In A Bookish Reverie discussion

Here you are free to talk about EVERYTHING from the book, discuss predictions, whatever! :D

I just gotta say...
Joules, Jack, and Kentarch were the Holy Trinity in this book for me.

It was so funny when the three of them came back to their cabin after a day of work and Joules says “Hi honey, your husbands are home!”

Debbie wrote: "It was so funny when the three of them came back to their cabin after a day of work and Joules says “Hi honey, your husbands are home!”"

Omg I loved that scene!!! Joules is a fucking savage!! And when her and Joules first teamed up. And Joules says to reversed Gabe, "I rather take my chances with the tart." And Evie is like "thanks?" I couldn't believe he said that but at the same time I couldn't stop laughing.

I also loved this scene from Jack's POV:

"Just think about my idea," Joules said. "Goin' to take a slash." He ambled off.

A what? And folks thought that I talked funny?

I feel like that was Kresley's way of playing with anyone that ever critisized the way that Jack talked 😂

I was wondering about the scene involving Kentarch and the Queen of Cups after he allows her to put his blood in a cup to see his future. Tells him about his wife but then says no...I was reading your past. I will need to read that over a few times because I'm like WFT actually happened to her. Did he unknowingly seal her in with no chance of escape?? Then, he goes beserk to go back to her? And, why did Joules grab on to teleport with him? And apparently, the red witch killed a bunch of cups?

Debbie wrote: "I was wondering about the scene involving Kentarch and the Queen of Cups after he allows her to put his blood in a cup to see his future. Tells him about his wife but then says no...I was reading y..."

Yeah I don't have my book anymore, gave it to my friend to borrow yesterday so I don't remember all of the details. But yeah, I think by trying to protect his wife he accidentally killed her. And by the time he went back to that room where he left her, she was already dead. That was so sad honestly! And how Evie said he depended too much on his hope. Joules grabbed him to stop him. He noticed that Kentarch was losing it and was starting to teleport so he grabbed on, hoping to stop him, to get him to stay. And yeah the red witch killed all of those cups. The citizens in Jubilee mentioned that it was Evie and Jack that killed them, though later it said it was the red witch and hinted that Jack had nothing to do with it.

Strange that Matthew and Sol were pretty much non-existent in the book. With all the build up about the looming battle with Richter, that scene didn't really amount to much. Did confirm his getting Selena's and the Lovers' icons at least. What did you think of the ending....Jack impersonating Aric in the armor? And then Jack bowing out so Aric could be a father to Tee? Also, have you seen that theory that surfaced of Jack and Aric being different incarnations of the same person? Weird but at this point, it's as good as anything I can come up with. With Jack not being the HM, all my theories went out the window.

Debbie wrote: "Strange that Matthew and Sol were pretty much non-existent in the book. With all the build up about the looming battle with Richter, that scene didn't really amount to much. Did confirm his getting..."

Yeah I was hoping to see more of Sol! I honestly do think that he's going to get in trouble with Richter and Zara in the next book. Which scares me because I love his character. And damn Matthew... I honestly don't know what he's playing at. When he said for Evie to beware of Death's touch early on in the series, maybe he was warning her not to get close to him because he knew she would get pregnant. I also remember seeing that in tarot readings, Death and the Empress can mean pregnancy.

That fight scene with the Hanged Man was pretty cool! Who knew my Jack could act! He deserves all of the awards, all of the praise. Jack Nicholson who? More like Jackson Daniel Deveaux 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
When Jack left... That was painful. I cried. I think I was wheezing too! It's reactions like those where I wished I could record them and experience forever. Anyways, it was a very Jack thing for him to do. He always leaves. In the first two books he left her out of anger and pain. Dead of Winter, Arcana Rising, and The Dark Calling he left her out of love and pain. And he's finally going home... I feel like if Jack is home for Evie. Then would that make Aric just a "house"? They both let each other go in one point in the series. Y'know that quote where it goes "If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were." I feel like that applies perfectly to Evie and Jack's relationship.

I honestly don't like that theory. I don't know, I just don't like the idea of them being the same person. And if they somehow become one, then I feel like that'll ruin two different characters, with different hopes and dreams.

