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Book of the Ancestor trilogy by Mark Lawrence {spoiler thread}


AncalagonTheBlack

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38 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

How are people reading this, amazon has it listed 17th May???

Came out in the US ahead of the UK.  Definitely odd these days.

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5 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

That is odd, been out here for a week or two. I thought it was out in the UK too.

it's out on audiobook as of today. I'm sure that counts for other copies?

 

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On ‎4‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 10:10 AM, Ajûrbkli said:

Just finished Grey Sister berry good too.

Random speculation, comments and questions and such

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So the epilogue implies someone got control of the Moon, right?  Since the Empire is apparently on fire, I'm guessing it was the Scithrowl warrior-queen chick.

So what are the Devils? I had thought that they were as Zole said - parts of the Missing that didn't get to ascend or whatever.  But then Koet said he was born in the ship-heart and Yisht was full of devils from it.  So are they not part of the Missing?

And what are the Missing anyway?  Aliens that ascended to a higher plane or even a pre-cursor human civilization that ascended?  Because the Ark controls the Moon, but the Shiphearts control the entrance to the Ark, and the Shiphearts seem to be Missing technology.  But the Moon was put there by the humans to heat the planet.  So if the Missing were Alien, the Tribes were able to readily understand and repurpose their technology. 

Seems likely that the Missing were another human civilization, the Tribes came to Abeoth for refuge, expecting to find people there, but they had all mysteriously disappeared.

Also disappointed Regol and Nona didn't bang.  Maybe next book.

 

Have wanted to respond for a while, but just have not taken the time to.  You've got some great speculation here.

Spoiler

I do think you're right that someone has control of the moon now.  I wonder how long is between Grey Sister and Holy Sister.  In the epilogue of Red Sister, I remember there being much excitement among the Tacsis that Nona Grey had returned to Sweet Mercy.  Do we think that she does not return to the convent after the events at the end of GS?  I wonder how much of Holy Sister will bounce back and forth between a younger period and the events of the epilogues.

At one point, didn't Keot say that the shiphearts didn't bring humans to Abeth but that humans came to Abeth for the shiphearts?

I agree that the Missing are quite obviously the original inhabitants of Abeth and possibly humans as well.  No idea what the devils are.  Zole has now bought into the idea of her being the "Chosen One" and she has a devil of her own that will likely feed that impression.  We have yet to see any glimpse of her in the epilogue, so I don't know what her role will be in the third book.

I really like the setting of this world and am eager to see how many of the mysteries he wraps up in the third book and what he might leave for other works.  I know he has another novella set to be released (I think its novella length) that is set on the ice.  

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On 4/18/2018 at 6:04 PM, Darth Richard II said:

Damn I'm only 60 pages in but this book is fucking off the chain.

Loved this book so much. Really can’t wait for the conclusion. 

20 hours ago, Rhom said:

Have wanted to respond for a while, but just have not taken the time to.  You've got some great speculation here.

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I do think you're right that someone has control of the moon now.  I wonder how long is between Grey Sister and Holy Sister.  In the epilogue of Red Sister, I remember there being much excitement among the Tacsis that Nona Grey had returned to Sweet Mercy.  Do we think that she does not return to the convent after the events at the end of GS?  I wonder how much of Holy Sister will bounce back and forth between a younger period and the events of the epilogues.

At one point, didn't Keot say that the shiphearts didn't bring humans to Abeth but that humans came to Abeth for the shiphearts?

I agree that the Missing are quite obviously the original inhabitants of Abeth and possibly humans as well.  No idea what the devils are.  Zole has now bought into the idea of her being the "Chosen One" and she has a devil of her own that will likely feed that impression.  We have yet to see any glimpse of her in the epilogue, so I don't know what her role will be in the third book.

I really like the setting of this world and am eager to see how many of the mysteries he wraps up in the third book and what he might leave for other works.  I know he has another novella set to be released (I think its novella length) that is set on the ice.  

Spoiler

Someone that isn’t the Tacsis does seem to have the moon. Unless the world is burning just because of the Scithrowl invasion. 

I like the idea that the Missing are the first round of human settlers on Abeth.

Keot called the shipheart a corestone. I think that ties with the shiphearts having been created on Abeth. Some sort of energy source that in a galaxy full of dying stars would be invaluable. Invaluable enough to have future settlers come to Abeth to claim them.

