52_52 Challenge: 2/52
And then I read about 600 pages in a night. SO THAT'S WEEK TWO, I GUESS. This is what happens when I get into this series, though. I can't stooooooop!
So yeah, I just finished book one of the Winds of the Forelands series, Rules of Ascension, by David B. Coe. Uh, spoilers, obvs.
This is that one series that I plug to everybody ever, and that NO ONE EVER has heard of, or gets around to reading. Which. Is a tragedy, okay, because it's fucking brilliant and I want to share the joy. First of all, like. Okay. You start the book, and you're like OH HI THERE, PYTOR. YOU SEEM LIKE A NICE SORT. YOU'RE GONNA BE MY MAIN CHARACTER, HUH? OKAY, SOU-- UH... PYTOR? PYT-- WELL SNAP. HE'S DEAD. YOU GOT ME, BOOK! ON TO CHAPTER TWO! So then you're like OKAY, I GOT THIS SHIT. HI, FILIB. YOU'RE MY MAIN CHARACTER. I GET IT, AHAHA, THAT WAS A GOOD FAKE-OUT. SEE, WE EVEN GOT PAST CHAPTER TWO, AND YOU'RE STILL ALIVE! I LIKE YOU, FILIB. LET'S BE FR-- OH. OKAY THEN. YOU'RE DEAD TOO. But don't worry, Tavis sticks around once we meet him.
But okay he's a douchebag. But he's a teenaged noble who's about to be caught in a fucking SHITSTORM of conspiracy designed to manipulate the Rules of Ascension, the way the kingship is determined from among the major houses of his land, and poor Tavis okay. Okay. Spoilers. Spoilers. He's a douchebag but HE'S TRYING TO GROW OUT OF IT OKAY, HE'S SIXTEEN, and then he's in an arranged marriage and he goes to meet her, and SHE'S LOVELY AND THEY HIT IT OFF AND IT SEEMS SWEET but then Cadel the super-awesome singing assassin (no, like. His cover is that he's a singer traveling with the Revel.) slips him a drug and Tavis wakes up like OH SNAP BRIENNE AND I ARE IN BED TOGETHER, THAT'S HER BLOOD ON MY HANDS, THAT'S MY DAGGER IN HER... WELL THIS IS AWKWARD. But okay then there was an earlier incident that severely adds to doubt over his innocence, and even Tavis doesn't know if he's innocent, and I'm just like OH TAVIS YOU POOR BABY, DON'T WORRY, I SAW CADEL DO IT, but then THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME ALSO Grinsa's a character. And. Okay. Grinsa. AHHHHH! I LOVE HIM! FUCK! He's the other main protagonist, and just.
Okay. World explanation.
So there are two races in this world. There are the Eandi, and they're uh us. Basically. Just normal peeps. And then there are the Qirsi. The Qirsi have pale pale skin and white hair and yellow eyes and they're really physically frail and don't live as long BUT.
THEY CAN DO MAGIC, MOTHERFUCKERS.
But every time they do magic it shaves a little time off of their life, and in the short term it leaves them really weak.
They have uh let's see. There's fire, there's mists and winds (that's one single power), there's language of beasts, healing, okay those are pretty self-explanatory. Then there's also gleaning, which involves like visions and seeing the future, and is also used for a sort of fortune-telling ritual that plays a major part in Tavis' tragic life, and it's like the most common and the least powerful magic. Then there's shaping, which is used to shatter solid objects, like swords or uh I don't know GATES (looking at you, CERTAIN CHARACTER), and caaaaan be used to put those things back together, but it takes waaaay more power. And then you don't find out about this one other than a briiiief occurrence in this book, but there's mind-bending, which is more or less what it sounds like, and gets put to kind of horrifically brilliant use in a later book once Aneira starts going to hell. But then. Okay. Wait. Fire, mists and winds, language of beasts, healing, gleaning, shaping, mind-bending, okay and then. There's weaving.
Weavers (and it's Weavers, not weavers) are basically the most badass ever. They're physically strong, unlike most Qirsi, and have all of the magics, which is really rare, and they also have weaving. So say you got an army of ten shapers, each of them can do a little damage. But a Weaver can weave their magic together and add his own and do a whooooooooole lotta damage. Plus they can tell what magics a Qirsi has just by looking at them, and they can also walk in other Qirsi's dreams.
Point is, Grinsa's a Weaver, and when he realizes how unjust Tavis' life situation is, he's like FUCK THAT SHIT and rescues his ass. And oh, the characters. FUUUUUCK. They're. God. They're so realistic and nuanced and wonderful and just. DIFFERENT. They all surprise me. There are so many, too, and all of them, ALL OF THEM, are like. They need to be there. There's a point. Even Pytor the one-chapter wonder-- he arguably sets EVERYTHING in motion, actually. And just. I can't. I can't pick out favorites. I'll try once I'm flailing about a later book, but I seriously. Gah.
This first book is maaaainly about the fight over the throne of Eibithar, Tavis' country, but throughout there are elements of the other realms, and when you read the rest of the series you see how brilliantly the conspiracy is woven into this first book. There are so many characters, even somewhat minor ones, that come back later in a big fat way, and just. At the end it's so clear how brilliantly it was all planned. Fuuuuuck.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
Buy this book. Read it. Enjoy. Then come tell me about it so we can be dorks.
