The Core - Spoilers

[Rhom]

Okay, I took time for a couple good marathon sessions the last two nights to finish it up.  So I'll have some legit spoilers in this post.

Bottom line, I liked this book probably better than the last few books in the series.  May or may not be quite as good as Warded Man, but I'd put it there with Desert Spear at the very least and definitely better than Daylight War or Skull Throne. 

He really stuck the landing for me with the finishing book in the cycle.  As I noted above, I was a bit nervous where things were going with the hermaphrodite and the geldings early on.  I still don't know where he's going with Olive (the hermaphrodite baby) other than saying that its pretty obvious that he's not done writing in this setting.  The book brings the series to a more than satisfying conclusion, but there are certainly threads left hanging to be addressed later if he would like.

I had no clue what the purpose of Hasik and his Eunuchs would be, but the final confrontation with Abban and the Mind was a good touch and a good use of Abban I thought.  Briar wound up being a useful addition to the story after all.  I almost expected little Kaji to be the one to kill the Mind somehow after shrugging off the mind control, but Briar doing it was satisfying.  I still don't know that I needed to spend as much time with the Milnese with Ragen and Elissa as we got, but it did have a good resolution.  The fact that I didn't remember who Derek was at all was a major problem with feeling any weight in those closing chapters there however.  I liked the scene with the organ playing resonating off the mountains driving the demons back.  Likewise, I thought Leesha's victory over the mind was not contrived and was well thought out.  So many times in fantasy, I don't think the good guys "earn" their win over the bad guys.  They win because the bad guys were incompetent or did something that wasn't true to character.  I don't think that was the case here.  The Minds had a good plan and had everything in place, but the heroes of the story had better plans and turned the tables in a believable way.  Additionally, the victory did not come without a price.  I'm still stunned over Rojer's death and seeing poor Sikvah essentially die off page was definitely a downer.

The first part of the book felt like some needless politicking, but in the end I didn't feel that.  Everything felt like setting the stage.  Mostly for this book, but also for the obvious sequel series he is at least planning in his head.  Demon Cycle: The Next Generation will certainly have some difficulty upping the stakes off this series however.

For the main group of Arlen/Jardir/Renna/Shanvah/Shanvat there did feel like a bit of waiting around at first, but once they started heading to the core, the story really picked up.  The scenes in the Spear of Ala evoked some great imagery for me.  Again going along the theme of bad guys who aren't incompetent, Alagai Ka's plan to gradually grow more layers of skin under the prisoning wards was believable and his use of the tear bottle subtly draw a Mimic to him to take control was a good plan.  His eventual escape was good and he is obviously set to be the main antagonist in DC: TNG.  In some ways, the breeding chamber reminded me of the broodmother scene in Dragon Age: Origins.  Arlen's death was believable and felt necessary.  His incomplete scouring of the demons didn't feel like too much to me either.

In the end, I really liked the book and feel satisfied overall with the story.  I never had problems with the Krasian culture like many seem to, but I still maintain that rape as character development is used too much in grimdark stories and this story would have been fine without it.

[RedEyedGhost]

83% through and I'm really enjoying it. It really seems like the months have really shortened.  3 days of waning, followed by apparently 3 days of waxing. 

[Rhom]

6 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

83% through and I'm really enjoying it. It really seems like the months have really shortened.  3 days of waning, followed by apparently 3 days of waxing. 

Man... everything changes at the 84% mark.  

Yeah, I guess he was skipping the in between parts but you’re right that it all felt like one long waning.

[RedEyedGhost]

Hmm, at the 84% mark we saw Leesha flip the ambush (although that really didn't make sense as I can't really see three Minds spending the day above ground no matter how dark they were able to make the throne room), and at 85% we see Inevera signing a peace treaty with the remnants of Lakton.  Can't wait to see Ragen and Elissa flipping the script in Miln (that's been my favorite storyline in the book, although I've really been liking Renna more than any other book since the first).

[Rhom]

43 minutes ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Hmm, at the 84% mark we saw Leesha flip the ambush (although that really didn't make sense as I can't really see three Minds spending the day above ground no matter how dark they were able to make the throne room), and at 85% we see Inevera signing a peace treaty with the remnants of Lakton.  Can't wait to see Ragen and Elissa flipping the script in Miln (that's been my favorite storyline in the book, although I've really been liking Renna more than any other book since the first).

I liked Miln, but it lacked a bit of the emotional impact I had for the other locales.  Never having read Brayan’s Gold, I feel like I missed something important there.

[RedEyedGhost]

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

Bottom line, I liked this book probably better than the last few books in the series.  May or may not be quite as good as Warded Man, but I'd put it there with Desert Spear at the very least and definitely better than Daylight War or Skull Throne. 

I agree, and I didn't dislike the last two books as much as most people.

 

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

He really stuck the landing for me with the finishing book in the cycle.  As I noted above, I was a bit nervous where things were going with the hermaphrodite and the geldings early on.  I still don't know where he's going with Olive (the hermaphrodite baby) other than saying that its pretty obvious that he's not done writing in this setting.  The book brings the series to a more than satisfying conclusion, but there are certainly threads left hanging to be addressed later if he would like.

My only complaint is that there wasn't nearly as much of a post-climax period as I would like.  What did we get, like 6 pages?  Arlen walking the lonely path was nice.  Would have liked some more glimpses into other civilizations. 

 

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

I had no clue what the purpose of Hasik and his Eunuchs would be,

I would have been completely fine without that entire storyline.  That was some fucked up shit.  Abban battling the Mind was a nice scene, and it was good for all parties involved, but I'm not sure it was ultimately worth it.  I did enjoy Briar's arc.

