Hrathen interrogates an Elantrian and still doesn't manage to figure out that he's hungry because he doesn't have access to any food. How hard is this leap of logic? The Shaod affects appetite by affecting the metabolism? Really?
Dilaf then manages to screw up by nearly burning the Elantrian alive in front of the congregation. Hrathen is pissed off but Dilaf gives him a load of backchat and storms off in a huff. Hrathen really is taking far too much shit from this guy. What's the point of a rigid hierarchical chain of command if you can't get your subordinates to do as they're told without question?
Hrathen preaches about how the other religion shows the Elantrian devils too much mercy. Throwing them in a prison city with no food is supposed to be merciful?
Hrathen phones up his drug dealer for a fix but there's a two week lead time. That's gotta hurt.
Thursday, 28 November 2019
Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Elantris 17: Sarene
Sarene is teaching the women of the court to fence. Apparently the Elantrians used to frown on combat, even consensual combat for sport. They sound like a right bundle of fun, then.
In an impromptu sparring session with Eondel, who lets her win so that she can save face, Sarene figures out that her political games are a matter of life and death.
She does to visit the local priest (the good kind, not Hrathen), and finds out she is supposed to do something for charity for her widow's trial. She also finds out that she did indeed get all Raoden's stuff, which I have been asking about since the beginning. How is this not the first thing she figured out?
She has a chat with her dad, who is considering surrendering to the Fjordells. Which makes the alliance forged by the marriage seem less worthwhile. Then again, it turns out Sarene was considered a hopeless spinster back home and needed to marry a foreigner anyway.
Sarene's dad is worried about a secret monastery that he hasn't been able to get his spies into. It's Dakhor. We happen to know, from seeing inside Hrathen's head, that there are ninja monks in training in there.
We finally find out the king's bad news: Wryn has been sinking his ship to make him poor, so he will look silly and lose power.
Sarene hears a funny noise inside her room. Or maybe inside one of her walls. Except it's an outside wall. Must be a secret passage then, and someone is spying on her. Naturally she dismisses it and goes to sleep.
In an impromptu sparring session with Eondel, who lets her win so that she can save face, Sarene figures out that her political games are a matter of life and death.
She does to visit the local priest (the good kind, not Hrathen), and finds out she is supposed to do something for charity for her widow's trial. She also finds out that she did indeed get all Raoden's stuff, which I have been asking about since the beginning. How is this not the first thing she figured out?
She has a chat with her dad, who is considering surrendering to the Fjordells. Which makes the alliance forged by the marriage seem less worthwhile. Then again, it turns out Sarene was considered a hopeless spinster back home and needed to marry a foreigner anyway.
Sarene's dad is worried about a secret monastery that he hasn't been able to get his spies into. It's Dakhor. We happen to know, from seeing inside Hrathen's head, that there are ninja monks in training in there.
We finally find out the king's bad news: Wryn has been sinking his ship to make him poor, so he will look silly and lose power.
Sarene hears a funny noise inside her room. Or maybe inside one of her walls. Except it's an outside wall. Must be a secret passage then, and someone is spying on her. Naturally she dismisses it and goes to sleep.
Elantris 16: Raoden
Raoden has found his floating Amazon Echo Ien, and reminisces about attempting to free him as a kid, but finding out that seons live only to serve and don't want freedom. Like house elves, I suppose. There's something wrong with his Aon, the magic letter inside him. I'm pretty sure everything will be fixed after the Great Reboot.
He also reminisces about his wife who he never met, and gives away to Galladon that Duladel has fallen, which comes as a big surprise thereby adding to the evidence that Galladon has been in Elantris a lot longer than he says. I wonder if he has even been there since before the fall.
One of Raoden's men has cleaned away the sludge, revealing intricate carvings. I do wonder where the sludge comes from. Is it grey goo? Will it come back?
There's a big showdown with one of the other gang leaders, who turns out to be Taan the sculptor. Raoden saves the day by showing him some intricate sculptures thereby converting him to the cause.
He also reminisces about his wife who he never met, and gives away to Galladon that Duladel has fallen, which comes as a big surprise thereby adding to the evidence that Galladon has been in Elantris a lot longer than he says. I wonder if he has even been there since before the fall.
One of Raoden's men has cleaned away the sludge, revealing intricate carvings. I do wonder where the sludge comes from. Is it grey goo? Will it come back?