So yeah, I just finished book one of the Winds of the Forelands series, Rules of Ascension, by David B. Coe. Uh, spoilers, obvs.
This is that one series that I plug to everybody ever, and that NO ONE EVER has heard of, or gets around to reading. Which. Is a tragedy, okay, because it's fucking brilliant and I want to share the joy. First of all, like. Okay. You start the book, and you're like OH HI THERE, PYTOR. YOU SEEM LIKE A NICE SORT. YOU'RE GONNA BE MY MAIN CHARACTER, HUH? OKAY, SOU-- UH... PYTOR? PYT-- WELL SNAP. HE'S DEAD. YOU GOT ME, BOOK! ON TO CHAPTER TWO! So then you're like OKAY, I GOT THIS SHIT. HI, FILIB. YOU'RE MY MAIN CHARACTER. I GET IT, AHAHA, THAT WAS A GOOD FAKE-OUT. SEE, WE EVEN GOT PAST CHAPTER TWO, AND YOU'RE STILL ALIVE! I LIKE YOU, FILIB. LET'S BE FR-- OH. OKAY THEN. YOU'RE DEAD TOO. But don't worry, Tavis sticks around once we meet him.
But okay he's a douchebag. But he's a teenaged noble who's about to be caught in a fucking SHITSTORM of conspiracy designed to manipulate the Rules of Ascension, the way the kingship is determined from among the major houses of his land, and poor Tavis okay. Okay. Spoilers. Spoilers. He's a douchebag but HE'S TRYING TO GROW OUT OF IT OKAY, HE'S SIXTEEN, and then he's in an arranged marriage and he goes to meet her, and SHE'S LOVELY AND THEY HIT IT OFF AND IT SEEMS SWEET but then Cadel the super-awesome singing assassin (no, like. His cover is that he's a singer traveling with the Revel.) slips him a drug and Tavis wakes up like OH SNAP BRIENNE AND I ARE IN BED TOGETHER, THAT'S HER BLOOD ON MY HANDS, THAT'S MY DAGGER IN HER... WELL THIS IS AWKWARD. But okay then there was an earlier incident that severely adds to doubt over his innocence, and even Tavis doesn't know if he's innocent, and I'm just like OH TAVIS YOU POOR BABY, DON'T WORRY, I SAW CADEL DO IT, but then THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME ALSO Grinsa's a character. And. Okay. Grinsa. AHHHHH! I LOVE HIM! FUCK! He's the other main protagonist, and just.
Okay. World explanation.
So there are two races in this world. There are the Eandi, and they're uh us. Basically. Just normal peeps. And then there are the Qirsi. The Qirsi have pale pale skin and white hair and yellow eyes and they're really physically frail and don't live as long BUT.
THEY CAN DO MAGIC, MOTHERFUCKERS.
But every time they do magic it shaves a little time off of their life, and in the short term it leaves them really weak.
They have uh let's see. There's fire, there's mists and winds (that's one single power), there's language of beasts, healing, okay those are pretty self-explanatory. Then there's also gleaning, which involves like visions and seeing the future, and is also used for a sort of fortune-telling ritual that plays a major part in Tavis' tragic life, and it's like the most common and the least powerful magic. Then there's shaping, which is used to shatter solid objects, like swords or uh I don't know GATES (looking at you, CERTAIN CHARACTER), and caaaaan be used to put those things back together, but it takes waaaay more power. And then you don't find out about this one other than a briiiief occurrence in this book, but there's mind-bending, which is more or less what it sounds like, and gets put to kind of horrifically brilliant use in a later book once Aneira starts going to hell. But then. Okay. Wait. Fire, mists and winds, language of beasts, healing, gleaning, shaping, mind-bending, okay and then. There's weaving.
Weavers (and it's Weavers, not weavers) are basically the most badass ever. They're physically strong, unlike most Qirsi, and have all of the magics, which is really rare, and they also have weaving. So say you got an army of ten shapers, each of them can do a little damage. But a Weaver can weave their magic together and add his own and do a whooooooooole lotta damage. Plus they can tell what magics a Qirsi has just by looking at them, and they can also walk in other Qirsi's dreams.
Point is, Grinsa's a Weaver, and when he realizes how unjust Tavis' life situation is, he's like FUCK THAT SHIT and rescues his ass. And oh, the characters. FUUUUUCK. They're. God. They're so realistic and nuanced and wonderful and just. DIFFERENT. They all surprise me. There are so many, too, and all of them, ALL OF THEM, are like. They need to be there. There's a point. Even Pytor the one-chapter wonder-- he arguably sets EVERYTHING in motion, actually. And just. I can't. I can't pick out favorites. I'll try once I'm flailing about a later book, but I seriously. Gah.
This first book is maaaainly about the fight over the throne of Eibithar, Tavis' country, but throughout there are elements of the other realms, and when you read the rest of the series you see how brilliantly the conspiracy is woven into this first book. There are so many characters, even somewhat minor ones, that come back later in a big fat way, and just. At the end it's so clear how brilliantly it was all planned. Fuuuuuck.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
Buy this book. Read it. Enjoy. Then come tell me about it so we can be dorks.