Welcome back for our final check in of The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis!

For a place to note your thoughts (and to keep track of events - this series spans many years!), head over to our marginalia post here -- but beware of spoilers! The marginalia post also contains links to the other discussions for this series.

Speaking of spoilers: while Narnia is an older series, that does not mean everyone has read it! Please use spoiler tags when referencing any later events in this series. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and use a tag!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 10: 

Finally in the greener land of Archenland, our group spots Prince Rabadash’s army quickly approaching across the desert. The horses run as fast as they can but their journey has taken a toll on them and they quickly tire. As Bree pulls ahead of Hwin, Shasta turns around to see a giant lion closing in on the girls, and he begs Bree to turn around. When Bree doesn’t respond, Shasta throws himself off and stumbles back to help as the lion strikes at Aravis. To Shasta’s (and our) surprise, the lion is fended off by a shout. Both Aravis and Hwin are injured, but as the lion leaves, the Hermit of the Southern Marsh approaches to help. 

Shasta continues on to find King Lune on his own while Aravis and the horses stay behind with the hermit to recuperate. Aravis believes that Shasta will be successful, but Bree declares that he will enter back into slavery as he is ashamed that he didn’t help fend off the lion. The Hermit chastises the warhorse and tells him to being humbled isn’t a bad thing. 

Chapter 11: 

Shasta does find King Lune. After clarifying that he is not Prince Corin, Shasta relays the message about the approaching Prince Rabadash. The King quickly agrees with him and provides him with a horse. However, Shasta struggles with his horse and is quickly left behind, having to hide from Prince Rabadash’s group. He overhears Rabadash’s plans for assaulting King Lune’s castle and attacking Narnia. 

After Rabadash’s 200 men move on, Shasta is alone with his horse. Lost and cold, he cries about how exhausted and unfortunate he is when suddenly a Large Voice speaks to him. Using its warm breath to assure Shasta that it is not a ghost, the voice explains to Shasta that there was only ever one lion on this journey – Aslan has been by his side the whole time. When Aslan reveals himself to Shasta, we learn that Shasta has never heard of Aslan; but even he can tell that he is in the presence of a true High King. When Aslan departs, Shasta again finds himself alone with his horse. 

Chapter 12: 

In the morning, Shasta wonders if his entire encounter with Aslan was a dream before he realizes that he has somehow crossed the mountains into Narnia. 

In Narnia, Shasta is quickly swept up into the lives of the talking animals. First a hedgehog, then Rabbit, then more creatures appear and Shasta tells them all of the incoming threat. Finally, it is the dwarf Duffle who agrees to send the message. After having lunch with the dwarf and his kin, Shasta falls asleep only to awaken later to the sound of trumpets. Lord Peridan of Narnia had arrived at the home of the dwarfs along with King Edmund, Queen Lucy, and Corin. Shasta is finally able to relay his message to Narnian loyalty. Corin is eager to fight but has been forbidden by Edmund. However, after the dwarf Thornbut is injured, Edmund declares that Shasta can wear the dwarf’s armor for battle. 

Chapter 13: 

Shasta and the Narnian army arrive at King Lune’s castle, Anvard, to see Prince Rabadash’s men battering the walls.  

From afar, the Hermit observes the battle and relays everything to Aravis, Bree, and Hwin. Once the battle is over, an exhausted Shasta falls from his horse. The remaining Calormenes have been taken prisoner, and Rabadash has gotten himself stuck to a wall thanks to a hole in his mail. Rabadash insists on fighting but the Narnians take his sword and carry him off. 

Corin brings Shasta to King Lune. With the boys finally side by side, most are surprised. King Lune takes Shasta and kisses him on the cheeks to cheers from the crowd. 

Chapter 14: 

Learning that Shasta has survived battle, Hwin is eager to continue into Narnia, but Bree would rather wait until he is more presentable. When asked why he always says expressions such as, “By the Lion”, Bree begins to explain about Aslan and how he isn’t really a lion, but he is interrupted by the very lion Himself leaping into the wall. 

Aslan promises Hwin that she will find joy and invites Bree to touch him to prove that he is actually a lion before declaring that there is another visitor coming. 

Prince Cor arrives but is quickly revealed by his clumsy bow to by Shasta. He explains the story of what happened after his birth: Born a twin, there was a rumor that Prince Cor would one day save Archenland from great danger. Lord Bar, a spy of the Tistorc, kidnapped Cor and attempted to bring him to Calormen. King Lune gave chase and killed Lord Bar but Cor had been sent with a single knight on a smaller boat. Eventually, he was found by Arsheesh and renamed Shasta. 

His role in stopping Prince Rabadash fulfilled the prophecy. Cor also says that King Lune would like Aravis to live with them as they had had no ladies at court since the death of the queen. Cor and Aravis, walking with Hwin and Bree (as you don’t ride talking horses in Narnia or Archenland, except in times of great need), head north. 

Chapter 15: 

Arriving at court, Aravis tells King Lune how Cor had saved her from the lion. At lunch later with Edmund and Lucy, the group agree not to kill Rabadash. Once at trial, Rabadash is defiant and continues to threaten the others. Aslan arrives and foretells Rabadash’s doom unless he changes his ways. When Rabadash accuses Aslan of being a demon, the lion changes him into a donkey. His small mercy is that if he goes to the temple of Tash and remains within a ten-mile radius, he can change back into a man. If he strays beyond that limit, he will forever be a donkey.  

Rabadash later becomes the most peaceful Tisroc in Calormen history, as it is very hard to wage war when you can’t go beyond 10 miles of a temple. However, he is forever known as Rabadash the Ridiculous due to his time as a donkey. 

After Rabadash is sent off, there is a feast to celebrate. King Lune then tells Cor that he is next in line for the throne due to being 20 minutes older than Corin. Cor tries to say no, but Corin is glad to be free of the responsibility.  

In the future, Cor and Corin will quarrel like brothers, but Cor is stronger in battle. Cor also quarrels with Aravis, but not too badly: they end up married and become King and Queen of Archenland upon King Lune’s death. Both Bree and Hwin also get married in Narnia, but not to each other. They often visit Anvard to see their old friends. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fun Fact: The Horse and His Boy was written before The Silver Chair, despite being published after. As such, there is a bit of a spoiler! (As we have already read The Silver Chair, it is not considered a spoiler for us). Did you catch it?

>And when all the serious eating and drinking was over, a blind poet came forward and struck up the grand old tale of Prince Cor and Aravis and the horse Bree, which is called The Horse and His Boy and tells an adventure that happened in Narnia and Calormen and the lands between in the Golden Age when Peter was High King in Cair Paravel. (I haven’t time to tell it now although it is worth hearing.)

Another fun fact? This is our first Narnian read that did not take place in multiple worlds: we remained in Narnia the whole time!  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next week, we will be starting our next book, The Magician's Nephew. See you there!

Welcome to our next discussion of The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman!  This week, we will discuss Chapters 11-15. You can find the Schedule here and the Marginalia is linked here.  

References to the books we've read so far in His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust will not be considered spoilers.  Please use spoiler tags to hide references to other books/media or anything from later in this book such as chapters we haven't read yet. You can mark spoilers using the format > ! Spoiler text here ! < (without any spaces between the symbols themselves or between the symbols and the first and last words). 

Discussion questions for this week’s chapters are in the comments below. Feel free to add your own questions or thoughts, as well! In case you need a refresher, here is a recap of our reading for this week! 

~+~+~CHAPTER SUMMARIES~+~+~

CHAPTER 11 - THE KNOT:  Lyra wakes up to find Pan missing. He left her a note that said he's gone to find her missing imagination. In a panic, Lyra realizes that she can't show herself (dæmonless) in public and is probably in a lot of danger, so she leaves the Trout and heads to see her friend Dick Orchard. She wants to meet his gyptian grandfather Giorgio, who she thinks could help her find Farder Coram.  Dick gives her a neckerchief tied in a knot that is a sort of SOS signal for gyptians. Lyra finds Giorgio Brabandt with his keeshond dæmon on his boat, The Maid of Portugal.  He says they still talk about Lyra Silvertongue and the voyage north, and he feels the gyptians owe her for bringing back all those children. Giorgio agrees to help her get to the Fens where she can hide and where hopefully Farder Coram will have some idea of what to do. 