There's a big showdown with one of the other gang leaders, who turns out to be Taan the sculptor. Raoden saves the day by showing him some intricate sculptures thereby converting him to the cause.
Elantris 15: Hrathen
Telrii is getting cold feet and meets up with Hrathen during his nightly stroll on top of the walls of Elantris. He's worried about how Duladel fell, with all the nobility being killed. Hrathen says there won't be a revolution, instead Fjorden can send in enough military might to just take over (and, presumably, spare friendly nobles). To support this he points out how weak Araluen's military is (I think we've all figured that out by now) and mentions that Fjorden has the armies of various conquered countries at its disposal.
What Hrathen doesn't tell Telrii is that they also have a secret order of combat monks and assassin monks being trained in the Dakhor Monastery.
There's also more talk of the news the king received tonight, whatever that is. Also Hrathen agrees to fund Telrii to pay his soldiers more, so that the city guard will hear about it and will be more likely to defect.
Hrathen hears the gates close: that'll be Raoden and friends coming back from their trip to the palace. He arranges to borrow an Elantrian for study.
What Hrathen doesn't tell Telrii is that they also have a secret order of combat monks and assassin monks being trained in the Dakhor Monastery.
There's also more talk of the news the king received tonight, whatever that is. Also Hrathen agrees to fund Telrii to pay his soldiers more, so that the city guard will hear about it and will be more likely to defect.
Hrathen hears the gates close: that'll be Raoden and friends coming back from their trip to the palace. He arranges to borrow an Elantrian for study.
Thursday, 21 November 2019
Elantris 14: Sarene
Sarene starts work on networking in the court. She attends embroidery sessions with the queen and the other women, and suggests they all take up fencing. We learn that the men don't fight because King Iaden has something against swords. Between that and the weak military this country has no hope against an invader.
In a conversation with Sarene's seon, Ashe, we find out more about how people don't trust seons so much since the fall of Elantris. Ashe claims that seons had nothing to do with it.
Ashe failed to find out much about Elantris. The Elantrians he met just begged for food. From this he concludes that they are simply feral and weak. But nobody feeds them. So isn't it obvious that they are just hungry? How hard can this stuff be to figure out? The guards aren't any help either, having come to the same wrong conclusions. Ashe at least figures out that they are useless as a military force.
Sarene goes to a ball at Duke Telrii's mansion. He has had unspecified good fortune that is probably something to do with his deal with Hrathen. She goes with Shuden who introduces her to people. The king is there. She has to keep up a pretence of stupidity with the king. Maintaining multiple personalities proves awkward.
Lord Waren is there. He's the devout one from court. The sewing ladies were talking about how he had converted. Now he's at the party with Hrathen. Sarene is worried that Hrathen has a head start on her when it comes to influencing people.
The king gets some bad news during the party. When Sarene gets back to the palace she learns that someone broke into the King's chamber (Raoden and Karata, we know). That might be the bad news. I wonder if the king will take some sort of action against Elantris in response.
In a conversation with Sarene's seon, Ashe, we find out more about how people don't trust seons so much since the fall of Elantris. Ashe claims that seons had nothing to do with it.
Ashe failed to find out much about Elantris. The Elantrians he met just begged for food. From this he concludes that they are simply feral and weak. But nobody feeds them. So isn't it obvious that they are just hungry? How hard can this stuff be to figure out? The guards aren't any help either, having come to the same wrong conclusions. Ashe at least figures out that they are useless as a military force.
Sarene goes to a ball at Duke Telrii's mansion. He has had unspecified good fortune that is probably something to do with his deal with Hrathen. She goes with Shuden who introduces her to people. The king is there. She has to keep up a pretence of stupidity with the king. Maintaining multiple personalities proves awkward.
Lord Waren is there. He's the devout one from court. The sewing ladies were talking about how he had converted. Now he's at the party with Hrathen. Sarene is worried that Hrathen has a head start on her when it comes to influencing people.
The king gets some bad news during the party. When Sarene gets back to the palace she learns that someone broke into the King's chamber (Raoden and Karata, we know). That might be the bad news. I wonder if the king will take some sort of action against Elantris in response.
Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Elantris 13: Raoden
Raoden finds a book written completely in Aons and starts to translate it. Sounds like it might be a user manual for the Elantrian operating system. He just needs to find the reboot command.
Then the gang leader Karata turns up. She's pissed off that Raoden seems to be starting his own gang and stealing her potential recruits. He offers to help her get into the palace, because she's be caught trying to do that a few times.
