u/attachedtothreads

I'm taking a slower reading approach to TKWNKM and I have stumbled upon this snippet that has given me pause:

First page of Chapter 10:

When Maggie is telling Reynald:

"...A complete breakdown of society, aided by the Crimson Empire and a plague. It begins with three powerful people being murdered one after another, and things really fall apart after the second murder, the assassination of the crown prince."

The second powerful person to die is Crown Prince Kiel.

The first powerful person to die is Colart Jenicor.

Who's the third to die that accelerates the breakdown of society?

>!--Julie kicking Ascansio's butt when he tried to manipulate her for a kiss!<

>!--Kate teasing Julie that she can squat in her office during winter since her school kicked her out!<

>!--Andrea slapping the sh*t out of Aunt Bea!<

>!--Kate meticulously and thoroughly taking Kenneth down (and Jennifer since she put him up to it)!<

>!--Curran saying he'll leave the pack when she says so (also, eff the pack for trying to usurp Curran's and Kate's places when he was just down for a couple weeks)!<

>!--Curran chasing Saiman and Kate from Bernard's!<

>!--Curran's starring role in his action movie that Kate showed him!<

>!--Kate taunting Curran as he's racing on the rooftops after Saiman and them duking it out in her apartment!<

>!--Kate saying stay to Curran and willing to be in a relationship with him--so sweet and took so much bravery for her to say that after her training and mental conditioning!<

>!--Kate's, Curran's, and Dali's first fight in the ring in Magic Strikes--hilarious!<

>!--I love any scene with Dali and Andrea in it!<

>!--Kate and Curran entering the temple bloody after a battle and perusing a cookbook and Curran flipping through a stack of money to find a non-bloody bill. Then, after the meeting with Rabbi Peters, the couple duking it out again and Curran going to back to the temple to buy another cookbook after he ripped the first one.!<

I hate you. I stayed up until 5am this past Sunday listening to Magic Strikes because I was saying to myself, "Just one more half hour. Just to the end of the section. Just one more half hour." Also, Curran is a b*stard. He ate her pie. He ate her last slice of apple pie when she was tired and hungry. The hot tub scene almost made up for it, but not quite. He owes her pie.

I'd like to persuade my workplace to have a bidet adapter to our staff bathrooms, but need to come up with suggestions. It's a U-bend Eljer toilet. What would you recommend?

I'm just now getting into more of IA's works and starting with Kate Daniels. This is my first listening. I listened to the first audiobook with the single narrator. Would you recommend the Graphic Audio over the single narrator or vice versa and why?

I got to thinking last night about the battle that I think is coming in the second book and the location and timeline.

In Chapter 24, the day after >!Reynald reveals himself to be Everard!< when Maggie is eating breakfast, she internally notes that "The Dukedom of Selva shared its eastern border with the Crimson Empire in the south and the Goryni Kingdom in the north. Goryni, a small nation, occupied a mountainous area and was renowned for its mineral wealth and unbeatable military. They imported a lot of their food. Its treacherous, rocky coastline made commercial fishing and trade difficult, and in a few months, an underwater earthquake would take out their largest functional harbor. When the Crimson Empire invaded Rellas, which would be bleeding from Hreban’s rampage, the Gorynians would be on the edge of starvation."

We know that the timeline is >! speeding up events due to Maggie's interference and am wondering if the Crimson Empire will speed up their invasion as well?!<.

In Chapter 16, Maggie details Solentine Dagarra's land: "This portion of the continent was split between Rellas in the West and the Crimson Empire in the East. The two countries shared a long border, interrupted by the Corios Sea. When they warred, their invasions happened either in the south, across a vast plain, or in the north, where three mountain ranges formed the Trihorn."

I wonder, with Maggie's knowledge of the future earthquake, try to lure the Crimson Empire from over the mountains and, if it can happen naturally or with some assistance, have an avalanche help take out a portion of the Crimson Empire?

Would an earthquake cause an avalanche?

