Red Lodge Fantasy Book Club discussion

Here are our discussion questions this month:
1. Red and Blue write each other in many varied formats, from simple ink on paper to flavors in sumac seeds. Which letter was your favorite?

2. When Red first receives Blue's initial letter she worries it might be designed to corrupt her mind toward her enemy’s purpose. “Subvert her thoughts, to seed a trigger.” Is this in some ways true by the end? Is this what all human correspondence is designed to do?

3. What is the significance of Atlantis? Why do they repeatedly have more advanced technology earlier than other civilizations, and why does that mean they are always destroyed?

4. Hunger is a common theme in the letters between Red and Blue. How does this hunger change as the characters come to know one another better? How is the hunger they feel different from each other?

5. Red and Blue have several opportunities to cause harm or even kill one another with their letters. Why do they not try to? In one letter Blue “wonders if the hardness in her throat is poison.” but “This does not frighten her.” Why is she not worried?

6. Both characters are referred to as female but their gender does not really define them e.g. Red easily poses as male in one passage. What is the significance, if any, of them being female? What is the significance of gender in an era where your body can easily be molded day to day?

7. Every move in the time war is carefully calculated and chosen for its far-reaching ramifications. Even chaos is purposefully created. How difficult would it be to choose the right moment in history to change? How does this compare to war as we know it?

8. “As the prophets say ‘Ain’t no mountain high enough.’” What do these quotes from the “prophets” imply about the nature of the Time War? Are these song lyrics and popular sayings something planted by time agents or is there something grander happening behind the scenes?

9. Red and Blue each interact with their leaders once through the book. What are the notable differences between the Commandant and Garden? Who would you rather work for?

10. When Red becomes the seeker she should know where each letter fragment ended up, so why is it that the younger Red felt like she was being followed all through her missions and not just at those points?

11. Blue muses about the differences between versions of Romeo and Juliet among strands. Do you think she was already considering the parallels between her own situation and that of Romeo and Juliet? What parallels did you see?