I dunno, the Saint getting smacked seems legit to me.

 

Kind of dumb chapter: Catherine punks the heroes again!

But I think the combination of the book break and general quality drop really killed a lot of the discussion. Which is a shame, the extra chapters were great

 

I actually liked it. Newly human again Catherine is a lot more fun than Winter-Cat, and having her play the Saint of Swords like this was a lot of fun to read. Much more entertaining than the endless super-powered fights we were seeing for most of the book. Here she's fighting smart again, and that's always been the most enjoyable parts of the series for me.

 

But she's not fighting smart, her opponents are just acting like morons!

 

How so?

Seems pretty in-character for the Saint of Swords to get riled up by what Catherine did, and since they really don't understand what she brought with her now I can see her saying "fuck it" and going for the assassination. As far as she knew, if successful she would've decapitated the last real threat from Callow and been able to wipe out both the Army of Callow and the remaining Legions of Terror in one stroke. Callow collapses into infighting, the Dread Empire continues its infighting, and they're left free to go face the Dead King.

Even if Malicia regains control of the Empire, she'd have to march through Callow again, and without Cat to keep the peace and look out for the greater good she wouldn't be able to do so unopposed.

I don't see the SoS being a moron there, just tragically misinformed about what the situation was.

 

Just realized this, but where's Scribe? I realize she hates Catherine and isn't inclined to do her or the Army of Callow any favors, but she's supposed to have been with Grem (and really doesn't have any alternative places to go), and is significant enough that she should've been remarked on.

 

Huh. When was the last time we heard of Scribe? If it was before Black's capture then she might've gone off on a quest to find him, since her loyalty is to him alone.

 

- Epilogue, Book 4

Both quotes are from Black's perspective, so basically as accurate as we can get. While trying a search and rescue on Black is straightforward, she has to be acting through intermediaries both because of her Role and it's also just more effective. It makes the most sense for her to stay with Grem while she does so... because what would she be doing on her own?

Of course, us saying all this means it'll get answered by Cat talking to Grem next chapter or something.

 

I love every single chapter about procerans holding back a tide of undead with a God damn passion. Every time we see a more mundane perspective of the dead kings advance I just want to let Cat fall into the background. Errata can write a story about an eldritch horde held back by a kingdom with nothing more than steel and unflinching defiance wonderfully.

 

Well then. RIP Grand Alliance.

I mean, not actually because Cat wants them to take the day shift in the fight against the Dead King, but you should've done that camp raid.

 

Seriously, what happened to Ryuugi?

 

It really is a big disappointment for those of us who had more fun reading Ryuuji’s rant about the new chapter than the actual chapter.

 

I actually gave up on APGTE a while ago, but kept reading Ryuugi's posts for the sheer entertainment value. Where are you Ryuugi??

 

Ryuugi is still posting one of his older fics, so he's not dead or anything. I assume he finally gave up reading this then?

 

The story has improved from the low point of the drow arc tbf, although I think some becoming human she's felt a bit too competent compared to where she was.

 

Characters are still good, and mortality has done wonders for Cat. Learning patience and cooling off is good character growth. Pacing is still complete trash. Plot is no longer as painful as the drow arc was (though it's not great), and the story gave them a fitting nerf (sunlight, but the power levels are still a problem at night) and established a reason why humans actually matter against the Dead King (somebody has to take the day shift). Her most recent scheme went a bit too well, but we're still in part 2 of it so it can still go wrong. And, because I can't say it enough, the pacing is complete trash. Most recent chapter is pretty egregious. And I can't blame Ryuugi for losing interest, because Iserre has been too boring for how long it's taken.

No good editor would publish Book 5 in its current form, but it doesn't require the full scale torch and start again that the drow arc needed. But while Book 3 and the first half of 4 needed hatchets taken to them, 5 has upgraded to a battleaxe.

 

He didn't lose interest. He's been posting in SB's version of this thread. I just noticed it yesterday. I don't have much problem with the pacing; I mean, we're reading 3-4k words every 2-3 days. Very few stories/books/novels would have good pacing when read in such a way. Not to say the pacing might not actually be bad, but I don't think it's that bad.

 

Give Errata credit they've definitely pulled this story up by its bootstraps to something genuinely enjoyable. Tyrant continues to be a crowd favorite I imagine.

 

The Tyrant is the best character in the story, every scene with him in it is a cracker.