Remember the corestone produced enough heat to warm all the buildings at Sweet Mercy. Maybe that’s foreshadowing that with enough shiphearts you could warm all of Abeth and not even need the moon. I think that could be a nice ending.

 

 

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1 hour ago, unJon said:

Loved this book so much. Really can’t wait for the conclusion. 

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Someone that isn’t the Tacsis does seem to have the moon. Unless the world is burning just because of the Scithrowl invasion. 

I like the idea that the Missing are the first round of human settlers on Abeth.

Keot called the shipheart a corestone. I think that ties with the shiphearts having been created on Abeth. Some sort of energy source that in a galaxy full of dying stars would be invaluable. Invaluable enough to have future settlers come to Abeth to claim them.

Remember the corestone produced enough heat to warm all the buildings at Sweet Mercy. Maybe that’s foreshadowing that with enough shiphearts you could warm all of Abeth and not even need the moon. I think that could be a nice ending.

 

 

RE: Your “nice ending”

Yes... but this is a Mark Lawrence book, so even if the world gets a happy ending; our characters likely won’t!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/21/2018 at 5:49 PM, unJon said:

Loved this book so much. Really can’t wait for the conclusion. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Someone that isn’t the Tacsis does seem to have the moon. Unless the world is burning just because of the Scithrowl invasion. 

I like the idea that the Missing are the first round of human settlers on Abeth.

Keot called the shipheart a corestone. I think that ties with the shiphearts having been created on Abeth. Some sort of energy source that in a galaxy full of dying stars would be invaluable. Invaluable enough to have future settlers come to Abeth to claim them.

Remember the corestone produced enough heat to warm all the buildings at Sweet Mercy. Maybe that’s foreshadowing that with enough shiphearts you could warm all of Abeth and not even need the moon. I think that could be a nice ending.

 

 

Spoiler

It's Missing cities that have the Arks and ark stuff right? For me the implication is:

Four exodus ships powered by heartstones -> planet colonized -> damn it's cold -> moon created -> scientists controlling the moon go "missing" (as seen by the rest of bio-engineered colonisers)

since those stones seem to both inject memories AND create a "demon" matching personal character flaws and that seems to be some sort of virus linked to the character life energy or something... and that powerful magic has the same effect. hmm, I don't know.

 

I could see the missing having put themselves on a sort of stasis in the ship hearts waiting for their bio engeeniring on the peasants to produce someone capable of doing something with the energy flows, and some memories leaking through the stones energy in those tapping them... Stasis probably related to some chtulhuan horror trapped in the black ice. Who's to say the missing did not voluntarily narrow the moon beam to ice dangerous stuff, even? If the world is literally on fire in the present day, rather than metaphorically, it means the tech is there to beat the ice, maybe. But why would the girls and Lano care about Sweet Mercy in the present day if super tech was activated and mafe world take fire? probably metaphorical.

 

Anyway the read is fast and fun, and it's not that frequent.

 

 

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I enjoyed Grey Sister more than Red so I'm happy. Things moved along at a nice pace and while things weren't made easy for Nona they weren't relishing her misery quite so much this time around (I'm still recalling the hand over the whole trial/candle scene from book one).

The world buidling seemed more expressive and encapsulating this time around. I particularly enjoyed the "before we get started" section which filled in a lot of blanks for me (which I presumedly missed the first time around) that got everything off to a nice start. There wasn't too much "harry potter" going on either and the training for the most part was quite fun. The grey sister challenge evoked fond memories of "lies of locke lamorra" which is never a bad thing.

The additional POVs really helped too.

Quick question. As i listened to the audiobook what is the name of Nona's blades? It sounds like "floor blades" which always had me thinking they were popping from her feet. Or were they "flaw blades"? Just something that bugged me while listening.

so this is still a triogy right? Feels like a lot needs to happen in the final part but I guess it could jump straight to the teases we've had in these books of the future.

I got the feeling that the man being sent in to take Nona dead or alive was the cage fighter guy (my memory is awful for names) which raises the question of "how did things go so wrong between them? Is Zole the one who under the influence of demons becomes the owner of the moon and is responsible for burning everything?

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22 hours ago, Lord Patrek said:

It's still a trilogy, but Lawrence signed a book deal for 3 more novels set in the same universe and is currently working on them.

And it's flaw blades, if I remember correctly.

