a person by touch? Have we seen her in the series since?

Yeah she hooked up with his order brother that ran away

I believe she married Nortah. It is interesting how that man is so important to the story now, not sure where it will go once Vaelin finds him but he must know how to stop the ally.

David Sven wrote: "Haven't finished this section yet - But interesting that the guy Vaelin saves in the woods in book one is the immortal of legend. And didn't he have that girl with him who could dominate a person b..."

Can someone refresh me on this?

In book one when Vaelin was out on a challenge he came upon a man and a blind girl...that was being tracked by the sons I believe to be killed. The man is Elrin who Vaelin now seeks and the girl is gifted and went to the north and Nortah ended up with her after he left the order. Vaelin saved their lives that time by hiding them and leading the trackers and dogs away.

I believe he ran into Elrin again later in a city but don't recall all of the circumstances.

He ran into him at the fair where Nortah's father was executed. I think he also ran into him after the test of the sword.

Oh. I forgot all about that guy being with the girl I guess.

Man I need to read the whole series back to back at some point down the line.

Thanks guys.

Ah. Thanks Tammy. I remember about the girl now.

I'm not a writer, and don't know if its possible, but I sure wish there was a way to tell the story without introducing a whole bunch more characters in book 3. That's an issue I struggled with in Apex too. I am just not too willing to get invested in any of them - the series is ending and I'm way more interested in the characters I've known for 2 books. But, to be fair, at least we did see the guy from the woods before.

I'm not sure about Lyrna's decisions, but time will tell. I wish everyone weren't splitting up again :(

I don't know that it will help anyone at this point...and no one doing audio, but there is a character list included, but it is at the end of the book instead of the beginning. I went through it before I started and it did help, although I just read the first two books a couple months back so it hasn't been so long for me.

Tammy wrote: "In book one when Vaelin was out on a challenge he came upon a man and a blind girl...that was being tracked by the sons I believe to be killed. The man is Elrin who Vaelin now seeks and the girl i..."

If you are talking about the girl Erlin was with in the storm who stayed with Vaelin during the challenge who eventually ends up marrying Nortah, she wasn't blind (was there a blind girl in another part?); it was the Fourth Order led by then Brother (later Aspect) Tendris who was chasing them. That's the part where Valaen kills the slave dog and gets the one he brings back to the Order later. The Sons don't show up until Book 2 - they are the ones involved with the whole business of trying to get Reva to kill the Darkblade (Valaen) and get herself martyred in the process so they can take over the Church of the World Father.

Actually, it sounds even more complicated when I "summarize" it. :)