Meanwhile, Marcel Delamare meets with a Tartar man who has returned from Karamakan with the rose oil he was paid to retrieve. The oil is painful to the eye but produces visions such as those described in the poem Jahan and Rukhsana: the two lovers enter a rose garden, guided by the king of birds, and see visions that reveal many truths. The man is instructed to wait for payment at his hotel until Delamare has tested the oil himself. Delamare has many questions about who else knows of the oil, where it was purchased, and who else wanted it. He is interested in hearing about the men who destroyed the research station at Tashbulak because they believed the work to be blasphemous.  Delamare writes to the Rector of the College of Theophysical Research before refocusing on his preparations for the upcoming congress of the Magisterium. 

Malcolm arrives at the Trout eager to check in with Lyra, but finds her gone. He alerts Alice, who promises to keep an eye out and have the original Jordan servants look, as well. He visits Hannah to tell her about Lyra as well as the Botanic Garden business. She says she can ask the alethiometer why Lyra left so it will be easier to track her down.  Hannah reveals she can tell Malcolm is in love with Lyra and warns him not to let it affect his judgment. 

CHAPTER 12 - THE DEAD MOON:  Lyra helps cook and clean for Giorgio Brabandt as they sail. The rest of her time is spent studying the alethiometer using the classical method, worrying about Pan, and dodging Brabandt’s questions about the CCD.  He tells Lyra about how the secret commonwealth - the fairies and ghosts and the like - are generally on the side of the gyptians and even help chase off the CCD from time to time. He also tells her about the time the bogles killed the moon and buried her under a huge stone, but she was rescued by gyptians. Master Brabandt suspects Lyra doesn't believe in anything like this, and she struggles a bit with the tension between thinking such beliefs are a comfort to people and knowing that the author of The Hyperchorasmians would look down on it.  But Lyra tells him about how she's seen ghosts and been suckled by Diania, the fairy of the River Thames, when she was a baby.  She recalls how Ma Costa said Lyra had witch oil in her soul.  She asks Master Brabandt about the Blue Hotel and he explains it isn't a hotel at all, but an ancient city in the Levant where the Huns once slaughtered everyone, leaving it haunted by the dæmons of the dead. 

Olivier Bonneville is having no luck locating Lyra for Delamare, who is too preoccupied with the upcoming congress to supervise Olivier. He uses the new method to seek her out, trying to focus on a photo of Lyra to aid his concentration.  This results in Olivier seeing through Delamare’s own eyes to gaze on the creepy stalker vision board that Delamare has made using dozens of photograms of Lyra through the years.  Olivier realizes that his boss is obsessed with this girl for personal reasons and thinks it's creepy.  He decides to go analog and try talking to people about Delamare and his connection to Lyra. 

Malcolm and Asta decide to play detective, too. They go looking for information from the man Lyra mentioned who was involved in the murder, Benny Morris. Malcolm pretends to be visiting Morris as a representative of the Royal Mail, his employer, to gather information for his injury compensation claim. Malcolm tricks Morris into revealing his connection to the crime and to the crooked policeman, George Paston. He forces Morris to reveal that Paston takes orders from Simon Talbot of Cardinal’s College.  

CHAPTER 13 - THE ZEPPELIN:  Pan hates being away from Lyra but knows he has to save her from dogmatic certainty. He is seeking Gottfried Brande, the author of The Hyperchorasmians, so he can return Lyra's stolen imagination. 

The Oakley Street gang meet to discuss recent developments and organize for their next steps.  Charles Capes will work on finding connections between Talbot, Paston, and the Magisterium. Malcolm will focus on the rose oil and the trouble in the Levant. Hanna will continue using the alethiometer to find Lyra. Capes updates the group on the Congress of the Magisterium, which is the first in centuries and probably indicates they are gearing up for a war or conflict. Capes explains that Marcel Delamare and his organization - The League for the Instaturation of the Holy Purpose which is housed at La Maison Juste - are driving this push. A glimmer catches Malcolm's eye and the spangled ring appears in his vision which widens his perspective on the Oakley Street group. They seem silly and ineffectual up against the Magisterium.  As he looks at each person, the ring focuses on them and makes them each seem very valuable. 

The Magisterium is a messy organization of rival bodies and orders with a loose hierarchy and no single line of command. The leaders of these groups, fifty three in all, have assembled for the congress at the Secretariat of the Holy Prefecture, whose Prefect chairs the meeting (but is really just reading a speech written by Marcel Delamare. Secretly, Delamare has been leveraging his political influence and influencing things behind the scenes to get the outcome he wants. A smaller leadership committee will be formed and he's ensured who will be on it and in charge. 

Brabandt is just telling Lyra how they know they're in the Fens when he suddenly cuts the lights and engine. There's a zeppelin above them and he doesn't want to be spotted. A search light begins panning across the marsh as they float in darkness and silence, and then the zeppelin drops flares. A few twinkling marshlights appear; Brabandt says they're jacky lanterns or will o’ the wykeses, although Lyra thinks they can probably be explained by a natural phenomenon like methane.  The marshlights seem to attack a flare. When the zeppelin drops a bomb on the marsh, the lights go wild and make so much light that their boat is starkly visible. Lyra grabs the alethiometer to find out what's happening, but it's too dark to read. She struggles with her next idea because she considers the magical stories to be nonsense, but she has the urge to call on the secret commonwealth and Pan for help. Lyra closes her eyes and imagines Pan herding the marshlights for her and directing them.  Brabandt is amazed to see that the marshlights are concentrating around a single area and chasing a white bird (possibly a heron, although he thinks it is a flying boggart) right into the zeppelin.  It explodes in flames and crashes into the water, its crew diving out the sides. Brabandt thinks no one could survive such a crash and believes the secret commonwealth was involved. Lyra feels that she caused it to happen. Despite the horror of the zeppelin's death, they tuck into a hearty hash for dinner. 

CHAPTER 14 - THE CAFÉ COSMOPOLITAIN:  Dick Orchard goes to the Trout to tell Malcolm about where Lyra probably went. Since Malcolm is heading out of town, he asks Dick to get in touch with Alice and Hannah, who will want to know about Lyra and anything information he has about Benny Morris. He also says that Pan might show up looking for help like Lyra did… if he comes back. 

Pan waits for some sailors to steal a propeller so he can take his chance to stow away on a boat called the Elsa. He wants to be on it because it's heading for Cuxhaven, a town in the river Elbe, which he can travel along to get to Wittenburg, the hometown of Gottfried Brande. Determined to bring Lyra's imagination back, Pan hides on the Elsa and falls asleep.  

Delamare has been observing the debate during the first day of the congress, and whipping the vote in between sessions. He knows which people to give attention to and what they want to hear. To an elderly Patriarch from Constantinople, he describes how a representative council would help deal with the troubles in the Levant by providing more unified leadership. He flatters a reserved Abbess just enough to help her see she could humbly accept a place on the council to serve with modesty.  Delamare is gradually turning the votes in his favor.  That evening, delegates are chatting over brantwijn about who would make good additions to the council. Simon Talbot introduces himself as a journalist reporting for the Journal of Moral Philosophy and adds his voice in support of Marcel Delamare as a member of the council. This is echoed by corporate sponsors as well. 