That's certainly better than floor blades.

Hopefully the sequel trilogy isn't running parallel to current events (although I guess it very much depends how this one ends) as I'd certainly like to see more of the world but not in a "this is sort of the B-plot" which is hard to escape if it's happening in the background of the current story.

 

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2 hours ago, red snow said:

That's certainly better than floor blades.

Hopefully the sequel trilogy isn't running parallel to current events (although I guess it very much depends how this one ends) as I'd certainly like to see more of the world but not in a "this is sort of the B-plot" which is hard to escape if it's happening in the background of the current story.

 

Kinda what happened with Red Queen’s War in some ways.

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7 hours ago, Rhom said:

Kinda what happened with Red Queen’s War in some ways.

Yeah, that's why I'm hoping he'll mix it up a bit this time. To be fair he hasn't really repeated himself with any of his trilogies yet. But I guess if this series ends with everything burning he might have no choice but to do a prequel/parallel story :)

While the fate of the Queen's War characters were unknown I feel that series had quite a bit of wind knocked out of it by the fact we knew the previous trilogy had the culmination of events in it. Although I guess the events that took place were almost as important. I guess it's a reader thing - if you can get caught up in the story it doesn't really matter.

I know Mark says he never plans his books ahead so we'll just have to wait and see. You'd think this series must have some loose planning but I guess even the future segments give him enough leeway to change course depending on what inspires him at the time of writing.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/8/2018 at 2:34 PM, red snow said:

 

Quick question. As i listened to the audiobook what is the name of Nona's blades? It sounds like "floor blades" which always had me thinking they were popping from her feet. Or were they "flaw blades"? Just something that bugged me while listening.

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I got the feeling that the man being sent in to take Nona dead or alive was the cage fighter guy (my memory is awful for names) which raises the question of "how did things go so wrong between them? Is Zole the one who under the influence of demons becomes the owner of the moon and is responsible for burning everything?

 

Correct in that they are "flaw" blades. 

 

As far as your spoilers:

Spoiler

The dead or alive group/main person was not the cage fighter (unless that is a twist for the next book), it being commanded by the the Tascis surviving son, Lanos, who was partially trained by the Noi-Guin. The assassins being sent after Cage/Nona is the Noi-Guin and the "singular" (the main baddy being sent after Nora), or the head of the Noi-Guin, which we haven't met before. However, Clera is still there, so maybe you were getting her confused with the cage fighter?

Zole being responsible for burning the world would be a fun "careful of the shipheart power" lesson.

 

 

I actually chewed through Red/Grey sister very fast. Loved the world building, even if some of Red Sister was a bit training-heavy, and had a few annoyances that others brought up (not notifying the Abbess of the shipheart being stolten is the big one). A liiiiiiiiiitle bit of deux-ex pops up every now and then, but overall it was super enjoyable.

The changes of who is the "chosen one" back and forth was a fun straying from what I expected in a more "standard" fantasy progression story (that we meet our "heroes" and "chosen ones" right up front).

I want a scene of Tarkis Spear Thrower dude going ham, which was sadly missed (goddamnit Clera!).

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  • 2 months later...

Teaser for Holy Sister.

I'll put it in spoilers since this thread is still technically for book one.  :lol: 

Spoiler

“Nona scanned the forces arrayed before her. She felt her devils moving beneath her habit, their voices crying out for blood, and she found herself in agreement. The Book of the Ancestor says that for everything there is a season. This was a time to reap. A time for death. A time to die.“

This is probably my most anticipated book.  Pre-orders are up on Amazon as well.  Set to release in the US on April 9, 2019.

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6 hours ago, Rhom said:

Teaser for Holy Sister.

I'll put it in spoilers since this thread is still technically for book one.  :lol: 

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“Nona scanned the forces arrayed before her. She felt her devils moving beneath her habit, their voices crying out for blood, and she found herself in agreement. The Book of the Ancestor says that for everything there is a season. This was a time to reap. A time for death. A time to die.“

This is probably my most anticipated book.  Pre-orders are up on Amazon as well.  Set to release in the US on April 9, 2019.

Nice! Just preordered the Kindle version. 

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  • 5 months later...

Short story "Bound" that's set between Grey and Holy Sister was released on Kindle last month.  I finally broke down and read it on my son's iPad yesterday.  It was a good read.  Makes me anticipate Holy Sister even more.

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