YA Addicted Book Club discussion

In July we will be reading...

A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

Who is in for this one?

Discussion Questions:
Part 1 (July 1-7th)
1. What are your initial thoughts?
2. Who is your favourite character so far and why?
3. The dragons - good guys, villains or both?
4. What are you looking forward to in part 2?

Part 2 (July 8-14th)
1. What do you think about the ending of part 2? Were you surprised?
2. What do you think about Sabran and the Night Owl?
3. What do you think about the Priory?
4. What do you want to find out in part 3?

I'm going to do something a little bit different this month with the group read. I'm going to start reading it now so that each week I can post some discussion points etc.

As this book is HUGE I am going to be spreading it out over the four weeks. In the book it's split into six 'books' so my reading and discussion points will be as follows:

July 1st - 7th: Book 1 (up to p251)
July 8th - 14th: Book 2 (p251 - 405)
July 15th - 21st: Books 3 and 4 (p405 - 621)
July 22nd - 31st: Books 5 and 6 (p620 - 804)

I will definitely be reading this with you all this month! I probably won’t finish it since I will be traveling almost the whole month but it’s perfect to read in the airplane :)

I'm definitely going to join in this one, I'm going to try it on audio though, because it's HUGE and I don't think the hardback will be very comfy to read!

Jo, I don’t blame you at all. I’ve just started it and it’s so heavy lol

Ha ha yeah, my friend said she tried to read the physical copy and it just hurt her arms! Plus I usually read when travelling (bus, train, car etc) so it's not really very practical to be hauling around.

I'll be reading it alongside others. Others for things like travelling, this one for at home haha

Ha ha totally fair!

I don't think I will get to this one this month. Library doesn't have it in ebook format. But enjoy! It looks like a good one

I've just started this one, read up to chapter three last night. So far, very confused by all the different names!

Read up to chapter eight today, it's clear that I don't read much epic fantasy because keeping track of all the characters and place names has been quite difficult. I'm enjoying the writing though and I think I'm getting a better feel for the main characters now.

Thanks so much for the breakdown! Looking forward to this book.

No problem! I'm going to keep updating with my thoughts as I go along, it will be easier for me to write my review that way, since this is the first audiobook I will have ever reviewed!

Read up to chapter 14 now, characters are still confusing but the plot is getting more intriguing.

Intriguing how so? I am still curious about it but would like to know a little more before I invest the time it will take

Brittany wrote: "Intriguing how so? I am still curious about it but would like to know a little more before I invest the time it will take"

There are plots building against the Queen so that's quite interesting.

You’re a little ahead of me Jo. I’m just about to start chapter 13. I agree it’s very intriguing. I do read a lot of epic fantasy but I am also confused about who is who. There just seems to be so many main characters. Reminds me a little of game of thrones that way. I ended up loving that though and like you I’m really enjoying the writing style and storyline so far.

I will post a few discussion questions for part 1, when I’ve finished part 1. Hopefully that’ll be this evening or tomorrow.

Ah okay. I only read one chapter today, Chapter 14, it’s a long one, nearly 40 minutes on audio, don’t know how long in the book. Yeah I’m not used to having so many main characters, most books I read tend to have one or two. That’s good. I’m hoping I’ll finish part one by the end of this week, I have eight chapters to go.

Three more chapters read today, so I'm now up to chapter eighteen. It's getting easier to follow the further through I get and I think my favourite character at the moment is Niclays. I should definitely finish Part One by Sunday, ready to start Part Two next week.

I'm almost finished part one, I read through to Chapter 21 today, so I only have that and Chapter 22 to go. I reckon the next part will be more exciting as this first part was largely just set up and now all of the characters are in the places that they need to be, things should be heating up a bit.

I’ve just finished part one. I agree. It was slow but it was definitely the build up. I’m excited to read part 2 as I feel like it’s now getting good and getting to the exciting bits.

I’ll post some discussion points for part 1 this afternoon.

Yes definitely! Ah okay, I should have finished the final two chapters of Part 1 by this evening.