At the Café Cosmopolitain, Olivier Bonneville is watching a man named Matthias Sylberberg, who attended school with Marcel Delamare. Sylberberg’s companions are Pochinsky, an art critic, and Rattin, who works for Sylberberg.  Bonneville contrives a way to introduce himself and spends some time flattering the older men and chatting with them.  They have questions for him about his work at La Maison Juste and he gives a very flattering picture of his brilliant employer Delamare and their important work to blend spiritual life with worldly life. All the while, his dæmon is talking to Rattin’s.  Later, they compare notes and it is revealed that Sylberberg knew Delamare at school as well as his sister, a beautiful English woman who used to work for the Magisterium but disappeared. She had a child named Lyra Belacqua, which makes Delamare Lyra's uncle! 

CHAPTER 15 - LETTERS:  Lyra arrives in the Fens and pays her respects to Orlando Faa before going to see her friends. Ma Costa welcomes her warmly and offers her a place to stay. Farder Coram is elderly and dozes often, but he is still overjoyed to see Lyra and wants to help her. They talk a lot about Lyra's experiences, Malcolm's good character, and Oakley Street history.  Farder Coram cautions her that the CCD and Magisterium are stronger than ever while Oakley Street is struggling, because evil has nothing to hold it back from doing what it wants while good will always have obstacles to overcome.  Farder Coram asks Lyra what she wants, and Lyra begins to tell him about a dream she had. She played with a dæmon who liked her and made her feel happy, and she is starting to think that if she went to the Blue Hotel, she could find that dæmon again…but she'd have to find Pan first because you need a dæmon to enter.  Lyra lets Farder Coram rest and he promises to come up with some ideas for her that evening. 

Lyra gets a letter from Malcolm which encourages her to learn all about Oakley Street and reassures her that everyone misses her.  The servants at Jordan are up in arms that she may have been arrested by the CCD and the Master could be to blame. Malcolm tells her he is going to the Levant and he is happy she'll be safe with the gyptians. Lyra replies with a letter thanking him for his care and help. She tells Malcolm that she feels she knows something about the red building but can't quite grasp it, and hopes to dream of it again. She wonders if she might see him there because she feels she needs to travel to Karamakan if she finds Pan at the Blue Hotel. She hopes that she and Malcolm will get the chance to talk more, and she says she is glad they are friends. 

Pan is hidden away on the Elsa and has strange dreams or experiences. He seems to be surrounded by ghosts who seek out his warmth.  Two sailors come down to the hold for supplies and take the time for a smoke, so Pan overhears their gossip about the captain. They are supposed to take on passengers when they make port, but not the paying kind. They will be smuggling people with no official papers to become slave-like laborers for a farmer the captain made a deal with.  One of the sailors hopes to quit when he gets his pay, but the other figures the captain will just withhold their salaries so that doesn't happen. Pan wonders if the ghosts he saw were just dreams, because he is completely alone.

“Your manners? You go into a wild rant about the djinn—you know, the ones who stopped the indiscriminate butchery of shafit like me, insult me when I show some relief at the news of their victory, and then announce you’re planning to leave me at the gates of that damn city anyway? And you’re blaming it all on wine and your lack of manners? By the Most High, you’re so arrogant you can’t even apologize properly.”

Welcome everyone to the SECOND check in for The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty. The story continues! We are continuing this amazing book this week by discussing Chapter 6 through Chapter 11!
Now, a note about spoilers!

The City of Brass Series is an extremely popular book series. Keep in mind that not everyone has read any of these items. This book may be the first time a person learns about it. Please keep r/bookclub's rules on spoilers, and the consequences for posting spoilers, in mind.

Everyone has a different perception of what is a spoiler, so here are a few examples of what would be spoilers:

- “Just wait till you see what happens next.”
- “This won't be the last time you meet this character.”
- “Your prediction is correct/incorrect.”
- “You will look back at this theory.”
- “Here is an Easter Egg: ...”
- “You don't know enough to answer that question yet.”
- “How do you first-time-readers feel about this detail that was intentionally not emphasized by the author?”

If you're unsure, it's best to err on the side of caution and use spoiler tags.

To indicate a spoiler, enclose the relevant text with the > ! and ! < characters (there is no space in-between).

For any type of comment or idea that may be a part of The City of Brass Series, just use proper spoiler labels, for example “In ” then describe the connection between books. Please be mindful when posting.

If you see something that you consider to be a spoiler, you can report it. It will be removed and the mods will look into it. To do so hit the “report” button, click on “breaks r/bookclub rules”, “next,” “spoilers must be tagged” and finally “submit”.

Hope you all Enjoy the discussion! Feel free to respond to any or all of the discussion questions below. Looking forward to discussing these chapters with you all!

Read on! 

- Rogue

Schedule

Marginalia

Welcome to our final discussion of Children of Strife.  This week, we will discuss Chapter 16.2 through the end of the book. The Marginalia post is here. You can find the Schedule here. 
 
Please mark all spoilers not included in this series using the format > ! Spoiler text here !< (without any spaces between the characters themselves or between the characters and the first and last words). 

It's been such a fun (if sometimes confusing) journey and I'm so glad to have read the books with our group! I'll always hold out hope that more books could be added to this series, but for now, thank you for reading along! Whether you were here for all the discussions or jumped in towards the end, we're glad you were here participating! Special shout-out to my fellow read runners - u/jaymae21, u/maolette, and u/nopantstime - for helping with the weekly discussions on this book, as well as to u/Joinedformyhubs, u/NightAngelRogue, u/Reasonable-Lack-6585, u/rosaletta, and u/towalktheline who helped earlier in the series!

Now onto some final chapter summaries, with questions in the comments as usual. Add your own thoughts or questions, too! 

>>>>>>>Chapter Summaries<<<<<<<<

PART 16, CONTINUED - THE THIRD AGE - Old Acquaintance, Brought to Mind:

CHAPTER 16.2:  Portifabian and Kern are working through the difficulties of communication and trying to figure out what exactly a Gerey Hartmand is! Kern is able to recall the basics about him as an unliked rival terraformer.  Portifabian has analyzed the life on the current planet and realized that the modular nature of its artificially manipulated biomass makes it easy for a designer to control… which also makes it easy for the Nodan entity to take over.  And since the Nodan entity works so quickly and creatively, the window for saving Mira or themselves (or any living thing on the planet) is swiftly closing. 

CHAPTER 16.3:  Kott has been listening and learning about the newcomers. She realizes the name Kern is significant but has to find Pil to discuss why.  They recall that Hartmand hated Kern because she was his nemesis in terraforming.  Kott has a perverse desire to shout the name across the planet just to see all the apex predators howl and rage.  She explains to Pil that the biological agent released by the newcomers is being held at bay but could easily win with enough time, permanently remaking the planet in its own image. Pil wonders if that would be so bad, and Kott realizes that neither are perfect choices: a monotonous eternal life vs. life with a definitive end both feel inadequate. She notices the shrimp-shaped newcomer scuttling away from Four Dragon Ford and decides if something is going down, it's her opening for mischief-making!

CHAPTER 16.4:  Cato wants to be more in control of the situation than he is, considering he is captain of their ship.  Kern is able to control his pod if he gets too aggressive near the humans. The Hartmand monsters haven't reappeared for him to confront. Cato wants to turn his energy towards elimination of the Nodan threat but Kern insists that they try to retrieve Alis, as she is their crew member, and give her relationship with Mira a chance to resolve the situation if possible. Sensor data from Alis’s suit indicates that she is alive and not in serious distress. (Apparently she's just chilling in the blob and not having an existential panic attack, which is exactly how I'd handle it, too.) Cato reluctantly agrees to retrieve Alis without destroying Mira. But he also takes the humans' laser cutter on his way out, so… 

CHAPTER 16.5:  Kott continues to figure out the new visitors. She's worked out that, like herself, Kern is a mind housed in a construct without her original body. However, Kott has a planet-wide consciousness to work with, and she uses it to discover how the shrimp-shaped being works. It can see and track her, and she learns to receive its signals as messages. They find each other interesting and Kott considers whether to hack the tech it is using or tempt it into her specialty, mischief-making. Kott minimizes Kern’s signal with a bunch of electromagnetic interference so it is just herself and the shrimp. 

