Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Buddy read starts 8th November.

In. Looks like I'll be joining a little late.

In - but I'll be joining late too.

Haha ok, I'll start late then as well :)

Would you like to set up a schedule again?

I'm in and I'm ready to go!

I'd love a schedule Anni 😁

How many chapters does the book have? My copy is splitted into two books with 23 and 25 chapters and a Prologue each... And can someone look up the names of Chapter 24, 25 and 26 for me? I'll make a schedule then ;)

Mine is 48 chapters with a prologue at the front.

Chapter 24: The Saint of Mercy
Chapter 25: Garniol
Chapter 26: The Departure

Thanks :) Here're my suggestion, I made little chapter bundles of ~60 pages and would start them every other day.


08th Nov - Prologue - Chapter 6
10th Nov - Chapter 7 - 10
12th Nov - Chapter 11 - 14
14th Nov - Chapter 15 - 18
16th Nov - Chapter 19 - 23
18th Nov - Chapter 24 - 26
20th Nov - Chapter 27 - 31
22th Nov - Chapter 32 - 36
24th Nov - Chapter 37 - 44
26th Nov - Chapter 45 - Epilogue

I'm happy with either. I'm going to guess that I'll read the one without Sundays off but see what other folks say?

I'm really happy to go with what ever others prefer on this one, as I'll probably be doing a catch up right at the end :-)

Looking forward to reading everyone's comments! I'm about 60% done, so I'll probably be wrapping up right around when everyone else is starting. This one is significantly longer than the first book.

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "I'm happy with either. I'm going to guess that I'll read the one without Sundays off but see what other folks say?"

Let's choose the one without sundays breaks then :)
I haven't started yet... But I hopefully will tomorrow!

Just finished reading it tonight. I'll post my thoughts once the rest of you have gotten further into the BR

I just started this. I've got a very strong urge to mood-read historical fiction but am trying to also stick with my buddy reads!

Pretty good so far!

Chapters 1-6(view spoiler)[

I'm liking that there are multiple strong female characters. I think I'm really going to like Darriana!

Aline struggling with whether to be Queen or not was very well done I thought. How it would really suck but it would be easier for her to accept the burden after everything she's been through rather than some noob they might find frolicking in the fields 😜. And that we can't necessarily be the person we want to be but are who the world needs us to be. The only thing that annoyed me was Falcio saying he was so in love with Ethalia... excuse me, one night? she healed you and then raped you and now you're in love? Anyway...

Tailor seems different in this one. She was a bit curmudgeonly in the last one but she's blossomed into a full blown b!atch! 😂 Not exactly leading the cause in Paelis' spirit... (hide spoiler)]

Do we know how old Falcio is?

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Pretty good so far!"

Sounds promising :)

I'm not sure it was mentioned yet, but I always asumed he's around 40 years old?

Chapters 7-10(view spoiler)[

Not much to report... I'm enjoying the banter between Falcio, Brasti and Kest. (hide spoiler)]

Sir Anni wrote: "Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Pretty good so far!"

Sounds promising :)

I'm not sure it was mentioned yet, but I always asumed he's around 40 years old?"

Huh, I was guessing he was in his 20's? No idea why though 😂

He has to be old enough to have been married, served Paelis for how many years? And now it's 5 years after Paelis' death...

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Sir Anni wrote: "Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Pretty good so far!"

Sounds promising :)

I'm not sure it was mentioned yet, but I always asumed he's around 40 years old?"

Huh, I was guessing he was in..."

That's why I thought he's older... Also there was this scene with Trin in Book one where he asked himself why she should be interested in him, as he's so much older.

And how old is Aline? I guess Paelis started 'visiting' some of his female subjects in the middle of his reign?

I think Aline is 13.

Chapters 11-14(view spoiler)[

I was pronouncing Falcio all wrong! I was saying Falsio! Weird to wait to set us straight about that until part way through book 2...

