The Not a Book Club Club discussion
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Tower Lord
Anthony Ryan
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TL: Part 2
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So far we've found that:
1) Their are 3 "allies". The male is the one who we met in book 1 with Barkus and the others. He is apparently the strongest, or at least the only one capable of taking multiple hosts.
The other two we meet in the book. The woman commanding Frentis is perhaps the most dangerous or at least brutal, though not much was said about her. And the third had been possessing Lyrna's guard's (forget her name something with a D, Doretea?) younger sister.
She is apparently the weakest and only capable of taking 1 host at a time. All three serve some kind of master we haven't met so far who apparently lives in the Void or something.
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2) Kaleb incorrectly mentioned learning the plot behind the assassins in the last section. I didn't know what he meant, because we found out about it in this section. Thus ends my public shaming. Thankfully it's vague enough to not be a spoiler really.
So, apparently the brother of the 7th order who Vaelin met in the ruins in the last book was behind it. Along with Nortah's father.
There a prophecy that Vaelin would be taken in the desert by the "allies", and the brother conspired with the King's chancellor to have him killed to prevent it from happening. Eventually the 6th order finds out the truth and that's why Nortah's father was killed. The brother of the 7th order was banished. And he's kind of an asshole about the whole thing. Going to be interesting with him being named to a position under Vaelin.
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3) We get a lot more detail about the Rust Knight and the asshole (son of the fief lord, now fief lord himself. Again terrible with names, and with no text I can't look it up). This was the guy the Rust Knight nearly gelded for raping some 13 year old girl last book.
His father died in the last book and he took over. He's by far the biggest asshole yet. The Rust Knight fell in love with a Miller's daughter and had a child with her. His daughter was seduced by the asshole and left when he got her pregnant. And now since he's been holding out to make Lyrna his wife, the bastard child is his only heir, but the Rust Knight has been avoiding legitimizing his daughter in an effort to protect his grandson from the asshole.
And if that wasn't enough, Asshole is plotting with the "allies" to get Frentis in with the King (one presumes to kill him so Lyrna takes over as queen or something). I hope this guy dies a gruesome death. Frentis suggested fire.
I wonder if Lyrna as queen is part of the allies plan. However it seems that her love of Vaelin and her guilt over what she did to him may have changed her for the better. Originally she was prophesied to only be driven by her ambition and reject the peace treaty with the "savages" (again terribad with names). I wonder if on her original path she'd have grown to be an awful queen like her father, but now she'll be a force for good?
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4) And last but not least (and this may actually belong in part 1, but I'm not sure). It was Lyrna , not Jaenus who ordered Vaelin be turned over to the empire. In fact Jaenus wanted her to marry Vaelin (I think, or was it the asshole?) and rule as queen. She couldn't give up on her brother however, and ordered the trade herself shortly after her father's death. She seems to regret it ever since. She's truly in love with Vaelin.
Also it looks like Sharen may have moved on and met someone new, so I wonder if the Lyrna and Vaelin will end up together. Vaelin has some bizarre prophecy about her before crumpling from his blood song in the last chapter I've read at this point.
I like Lyrna and her storyline a lot more as the book goes on.
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One final comment, that's not really a reveal. Riva seeks her father's blade at her Uncle's keep. She thinks she finds it and managed to thwart an assassination attempt on him and his wife from the priest who trained and beat her. It seems like this was likely why the Blood Song had Vaelin train her, because she never could have done it without it. Also her uncle seems to recognize her. I'm looking forward to her next chapter as well.
Mod
I'm questioning my original theory about the allies wanting Lyrna to be queen. Sure the "ally" women attacked her out of rage for "killing" Frencis, but it seemed as though the other infiltrators in the castle were trying to kill her as well. If the "allies" wanted her as queen surely they would have been instructed not to harm her. It's hard to be certain.
My initial thought about Lyrna's dagger entering Frencis was "wrong target" thinking it should have been met for the "ally" women. However it seems to have freed him her binding and allowed him to kill the women. I wonder if anyone but Lyrna is left alive who saw Frencis kill the King. I hope not.
I also hope that Frencis finds her and convinces her he was being forced through magic. I worry though that her being burned will leave her scarred and turn he once again to a bad path.