PART 17 - THE THIRD AGE - A History of Violent Acts

CHAPTER 17.1:  Stomatopods on Kern's World spent a lot of time observing Portiid culture from afar and thinking it had nothing to do with them. The revelation that Kern had been a real organism from another planet, and that Stomatopods were surrounded by space-adventuring cultures, made it imperative that they reach out and become part of the wider world. They learned to live alongside the Humans and Portiids, adapting to interspecies cooperation and space travel.  They did it for their own protection and survival (especially when they found out that Octopuses were involved) and because sitting out this adventure would have been ridiculous. And now Cato (of the “current” generation) had been leading the effort to revive some important aspects of Stomatopod culture that values non-interference and their own space, ushering in the Escalation. 

CHAPTER 17.2:  Cato and Kott are able to have a conversation because of Pil’s original circular polarized light channel that allows the pantheon to communicate across the planet without any other living things being aware.  Cato’s specific ways of communication - via the gestures, colors, and reflective surfaces of its limbs - fit perfectly with the pantheon’s pathway. They have a conversation that goes a bit like this:

Cato: Fight me or get out of the way!
Kott:  You are a very cool and powerfully destructive robot who could totally get rid of this biohazard your group inflicted on us.  Wanna talk more about opportunities for a fun collab?
C:  Shut up. I seek Mira.
K:  Mira’s not your friend anymore because she ate Alis. Did you know I was buddies with Kern back in the day? 
C: Kern sucks. 
K:  You're right, she does suck. Does she even let you have any choices or thoughts? Don't you want to do what you're good at and kill Mira?
C: lol
K: We're holding Mira off but if you go full scorched-earth for us, we can finish the job. You have super cool armor and strong punching arms, just sayin'. 

Then Kern finds a way to disrupt the signal and Kott realizes she needs some backup. Some annoying, egomaniacal backup.  Oh, Gerey, your best friend is here to see you…

CHAPTER 17.3:  Alis and Mira are having tea and a chat inside the oozing mass that is at war with the wider world - how cozy!  Mira reflects on her existence as a sort of reverse Frankenstein / Jekyll and Hyde kind of conundrum: the monster (Nodan) created a scientist (Mira) in an effort to be a unique individual person for once, but can no longer contain their true nature.  Mira is going to die, but she wants Alis to take a part of her first so that it goes on without Mira.  Alis is furious and refuses, but Mira has already started to fade back. And that's when Cato shows up! 

CHAPTER 17.4:  Speaking with Kott has made Cato aware of how much he is at risk, but also how well he could fit into life on this planet. Cato knows that Kott is manipulative, that she is stronger than Kern because she is connected across the planet's biosphere, and that there are several other consciousnesses within the planet who are less social than Kott.  He knows Kott wants him to tap into his fighting impulses and help extinguish the Nodan entity (and Kern) on the planet; he finds himself apathetic as to which side will win. Cato comes from a Stomatopod culture with a deep history of combat and dominance, and he could potentially flourish as a lone warlord on this planet.  He confronts Mira with communication about his willingness to fight if Alis isn't turned over. The Nodan entity mimics his message but also forms Mira’s pleading face.  And then it opens so that Alis can step out. Cato wonders how much of the mind inside the body is Alis, and how much is all-consuming Nodan.  

CHAPTER 17.5:  Kern and Portifabian are debating what to do next. Portifabian is horrified to realize that they are now a fully integrated hybrid and are seamlessly thinking, analyzing, and communicating. No hope of separation in their future! Portifabian urges Kern to reach out to Hartmand for help, on the strength of their common terraforming history, but Kern finds it unthinkable. Just then, the forest erupts with shrieks and howls. Huge beasts are rushing through the trees towards them and bellowing Kern’s name. She makes a unilateral decision to enact her own plan before anyone else dies. 

CHAPTER 17.6:  When the Stomatopods entered the space race on Kern's World, it was with the intention of preserving their own culture while advancing technologically, so that the other Panspecifics couldn't dominate them.  They brought a proposal to Kern that they would like to venture into the stars and find a space for themselves (The Shoal), remaining separate from the others but adapting to the new technologies.  They expected they'd have to fight for this right, but the Panspecifics agreed and provided them with an Octopus-built ship.  Two hundred thousand Stomatopods ventured out and built on the gifted technology, enacting their warrior culture on far-flung planets until there were only 72 left! When the Portiids came to see what had happened to them, Cato remembers the feeling of realizing that winning might not always be best. Even though the fighting had been glorious. And so now, faced with Alis (or a Nodan-minded Alis-body) stepping into his killing zone, he hesitates. 

CHAPTER 17.7:  Mezclo watches the trees shake and realizes that the Life is finally coming to destroy her people. This planet has always been holding them down, extracting too much from them, never letting them get ahead. Mezclo knows they descend from a noble and advanced group of humans, based on the speeches of Captain Cosimir they have retained in their writings.  She sees a robotic spider left behind by the newcomers and gets ready to smash it as a symbol of the progress and greatness that has been stolen from them. Kern’s voice bursts from the spider, commanding the humans to listen. She explains that she is watching from orbit and sees a very large biomass gathering in the forest. Mezclo feels the unfairness of her people's coming destruction even as she is proud that they will go down fighting. Suddenly, Cato bursts from the trees covered in red gore and carrying Alis on his back.  Kern demands that the humans let them in and then prepare for an onslaught. 

PART 18 - THE THIRD AGE - Death Lives and Nature Breeds:  

CHAPTER 18.1:  Alis is partly Mira now. She carries Mira’s burden in her head and it's almost too much to handle, but she is able to communicate the plan to Kern.  She and Cato have worked out a way for them to win.  They need Kern and Cato, and they need to be with Mira.  They can be more than the sum of their parts.  They couldn't communicate when they were with Mira because the locals blocked the signal, but they will be able to do it with Portifabian. Except something has happened to the robot spider.  

CHAPTER 18.2:  Cato is humbled and embarrassed by his submission in the face of Alis. But he has seen himself through the eyes of the Portiids after the Escalation and knows the monstrous war criminal he had become through endless aggression.  It helps his shame a bit to be engaged in war against the Life on this planet now, in defense of the humans.  A huge armored boar begins breaking through the gate, so Cato prepares himself to punch it and accepts that he will probably die in the process.  Then the human consciousness controlling the boar shifts to an even more powerful beast which begins to charge.  Suddenly, the Portiid ship appears. It has grown into a spider shape with eight legs that allow it to roam the planet instead of fly.  Portifabian has become the ship! Kern explains that they all need to board so they can get to Mira for the next stage of Alis’s her plan (because even in mortal peril, Kern's gotta Kern).  Cato is amazed but also concerned that Portifabian may have been transferred against their will, and that Kern's grasp of control could lead the Panspecifics down a path of rival-AI war.  But escape is more important right now. Kern taunts Hartmand in order to draw him and all the monstrous beasts away from the human settlement. Then they escape on the Portifabian ship as the monsters give chase. 

CHAPTER 18.3:  Mezclo is awed by the spider-ship and almost calls out to hitch a ride. But she realizes her place is with the humans, preserving their history as an Archivist. The Life has held them back, but she is proud they have tried to strive nevertheless. She knows she will never be able to explain what she has seen or record it for future generations. Myth-making will have to be as good as science. She has discovered that when technology is so advanced, it seems like magic. And she is no magician. 

CHAPTER 18.4:  Kott has come to the realization that she hasn't done this much thinking in a very long time, because they purposely select for less intelligent species so they can use the biota as their puppets. She will miss the intellectual stimulation if everything goes back to the usual after they destroy the intruders.  Kott tries making this point to the pantheon, with no success.  

Milner: No time to say “Goodbye”, hello; I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! 

Dorcheson:  What's the point of anything? Why does anything need a point? Have you seen my copy of Nietzsche? 

Hartmand:  Bring me the head of Avrana Kern! I'll grind her bones to make my bread! 

