Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for With a Golden Sword by Rachel Aaron starting on October 15, 2023.


Happy Reading!

Thank you!

I just binged this, over the past 3-4 hours, when I should have been in bed...

I loved this (for the most part... Lola was Lola sometimes, and needed some sense banged into her head, but I endured)...

In some ways, it was a quintessential Middle Book, coming up with a plot that pretty much ended where the first book ended, kinda, in the name of setting up the finale book...

But the story we got (instead) of the story I expected, was a satisfying one... several revelations, including one that wasn't too surprising to me (view spoiler)[I knew Lola had to be wrong about the soul thread connection to her sister... not sure what I thought it was in the first book, but I wasn't too surprised it was her own body (hide spoiler)]... and some real zinger twists, too, (view spoiler)[like eating/becoming the Nightmare King... (hide spoiler)]

I loved the cameos, too...

Jumping in now...

Chapter 1... (view spoiler)[How did I miss that Lola had a cat? (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 4... seems I remember hardly any details from book 1--(view spoiler)[just that Valente also works for Victor, Lola got off the blood pills with help, and Victor was trying to turn himself into a hero with bad movies...

Totally forgot Simon, Tristan... (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 12, a little into 13--(view spoiler)[There've been a lot of hints that Lola might not be what she thinks she is... first with the "monster" having its own consciousness, and the comment about changelings not having a soul, or Lola's sister not waking up. Then the conversation about how even if they woke Lola's sister up, her mind would still be a baby's, unless the mind was also growing up with experiences somehow. I was starting to think that Lola might actually *be* her sister--her soul ripped from her body and sent out in a coat of gossamer. Her dreams are supposedly a super vivid for Faeries--maybe that's how this really works.

This last chapter is adding more fodder to that theory--the conversation with the DFZ, Lola's "sister" being empty, and Tristan's comment about Lola not being a real changeling because they don't dream... (hide spoiler)]

I don't remember the cat either, I don't think... but I remembered all the named characters...

The cat is relevant to the story, tho :D

Finished! (view spoiler)[It took a little longer than I'd expected for the secret of who Lola was to come out--and her reaction was really underwhelming. If I thought I had a sister, and had been living my whole life trying to protect her, only to discover that I was that sister... I'd be an emotional mess. But she was kind of like "okay!" and moved on.

Definitely agree with Iain about "middle book"--it reminds me a lot of the DFZ trilogy--where the MC's personal journey was pretty wrapped up by book 2, and the more wide-impact plot was just getting turned up. Also, y'know, dealing with people trying to make themselves immortal.

I thought the mechanics of the story were interesting, how the evil blood mage dude (Victor?) was going about making himself into a Hero, and how Simon was trying to counteract him. What are the implications of the eye-change?

I didn't notice a lot of cameos--just the DFZ, and mention of the dragons and Marci. What did I miss? Who did I miss? (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze wrote: "Finished..."

That was pretty much it for cameos... and I think it was a bigger cameo than we really got in the DFZ trilogy...

Really? But the DFZ trilogy had (view spoiler)[that whole sequence with Opal talking to Julian and Bob showing up too! And even Chelsea and...F... Fred? The main F dude. I think. Not to mention the DFZ being a main character. Can't remember if that was book 2 or 3 though. (hide spoiler)]

Also, on DFZ trilogy--the whole evil sister being named "White Snake"--I only just recently did some research on this for a local book club (reading Six Crimson Cranes)--but there's a whole Chinese Fairy Tale about a character named Madame White Snake... not much similarity though, besides the shapechanging. The story is about a snake who becomes immortal through studying the Buddhist sutras, but then gives up immortality and takes human shape to return to the mortal world because she fell in love with a human (or wants to fall in love--I haven't read the whole story). There's apparently a big Chinese blockbuster of it.

Maybe I'm misremembering... especially since the Heartstriker characters seem less in control in this book, thanks to Victor's planning...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Maybe I'm misremembering... especially since the Heartstriker characters seem less in control in this book, thanks to Victor's planning..."

That one scene was the big one--(view spoiler)[Opal went to see if the Dragons could do something... I can't remember if she was asking for help with her curse or help with her father, so either book 2 or 3... she was waiting in the lobby for like hours, until she ran into Bob and I think Chelsea and/or F... Bob took her up to meet Julian. I think. She was told he couldn't help because her father wasn't a signee... but he seemed interested in offering her help or a job or something... she might've even got magic pointers... on the way out she runs into White Snake. That's all I remember. And I think that was the only cameo... (hide spoiler)]

I think there was a minor cameo in the first book, when they found they broke up the magical dogfighting ring thing?... they talked to a representative that might have been a low clutch dragon...

In this trilogy, I think it was mostly the scene we've been discussing, and the failure to stop Fenrir in the first book, and references to Opal's museum...

I don't count the DFZ as a cameo because she's in the series name, and kind of expected to pop up somewhere...

True on DFZ--but for first series links, it's a big one...

Nirkatze wrote: "Jumping in now...

Chapter 1... [spoilers removed]
"

Lol honestly I still seemed to forget the fact she had a cat after reading this and looking through the spoiler tags here :D

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "Jumping in now...

Chapter 1... [spoilers removed]
"

Lol honestly I still seemed to forget the fact she had a cat after reading this and looking through the spoiler tags here :D"

It's mostly only relevant for the "heist" plan mid-to-late-book...

Re cameos (view spoiler)[ Not to mention Amelia when opal was trying to wake her dad up! (hide spoiler)]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Re cameos [spoilers removed]"

Oooh, forgot about that one! It was funny.