Either way a really good ending to this section. I just want to sit and listen all day. On to section 3.
Mod
I guess I'm the only one who hasn't found it slow.
I haven't found it slow at all. The pace of the book is moving along very nicely. One great thing I like about Ryan's writing is that he doesn't mess about when it comes to getting to the point. For instance with Frentis and the king, there's was no long, drawn out scene. Boom, neck broken. Just like in Blood Song with the fight at the end.
Agreed on the above point that this second book is just as good and maybe even better than the first. I miss getting all of Vaelin's thoughts all the time, but the different perspectives are really working well. He chose excellent characters for us to get the views of. Love that Frentis has finally gotten away! And, like you both said, hope he gets the chance to explain what happened before Lyrna goes down a bad path.
I think Lyrna being queen was in the ally's plans, but now that she's changed so much she has two different paths to choose from like the Mahlessa said to her.
Mod
I have deliberately avoided reading most this thread because I'm only up to the part where Lyrna has reached her unspellable destination to meet the unspellable priestess of the Lonak (I could at least google Lonak) - curse you Audible!It seems Vaelin isn't so welcome at the Tower. This part reminds me a bit of the situation in Game of Thrones when Ned Stark become Hand. Keeping the gold a secret. I wonder if anyone is going to try and assassinate him.
I like how the Lonak man that Lyrna saves and his son are the same ones that Vaelin met on his way to find Nortah last book.
Mod
Rob wrote: "This was the guy the Rust Knight nearly gelded for raping some 13 year old girl last book"Aha. So it was his daughter that got raped and pregnant by it? I've just read this bit and Lyrna says something about not letting that raping bastard near the son. I'd forgotten about the rape incident last book
Mod
Really enjoying this one so far. I'd probably put it on a par with Blood Song which was a great read. Two things I wanted to get off my chest:So it was revealed in Vaelin's storyline that Janus lied about his motivation for the Alpiran war. Earlier Lyrna recalled a conversation where he seemed to imply that the motivation for the war was to remove her brother and set her and Vaelin up to rule the realm. Depending on how this situation is ultimately resolved these revelations could be really disappointing to me. I loved Janus in Blood Song, I considered him one of the best antagonists I've read in fantasy. These revelations would mean that he had no good motivation for the war, turning a complex political and moral situation into a half-baked villainous scheme. It was also revealed that the Volarians/ One who waits didn't want Janus assassinated. In my review of Blood Song I said that I hoped it wouldn't turn out that he was just an unwitting pawn to the forces of evil as that would destroy the moral ambiguity that was so awesome in Blood Song. I'm hoping there's going to be some other reveal that redeems a great antagonist somehow.
Frentis' plotline was slightly better in this part but his lack of agency was still frustrating at times. The 'woman' was really interesting. Apparently she was planning to turn on 'The one who waits' after completing her mission. I suspect (and kind of hope) that she'll be brought back to life somehow as she was a pretty cool villain. Her 'villainesses want heroes' love of Frentis seemed a bit forced though, it reminded me a bit of Rand and Lanfear in WoT. I was hoping to see some conflict in Frentis between developing Stockholme syndrome-feelings for her and knowing she's legits evil but then Frentis just offed her instead. I guess their breakup really... 'poleaxed' her (Frentis killed her with a poleaxe right? If not just disregard that pun).
Also I get the feeling we're supposed to remember Lady Veliss in the Reva storyline from Blood Song somehow. Anyone care to fill me in?
Mod
Mod
Muster is Reva's uncle, Veliss is his right hand/ mistress. Vaelin thinks she looks familiar and she has decent fencing skills if that narrows the search any.
Mod
but I WANT TO KNOW NOW :) Seriously though as long as it's not something I'm supposed to know already. It's been a few months since I read BS, I've been able to remember most stuff alright though. Veliss is a really cool character btw.
The book keeps getting better! Lots of interesting stuff going on, dots being connected. As I am late to the party it seems most of it has been said.One of my most niggling questions seems to have been answered. The head of the Lonak (the Mahlessa?) tells Lyrna that there are 3 people out there that can possess people:
1) the witch's son who possessed Barkus, etc.., and can control multiple hosts at once, able to keep them close to there original personality where they stay undetected for years
2) the one who possessed the Lonak woman's sister - youngest, can't stay disguised
3) another women, who I guess may be the woman assassin? Although she hasn't changed hosts at all yet, if it is her, then she's def. not dead, she will just have to find a new host
Seems they can only possess those with the gift?