I've finished Part One and started Part Two today. (view spoiler)[I don't believe that Sabran is really pregnant, or if she is I bet it will be a boy, and that will cause trouble in Inys>. I also (view spoiler)[ really hope Kit isn't dead because I liked him>. The South has just started to be included as well, so that should be interesting, and I'm intrigued to see how Sabran and Ead's relationship develops. We haven't heard much of Tane in the last few chapters so I hope we get back to her soon, as I'd like to see how she's doing in dragonriding. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

I’ve finished part one as well. I’m almost finished part 2. I have about 50 pages left of it. I’m really into it now. It’s getting so good. I’ll update my thoughts soon.

Wow, that was quick! I'm glad to hear you're really getting into it, I am too, I want to see what happens with everyone, especially Sabran.

I'm off work this weekend that's why it was quick. I've just finished part 2 and going to start reading part 3 this afternoon. I'm hoping to get a bit more read today as work is going to be crazy the next few days so I probably won't manage to read very much.

Part 1 Discussion Questions:

1. What are your initial thoughts?
2. Who is your favourite character so far and why?
3. The dragons - good guys, villains or both?
4. What are you looking forward to in part 2?

Part 2 Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think about the ending of part 2? Were you surprised?
2. What do you think about Sabran and the Night Owl?
3. What do you think about the Priory?

Part 1 Answers - Don't read it until you've finished part 1. Spoilers!
(view spoiler)[ It took me a little while to get into it. At the beginning I felt like there were so many characters and I didn't really know who was who. The more I read the more I got to grips with them.

Ead is my favourite character so far. I just really like her and I feel like she's going to have a great journey in this book.

I'm not sure whether the dragons are good or bad. I feel like the people in Inys are so afraid of them they haven't considered that there may be some good ones. Like I quite like the ones in the East. I think maybe some of them are good and some of them bad.

In part 2 I was looking forward to finding out what the Priory is. (hide spoiler)]

Part 2 Discussion Answers. Again SPOILERS!
(view spoiler)[ I was really surprised by the ending. I wasn't surprised about Ead falling for the queen I could definitely see that coming. I was super surprised that the Night Owl found out and got rid of her. Poor Ead.

My heart hurts for Sabran. I could see something happening to the baby, like it being a boy or something but I'm super sad that she lost the baby and is now barren. It does open the story up for a lot to happen there.

I'm intrigued by the Priory. I'm happy we learned what it was but I'm really interested to see what's going to happen with it. Especially considering Loth is there and Ead is on her way there.

In part three I want to know what's happened to Tane. She's just kind of been forgotten about for now. I don't for a second believe she's just going to live in exile quietly. (hide spoiler)]

I’m so excited!! This has been on my TBR for months!!

Hi Chloe, I’m so glad and I hope you enjoy. I’m about half way through and loving it.

1. Initial thoughts-Honestly that there were way too many characters, I found it hard to keep track! They've become clearer as the book has gone on but it was a struggle at first.
2. I think Niclays, Ead and Sabran are my favourite characters so far. Niclays appeals to my inner grump and he's quite a morally grey character which I like. Ead I think has the most interesting story so far and Sabran I just find quite interesting because we only get to see her through the eyes of others.
3. The dragons I think are probably a bit of both. We've only really seen the bad so far but I don't believe they can be just pure evil.
4. I'm quite interested to see in Part 2 if Sabran really can keep the Berethnet bloodline going. I have a feeling she's not going to have a child and if she does, it will be a boy.
I've only just started Part 2, so I'll answer the questions when I've finished. Lots of exciting stuff happening at the moment though!

I'm up to Chapter Thirty now, and things are definitely getting exciting, I like that a lot of the characters storylines are starting to intertwine now, it's making everything a lot easier to follow! I'm hoping to finish Part Two and start Part Three by the end of this week.

I’ve just finished part 3. It’s just getting better and better. I’m actually so shocked and surprised by what just happened. Can’t wait to start part 4 after work tomorrow.

