Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: ecstatic
  • Music: The crows arguing outside my window.

ONCE BROKEN FAITH open thread!

To celebrate the release of Once Broken Faith, here. Have an open thread to discuss the book. Judging by the comments I'm seeing, some of you have had time, and I'd really, really rather book discussion (sometimes including spoilers) didn't crop up on other posts.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Seriously. If anyone comments here at all, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. So please don't read and then yell at me because you encountered spoilers. You were warned. (I will not reply to every comment; I call partial comment amnesty. But I may well join some of the discussion, or answer questions or whatnot.) I will be DELETING all comments containing spoilers which have been left on other posts. No one gets to spoil people here without a label.

You can also start a discussion at my website forums, with less need to be concerned that I will see everything you say! In case you wanted, you know, discussion free of authorial influence, since I always wind up getting involved in these things.

Have fun, and try not to bleed on the carpet.
Tags: discussion post, once broken faith, toby daye
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  • 154 comments
...go 10 levels up... Expand

RE: Re: Re: Re: I HAVE TO WAIT A YEAR?!

bree_ramsey314

September 13 2016, 06:51:56 UTC 10 months ago

I think you may be right about the Selkies. We've already seen that there aren't enough skins to go around, so if the ultimate goal is to use Toby to somehow bring the Roane back, there's going to be a lot of unhappy Selkies. Make that devastated; under the current system, someone who was passed over still has the slim hope that another skin will become available, but that will end if the Roane are restored.

I like your analogy to the Luidaeg, cursed to forever serve a public that demonizes her. I'm pretty sure that would put me in a mood to eviscerate people after a day. Faerie is lucky, though, ironically, that may be because of Titania. The Luidaeg can't harm anyone claimed by her, so she'd only be able to massacre those claimed by Maeve and Oberon.

I believe her prices are discretionary; they have to cost the individual something, but how onerous that may be is up to her. Take Quentin, for instance. He got two favors from her, the first being his passage into Blind Michael's lands. The price for that was he had to come out with Toby, or not at all. She knew Quentin wouldn't have left Toby anyway, but it was still a price with very dire potential. The second was saving Katie; "There are costs and choices to be made - one choice, actually, but it's yours alone, and making it pays my fee." Quentin was the only one who could make the choice for Katie. Ultimately, as Toby said, the cost was Quentin's heart, but that was going to be broken no matter which choice was made. The Luidaeg couldn't spare him that, no matter how much she might have wanted to, but in making that her price she made certain Quentin would stay away, and Katie would remain free.

I think Arden actually earned some grudging respect from the Luidaeg. "You did something I wanted you to do, and you didn't whine nearly as much as I expected." That's practically a pat on the head and a cookie. And, as I said, I think this 'price' will be good for Arden, because she'll eventually come to the startling realization that she can be a good queen. In fact she's just the kind of ruler Faerie needs, someone to drag it, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. I'm betting Cassandra will help with that.

Re: Re: Re: Re: I HAVE TO WAIT A YEAR?!

jenfullmoon

September 13 2016, 19:38:24 UTC 10 months ago

Very good point on the pricing. Quentin was already going to have to pay enough as is in that case.

Hah, yes, "pat on the head and a cookie" is exactly how to sum that experience up with Arden. That's a downright "SHE LIKES YOU!" from the Luidaeg. Helped that Arden knew the score from Marianne and wasn't going into it grudge-y about the Luidaeg brewing the sleeping potion, and that overall I think Arden kinda knows that running isn't an option any more anyway.

I do hope Arden and the Luidaeg see each other within a hundred years and that the Luidaeg just meant "don't ask me anything like this again for a hundred years." That would hamper plot...

I think Arden will be fine, it seems pretty clear that she needs backup in order to feel good about this and right now she mostly feels like the only backup she has are Madden and Nolan. Hopefully she'll acquire more in the future.

I just came out of a session with my therapist bringing up this topic of service and rage, hah.