The Faithful & The Fallen Read-A-Long discussion

Feel free to post your thoughts on the next round of chapters here.

I made it through the next batch of chapters and I have to say...It's not going well for Evnis.
Poor man. :<

I've also stumbled upon my first major criticism and that concerns the weird way these people will start talking about their life concerns to complete strangers.

(view spoiler)[I'm specifically thinking of Kastell and Maquin confiding in Veradis unprovoked and then later Romar chastising Jael and Kastell while Veradis was in the tent with them!! Maybe it's my Nordic hermit nature talking, but that just felt so unnatural to me, especially when there's concerns of trust between the nations. Also Rhin, Brenin and Owain just casually talking about their nations' politics in front of Nathair... (hide spoiler)]

Aside from that gripe, I've been enjoying my read immensely. I can't wait to see what Corban gets up to with his new pet and I want to know more about Halion!!
Didn't like the major animal cruelty scene though. Evnis, you jerk!

I agree with Reija on the animal cruelty scene. It goes with medieval like era. I'm really enjoying the book and most of the characters. The world building is being done so well. I'm still working on how I feel about the characters but I really like Corban and Cywan. I didn't like Evnis but then his love for his wife made me think I should really wait, but then the hunt came....

I am so glad that Corbin got a wolven puppy I was hoping for this ever since he saved the pregnant one. I never noticed until after I read these comments about the automatic talking about things and now that I’ve noticed I can’t not notice. Definitely a thing.

This is a solid batch of chapters - lots of information about the world and lore, plus a lot of character development. One of my favorite things about Gwynne's writing is the way he develops relationships between young warriors and older mentors. When those bonds develop it connects the reader to the characters in a great way.

Although Evnis' life right now is really tough, I can see his bitterness and blame is going to twist and warp him into something awful. He's so filled with anger and impotence at his inability to protect his family that he's definitely set up to become a villain. We can already see how he is lashing out and killing innocents in the forest scene were he rides down the wolven pups.

I really love the friendship that is developing between Elana, Cywen, and Corban. I feel like this is a tight-knit crew of kids that will do great things in the future.

I think the prologue already established Evnis as villain material. Though I empathise with his family situation, he has brought a lot of it on himself, by placing himself near the king to further his own aims. :/

I love old grissly mentor characters. <3 I have to say that I laughed out loud when Thannon could not control his temper while confronting Heilfach.

Reija wrote: "I made it through the next batch of chapters and I have to say...It's not going well for Evnis.
Poor man. :<

I've also stumbled upon my first major criticism and that concerns the weird way these ..."

I definitely agree about the odd tendencies some of the characters have about sharing key political information with people they don't know so the reader knows. Especially during the Jael, Kastell and Romar. All I could think was of how awkward it had to be for Veradis to sit there.

All in all though, I am getting really invested in the building of this story and I am trying to guess which category each character will fall under. Is anyone else getting odd "conqueror" vibes from Nathair?

So I finally finished this batch. I loved it. Envis is twisted, I think his loss is only reveals what is already there. Rafe, I am curious about two things: when the big showdown between rafe and corban will happen? Is Rafe redeemable (and do want him to be?)

So far my favorite characters are turning out to be Gar and Veradis. I like the group of Corban, Cywen, Dath and Elana. But I’m also afraid for them, kind of anticipating some sort of tragedy there (not sure why).

I am also curious as to which side Corban and Nathair really are on. Nathair dreams of some man asking him to find the cauldron and Corban has visions of the same. My guess would be one would lead the good guys and the other would lead the bad guys. But it couldn’t be that simple could it?

Starr wrote: "So I finally finished this batch. I loved it. Envis is twisted, I think his loss is only reveals what is already there. Rafe, I am curious about two things: when the big showdown between rafe and c..."

Evnis is such a complex character. He's my favorite kind of a villain - relatable in some things and despicable in others. To me, he represents the possibility that we all have for becoming villains. Faced with tough circumstances and hard choices, will we choose the path that allows us to maintain humanity and love? Or will we through our ego and need to control compromise our morals and become the worst version of ourselves. Many characters face similar choices throughout this series, and I think it makes it more believable to the reader. I've never been a fan of the "perfect" hero type or "pure evil" villain. That's not how most humans really work.