Quite the cliffhanger ending to today's reading! Hmmmm (hide spoiler)]

Sooooorry Laura, I feel so bad for leaving you hanging! And I already started, I'm in the middle of chapter 5 and I try to catch up and update tonight ;)

I'm starting tonight.

No worries! 😁 I'm here but have left two other buddy reads hanging... Boo... 😢 too many books too little time...

Ch 1 (view spoiler)[Did de Castell just pay a small homage to Princess Bride?? Falcio is only mostly dead 😉 (hide spoiler)]

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Chapters 11-14

I was pronouncing Falcio all wrong! I was saying Falsio! Weird to wait to set us straight about that until part way through book 2...

Quite the cliffhanger ending to today's readi..."

I was pronouncing it wrong too. I think that was the author's way of lightheartedly telling the reader that we all have been pronouncing it wrong!

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Pretty good so far!

Chapters 1-6"

I agree wholeheartly! I really liked the start of this one.

Chapter 1-6 (view spoiler)[ I like the new characters and I absolutely love the releationship between the three Greatcoats and their banter.

The talk between Aline and Falcio was great and well written, I really liked it. As good as the author seems to be with these kind of scenes, he's really bad at writing the romance between Falcio and the holy sister/rape girl... Him falling in live with her after one night is so ridiculous. Also he hadn't mentioned her once after he left, no? And all at once he's in love now. Well nevermind, I will just ignor that this happened and will continue as if it doesn't. Because that aside, the book is oretty enjoyable so far :) (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 7 - 10 (view spoiler)[I feel very sorry for Valiana and I don't understand why Falcio doesn't try to help her more... At least slowly he started to realize that she needs a little regognition from him. And I'm glad that Dariana is trying to help her.
I'm curious who the Troubadour is and how he get the golden coin, as he wasn't one of the peoples who picked them up at Riyou. Do he have a secret reason for telling the story? (hide spoiler)]

Narilka wrote: "Ch 1 [spoilers removed]"

Haha, yes, I thought so as well :) I hope he did!

Narilka wrote: "Ch 1 [spoilers removed]"

Love that!!

So here's are my random thoughts, it turned out this update became a little messy, but I really need to go to sleep now and therefor I won't even proofread it 😂


Chapter 11-14 (view spoiler)[ Haha, well yes, the ending of this part was a little cliffhanger-y! It's interesting to learn more about Kest's Saint-ness. Still the information we get is lacking... What exactly make them so powerful and how many Saints are there? Are their abilities linked to the thing they are a Saint of? I mean, I can see how you have to fight the Saint of swords to replace him. But I guess there are Saints of other kinds, like the church of Love and Money we saw. How do you defeat such a Saint?

Uhm... I guess I started rambeling... 😅

That magic head-thingy Trin used was so damn creepy!

And before the Knight appeared to tell Falcio what happened, Falcio undressed and made us think he's going to bed. But instead he decided to stay awake to "oil his rapier"... Naked... Puns aside, why the hell did he undress to do this? 😂 (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 15-18 (view spoiler)[
Phew, so much happened in this part! First the death of the Duke and his family and then we finally see one of the original Greatcoats! Exciting, despite the fact that she's dead... What do you think, is Kest right? Did the king placed Dara with the Dukes family to kill them all should his heir be found? I don't know, that doesn't really made sense to me. And if Dara truely was there to kill them all to help Aline, that woukd mean she would have been on Falcio & Co's side still. Wouldn't it make sense if she had contacted them beforehand then? To get to know if killing the duke would actually benefit their cause?

I have another theorie 😁 As she was there for 5 month, thinking she might be there because of the last task the king gave her is reasonable. But couldn't it be that she had the same task as Falcio? Finding the king's chariots (?), his children, and keep them save. The youger son was 12 years old, one year younger than Aline, so maybe he was the kings son and Dara was there to look after him and his family. But that wouldn't explain why the Duke summoned her regulary. I don't know I'm too tired now to think about it further 😂

I haven't liked the chapter with the tailor really much... It was a little too dramatic. Especially with Falcio's comming death and his uuuuundying love for I-don't-even-know-her-name and all...