Pil: Oh, did we talk earlier? Have you seen this delicious rotting log?

So she talks to Kern. They trade backstories and each can imagine the path not taken in each other's situation. Kern agrees to tell Kott what they're doing. 

CHAPTER 18.5:  Cato used to look at the Panspecifics as some sort of hippie commune that couldn't last because it wasn't dominant and powerful. His own people always wondered how decisions got made if there was no one in charge and if no one was punished for resistance or conflict.  Now he sees how it works.  His society was based on dominance, and look where it got him at the end of the Escalation. Portiid society is based on community, where they try to help others. (Even warlords who've murdered everyone around them.) The group needs Cato to do something unpalatable, which he has the right to say no to, and he really doesn't want to do it. If he refuses, they'll accept that - but Mira and Alis will die, he will die, Portifabian might die, and Avigael Kern will be sad and alone.  So he agrees to do the thing. Because he is part of their community! 

CHAPTER 18.6:  Alis calls to Mira as they approach the mass, asking her to trust their plan that they have a place she can safely go. Cato steps forward so Mira can reach out to his shell.  Alis ponders how beautiful the world must be for Cato with his twelve color receptors, and she is offering Mira those eyes.  Just then Hartmand’s spokes-monster bursts onto the scene, desperately claiming imminent victory over Kern. But the planet’s other Life responds, raining cats and other small predators onto the apex predators. A huge wall of fighting biota erupts, with even the bugs ganging up on Hartmand.  His beasts start to gain an edge, though, and Alis calls to Mira once more. 

CHAPTER 18.7:  Mira exists alongside Cato's neurology instead of replacing it, so that she can access the planet’s communication network via his sensory organs. His eyes allow her to see the network and communicate with the Life on the planet. Mira must constantly hold herself back from taking over everything, reminding herself that she is a unique individual. She can tell the world wants to kill her, but she reaches out and says hello. 

CHAPTER 18.8:  Mira lays out the choice the pantheon has to make now that she is there. She's in their network, and she shows them how she has destroyed entire worlds and how she carries civilizations worth of memory in her.  Mira offers them a place to go and do whatever they want, no matter how destructive, alone - their own spaces to play god without interference. (She knows it'll be like a prison but will feel like freedom, and I assume this means the simulation.) But Mira won't allow them to stay here torturing the humans and making monstrosities of the living things on the planet. Kott eagerly accepts, Milner joins her, and Dorcheson shrugs her assent. Pil decides he would rather be erased for good, as there's not enough of him left. Hartmand is spluttering his resistance and declaring himself the genius creator-god to the very end. 

PART 19 - THE THIRD AGE - After the Gods Left

CHAPTER 19.1:  Mezclo struggles with how she will record the story of what happened. Since the strangers and the beasts never return, Four Dragon Ford is left to clean up the mess of battle. They will have to seek help from neighboring communities to rebuild and replenish their ruined stores. After ten days, Mezclo and an Archivist from Wreck Hollow go out to the oozing mass to destroy it. A woman shape forms and speaks to them, explaining that she is taking care of the mass and all they have to do is live kindly. She will be watching. The ooze dissolves and disintegrates, leaving the archivists flummoxed as to what they will tell the others and how they will ensure incremental change - from the belief in savage gods and the brutal life that encourages - so their communities teach and live in kindness. 

CHAPTER 19.2:  Neco grapples with what has happened to her. She was consumed by the Changing Thing and her body was destroyed, but her mind was preserved. Neco talks to Alis, who orients her to what she and Mira have done to make up for that destruction. Neco’s consciousness has been transferred to their ship and a new body was constructed to match her self-image as closely as possible. Neco is welcome to return home to her people, although they can't do much about the struggles she'll face there.  They also offer Neco a full understanding of the Dissenter and all the history that has led them to this point, and Neco elects to stay with them. 

CHAPTER 19.3: Kern now lives in the mothership while Portifabian’s domain is the dropship.  Portifabian retains the robot spider form and has learned to control up to six of these bodies simultaneously. Their combined consciousness is too big now to go back to a single Portiid body. They are more akin to Kern now, which will be a shock for their people when they return home.  They also will tell the Panspecifics about Marduk, a planet which others will want to visit and study.  

CHAPTER 19.4:  Mira has completely withdrawn from Cato, who remains skeptical of her “devouring nature”. However, Alis has consented to retain some of Mira within her. Mira hopes one day for a willing Stomatopod host who would allow her access to their marvelous sensory experience again.  Alis tells Cato she enjoys the adventure of real life more than she misses the wish-fulfillment of the simulation.  She is content to settle next to Cato and feel their bond of experience and the call of their shared future, despite their differences. 

CHAPTER 19.5:   Dorcheson and Milner have been placed in their simulations on Imir, and Mira is preparing Kott for her transition. They are in a constructed reality so they can discuss the situation.  Kott asks if she could be given a body like Neco.   Mira says she only had to ask; the others never even considered it. Kott finally feels ready to be an actual human being who leads a meaningful life, after all these thousands of years.

CHAPTER 19.6:  Gerey Hartmand refused to give up his god status. He was the architect of an ecosystem that ensured a population for him to terrorize and subdue.  Now Mira has created a balance and the humans have gotten stronger, while the massive beasts Hartmand inhabits struggle to survive. Eventually there is only one monstrous beast left, howling a lonely roar into the wind. He rails against the unfairness, but Mira is there to remind him this was his choice.

Link to schedule

Welcome!

Welcome to the fourth book in our series on the Hainish Cycle books by Ursula K. Le Guin! My name is Manjusri and I was happy to pitch in yet again! The second book in the publishing order, here we already get an expansion of themes and a solidification in style that features prominently in works of the so-called Hainish Cycle, so this easy read is a great starting point even if you haven't been keeping up with the book club (and as always there's the older threads for the other books. And feel free to comment in those, I'm still around!).

Please note that this is the fourth book chronologically (not by publishing order), and tentatively we are covering them by this order (more information, including about supplemental material, in the Marginalia):

• Please only comment about things in the story up to that point! If you've read ahead or read the other prospective books that take place after, please skip the discussion questions, etc.
• Example discussion questions will go in their own comments, but please feel free to add your own and/or your own reading impressions!

Chapter Summary

Chapter 1 - A Handful of Darkness

Rolery enters a city of aliens (Landin), which her species/race call the farborns, in a place very unlike the nearby temporary Winter City of the Askatevar she calls home. On the way she encounters a runner with news, but ignores this. She only knows of the farborns through rumor, particularly the rumor of witchcraft, and unlike her people, which the farborns call the Tevar, they have a habit of staring into eyes instead of averting their gaze. This place is beyond her expectations, and she runs across a friendly farborn who points her in the direction of the nearby black towered island she wishes to go to, though she gets bewildered on a giant bridge and deviates to an astonishing seashelled beach area to the side upon where she feels childlike joy. Traveling to the island she suddenly has a feeling as if under witchcraft, and a dark figure seems to be entering her mind, warning her that she is in deadly peril. She rushes to the main of this place (shortly after called the Stack) and the figure points out that the roaring tide that would have surely killed her has come in, explaining that this was built so as to entrap invading armies in the days of old when this city wasn't in decay. The figure shows Rolery around, and explains that her people were nearby during the Spring and should have known about the tide, and furthermore that he only mind-spoke with her because he thought she was one of his kind (in fact he says she might have deserved to drown). She is frightened of him but instead asks if she is also free to come back, and this impudence softens him. The figure asks of her clan and in particular becomes interested when he hears about her father, Wold. He tells Rolery to give Wold greeting from himself, Jakob Agat Alterra, and that he will go to the Winter city tomorrow to speak to him, and instinctually she responds to his handshake/salute of equals. She returns to the Winter city, unnerved by the foreignness of these kind who stare so fixedly at faces, embracing the atmosphere of home, though the touch of his palm ("a handful of darkness") lingers in her mind.

