RoG: Part 2 - Chapters 7-10

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I like the world building alright and the characters are interesting, but what is the plot exactly?

Someone is using magic to control the dead, why? In an effort to draw out the young protagonist by kiddnapping his girlfriend (and his unborn child apparently)? Obviously not just that, because they killed an entire city.

There are things to like here, but not enough plot for me. Or too slow at least.

One section to go. Hopefully things pick up in the last section.

[Robyn]

Ack, I nearly inadvertently spoiled the last section for you because I totally thought things happened earlier than they did. Let me just say that I think the last third will pick up the pace for you - I've written a very spoilery-answer to your question about the plot and popped it into the next section to avoid messing anything up for you.

For me, this section was about bringing our main characters together. Slow, but necessary.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Thanks Robyn.

[Robyn]

On the destruction of an entire city note, I feel like I remember reading that the Mongols did occasionally slaughter entire cities to serve as an example, but that might be a horrible misremembering. For the most part, I feel like Bear tempers the negative parts of the real Khanate and emphasises the positives in her take.

[Robyn]

That's what I thought, but it's been a very long time since that particular course in university! (I did a quick google but as I'm nearing bedtime in England I couldn't be bothered to look up more - so thankful for knowledgeable people who already know the answers.)

[Lindsay]

Ok, I'm somewhere around chapter 12 or 13 at the moment, two thirds of the way through and while I'm enjoying the book, it's not grabbing me. The world-building is interesting enough and the fantastic elements are cool, but I just don't really care about any of these characters much. I'm hoping it will gel by the end.

Chapters 7-11 present a coming together of plot and characters and give me a much better idea of what this series is about.

Notes:
- Samarkar goes through a ritualized ordeal and manifests magic at a mid-range level of power. She's almost immediately sent north to Qeshqer on a combined training and intelligence-gathering mission.

- The hungry ghosts that we saw attacking Temur and the other refugees have horrifically killed everyone in Qeshqer and probably most of the refugees heading there from the battle of the steppes. The Range of Ghosts and Qeshqer also now appear to be under the control of the Uthman Caliphate (according to the sky).

- In Qeshqar signs implicating a Rahazeen murder-cult called the Nameless are everywhere. This is how the rest of the world refers to the al-Sepehr that we've been getting glimpses of. That doesn't bode well for Edene (Temur's love interest from the refugees), but it appears that she's being kept well still. She's also pregnant, which changes the al-Sepehr's intentions towards Temur. Apparently with his child secured, Temur is now expendable. The al-Sepehr appears to have an ally where the heroes are going (dun-dun-dun!)

- Samarkar and her companion meet up with Temur on the road and save his life. They later meet up with a tiger-woman who is heading in the same direction, back to the wizard city Tsarepheth, with a mission of exposition regarding the return of the Carrion-King who seems to be tied up with the Nameless (founder?).

- Back in Tsarepheth Samarkar's oldest brother has made a grab for power. Time for more exposition and it's becoming increasingly obvious to everyone that Temur has prophetic dreams.

Fantastic Elements:
- Now we see how wizard magic works, and although it's cool, I'm curious where it's coming from and the limits of what a wizard can do with it.

- Tiger-people!

On to the last third!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Lindsay wrote: "Now we see how wizard magic works, and although it's cool, I'm curious where it's coming from and the limits of what a wizard can do with it."

I found the lack of explanation of the magic system very disappointing.

[[deleted user]]

Looks like I'm maybe the only one still enjoying the book to this point. Yes, the plot could move along a little faster and I'd like a few things to be explained better (although not the magic system, which has just enough explanation to intrigue me), but overall I love the worldbuilding and the writing and I like the characters. If the writing is good enough, I don't mind if the story lingers in one place for a while and doesn't hurtle forward at a breakneck pace.

If I have a major complaint to this point it's that the characters are a bit too black and white for my tastes. I'd like them to have a little more moral complexity. As Robyn mentioned, the author whitewashes (or at least doesn't focus on) many of the nastier characteristics of the steppe culture that the Quersnyk are based on, and as a result Temur is a bit more of the typical bland fantasy hero than I think he could have been. As a member of a "barbarian" (as they are likely viewed by other cultures in the area) tribe, I'd love to have seen him with some more Conan-like traits, if not outright expressing Conan's opinions on what is best in life ("to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women!").

On the other side of the coin, the Al-Sepehr is a bit too much of a moustache-twirling villain. Kidnapping the hero's girlfriend doesn't exactly dispel that image - I keep waiting for him to tie Edene to a railroad track.

Samarkar is somewhat more complex and not as easy to pin down; she's clearly a portagonist and someone we're supposed to sympathize with, but she did have her husband slaughtered for insulting her honor.

Oh yeah --- tiger-people!