>!In the epilogue, Silveren orders Maggie to put the ornament in her hair when he abducts her. Do you think he knows he significance of the hairpiece?!<

Edited because I can't spell names apparently.

Maggie states that she got a political science degree. Why didn't she go into local/state/federal government? Become a Foreign Service Officer? She wanted to make a change in the world, why not that route?

Edited to add: in real life, not in Rellas.

I am also going off the top of my head and do not have the book at hand.

I don't know much music and wanted to see what others' opinion.

>!Maggie notes while in Galiene's office to tell who is messing with the shipments, that "Arale took over Galiene's job, but she kept making mistakes. Shortly after the failed raid, Hade died suddenly. A purple pouch containing traces of poison was found in her room. I'd always thought Arale was the one who'd done it. Without Hade she had free rein [sic], and within a year she had run the Garden into the ground." Pages 346-347!<

>!How would she run the Garden into the ground? I think what Arale thinks it takes to be proprietress of the Garden is to practice the Three Arts (dancing; singing; what's the third? needlework? flower arranging?) and be seductive, but I say it's management. That's de-escalating fights, tempers, egos between wealthy merchants and nobility, soothing hurt feelings, etc. and for staff as well. !<

>!Is Silverian dampening his eye color so as to not draw too much attention? I know when Everard uses magic, it intensifies his original eye color, but when Silverian uses his magic, is it because he's revealing the true color of his eyes or intensifying the original?!<

>!Maggie's first impressions of Silverian. I don't think he's using magic at this moment: "His eyes were striking, a rich golden hazel." Page 35; later on page 35: "He wasn't afraid of Hreban. Who the hell was he? Brown hair, hazel eyes, beautiful face".!<

>!I think he's using his magic here to lure Maggie away from her household at the Dog Market: "The man from the Garden stood next to me. He wore a plain brown cloak and lancer's coif that hid his face, but the eyes were unmistakable. A rich, golden hazel, slightly wild." Page 176!<

>!"Beautiful. Like the kind of face that makes you stop and stare. He has these captivating eyes, light hazel, like golden amber. They almost glow." Page 196!<

>!Here, he is definitely using his magic: ""Mother..." he said. His face was slack with shock. Tears wet his golden eyes" page 463 !<

It's Everard's home in the Kair Toren. We know 'zmur' generically means large predatory bird from Maggie mulling over a word, but do we get any indication what "Ra" means? I know this is a different world, but can't think of Ra the Egyptian Sun God.

On page 223, Reynald mentions to Maggie that >!"Ralinbor didn't lose his war on the battlefield. He lost it weeks before, when he failed to adequately equip his troops, neglected to put together a functioning supply chain, and chose the wrong place and time to engage his enemy. He counted too much on the dursans, but they are just animals. No matter how powerful a magical beast is, it's no substitute for proper planning and strategy."!<

On page 460, >!"Dursans rained down, slicing through the clouds. Five, ten, no, more, landing all over the courtyard."!<

>!Silverian relies on Cai of Sunder and, as his backup plan, the dursans to kill the Sun Margrave. He doesn't involve the Order of the Redeemer Knights at all. While I think this because it's a combination of personal revenge and he didn't want to expose the Redeemers' involvement at this point in case Cai did succeed, it seems to me that this might be his downfall. Or do you think he will learn from his father's mistakes and have a good supply chain?!<

I'm re-listening the audiobook for the time and Maggie mentioned that 15 is an important number in Rellas. Why do you think that would be?

On page 333 when Tillmar is taking his oath to Everard, Maggie notes that:

&#x200B;

Dark smoke boiled out of Everard. His eyes turned a piercing, scalding green.

&#x200B;

I understand that the dark smoke he sometimes uses just for theatrics, but are the piercing, scalding eyes also for theatrics? Earlier in the book, Maggie says it's a precursor to Everard using his Fatefire. Is there some kind of magic bonding Everard and Tillmar during the oath scene?