In-depth Summary

Chapter 2 - In the Red Tent

Wold is the highest Elder of Askatevar, he is old and has trouble (or more likely doesn't care to) distinguish between his Kin and currently he is ruminating about his youngest wife, Shakatany, long gone. He and Rolery have an odd relationship: Rolery informs him on the farborn figure and what happened, Wold mocks her about the severe consequences of a woman being in contact with a farborn man (if she was from another tribe), until she throws it back in his face, that he himself had a wife that was a farborn. We learn the farborn are monogamous and there's some sort of issue if they try and conceive with the Tevar. We also get information about the Tevaran, their social structures are tied to the extremely long seasons, Rolery being born out of the normal Fallow (her being a Summer Fallow) means that at best she'd be a third or fourth wife to an old man. We learn that the wife he was just ruminating about was Rolery's mother. We learn more about the figure, that with some confusion that he is named Jakob Agat, and that he is related to the farborn wife Wold had had (thereby being his nephew and Rolery's cousin). The runner from the earlier chapter is mentioned and Rolery asks if it related to something called the Southing. He excuses her and has a trip down memory lane, the most important part being that there is another largely nomadic race on this planet called the Gaal that migrate their way during the planet's extremely long harsh winters, pillaging and destroying along the way, which Wold long ago (sixty moonphases) had seen first-hand. The runner had brought the unusual news that the Gaal had sacked the city of Tlokna, which would be unheard of since they did not attack walled cities. Later Agat arrives and although they meet as equals via tradition this is not quite so (we've seen the Tevaran side but we also get the farborn's side who see them as arrogant and below them), but this is again a synthesis of opposites, as Wold might be the Tevaran with the most faith in the farborn as allies. Agat has also received news of the near instantaneous fall of Tlokna, which via experience Wold says is not possible. Agat says that the Gaal have a new leader (Kubban or Kobban) who has united their tribes, furthermore that they are not just ransacking cities but are leaving forces in them to inhabit the settlements permanently on the way back from the long Southing. Wold takes offense when Agat suggests it would happen to their Summerlands and says it might happen to Landin but not them, we find out that the farborn are in decline (despite not having illness "'[i]t's hard to survive on a world you were not made for'") and Landin (the original settlement) is the only settlement left. Wold wants to focus only on the overwintering but Agat is stressing the danger which will happen in about thirty days, until Wold is overcome with visions of the slaughter of the Tevaran (it's implied and confirmed later Agat accidentally sends this vision, being good at the ability but prone to letting it happen accidentally when his emotions run wild). Wold takes it more seriously but before he can excuse him Agat has a plan of his own, to ally with the them, the Allakskat, and the Pernmek and turn the Gaal when they get to a northern range (the Gaal not seeming to have much more of a plan besides their numbers and surprise). Wold is still set on focusing on the overwintering. Wold ceremoniously ends the meeting, interestingly asking if Agat's father who he knew was also called Agat, and adds to ask if Agat had met one of his worthless daughters the other day. Poetically drawing comparison to what Agat told Rolery when she almost died he answers, "'Yes, so we met. On the sands between tides.'"

In-depth Summary

Chapter 3 - The True Name of the Sun

We get more direct info about the solar system: The moonphase akes four hundred days to complete, and a solar year takes twenty-four thousand days ("a lifetime"), the sun's (one of many Agat knows about) name was Eltanin (Gamma Draconis). On the way back Agat hears childrens' laughter and is reminded of the mocking of the children and the poor reception from Wold. At the fork in the forest he encounters Rolery and although it's somewhat hostile there's weirdly a type of positive connection (Rolery mentioning their related kin and Agat finds strength in being obstinately like the Tevaran). Agat arrives in Landin and enters the towering building called by an old name: the Hall of the League. It had been build five Years ago and built into the first floor of the meeting hall are designs which tell of its age: it shows one solar system on the east wall with nine planet (Earth's solar system) and another with seven on the west in a much longer ellipses (Gamma Draconis), both third planets doubled, and a dial-face which says that today "was the 391st day of the 45th moonphase of the Tenth Local Year of the Colony on Gamma Draconis III. They also told that it was the two hundred and second day of Year 1405 of the League of All Worlds; and that it was the twelfth of August at home," further cementing this in the Hainish series. Most doubted whether there was a League at all anymore, and some even doubted there ever was one, but here and elsewhere these clocks were proof. We get a lot more info about the farborn, now properly called the Alterrans. His friend Huru Pilotson asks about his "sending", and we get an anecdote about their race's over-communication which highlights this ability and its consequences. Poignantly we get references to hilfs (high intelligent life forms, mentions in the series before), in this case used by the Alterrans largely as a pejorative. Dermat mentions Wold should be more open-minded since he married a human, Arilia, though Alla Pasfal who was old enough to be there in answer spits out "female zoo" and "courtship" with such bitter sarcasm it destroys Dermat. Jonkendy Li youngly asks about Agat's reception to the plan to anticipate the Gaal in battle, and it oddly becomes apparent that the Alterrans were hoping for a war: "It beat being starved to death or burned alive." Seiko Emit, last of a great family, seems to only have eyes for Agat when they meet, and asks about his reception, to which Agat says he was met as an equal. Alla Pasfal actually says Wold had more sense then the rest of their males, but Seiko is quick to dig up Agat's humiliation, and we get an interesting description about their relationship: all of them are too close, Alla being a lover and perhaps overbearing in her sympathy and compassion, and how Agat's recent solitude on his journey awakened a craving in him of solitude, and we get another description about how the Alterrans are always watching, always meeting eyes, and how Rolery was the opposite with their kind's habit of averting the gaze. Some talk of the "sending" which we covered, though it comes about that the Tevaran view of them as capable of withcraft happened because of their "sending" in the first Years. That they had any information about the Gaal was due to Agat, who was considered the leader despite not being the eldest and being put on the Counsel the same time as the others, and his proactiveness. Agat ruminates on the decline of the Alterrans on an alien, hostile world, a terror he's felt as a child. They had been kept strong by the League laws but that knowledge was slowly being replaced by more useful knowledge about trying to survive, and if they were rescued would their rescuers even resemble them? But it's more likely they'll perish before then. After his rumination he notices Seiko watching him and turns from her... in his mind, instead, a sign of Rolery reaching out to him (from the tide, a remembrance).

In-depth Summary

Chapter 4 - The Tall Young Men

The men of the Winter City of Askatevar perform a Stone-Pounding, a ritualistic meeting of elders, to determine what to do. It doesn't go well for Wold (in part his relation with his Alterran wife is brought up), but there is some success at his son's, Umaksuman, proposal to send runners to Allakskat and Pernmek to inform and prepare them in case Agat's plan is adopted in any manner. Agat arrives to the tent, a commotion set up by Wold who likes to poke the bear (likely why he associates with the farborn in the first place), he understands that the Tevaran are set in their ways and live in the past, interestingly Agat says perhaps the Gaal have learned from the Tevaran and are adopting their overwintering skills and using it against them. He is challenged by Ukwet, one of Wold's grandsons (older than Umaksuman) but Agat just stares right through him. Umaksuman has a sharper idea of what the Gaal are doing and a better memory of what they've done in the past. Ukwet, sensing a victory, jeers and brings up the farborns' purported witchcraft. For the first time Wold uses a phrase which is the opposite of the often said "have heard" phrase and its variations used by the Tevaran, he is mad at Ukwet's insolence at their guest and feels annoyed at having to argue both sides now. He will instead now send runners and warriors behind to the Southing, commanded by Umaksuman and most of the men (those between Mid-Spring and the Summer Fallow), and turn the Gaal east or if not to return to Tevar. Agat chimes in that he can send 350 men and Wold ignores his handshake despising having to take any action. While he could force this decision it was likely his last one: if Umaksuman was successful he would be the new strongest leader with his victory in the war. Wort tells them to call another Stone-Pounding for tomorrow and to have the shaman get a good hann for the ritual.