And there are these musicians again! I expected to see them again and I'm sure they are important somehow, but now I'm unsure if she is the important one and not the singing guy
(hide spoiler)]

Ch 1-6 (view spoiler)[I'm still a bit concerned about Falcio's paralysis upon waking. I'm sure that will play a part soon.

Agree with you all about Ethalia. I don't get that romance at all. I'm going to do like Anni and ignore it then enjoy the rest because it's been pretty good so far. (hide spoiler)]

Sir Anni wrote: "So here's are my random thoughts, it turned out this update became a little messy, but I really need to go to sleep now and therefor I won't even proofread it 😂


Chapter 11-14 spoilers removed

Haha!(view spoiler)[ oiling his rapier naked! Yeah wtf was up with that???

I'm totally lost on the Saints but I hope he tells us more soon. And I hope they get Kest to a church before he blows his top. Why isn't that high on their priority list? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 15-18 ..."[spoilers removed]
(view spoiler)[
I think the dead Greatcoat in the duke's room was called Winnow. I like the protecting theory. Doesn't seem like she could know when to kill him otherwise if she's not in contact with Falcio, like you said @Anni. And yeah the prince could totally have been a charoites. I like that theory! Could somebody (Trin?) have send some Dashini (?) assassins to kill the prince? I dunno...

And they don't have much time to get Falcio undead before it's curtains for him... (hide spoiler)]

Yay - finally starting this! (Looking forward to opening everyone's spoilers :-)

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Chapters 7-10

[spoiler removed]"

Same! I think that's my favorite thing so far :)

Ch 19-23(view spoiler)[

Seems like a repeat of earlier in the book where stuff happens, we're back to utter despair but who cares cuz we'll die trying. Didn't we do this already?

And when are they going to fix Falcio? Who's killing all the Dukes? The Greatcoats were protecting the dukes I'm thinking? (hide spoiler)]

Loving this book so far and absolutely flying through it. I'm always happy if I find a sequel I like as much as book 1.

I've just finished chapter 17:

(view spoiler)[The chapter about Saint's Fever was interesting. Part of me was getting annoyed at how little info we were getting on hiw this Saintvthing works. It is reassuring to know that the reason behind this is because the characters themselves din't really understand it either.

I'm curious to see where we go from here as they seem to have hit a bit if a dead end where their "ambitions" are concerned.

Falcio can't really be dying can he? A way to cure him must be coming up 🤞🏻 (hide spoiler)]

Also if Falcio isn't pronounced Falsio then how is it pronounced?

I pronounce it more like a K when I read, like how you pronounce the C in Falcon.

I'm starting this also. :)

Narilka wrote: "I pronounce it more like a K when I read, like how you pronounce the C in Falcon."

Yes, me too :)

Chapter 19 -23: (view spoiler)[ I know, I know the "we against the whole world" trope is a little cheesy, but I really like the 5 of them together :)

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "And when are they going to fix Falcio?"

YES! Plus when are they going to fix Kest? They even know how to calm him down to avoid a new fever... But no, they went on and on...

And yes it makes sense that the Greatcoats were there to save the Dukes, not that they are doing a good job so far 😅
I'm also wondering who's behind these murders. And I'm wondering why they doesn't spread rumors that Trin was behind them? It was said, that it would be bad for her if the Dukes think ahe murdered the other Dukes...

Do you think the young Fake-Greatcoat is dead too? I hope not :( (hide spoiler)]

Out of context, this pronunciation discussion reminds me of an evil D&D character name I saw... Eric Withakay... pronounced "with a K"

Sir Anni wrote: "Chapter 19 -23: ..."
(view spoiler)[
I'd forgotten about the young fake-Greatcoat! Last we saw he was fighting and then radio silence. I'm guessing he'll appear at some random unexpected point in the future...