Even when I thought Jack was the HM, I didn't want him to be supernatural. I always hoped he was just a mortal. And so far it seems like he'll stay that way. And I do think that'll make him a lot more of a badass, with everything that he has accomplished and doing so with no supernatural abilities just makes him a lot more interesting for me.

One of KC's book promo blurbs mentioned "So many secrets will be revealed!" In reality, I didn't see that actually happened. Well there was Gran's mentioning the cups seeing the future is a chalice of blood, the HM's identity revealed and that Evie is actually pregnant.
But so many questions still unanswered....
1) What significance if any of the runes on Aric's chest and ring he gave to Evie?
2) Gran's other rantings: the agent of death, the salamander, the serpent and the rat? What was the word she didn't finish in updating the chronicles "the Ro____"?
3) The conflicting story of Evie's dad's death?
4) What happened to Jack's mom? (It seems to point to that Jack had to end her because she was turning and then he wore her rosary.)
5) Castle of Lost Time....what's the story with that nickname it's been given?
6) Real ? and Unreal? The spinning many players (especially Evie) experience....has to have significance?
7) Will the cold go away and sun ever start to rise again?
8) Circe seems to be on Evie's side...at least to protect her unborn godson. But why would she have sent Evie to the coast? What was the purpose of meeting the suit of cups?
9) Will I ever quit rambling on and on?????

Debbie wrote: "One of KC's book promo blurbs mentioned "So many secrets will be revealed!" In reality, I didn't see that actually happened. Well there was Gran's mentioning the cups seeing the future is a chalice..."

1) Aric's ruins have already been confirmed as his history with the Empress. The ring he gave to Evie was his mother's. He said he never intended to give it to past Empressesses because he never loved them until Evie.
3) I guess Evie's dad's death will never be fully confirmed. Unless Matthew gives her the memory. It really doesn't surprise me that Evie was lied to about his death. Even Jack didn't believe that story when she told him how David (I think that was her father's name) died. He would've been about 5-6 years old at the time and Basin Town is a small town, he probably would've heard of SOMETHING if someone died in a small town like Basin or Sterling. And if no one ever talked about someone going missing in the Basin, then or when he was older.. Then Jack would have no reason to agree when she told him how he died. Hell maybe it was really rare for someone to go missing there and that's why he doubted it.
4) Well his mother's death was discussed in DZ. When she started to turn, it ended with her staring at his throat. He either escaped from her and let her live, then she eventually tried to attack Clotile. Or when she was looking at Jack's throat, she got distracted by Clotile and attacked her instead and then Jack had to kill her. Then he would've taken her rosary. (I want to learn how to make rosaries so I can make one like Jack's! And since I'm Roman Catholic, I can actually use it to pray).
7) I hope the sun comes back one day
8) I was pretty tired when I read the part of Circe sending them to the coast, it was one of the last chapters I read before going to sleep for the night. So I'm all confused on that scene. But she either sent them there because her powers were weakening and there were bodies of water there able to protect her/restore some of her powers. She also mentioned that the sacrifice that the cups were offering weren't good enough. Maybe she sent Evie there because she knew that she could kill them and the cups would be the right sacrifice (they did want her to win). I have a feeling Circe won't last long either, especially with how things started to turn out with her. And let's be real, if anyone deserved to be a godparent, it was Jack
9) girl same 😂

And I do think Death will die by the end of the series. The biggest hint was when Matthew told him that the only way he was going to win the game was if he took the Empress's icon himself.

Either he's going to die. Or Evie turns into the red witch (which she was starting to turn into at the very end) and takes her icon, though he said he never would do that. And I do trust Death on that. But maybe they can end the game for good, even though Gabe doesn't think they can anymore 😭

But Death did start to feel like he was the intruder on Evie and Jack's relationship.

Early on in the series, I recall Matthew saying to Evie... "it begins with me and ends...with him". Do you remember that??
I also recall him saying that the machine won't end without death. I thought the machine he referred to was probably the game and as for death, did that mean the person Death (his involvement) or death of someone else.
He hasn't said "the army grinds on/windmill spins" since DOW, right? So, maybe that only had to do with the Lovers when a previous Empress had tied Violet to a windmill paddle.
Regardless, some things Matthew has said before going MIA, will come to mean something, for sure.