In-depth Summary

Chapter 5 - Twilight in the Woods

Rolery catches some of Agat's words on the wind and has a compulsion to follow him (remembering the imagery in her mind), they have a slightly tense meeting in the woods where there is the first signs of winter. When Agat takes hold of her to lead her away he ends up just awkwardly holding her, and she tells of her compulsions since their meeting, that she has had aftereffects since then. A lot of detail follows, Agat talks about the mind-speech (including how it's forbidden, though the Tevaran have the capacity for it), how the Alterrans weren't the creators of it (this directly names and ties into Rocannon's World), and the League, it's enemy, and other worlds (they were stuck here accidentally or on purpose when the enemy arrived and races were recalled to fight them ten Years ago). Nothing more is known about that war, though the far race has plans to eventually leave and find out, if they can survive and build that far. He talks about their strengths and fragility (the sterility and miscarriages), and she wonders about how they are able to have children any time, out of season. He laughs it off but she takes particular interest in this, being one of the rare born out of season too: when Winter is over she will be too old to have a Spring son, and therefore will only be a fifth wife to an old man. He grins off the differences that the Alterrans are monogamous and it could be causing problems, after a bit more about their mores he tells her it's something about the sperm that is effected and not just because of their way, that perhaps the different sun causes a mutation. She asks what their home is like and he mentions there are songs, though she doesn't know what that is, and he talks about the so very much shorter year, and she makes a joke about how that's not even long enough to light a fire. She fears the Winter, and not knowing one he asks about how awful it will be. She was solitary her whole life and this person broke it, as she first felt fear and met him. There's a moment of connection and secrets (a meeting of eyes, almost) and she asks about them being together (his people wouldn't care but she would have to keep secrets), and he brings up his return in two nights. With the same fear of Winter she responds to this, then: "As he spoke she felt the beating of his heart and the beating of her own. 'I want to stay with you,' she said, and he was saying, 'I want to stay with you.'" He wonders where they can go to be together, that they'll miss her in Tevar, and she whispers that no, they won't.

In-depth Summary

Chapter 6 - Snow

The first snowflakes. The scouting party had left, only vaguely kept together by Wold's authority, Ukwet even boasting that he'd kill the "witches" too (though Wold knew that defeat or victory would assuage this). Umaksuman and Agat part as friends to their likely battle at Long Valley under Cragtop that is upcoming. In the forest Agat passes the hunter's shelter he spent with Rolery that night before and thinks of it (or tries and fails to talk himself into, more accurately) as mainly a silly passing, a folly, yet already he is thinking of their next meeting. Suddenly, he is attacked, and before the confusion engulfs him he hears Umaksuman's voice. He does nothing but crawl, and hopelessly sends out mindspeech, and then nothing. The Alterrans at their place have various reactions but at best it is an impression and worst (Seiko) cringes away likely because of their past. Rolery had returned to the hunting cabin anticipating their next meeting, when her mind suddenly goes dark, awakening her from her reveries or sleep. She wanders the forest, only calling his name once, when she finds him on the path and he is dead, is what she think until he whimpers on her knees. This snaps her out of it, and she searches for something off the path and sets to work.

Agat awakens some time later and is instantly mentally scolded by Alla Pasfal (he was dragged there by Rolery in a kind of sled). She asks how he could do this and flinches when he says he loves Rolery. She chides him that they are depending on him and he's being foolish with a romance, he repeats what he said mentally and she says that he can't marry her and he'll have to do without her. He responds negatively to this, and she says it doesn't matter, the plans have fallen apart with his attack: Pilotson was more eager to get revenge on the Tevaran and Wold's faction was discredited when it was learned that his daughter was running around with a farborn. She finds a bit of incredulity that he doesn't realize the plan has failed until she told him, regardless all are just waiting for the Gaal to arrive. His pride is damaged and he feels he betrayed his people. Eventually she tells him his plan was foolish anyway, they couldn't work together and six hundred home-years here should have made that obvious, that they were lucky they weren't already enemies in fact and that they are on their own on this hostile planet. He feels the despair and cloisters into himself, until with a shock he finally wonders what happened to Rolery.

Rolery is right there doing some work and Alla Pasfal is gone (who knows how much time has passed since his realization). Rolery in turn is cross at Alla Pasfal and believes all the Alterrans are overly reliant on Agat. He almost immediately asks to marry her. She is quiet and he doesn't know quite what it means (it is different from her usual motive self) and he thinks of how fast everything has been.... Her quietness "enter[s] into him" and with it he feels his strength begin return.

In-depth Summary

Chapter 7 - The Southing

The winter star is here. Wold pays little attention to the Stone-Pounding that has come with the runners' return of nothing but rumor now that he has no political power. He has a newfound perspective of the squabbling and lack of direction the Tevaran have. Umaksuman speaks about the invading force but it's instantly turned into a mocking joke about Rolery by Ukwet. Wold is shamed in a way as never before, all three mentioned there being his direct descendants. Ukmet is the one that attacked Agat and sought to castrate him. Umaksuman stopped him to prevent a war with the farborns (a war on two fronts), and feels it's Rolery's choice on top of it. Ukwet calls him a liar and traitor and then weapons are drawn, and Wold stands not to stop it but to awkwardly leave to the house of his Kin. He retreats to his firepit and responded oddly (as he has already given up) when they bring in the body of Ukwet, slayed by his "'brother'".

Snow again, on Ukwet's face before he is buried, and Wold thinks perhaps he was better off than Umaksuman, outlawed (banished?) in the hills. Time passes indeterminately for him, and suddenly there is a call of the arrival of the Gaal. Nobody came for him, he was with the women and babies, but his pride eventually bothers him and with the help of his eldest mourning wife (the same one from the first chapter) he girds himself and goes to the smoke-hole of the House of Absence with the other men. There they see an astonishing sight, a Southing unlike any other, and these are only the women, children, and the baggage-train, their numbers being so overwhelming the warriors can afford to arrive afterward. The City will be a trap as the enemy will need their stores and herds, and although Wold mentions they should put out the call to flee to their women and children there's no movement to do so. In particular the elder Anweld says that while that plan was discussed there is no central leader and they have been driven to inaction, so Wold tries to rally some men to do so (just for the chance a few of the Tevar might survive) but the younger men just want to battle. He finds a place near a buttress and watches the Southing for hours (insert a metaphor about the scrappy winter grasses). Eventually a log is used as a battering ram on a nearby slide-gate. The Gaal must be using this along with ladders, unheard of in the old days... he attacks a nearby Gaal as the gate behind him shatters, and stumble-runs through a city on fire toward the House of his Kin.

In-depth Summary

Chapter 8 - In the Alien City

Rolery is studying an intricate painting in Landin (it should be apparent now, similar to the naming of the Stack, that the word likely comes from Landing) and she asks Seiko more about the technologically advanced world it depicts (many of these technologies being forgotten in the 600 home-years since). We learn about the Laws of the League and that they follow something called the Cultural Embargo which prevents them from influencing much (technologically, philosophically, etc., including "paraverbal" speech) of a non-League incorporated world even at risk of their own survival. Seiko reacts badly to Rolery's suggestion that this has done neither of the races good, and as they leave to do work Rolery glances back at the painting that invokes a similar feeling in her as Agat does. The men of Landin are gone performing guerrilla attacks to try and repel the Gaal to easier targets while the women here herd the sheep-like haan, which Rolery finds impressive in their skill and song. The opposite of before, Rolery largely pitches in as she is needed, and she's found some odd normalcy here as a wife. But she has enemies, Alla Pasfal in particular is cruel to her and feels jealously oppressive. Rolery overhears something but doesn't quite understand, Dermat is surprised she didn't know that Tevar has been lost. Some of them (along with the Alterrans) were able to scatter into the hills when the Alterrans attacked a civilian camp. She quite literally sees blood on her hands, and attributes it to "Pasfal the witch", but the "illusion" is shattered when she feels a light in the darkness (similar to when and how she found him that one night when everything changed) and announces that Agat is coming. Alla Pasfal responds strongly to this, but Huru Pilotson says Agat is probably not bespeaking, instead they have a rapport, which Pasfal thinks is nonsense. Pilotson doubts this, it's likely he "sent" himself hard to her on the beach and she was a Natural, as things had been been known to happen between human (this dual word again) couples. Pasfal denies this possibility, a vast rarity in humans let alone especially for (more or less) "just" a hilf. Rolery goes to the door and after a beat a man appears far away on the dark path, half a jog. Missing teeth and bandaged Agat arrives fresh from the hills, asking for her to fetch water as the others gather around him. The unusual device (faucet) is slightly confusing and she collects water from it in her own tunic for Agat to drink. He does and although Alla Pasfal tries to chide her that there are cups in the cupboard Pasfal is witch no more and her malice falls impotently.