Fix Kest!! Fix Falcio!! (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 24-26(view spoiler)[

I'm getting bored!! Going from town to town fighting evil Knights, all is lost, but we'll keep at it. Kest gets redder. Falcio gets more paralyzed. And we just ride on to the next town to... do what?

OK, sorry, had to vent, back to the issue at hand.

So,
1. we've got somebody riling up the townsfolk and arming them.
2. Someone riling up the Knights and sending them rogue, killing peasants and ignoring Dukes.
3. Someone killing Dukes

Hmmmmm... I'm drawing a blank. Any theories? (hide spoiler)]

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Chapters 24-26

I'm getting bored..."

I found this book to have a pretty lengthy lull in the middle. The pacing was much more plodding compared to the first book. And a few of the plot points felt reaaaallllly recycled.

Andrew wrote: "Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Chapters 24-26

I'm getting bored..."

I found this book to have a pretty lengthy lull in the middle. The pacing was much more plodding compared to the first book. And a fe..."

Do you think you'll continue the series @Andrew? Today I'm thinking I'm done after this book... Maybe by the end I'll be singing a different tune.

Andrew wrote: "Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Chapters 24-26

I'm getting bored..."

I found this book to have a pretty lengthy lull in the middle. The pacing was much more plodding compared to the first book. And a fe..."

I'm in Ch 16 and feeling this already. As much as I enjoyed the beginning, the book isn't grabbing me like I hoped it would.

Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Andrew wrote: "Laura Tenfingers wrote: "Chapters 24-26

I'm getting bored..."

I found this book to have a pretty lengthy lull in the middle. The pacing was much more plodding compared to the first..."

Yes, I will continue. Partially because the ending was pretty decent, partially because I rarely abandon a series (unless it's truly terrible, like The Magicians, or a perfect stand-alone like Ender's Game), and partially because I already own Book 4 (I picked it up as a Kindle Daily Deal at some point).

That being said, I'm not prioritizing the series right now. I may read Book 3 after I knock out the three books I'm currently reading. Or I may read it a month later. Not really in a hurry.

I looked up the Goodreads ratings for each book in the series. Statistics are as follows:

Book 1: 12,867 ratings, 4.07*
Book 2: 6,697 ratings, 4.26*
Book 3: 4,481 ratings, 4.30*
Book 4: 2,856 ratings, 4.48*

What's interesting about this is that nearly 50% of readers only read book 1, even though 77% of those readers rated it as 4* or higher. That's crazy to me. You'd think that people who really enjoyed Book 1 would be highly likely to read at least the first sequel. But anyway, roughly 2/3 of people who read Book 2 decided to continue on to Book 3, and again roughly 2/3 of people who read Book 3 continued on to Book 4.

So here's where I take some assumptions about the quality of the rest of the series. It seems as though Book 3 is probably going to be similiar to Book 2, given the nearly identical reader retention rates and ratings. Book 4 likely wraps the series up pretty well, since those readers who stuck it out to the end overwhelming rate it as 4* or higher (90%) and almost no one hated it (only 1% rated it 2* or lower). I think that's encouraging from the perspective that the series is worth continuing, although it likely will not crack my Top 20 All-Time Favorite Series list (and yes...I do have a list).

Finished CH 18. That picked up the pace a bit. Guess I just needed a good fight scene :)

Sir Anni wrote: "...Chapter 15-18 [spoilers removed]..."

(view spoiler)[I think Dara is a red herring. She was there unrelated to other stuff, just having fun as that Duke's mistress. I doubt she's the murderer and more likely was killed simply because she was a witness or was trying to protect the Duke.

As others mentioned above, I want more information about Saints in this world.

I also wonder how they'll cure Falcio. I'm making an assumption that we retain his POV for the whole series and there are 2.5 books to go. (hide spoiler)]

To mayhem and fighting!