Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Last of the Wilds by Trudi Canavan starting on April 1, 2024.


Happy Reading!

Thank you, Yanique!

Thank you!

Looking forward to it!

Schedule:
1. Priestess of the White (March 1) [link]
2. Last of the Wilds (April 1)
3. Voice of the Gods (May 1) [link]

audio: All are Audible Exclusives
ebook: all on Hoopla.

Will be here... I hope 😌

Started. Up to chapter 2 for now. Few new characters.

Up to chapter 7. I think I like Reivan. She's Pentadrian. They have similar kind of hierarchy as Circlians...

Monika wrote: "Up to chapter 7. I think I like Reivan. She's Pentadrian. They have similar kind of hierarchy as Circlians..."

I really like her too! Yeah, definite similarities between the Circle and the Pentadrians. I love reading about them, they're super interesting.

I um... accidentally listened to the whole thing today. I was going to comment! I just am not the best at it when work gets busy...

Really enjoyed this entry, even more than I remembered--and more than the last one. The addition of two more POVs broadens out the world--finally getting that (view spoiler)[Pentadarian viewpoint makes a big difference! Seeing how they work, and humanizing them after the last war... even if we haven't seen their gods yet as we have the White's. I like a good underdog storyline, and Reivan's at the start is very much that--a Servant with no magic, having to prove herself... if anything, I wish we got more Harry Potter here in this part. The story seems to go from her worries about fitting in to her being the official companion awfully quick.

There's some other stuff with her I remember that I could have sworn started in this book, but I guess it's saved for the last.

And I love the little Elai princess! I like how when we first meet her, there's nothing obvious about this being the mysterious Elai culture... it almost isn't until she gets captured that it is revealed that she's different from the rest of the people in the world... Her capture scenes are so horrid too, and happening to a little girl... I cheered when the Servants found her, and enslaved that pompous ass who "bought" her for his circus.

Then there's Auraya & Leiard/Mirar's storyline. I found it interesting how the new name he picked--Willar? Sounded both like Mirar and Leiard on the Audio... But we finally get the answer to him, get to see him and Emerahl hanging out, and meet a bunch more immortals besides! Also getting a hint of why the immortals might be a danger to the gods... why they've been hunting them...

I love how Auraya's journey is such a challenge to her faith... that she's actually thinking for herself instead of being blindly obedient... and that she sticks to her morals. She doesn't let even gods define her moral center. I just wish she would question a bit further--how does she know that they aren't lying to her about other things too? Like, say, that gods take care of souls after they die... or that they even are gods? What makes a god a god, anyway?

The new Maker cult is an interesting twist as well. (hide spoiler)]

Up to chapter 16. So... Few extra info about Mirar. Bit about Auraya and her gifts and gods. Bit more about Pentadrians plus their choice of new First Voice. Hmm what happened to all so called Wilds? Some died, but what with the rest of them?

Up to chapter 20. Yeah I do like Reivan. So Emerahl is on the 'quest', Mirar changed his look a bit and hiding/living near the Si people. I'm curious what will be with the princess of Sea people..

Nirkatze wrote: "I um... accidentally listened to the whole thing today. I was going to comment! I just am not the best at it when work gets busy...

Really enjoyed this entry, even more than I remembered--and more..."

I love that you flew through this! (view spoiler)[ Immi is great, I love her, so glad she was rescued. The Elai are a really cool people. Like the Siyee I don't want them to go to war though.

The Aurya/ Mirar/ Emrahl friendship is super cool. I would love a book just about the wilds, maybe back during the Age of the Many.

Auraya's self discovery is so good in this book, she really starts to question what she's been taught about the Gods and tries to find her own way. I love that for her. (hide spoiler)]

Monika wrote: "Up to chapter 16. So... Few extra info about Mirar. Bit about Auraya and her gifts and gods. Bit more about Pentadrians plus their choice of new First Voice. Hmm what happened to all so called Wild..."

Good question, Monika, where are they indeed?!

Up to chapter 34. Right...Imi is safe and in way back home, sickness in Si - nothing nice, Emerahl found one of Wilds. Mirar is not exactly safe, I mean I don't think Auraya do anything against her promise, but gods and other Whites hmmm. Pentadrians seems so similar to Circlians... What was this gods' war? What cause it? How many of them left? Are Wilds immortal? More and more questions...

so many questions! it's so good isn't it! The Circle and the White just seem less trustworthy as the book goes on.

Charlie wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "I um... accidentally listened to the whole thing today. I was going to comment! I just am not the best at it when work gets busy...

