/r/Fantasy Discussion Group discussion

Let's discuss the first half of the book! Share what you think of the characters, worldbuilding, and anything else that's going on. What's working, what's not working, what you think will happen going forward.

Feel free to discuss plot elements from the first half of the story (up to and including Chapter 33), but please avoid any spoilers for the second half.

Some talking points to spark discussion (copied from Travis/CoffeeArchives because I like them):

1) What do you think of each of the characters, their relationships, and the group dynamic as a whole? Any favorites?

2) What has been your favorite scene so far?

3) What do you think of the world and magic?

Minor point and I'm too lazy to reread the chapter to check, but I *think* I spotted a minor bit of discontinuity in Chapter 22 with Celine sleeping in Ben's arms, then being placed on the couch, then reappearing *still* asleep in his arms.

Only posting that here because I guarantee nobody IRL could possibly care if I bring that up in conversation.

Now to finish up to chapter 33.

I just finished chapter 33, and I was so psyched to get in here and post a comment!

I'm loving the pacing here and the intertwining of the story lines. I really like Vlora as a character and I am incredibly glad that she went from background character in Powder Mage to main character here. I think the attack on her in the Greenfire Depths finally showed how strong she really is, up until that point there was a lot of talk of how tough she was, but not so much demonstration. Wow, even though she had help in the end to kill off the Palo attackers, she held her own incredibly well.

Mad Ben Styke is such a great character, I love his softness with Celine, but then his straight up willingness to kill. I'm not hugely into violence, but I feel like his violent nature is what many fantasy stories miss out on when they try and make their main characters heroes that don't kill all that often. I think so far my favorite scene was where his story about fighting alongside Taniel Two-Shot turned into him fighting and killing the dragonman, then finishing the story with how he killed the Warden. Whoa, that scene was intense enough, only for him to immediately run away to go help Old Man Fles, then the Blackhats appear! Talk about action and suspense!

I am really interested to see how Styke evades (or doesn't) the Blackhats, it seems like they are so close on his tail that there's no way he can get out of this! I'm really glad he left Celine behind, and I'm secretly kind of hoping the Olem and Vlora sort of raise her as their own, especially with her whole relationship drama with him, and sort of wanting kids but not. This might be a happy accident?

Also, I am not sure anyone caught it, but in the sub, someone asked if the series name, Gods of Blood and Powder, might refer to Ka-Poel an Taniel. What does everyone else think of this based on what Vlora was saying about their last known location being in Fatrasta and them both being "not quite human" when they left? I would love to hear what others think!

Loving this so far. The characters are comparable to A promise of blood, war hero returning home, general in the middle of a campaign and an investigator tying the two strands together but Brian has improved since the first series so much! Vlora has grown from a minor side character in the first series to a fully fledged protagonist but i am glad i read some of the prequel novellas as they help flesh out Vlora. Ben is interesting but i really want to know if he is some form of Palo mage or descended from one of the dragonmen as his strength is unnatural. Reading the novellas i thought he might be a god-like being but he doesn't seem powerful enough. Michel's investigation is keeping me interested and I really want to see where it will lead. I hope his mother makes a further appearance, it would not surprise me if she was mother Palo based on her interaction with her son

This is a really great book, thus far. I didn't read the original trilogy (though I have a copy of the first book floating around here somewhere) but this is really making me want to go back and read it. Just adding on to what some others have said: I love the complexity of the characters, especially Styke. His relation to Celine and the swordmaker (his name eludes me at the moment) really felt touching and was provides an interesting contrast to what one might assume his character might be like given that he's served ten years in a work prison. I also really like that we're not necessarily given any strictly "good" or "bad" guys. It feels more like Martin's work where everyone is out for their interests and all fall on a spectrum. Looking forward to finishing in the next week or so!