Fantasy Book Club Series discussion

Achamian is central, and he too is an interesting set of contradictions. He is not just a sorceror, with fearsome powers to destroy, he's a Gnostic sorcerer, a master of the most powerful sorcery in the Three Seas. Yet he's got a serious confidence issue--Esmenet makes a good observation about them both, that they both have the reflexive doubt and deference of their lower caste origins. He's a spy, and you get the sense that he must have been very good to have lasted as long as he has, but by the time the story opens, he seems to be slipping. As a spy, his profession inherently uses people and discards them, yet he cannot do so, at least when it comes to someone like Inrau (or even Proyas--you get the sense that he's more concerned about their lost relationship than he is about the information he needs to use Proyas to get. Like the other sorcerers of the Mandate, his dreams give him sure knowledge of the truth the events of the Apocalypse that occurred 2000 years in the past, yet he has almost internalized the doubts that the rest of the world has about the danger of the Consult returning to wage war on humanity again--right up until the end of this arc, when he finds proof that the Consult is at work in the world.

Ironically, the force of this revelation prevents him from reconnecting with Esmenet at the end of the novel.

And... I think that's enough to get things started.

Spoilers for the trilogy as a whole: (view spoiler)[Having read all three books in this trilogy, I want to comment on Achamian. While the first book mostly shows him as insecure, doubtful, and almost bumbling, the next two books show a much different Akka. Defiant of his order, in some cases. Powerful in his Gnostic magic. Constant in his love for Esmenet (relatively speaking). And yet, like most everyone else, beguiled by Kellhus. He is a character who is beset like no other in the book because of his connection to Seswatha and the Apocalypse and his pivotal place in current time. (hide spoiler)] I don't know if anyone else has comments, now that we've read all 3 books in this part of the story.