The Not a Book Club Club discussion

Ch13 - Very cool battle action in the mountains. Snorri does us Northmen proud - even if I'm the bad Northman in this book.

Looks like Jalan's light magic can burn undead if it needs to. And Snorri is using "Dark" magic. But it seems an automatic effect so far.

Yeah, the fight in the mountains was great. Also, Snorri is a badass.

Ch14 -

I like how Jalan tries to use his magic to torture the prisoner and ends up healing him accidentally. I think maybe Snorri's "Dark" magic might be the goto choice for inflicting pain.

I feel that magic isn't a huge part of the world and Jalan definitely has no experience with it, except the Silent Sister.

I'm starting to wonder if Jal is really a coward or has only convinced himself that he is.

I am really enjoying the single POV. Its a nice change from most of the books on the market.

The flashback scenes are much better in this book. Prefer this way of doing them than how he did them in prince and king.

I liked how it was done in Prince of Thorns because it let us get to know Jorg and the brothers better. I think it didn't work quite as well the rest of the Broken Empire series.

I think the flashbacks for Snorri have been really strong but feel like we aren't getting to know Jal as well.

I am intrigued about what Taproot tells about Jalan's mother death, he tells that she was assassinated, and Jalan although hearing it decides to ignore it.

Is Jalan showing us to be coward due to the fact that he has not been able to do anything although knowing the fact that how his mother was killed.

Jalan seems like he always says he is a coward, and sometimes I believe him, and sometimes I don't. He certainly acts like any brave thing he does is purely accidental or else to impress people.

I feel like he was just in total denial about his mother - he doesn't want to remember anything bad. What do you think?

Suzanne wrote: "Jalan seems like he always says he is a coward, and sometimes I believe him, and sometimes I don't. He certainly acts like any brave thing he does is purely accidental or else to impress people.

I..."

Exactly I think this repetition of I am coward comes from the fact of repressing the facts related to the murder of his mother, because not only he is obsessed about proving himself a coward every time, but he also hangs on to the locket of his mother's picture as his life depends on it.

I only vaguely remember this part - but in regards to Jalan being a coward - I think I've come to the conclusion that he is not a coward - he is definitely a pragmatist and isnt afraid to run or cheat or lie when the situation warrants it - but he has some self-image problems and is plagued with self-doubt and a fear of failure. It's easier to cloak yourself with "I am a coward and thats why i failed" even though when push comes to shove he is actually very brave :) Or something like that.