That makes me wonder who the guy with the fire power that the assassin lady killed was. Not one of the 3? But he could change hosts, he didn't want to, liked to hide as an old man. And if he could change hosts, then is he actually dead?
But yeah, it seems the relation of all the evil players is firming up. The ally, and so far his 3 minions. All seem allied with the Volarians, for whom they've been killing all the scryers and people the scryers said could stop the invasion.
But in the beginning of this part there was reference to "The Messengers", the assassin names Frentis as one of the first Messengers, after hearing how he escaped One-Eye. Still not sure who these Messengers are.
I am glad to be reading this on the Kindle. A lot of names pop up from BS or are just briefly mentioned early on. Searching on the first occurance of a name in both books is really useful.
Can't wait until Darnel gets whats coming to him!
Seems like Lyrna may be badly burned? If so, I wonder what will happen between Vaelin and her. So far I feel like the book has been leading up to them getting together eventually. At least he will think her less petty if they do meet up.
Mod
I have this same question. David had a reasonable theory in one of these threads, but I'm not convinced we have clue who he really is.
The only thing that comes to mind is that maybe the assassin (and the fire shooting dude) are not one of the 3 called out by the Mahlessa? The assassin lady definitely seems more powerful than the other 2 we've seen, and she not only takes the power of her host, but anyone who's blood she drinks. So far she has the Blood Song, ability to control Frentis (not sure if that is a power), and now fire.I guess the witch's son that took barkus had his metal smithing power, as barkus was under his control when he forged his axe, not sure what the lonak woman's sister power was, but I dont see them going around stealing others powers.
They all serve the Ally, but maybe the assassin is of a different breed we have yet to learn about?
Speaking of Frentis, he was freed when his scars healed, so I guess the scars were the means by which he was controlled. Was the assassin lady controlled by the ally similarly through her scars? If so, is she still in her original body? Seems if she took another body w/o scars, she could not be controlled? But then the ally seems to be able to offer them all eternal punishment in the Beyond. None of the other minions had such scars.
I'm thinking that they can't actually take a new body until their original body dies, and both evil chick and fire dude are still in their original bodies. I also wouldn't be terribly surprised if, when someone who's made a deal with the Ally (like maybe one for eternal life) dies, the Ally lays claim to their powers in addition to keeping their souls in limbo to serve as powered-body-snatchers. That would explain why evil girl can steal powers: the Ally is the one taking them, and he gives them back to her. It may also explain why people like the witch's son (the Messenger, I believe?) doesn't come back with his original power, because the Ally is keeping that one in reserve.
As far as the scars go, there are probably 2 types of scars, one for slaves and one for masters, knowledge of which most likely came from the Ally as well.
I don't really like attributing all of these various and sundry evil things to the Ally... but that seems to be the most likely source.
Interesting thoughts, Sky 1.0... Yeah, I wish they'd leak a little more details about The Ally. So far he is the nefarious evil behind all bad things. It's a little late in what is to be a 3 book series to know pretty much zip about him.Also, I am wondering who the Witch is in the Verner fast-forwards to the seige of Alltor. Is it Reva? Is it the Uncle's whore (there seems to be more to her than meets the eye so far)? Is it someone else entirely? Also, didn't the Cumbralean's/father-lovers have some prophecy about Vaelin meeting up with some witch where in their lust they'd lay fire to the world or something? Same witch?
Sky wrote: "Also, I am wondering who the Witch is in the Verner fast-forwards to the seige of Alltor."I'd love to discuss that, Sky v2, but it seems somewhat spoilerific for this thread. Say something when you get your answer, and we'll talk.
Or I'll forget and not respond. That's also pretty likely.
Mod
I'd love to discuss that, Sky v2, but it seems somewhat spoilerific for this thread. Say some..."
Definitely number 2..
Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events of the chapters of Part 2.
No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling this for your good read friends.
Please do not discuss events from later chapters/books. Referring back to events from a previous section/book is fine.