Nolyn: Book 1 of the Rise and Fall Trilogy discussion

What do you think after reading this chapter?

I am not done with the chapter yet but writing is illegal? I loved the book of Brin entries and am now wondering how this will turn out.

Nephron did not agree with many of Persephone's actions. The evidence of which is clear as he has taken steps to minimize or erase her actions and those that she sent on quests actions. I have a feeling that may work against him in the future.

Yeah, a world where writing is illegal is just one of the problems with what is going on in the new empyre.

Loving the tie-ins to the other books, but trying to comment on this as if I were a newcomer... More strong work with immediately creating depth and likeability in Sephryn and the secondary characters introduced here. Absolutely loved the humor behind the origin story of the hairstyle and habits of monks and the jack-o'-lantern. Little tidbits like that in the last series that gave origins to what we take for granted, such as the pocket, and bigger things like writing always brought a lighthearted joy in the midst of more serious moments. I hope there are more of them!

I can't remember if it's this chapter, but at some point Nolyn mentions that Sephryn is the only other fhrey/human that he knows. How is that possible 800 years into the empire? By the time Hadrian and Royce are around it seems like fhrey and humans have intermingled quite a bit.

So my resolve to write my comments before I would continue reading lasted for exactly one chapter. ;-)

Ok, so here we are with a new character. I had some problems warming up with Sephryn. I typically do with female characters. Now, a lot of people tell you, that female readers prefer female characters and male readers prefer male characters, but I'm not like that. I'm not looking for someone whose place I can take, but for someone I can drool over.

So we learn a bit about the kind of racism (speciesm?) in the Empyre. I think it was nicely done, weaving a lot of small details into it, that will probably (to judge from Michael's other books) will later come together as one big tapestry. But the setting didn't quite grip me as much as the first chapter - well, right until the very last paragraphs. What happened with the little boy? That's when my resolve crumbled to first write my comment and then continue reading.

Wow so much has changed since Persephone's death. I mean I figured Nyphron would change it. He really only wanted to rule not change the world...that was Persephone's dream.

@ Sarah - thanks - putting in a little tidbit like that here and there is something I'm always trying to instruct new writers to do. If you stay "too close" to the plot the stories seem to be dry - you have to allow yourself to add some spice.

@Bonnie -you are correct - 3,000 years in the future there is a lot of intermingling between the races, but there are reason for it not happening much - which will be explained in more detail as the story unfolds.

@Conny - that's interesting - it never occurred to me whether men gravitate toward male characters or women gravitate toward males. It's certainly not something I think of when I choose the gender of a character. But if I think about it, my favorites are pretty evenly divided.

@Diamond - aye. I think we all expected Nyphron to make big changes.

@Michael - Thank you! I really need to learn to "Keep calm and trust Michael J"...

Having read all of Michaels published books multiple times, I was on the lookout for his invisible hand. So naturally, when a humble stranger appears, I was thinking: I know who that is - especially since his face looks like a gerbil which is not much different from a weasel I guess. But as it turns out ... Thank you so much, Michael, for the twist and the red herring ;)

How I love Sephryn! From the first moment in the market. It hurts to read the problems of the empyre and that perhaps Moya replicated some of her own mother’s flaws, but we readers share the distinction between the hopefulness of Sephryn’s youth and the reality that grown up life is also filled with losses. Seymour. Sigh. So lovely. Not as Myron as I’d like but he has so much potential.

I already love the character of Seymour, reminds me on an other monk ;-)

When reading about Mari and Maribor, I was a bit surprised that this interpretation of history already happened that „early“ and curious what else might turn out to have happened since we last got an eye on this world.

As a second language reader I always enjoyed reading Michaels books not just because of the great stories, but also for his way of writing, which felt natural and easy to understand for me - at times as far as letting me forget that I‘m reading in a foreign language.

Therefore I was surprised, that in the first third of the second chapter I had to look up nearly as many words in the dictionary than I normally have to during a whole book. Know that cause I use the vocabulary trainer on my kindle that saves every word I look up ;-)

Just found that interesting because it seemed to be so concentrated on that small part of the chapter and wondering if that might be a conscious chosen style of language?

OK, so I was left without a computer for a few days (hard drive damage) and couldn't comment after reading each chapter, as I had intended to... And I got to chapter #11 in the meantime. But I will now comment on each of the threads for #2 to #10 anyway, and I'll try to remember my thoughts at the time I read them...LOL

For this one, all I can say is:
I already loved both Sephryn and Seymour, immediately <3
(Seymour reminds me of... Myron - surprise surprise LOL)
And I was really worried about little Nurgya, at the end there :O