Really enjoyed this entry, even more than I rem..."

Ooh, I'd be down for a real Age of the Wilds book! That would be a nice look at the world... I wonder what Canavan is working on now?

@Monika--all very good questions...

Starting to be kinda dark-ish... Chapter 36.

Will be here by the end of the week!!!

Finished. So good read. Can't wait for book three. Just need to find it.

Grats on the finish, Monika! I feel like I see these in used book stores a lot... fingers crossed for you.

Have it now, ready for May 😄

I'm only up to chapter 2 because I'm reading so many things at the moment. It's one of my favourite series of all time so I'll definitely finish it soon, hopefully get a chance to read more this week.

@Monika what did you think of the Pentadrians by the end?

Hmmm... They seems not so different than Circlians really. Politics and religion are mixed in both places. Not good idea in my opinion, but... Even our world is done this way... I do like Reivan, she's sort of down to earth if you know what I mean. Practical. And I think she do has some sort of magic in her. We'll see.

I felt exactly the same. Their ideologies are so aligned, it's insane they're fighting.

Revian is great, I think she's really earnest without being too niave. Her position as an adviser to a Voice gives her a really cool insight into the goings on in her world.

Up to chapter 6 (view spoiler)[ Im enjoying Imi's perspectives a lot at this point, she's so innocent and enthusiastic. Her father is super stubborn, though right to be afraid and suspicious of land walkers.

Emrahl and Mirar in the caves is one of my favourite sequences in the series, it's nice to see them connect. Also, Mirar and Leiard arguing with each other over who is real is amusing.

The servants are being super rude to Revian, they're so jealous of the favour Imenja showed her. (hide spoiler)]

18 chapters in (view spoiler)[ I'm glad Mirar is finding himself again, now he has access to all his memories, you get to see why he, and by extension other Dreamweavers, despise the gods. The stories he told of what the gods did before they formed the Circle were absolutely horrifying. They definitely won't want him sharing those stories about.

Emrahl's quest to find the other Wilds is awesome, though I am enjoying her journey to get there, I'm excited to catch up with the Gull. (hide spoiler)]

Halfway through chapter 28 (view spoiler)[ The poor Siyee, the plague is really kicking their ass. I'm rooting for them! (hide spoiler)]

I was the same Charlie :) they went to fight for landscapers and back with nasty plague.

Ooh yay! Glad you made it Charlie! I really enjoyed this entry, and all the bits you're pointing out... Lots of folks take an ideological beating in this one...

They do but I think they're better off for it in the end.

Up to Ch. 9... (view spoiler)[ ... My favorite parts so far are the reacquaintance between Emrahl and Mirar... They are trying to tackle one of the important questions - is he Mirar or is he Leiard?. I think that, and who and what are the gods and what are they playing at, are the core of the series...

I need to see more about the little princess to have any emotional connection with her. Right now she just seems to be a regular kid, maybe a tad impetuous and spoiled, but we don't have enough yet...

Kind of feel the same about Revian. Not enough information. I am interested in her story already though and I like that her situation gives us a glimpse into the Pentadrians and their side of the story... (hide spoiler)]

Charlie wrote: "They do but I think they're better off for it in the end."

Hah, so true.

@Choko, re: Chapter 9--some fun stuff coming up... interested to see your thoughts once you do get more acquainted....

Ch 10... (view spoiler)[ Well, we got the answer and it is exactly as I suspected - Leiard is the invented persona of Mirar in order to hide from the Whites... He slept with their head priestess even then! I guess he has an affinity for those ladies:) No wonder J dude "killed" him... However, there is something about J dude I just can't trust, I have no idea what it is though... (hide spoiler)]

Nirkadze, I am looking forward to it:)))

Up to Ch. 32... (view spoiler)[ ... This illness the Siyee got from the Landwalkers is devastating! Every time a virus meets a population for the first time, it's never a good thing...

I can't believe Aurya got involved with the godling! Don't trust the f@#ker! And she rejected Mirar for him... I am not happy about it... And he taught her how to heal, which I am sure the gods are not going to be pleased with...

I am so glad the little princess is on her way back home! But I do worry that because of her actions and being saved by the Pentadrians, the sea people will probably ally with them in the next war... (hide spoiler)]

re: Chapter 32--(view spoiler)[I don't like Chaya either... too smarmy by half... (hide spoiler)]

Agreed! Absolutely don't trust Chia. (view spoiler)[ I remember the stories Liard told the side about the God that used to seduce young women... very suspicious. (hide spoiler)]

I agree completely! Finished and really liked it! This author is very imaginative and you always get a different type of story from her. Thank you Charlie, for having me read The Millennium Series and now this one. I think I only own one more series by her, so we should definitely read it too...