 

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

I still don't know that I needed to spend as much time with the Milnese with Ragen and Elissa as we got, but it did have a good resolution.  The fact that I didn't remember who Derek was at all was a major problem with feeling any weight in those closing chapters there however. 

I felt more connected with Miln than Angiers, so I was very glad to get a sufficient amount of resolution there.  I think Derek was in the first book quite a bit, but it has been a long time since I read that.  I really liked Keerin's turnaround.  Arlen's return to Miln in book 3 (?) was my favorite part of that book.  Mery's fight with Jaik was pretty funny, and then very sad.  

 

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

I liked the scene with the organ playing resonating off the mountains driving the demons back.

I would have liked to have seen Arlen going to town from the Core from the perspective of some of the above grounders.

 

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

Likewise, I thought Leesha's victory over the mind was not contrived and was well thought out.  So many times in fantasy, I don't think the good guys "earn" their win over the bad guys.  They win because the bad guys were incompetent or did something that wasn't true to character.  I don't think that was the case here.  The Minds had a good plan and had everything in place, but the heroes of the story had better plans and turned the tables in a believable way.  Additionally, the victory did not come without a price.  I'm still stunned over Rojer's death and seeing poor Sikvah essentially die off page was definitely a downer.

I did think Leesha's win was contrived.  No way those Minds would have been above ground during the day.  The overconfidence of the Mind's and the Queen was definitely their downfall, and I think PVB set that up well.  Rojer's death was rough, made even more so by the events of this book.

 

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

The first part of the book felt like some needless politicking, but in the end I didn't feel that. 

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

For the main group of Arlen/Jardir/Renna/Shanvah/Shanvat there did feel like a bit of waiting around at first, but once they started heading to the core, the story really picked up. 

The majority of the past three books fell into that category.  Less backstory for Ahmann in book two, Inevera and Abban in book three, and Sharak Sun in books three, four, and five could have easily turned this into a trilogy.  I knew that would be the case as soon as Arlen's role was continually diminished in every book after the first.  Arlen was by far the most interesting character, and the months interrogating the demon prince felt superfluous. 

 

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

The scenes in the Spear of Ala evoked some great imagery for me. 

That was some good stuff there.  I enjoyed the liberation of the alamen fae too.

 

On 11/18/2017 at 9:57 AM, Rhom said:

DC: TNG.

The only other thing I've heard about him writing in this setting is the novella Barren, which will with the events in Tibbet's Brook that we don't see during The Core.  Starring Selia Barren, the older woman that Renna caught in flagrante delicto. 

I would really like to see the next generation expanding out into the wider world. 

[Rhom]

12 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

The only other thing I've heard about him writing in this setting is the novella Barren, which will with the events in Tibbet's Brook that we don't see during The Core.  Starring Selia Barren, the older woman that Renna caught in flagrante delicto. 

I would really like to see the next generation expanding out into the wider world. 

I hadn't seen anything else either, but the way the book was written with all the emphasis on Olive, Kaji, Darin, Arick, Rajvah and all the other named children, it feels like there's too much set up for the future to leave it dangling.  Maybe it will be years from now, but the hints of other civilizations and the escape of Alagai'ka seems like there's just too much out there to not pick up later.

I'd love to find out more about why the world originally collapsed.  Is it something like in Lawrence's Broken Empire?

[RedEyedGhost]

57 minutes ago, Rhom said:

I'd love to find out more about why the world originally collapsed.  Is it something like in Lawrence's Broken Empire?

Because the demons bided their time rebuilding their strength after Kaji and his million strong army had weakened them all those thousands of years ago (I thought it was ~3000, but the demon prince said 5000 a couple of times in this book), and 334 years ago them came back to the surface after humanity had forgotten the purpose and power of warding. I think that was explained in book one by Mery or her father.

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Because the demons bided their time rebuilding their strength after Kaji and his million strong army had weakened them all those thousands of years ago (I thought it was ~3000, but the demon prince said 5000 a couple of times in this book), and 334 years ago them came back to the surface after humanity had forgotten the purpose and power of warding. I think that was explained in book one by Mery or her father.

But I thought I read this was supposed to be our world after a collapse?  Maybe I’m misremembering.  So I was wondering where the demons came from at all.

[RedEyedGhost]

I haven't ever seen anything saying it was supposed to our world. That would mean there's been a buildup and dramatic fall twice.

[Rhom]

3 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I haven't ever seen anything saying it was supposed to our world. That would mean there's been a buildup and dramatic fall twice.

I may have been just making things up.  If I heard it, would have been from others here.  

Do you know if there are plans to include other short stories like Brayan’s Gold into a collection with the novella?

[RedEyedGhost]

I haven't heard about a planned collection, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.  The first two would good (because more Arlen is always good), and I enjoyed Briar's too, but they're not necessary.  It looks like the first two have already been put together, so you have to think they'll put them all together but likely not until the single version of the last one has been out for awhile (or they'll wait and release it concurrent with the first book, if he decides to write another series in this world).

[Rhom]

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 10:54 PM, RedEyedGhost said:

The only other thing I've heard about him writing in this setting is the novella Barren, which will with the events in Tibbet's Brook that we don't see during The Core.  Starring Selia Barren, the older woman that Renna caught in flagrante delicto. 

I would really like to see the next generation expanding out into the wider world. 

Got an email from Amazon today regarding the release of Barren.

Looks like September.

[RedEyedGhost]

1 hour ago, Rhom said:

Got an email from Amazon today regarding the release of Barren.

Looks like September.

I've since seen that he's working on another series focusing on

Arlen's and Leesha's respective kids in their teenage years.

Can't seem to find that link now... didn't try too hard though.