Debbie wrote: "Early on in the series, I recall Matthew saying to Evie... "it begins with me and ends...with him". Do you remember that??
I also recall him saying that the machine won't end without death. I thou..."

Yes! That's what I was going to include with my reasons for Death dying, but by the time I got to it I totally forgot to include it. Thanks for reminding me.

I can't believe in about a year, we're going to get all of these answers to Matthew's ramblings. I grew up with this series, obsessed for it over all four years of high school and now college. I just can't. I love Jack so much 😩😩😩

I think the saddest part about Finn's death (for me) was that he never found out that Jack lived. Along with Evie's reaction, I also thought of Finn's reaction to seeing Jack again. Like I could just picture him getting all excited and shouting, "Cajun!" then running to give Jack a hug.

Yeah, Finn was always supportive of Jack and stuck with him since Poison Princess. He'd always felt bad for Evie walking in when he'd made himself look like Jack and was moving on Selena and was intent to get them back together again. The characters we were given page time to get to know and like so well have been the hardest to see ended already....mainly Selena & Finn (IMO).
I hope Sol doesn't get offed by Richter and Zara but I agree with you that he, Bea & Joe will be found out and tortured for helping Evie and her allies.

Yeah I was thinking about how in the last three books, people in Evie's alliance have been killed off. And though Tess's was sad, it didn't compare to Selena and Finn's. They've been with us since the first book. And they died when things seemed like it was getting better.

But the very first alliance that Evie had is falling apart-Evie, Jack, Selena, Matthew, and Finn. Selena and Finn are dead. Matthew has gone rogue and is shady. Jack is going home. Evie is staying at the castle. Like the original gang is gone and I think that's what breaks my heart the most.

Well, Matthew did tell Evie that "we fall to ruin", I think. Also, I thought Jack and Gabriel were going to look for Kentarch and Joules before Jack headed home.
I wonder if when the next book starts, some time will have passed such that Evie is closer to giving birth. However, my theories tend to be totally wrong so whatever I think is gonna happens, likely the opposite will....LOL

Debbie wrote: "Well, Matthew did tell Evie that "we fall to ruin", I think. Also, I thought Jack and Gabriel were going to look for Kentarch and Joules before Jack headed home.
I wonder if when the next book sta..."

Yeah Jack and Gabe are going to look for them first then going home. Either way, he's gone.

Haha true. Always being wrong, story of our lives with this series 😂

Jasmine wrote: "And I do think Death will die by the end of the series. The biggest hint was when Matthew told him that the only way he was going to win the game was if he took the Empress's icon himself.

Either ..."

Maybe by "taking her icon" he just meant claiming the Empress icon for the flag on his card or tableau.

I want to know why Evie woke up twice without her jeans on. That's always really bothered me.

Debbie wrote: "Well, Matthew did tell Evie that "we fall to ruin", I think. Also, I thought Jack and Gabriel were going to look for Kentarch and Joules before Jack headed home.
I wonder if when the next book sta..."

It almost seems like before the Flash it was the baby in Evie's head saying, "2 years and out...".

Why did Aric call The Hanged Man an "upstart" card" if they've all been reincarnated together since the beginning?

That is a cool connection between Evie repeatedly saying "two years and out" in PP and the baby being born on her birthday, two years later! Didn't think of that.

Do you have the exact quote of Aric calling the HM the upstart card? I don't have the book with me so I don't know the context of that phrase. Because upstart means "a person who has risen suddenly to wealth or high position, especially one who behaves arrogantly." So maybe he meant that Paul's activation seemed like it came out of nowhere, unexpected, and he was powerful when he was activated. Paul was really arrogant about it too. That's just my guess.

This was when Paul was talking to Evie on the phone:

"I do get a certain satisfaction that you are enjoying the sentence you’d intended for me.” His smile was smug.
The Empress was a liar, a temptress, and a killer. But over all our histories, she had also been a formidable foe. Respect was due to her from this upstart card. “Enough.”

I guess I'm wondering if The Hanged Man is always the inactivated card. I can't remember if that was ever talked about.