End of book... (view spoiler)[ I hate these gods guts! All of them! I am starting to have suspicions, that the reason they want all wild immortals dead is because they might have been the same and ascended somehow, giving them more power than just being immortal. I think they made a big mistake allowing Aurya to become of the White, maybe thinking that it would be best if they have her under their control and brainwashing her to do as they wish without questioning. They didn't count on her being as independently thinking as she is and, of course, Mirar showing up in her life and teaching her stuff the gods wanted to keep for themselves. Now they have a possible wildcard on their hands and I think if Chia wasn't intrigued by her, they would have found a way to kill her already.

Another continuous suspicion from book 1, that the 5 gods for both sides are the same people, like the Greek and Roman Pantheons, same folks different names, was kind of reinforced by the Twins, who are thousands of years old and a combination of truth seers and not exactly oracles , but predictors of some futures. While chatting with Emrahl she mentioned that there are 10 gods now and the Twins doubled down on 5...

The innuendos about what these same gods have been doing before the war that apparently killed off the other gods that this world had before, is not pretty. Even they, in their conversation with Mirar didn't deny it, only saying that they have done better by the people since that war... Which brings me to another speculation - what if, they weren't gods at the time, but very powerful natural immortals, like our guys, and they jostled for power, and the Five somehow "ate" the power of the other immortals, killing them and making themselves gods... And those spots of absent magic are where they absorbed their magic and emptied everything around from it?

I am so glad Aurya had the cajones to quit and went back to the Siyee! They need her as much as she needs them! I only hope that their bitch goddess doesn't decide to hurt them just to hurt Aurya, because I can't put that past her...

Emrahl is still my favorite character And the messenger Siyee boy. They have better survive at the end!!! (hide spoiler)]

I love re-reading books, because I can relax and catch all the intended by the author nuances. However, reading a book for the first time gives me the opportunity to speculate to my heart's desires. I prefer re-reading, because I hate not knowing what happens, but I can appreciate the nervous/anxious brain jumpiness new reads give me, and I am enjoying this one;)))

Yes! We absolutely need to read Black Magician next!

You have so many great theories and I can't comment on any of them because spoilers :D.

Done!:)))

Chapter 36 (view spoiler)[ I'm so glad that Auraya learned to heal the siyee but it's about to cost her greatly. Mirar needs to flee, before the Gods catch him. Oh the tension! (hide spoiler)]

Charlie wrote: "Chapter 36 [spoilers removed]"

There is a lot of good tension in this book, for sure! (view spoiler)[And more evidence that the Five are very questionable "gods"--first embroiling the Siyee into their wars, and now being pissy about talents that can heal them... Looking forward for Auraya following that logic-tree further... (hide spoiler)]

Me too, I think now Mirar has shown her the truth, (view spoiler)[ Huan basically admitted she did awful things to her followers and she has shown that they killed Mirar just for showing others the truth, he didn't commit any crimes worthy of death. They're so corrupt, hopefully Auraya gets the awakening she needs.

Half way through chapter 48 - I love the Twins! The immortals are banding together and it's amazing, they need to take down the gods!

This scroll is going to be a fun mission for Emrahl, I get the impression she loves knowing things she shouldn't and finding one of the God's secrets is a great goal. (hide spoiler)]

Finished! (view spoiler)[ Huan really is insanely cruel. She obviously doesn't give a crap about the Siyee, she's willing to hurt them just to torment Auraya, it's despicable. I can't wait for the Wilds to bring them down! (hide spoiler)]

She needs to be eaten! I really dislike her!!!

Absolutely! (view spoiler)[ If she'd just been a bit kinder, a bit more of the God she's supposed to be, Auraya wouldn't be having doubts and she's have an extremely powerful sorceress on her side. A it is, her spite turned Auryaya against her. (hide spoiler)]

Agree.

Charlie wrote: "Absolutely! [spoilers removed]"

Ugh! I hate how Huan (view spoiler)[is so arrogant! She put Auraya in the impossible situation--and blames her when Auraya doesn't ask "how high" but instead acts like a human being. (hide spoiler)]

She's so awful. She just wants blind obedience, she doesn't want people who can think independently.

Charlie wrote: "She's so awful. She just wants blind obedience, she doesn't want people who can think independently."

Yes! (view spoiler)[And these folks call themselves gods! Down with them! (hide spoiler)]

Down with all of them!!!

Down with them all! All hail the Wilds!