Karata agrees and they escape by going down the well and floating along the underground river, which they can do because they don't need to breathe. It still seems pretty risky, though. If I knew every minor bump and scrape would result in an eternity of agony I wouldn't get out of my chair without serious consideration, never mind ten foot jumps into water and potentially being dashed on rocks.
Anyway they break into the palace because Raoden knows where the secret entrance is (why does the escape tunnel open from the *outside*?). And why does Raoden only ask her what she wants to do in the palace once they've got this far? It turns out Karata just wants to see her daughter.
Karata has figured out who Raoden is. He tells her his plan to grow corn. He's been keeping the corn seeds from the new arrivals the whole time. Sanderson has this well planned out because I remember Raoden pocketing some mysterious food item in a previous chapter.
Anyway, Karata is now a powerful ally, so that's good. They get back into Elantris by just asking the guards to let them in, which is awesome.
I'm wondering if Raoden is a bit overpowered. He seems to be good at everything. Or maybe it's just the power of optimism.
We find out that Karata and her gang are taking care of the children. The children seem happier and less affected by the Shaod that the adults. I wonder if this will turn out to be a clue. Raoden and Karata are now openly in allegiance.
Then the gang leader Karata turns up. She's pissed off that Raoden seems to be starting his own gang and stealing her potential recruits. He offers to help her get into the palace, because she's be caught trying to do that a few times.
Karata agrees and they escape by going down the well and floating along the underground river, which they can do because they don't need to breathe. It still seems pretty risky, though. If I knew every minor bump and scrape would result in an eternity of agony I wouldn't get out of my chair without serious consideration, never mind ten foot jumps into water and potentially being dashed on rocks.
Anyway they break into the palace because Raoden knows where the secret entrance is (why does the escape tunnel open from the *outside*?). And why does Raoden only ask her what she wants to do in the palace once they've got this far? It turns out Karata just wants to see her daughter.
Karata has figured out who Raoden is. He tells her his plan to grow corn. He's been keeping the corn seeds from the new arrivals the whole time. Sanderson has this well planned out because I remember Raoden pocketing some mysterious food item in a previous chapter.
Anyway, Karata is now a powerful ally, so that's good. They get back into Elantris by just asking the guards to let them in, which is awesome.
I'm wondering if Raoden is a bit overpowered. He seems to be good at everything. Or maybe it's just the power of optimism.
Nobility is in one's bearing as much as it is in one's breeding. If we *act* like living here is a blessing, then maybe we'll start to forget how pathetic we think we are.I think this is Sanderson's advice to new authors. When he wrote this he hadn't had his big break yet. He's saying that if you act like a published author you'll end up being one. Or something.
We find out that Karata and her gang are taking care of the children. The children seem happier and less affected by the Shaod that the adults. I wonder if this will turn out to be a clue. Raoden and Karata are now openly in allegiance.
Elantris 12: Hrathen
Hrathen delivers a sermon. We learn a bit about the religion and how hierarchical it is. Sounds like a recipe for absolute tyranny. I wonder how Fjordell is doing so well. Perhaps the current tyrannical leader at least knows how to keep food on the table by not seizing the means of production.
Fanatical sidekick Dilaf delivers an even better sermon. Hrathen decides he is useful if annoying. I suspect he is going to end up being a pain in the ass.
Hrathen is doing some deal with Duke Telrii, seen in an earlier Sarene chapter at court.
We learn that Hrathen uses a seon that he keeps locked in a box to communicate with Wyrn (the tyrannical dictator). This is a big secret because seons are heathen.
People keep referring to them as "creatures" but it seems obvious to me they're Amazon Alexas. I'm pretty sure the whole magic of Elantris thing is just some ancient forgotten tech. It just needs turning off and on again.
Fanatical sidekick Dilaf delivers an even better sermon. Hrathen decides he is useful if annoying. I suspect he is going to end up being a pain in the ass.
Hrathen is doing some deal with Duke Telrii, seen in an earlier Sarene chapter at court.
We learn that Hrathen uses a seon that he keeps locked in a box to communicate with Wyrn (the tyrannical dictator). This is a big secret because seons are heathen.
People keep referring to them as "creatures" but it seems obvious to me they're Amazon Alexas. I'm pretty sure the whole magic of Elantris thing is just some ancient forgotten tech. It just needs turning off and on again.
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