The Not a Book Club Club discussion

This is the final 105 pages or so (in my edition).

Please keep all discussion to the events and speculation from the chapter: The High Places to the chapter: Back To The Mud.

No spoiler tags required.

Please do not discuss events from later books. Referring back to events from a previous section is fine.

I would have to say lord Smund he was just such a brillant strategist. Other than him I would have to agree with Threetrees going to be interesting seeing Dogman trying to keep control of Black Dow. Cathil was more sad based on Dogman's reaction than for losing her as a character.

True it was a rather brutal death scene.

Anyone get the idea that Jezel is the next king of the Union? It seemed that Bayaz was grooming him with his talk about leadership and the different emperors techniques of leading.

Given the title of the final chapter, I suspected one of the Northman would die. Was kind of thinking it would be Dogman though. I did like Threetrees.

That's an interesting theory about Jezel Bill. Two books down and I'm still not sure just what Bayaz wants with him. That's as good of an idea as any I can come up with.

I meant to comment on that mist in previous sections when West encounters it, but I forgot to bring it up. It certainly didn't seem natural, and we find out it's not.

It doesn't surprise me that Bethod is dealing with dark elements. He's apparently got some Witch helping him. Plus the Flatheads are working for him now?

And if there was any doubt the Fearless wasn't human before, that's now put to rest. I don't know if he's an eater, or an outright demon. Or something in between?

I'm sort of surprised he fled. Maybe his goal was simply to kill Threetrees?

I was afraid of spoilers in this thread so I avoided it as I went. I was suspicious of the Commanders "indigestion" from the beginning and I was proved right. There is something very wrong with him. Maybe magic from Bethod's Witch?

I'm a little bit surprised he's still alive. I wonder if he can be trusted. If that's a spell maybe it will have other effects on him as well.

Bill wrote: Anyone get the idea that Jezel is the next king of the Union?

That was my theory aswell. If you think back to book 1, there was an interesting scene.
When Jezal won the tournament and went to the king, the king hugged him and called him "my son".
I know that the king is not in his right mind, but I suspected that there might be more to that.

With Glokta and Ardee openly speculating about there being potential bastards out there, that might be an interesting theory.
If not, I guess the scene was at least symbolic. Maybe Bayaz wants to present him to the open council as his candidate and therefore needed him to grow, but still be he his marionette, just as he was in the contest, when Jezal danced on Bayaz strings to victory.

That would also put Bayaz on the suspect list for Prince Reynault's death. If he wants to continue his feud with Khalul, peace between the Union and the Emperor wouldn't be in his interest.
So removing the prince from the succession line and blaming the Ghurkish would serve all of his interests, if he wants Jezal to be his puppet king.

And the whole quest thing was a bummer in the end. I guess the Seed now might be connected to Glokta.
He had this strange vision in the first book, where a woman - I assumed it might be the Maker's daughter's spirit - talked to him about the Seed. So maybe it's in Adua.

Might also be a member of the council, or the Ghurkish group opposing peace who killed the Prince, maybe? They also both benefit.
The way the Sult ordered that innocent man executed for the Prince's murder in order to protect his order made me ill. Which was probably the intention.
So many questions still to be answered - looking forward to the last book.

That's also my theory about Jezal. Bayaz is grooming him to rule.

I think the spirit told Logen something else about the Seed that he hasn't revealed yet. I'm interested to see where things go for them from here.

Threetrees's death hit me kind of hard but I'm more annoyed by Cathil's death. There's so few women in this series to begin with, now there's one less. Magister Eider has to come back into play somehow in book 3, right?

As for Glotka, I have a bad feeling about his fate in the finale...

I was a bit disappointed Cathil died as well, she seemed a strong woman. I would've liked to read more about her.

Yeah, I assume she (Eider) will come back in some manner. It 'felt like it'. I wonder HOW though... will she pay Glokta back by stabbing him in the back when it comes to that or will she, actually, help him? I can't help feeling like she may have tricked him into believing what she said. I'm not sure I buy her story.

I would have liked to know more about Cathil too and see her relationship with The Dogman develop.

I feel like Glotka might be close to his end, held in a room by someone from the Council who doesn't like him, then Eider saves him somehow. I don't think those two are done yet.

I get the feeling that Abercrombie wants to show that love is something really special that is very difficult to hold onto in his harsh world.
I was also expecting more from Cathil, but in the end she just seemed to be a device to tell us something about West and the Dogman.

I know that one of the later books has a female protagonist and I guess JA needed maybe time and practice to right female characters.
He practiced with Ferro, but made her really wild and special.