I've finished Part 2 today, it's getting really good. So much has happened in this part.
(view spoiler)[.
<1. I knew Ead was going to fall for the Queen, it was quite easy to spot and I'd seen a lot of people talking about it as an f/f fantasy anyway, so it made sense. I also figured that Sabran would lose the baby, but it weirdly still came as somewhat of a shock when it happened? I wasn't expecting her to lose it in such a violent way and I definitely didn't think she'd be completely barren. I didn't think the Night Owl would find out and banish her either, that was definitely a surprise.>
<2. I don't trust the Night Owl, I definitely think he's plotting something against Sabran. It's very dangerous that Ead has left court, something will happen to Sabran now that she's gone.>
<3. I'm intrigued and slightly confused by the Priory. I'm glad we know what it is now, but I still have many questions. Loth and Ead meeting up there should be quite interesting, especially since he presumably doesn't know who she really is. Tane seems to have gone kind of AWOL but I don't really mind because honestly, I find the others' storylines more interesting, I think hers is the weakest of the four>.
I will update with my first thoughts on Part Three tomorrow! (hide spoiler)]

I've got to Chapter 44 now. It's getting really exciting, (view spoiler)[. I'm enjoying seeing more of the Priory as well, and learning more about the world's magic system. Tane's story is still for me the weakest, though I think we're just not really getting enough time with her to be invested. (hide spoiler)]

So glad you’re enjoying it. I’m about 10 chapters ahead of you and I know exactly what you mean about Tane. Just wait though. I’m so excited for you to get to a bit that had me shocked!

So am I! I was worried, because I've never tried a book this large before (except Kingdom of Ash and I've not yet finished that one!) and it's obviously the first book Samantha Shannon has done outside The Bone Season series (which I love), but it's been so good. I think it definitely helps that this book is VERY different to The Bone Season, also the audio has made it seem much more manageable, I'm definitely getting longer books on audio from now on! Ooh I'm intrigued now, and excited to get to where you are. I should finish Part Three tomorrow, and hopefully start Part Four. Part One definitely took the longest to get through, but that's no surprise, since I think it's the longest part of the book?

Yeah I think it is. The last 4 parts seem to be the shortest. I've started part 4 last night and I'm aiming to read a bit more of it today after work. I'm really enjoying it. I just find it bulky to hold and take with me anywhere as I have the hardback lol.

Ha ha fair, the audio is definitely more portable. I've just got to Part 4 today so a little behind you. So much is happening right now!

Read up to Chapter 53, things are really hotting up in Inys at the moment. Tane's story is still probably my least favourite but at least it's tied more into the others now!

I’ve started part 5. I’m up to chapter 61 and although I’m really enjoying this book and I’m really invested in the story and characters a part of me feels like it didn’t need to be this long. I’m so beyond ready for this book to be done now and to see how it ends. I just feel like the length isn’t really necessary.

I'm about halfway through Chapter 55 now. I have to agree Kay, I'm loving the story but it feels like it's wrapping up to a natural end now and there's still another 20 chapters to go!

So glad I’m not the only one who thinks that. I’ll probably finish it this evening. I have about 50 pages left. We’ll see what my thoughts are at the end.

Generally I think that if a book is over about 600 pages, more often than not, if you trimmed out the filler it would be at least 100 pages shorter. Obviously this is not always the case, I have read some really well paced 600+ page books (A Conjuring of Light being my favourite) but I think it's really hard to hold a readers attention for that long!

I totally agree. I loved A Conjuring of Light too. I felt like the last Throne of Glass book kept my attention too but that was probably due to my love of the series already.

I finished Priory and I really enjoyed it. Not sure my thoughts on the ending yet. I need time to process it all first lol.

I do love the Throne of Glass series, but have struggled to get through the last book, it's just so large. I'm on Part 5 of Priory now, so I should finish it within the next week!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

For when you're finished...

(view spoiler)[ I enjoyed it. It's a great fantasy but I can't help but feel a little deflated by the ending. I thought the build up was great and I couldn't wait to see this battle with the Nameless One just to feel like it was over way too quickly and that the build up to it was better than the execution. I just feel like it was a little anticlimactic. I also couldn't really tell you what truly happened to Tane. Did she die? Is her purpose filled so she died under the Mulberry Tree? If so, what happened to her dragon who was waiting for her? I just feel like Tane's story didn't have a conclusion and considering the book was so huge there was definitely space and time for that. I ended up rating in 3 stars. (hide spoiler)]

I've got to Part Six now, so only about 10 more chapters to go! I have to say I don't see how everything is going to wrap up in that time, but as I've seen Kay's thoughts, I know it doesn't all wrap up which is frustrating for a standalone of this size.

Sorrrrry. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. I mean one of my friends loved the ending and did think it wrapped everything up so maybe it’s just me 🤷🏼‍♀️