In-depth Summary

Note: Example discussion questions in the comments! See the "Welcome" section which also contains information about the format.

Welcome back Expanse readers, this is the 5th of 6 discussion for the 9th book in the Expanse series, Leviathan Falls. You know the drill, use spoiler tag as necessary and let's have a fun discussion.

Chapter Summaries:

Chapter 33 - Naomi
The Roci is still with Elvi's research ship, the Falcon, with the crews mingling more. Naomi reflects on the current state of the universe with Laconia in crisis without Duarte, and the Underground barely hanging on and becoming disorganized. She prepares a message to Trejo to accepts his terms and end hostilities with Laconia.

Chapter 34 - Tanaka
Tanaka struggles with the shared consciousness experience she had and still has occasionally. She seeks out medical help and is given drugs that should help lessen/block the connections she's been having. She also learns of the armistice and has to adapt to that new dynamic while also making finding Duarte a top priority.

Chapter 35 - Alex
Commotion breaks out on the Roci as Cara comes to confront Amos about her being cutoff from the BFE, with Amos taking the brunt of her fury. Teresa and Alex discuss parent-kid relations and how strong they are. Teresa is worried that her father is too far gone to be influenced by her at all, but Alex assures her that she might be the only one that can truly break through to Duarte. The chapter concludes with the 2 ships heading to the Ring Space to encounter what they hope is Duarte.

Chapter 36 - Jim
Many ships from both Laconia and the Underground have gathered in the Ring Space to see what happens with the egg-shaped station that might contain Duarte. Teresa manages to convince everyone that she has the highest chance of getting Duarte to respond, so she goes with the team and hails her father several times, with no response.

Chapter 37 - Tanaka
The team is coming up with ideas to open the station, and decide for Amos to go on a dive in an attempt to have it open up. Tanaka, Naomi, and Teresa all approach the station as the Falcon starts the dive. Teresa senses that something is wrong as they approach.

Chapter 38 - Elvi
Elvi is preparing Amos for the dive to link to the station. Cara is upset she is not part of the plan, and Elvi expresses the concerns with her addiction symptoms surrounding linking with the protomolecule. Amos dives and things go wild very quickly, Amos screams and thrashes around, the team scrambles as they realize they might lose Amos. Eliv tries to bring him out of the dive, but the medicine isn't as effective as it usually is. Xan and Cara have a plan of their own and are in the isolation chamber with The Catalyst. The chapter ends with Elvi experiencing a mental event of some type as her mind "exploded into white".

Interlude - The Dreamers
The Dreamer is in a space they have never been before. New complexities and experiences for the dreamer add to a sense of uncertainty and unfamiliarity. Soon, the sense of another of greater power is felt.

Amos awakens some time later and finds himself in medical care. He finds out that the situation has become a lot more dangerous for everyone. He informs the man that is in the room with him that he's made contact with Duarte and that he needs to let everyone else know that Duarte knows they are their and he's not happy about it.

Chapter 39 - Jim
Jim is recalling similar feelings and situations from his past as the group await the silent ships, likely controlled by Duarte, that are making a burn for them. Jim visits the isolation chamber and then takes action by extracting some protomolecule from the Catalyst and injecting himself with it. Shortly thereafter, Miller greets Holden.

Chapter 40 - Naomi
Everyone is coming to terms with Jim's rash actions, and ultimately decide to support him. Miller now is always present for Jim, and they are hoping he will be the key to gaining entrance to the station. Tanaka, Teresa, and Jim prepare to enter the station, while Naomi coordinates the defense against the incoming ships.

As foretold by the many (many) fans of Pratchett, as well as that ending from our first book, our adventuring through the Discworld must continue!

We will be reading Pratchett’s The Light Fantastic starting in June, so please prepare your copies now and gird those loins!

Will there be newcomers popping into the series finally? Who’ll be joining us from the first book?

Can’t wait to see you there very soon, happy reading!

Welcome to the second discussion of our first Read the World trip to Azerbaijan with Ali and Nino by Kurban Said.  We are discussing chapters 10-20 this week.  Next week, u/nicehotcupoftea will lead the final discussion.

 

Here are some useful links:

• Schedule
• Marginalia

 

Discussion questions are in the comments but feel free to add your own.

If you enjoyed The Tainted Cup with its Sherlock Holmes-like mystery plot set in a complex fantasy world, then join us for the next book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series, A Drop of Corruption! We'll be starting in just a few weeks, so be sure to grab your copy!

StoryGraph blurb:

>!In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard. !<

>!To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol. !<

>!Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future. !<

>!Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire’s greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.  !<

>!Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.!<

Schedule:

5/31/26 - Ch. 1-13 with u/myneoncoffee

6/7/26 - Ch. 14-25 with u/Comprehensive-Fun47

6/14/26 - Ch. 26-35 with u/Amanda39

6/21/26 - Ch. 36-46 with u/jaymae21

6/28/26 - Ch. 47-55 (End) with u/jaymae21

Check out our discussions of The Tainted Cup here.

Don't forget to record your thoughts and theories in the Marginalia! 🔎

Will you be joining us for more Ana & Din mayhem & mystery?

Halfway through May already, can you believe it! I sure can’t…but let’s have ourselves a fun chat this Friday anyway!

For anyone brand new here, hello and welcome! For all those regulars, welcome back! We're happy to have all of you. This is a space for us to get to know one another better and chat about whatever fits your fancy.

RULES:

• No unmarked spoilers
• No self-promo
• No piracy
• Thoughtful personal conduct

I got SO MUCH READING done in the last couple days, I’m surprising myself, so I want to keep those good vibes going! I’m in the middle of a few books now, but looking to finish Children of Strife this weekend, along with reading in its entirety The Safekeep. I’m also after starting Hamnet, and want to be about halfway done before Sunday. That’s all doable, right? Right?! What is everyone else reading (including those outside of r/bookclub reads, of course)?

The good (great) news is that this weekend I don’t have a ton of plans beyond reading (see above) and gearing up for next week. I am, however, meeting with an immigration solicitor next Tuesday for an initial consultation regarding my impending Irish citizenship application!!!!! Very hopeful to submit that some time this summer and get this whole party properly started.

What did you get up to this week? What do you plan on doing this weekend? Hope you get to spend your time however you’d like and happy reading!

As the weather begins to heat up in the northern hemisphere, so do our stories. Hope you’re all ready to dip into some truly legendary tales with Grossman’s The Bright Sword! Join the whole gaggle of folks helping run this hefty one- see our discussion schedule posted below along with our booked read runners. Our marginalia will be linked here once it’s made available.

• June 2: Start through Chapter 6 (u/myneoncoffee)
• June 9: Chapter 7 through Chapter 12 (u/Lachesis_Decima77)
• June 16: Chapter 13 through Chapter 17 (u/NightAngelRogue)
• June 23: Chapter 18 through Chapter 24 (u/maolette)
• June 30: Chapter 25 through Chapter 29 (u/Pythias)
• July 7: Chapter 30 through Chapter 34 (u/IraelMrad)
• July 14: Chapter 35 through end (u/tomesandtea)

Can’t wait to see you all there, swords ready!