Yeah I was bitching about that on Discord. There is zero tension for me with that 'cliffhanger'.

 

This really shouldn't be a Cat arc. It's a cool idea for a side story, like Adjunct's Arsenal Adventure, but it doesn't really fit with Cat's role in the overall story. Her being here kind of kills a lot of the tension and shows a lot of the underlying weakness in the writing.

 

Calling it now, Olivier comes into a name and takes Roland's magic and identity after the kid gets beat up.

 

Agreed.

 

I hope not, that's just such a boring way to take it

 

White Knight v Mirror Knight confirmed.

Also Roland is quickly becoming one of my favourite characters.

Prediction: Blade of Mercy eats a gory death sometime soon.

 

The Extra Chapters Roland is great and makes me wish this focused more on the vignettes that those show than the main story of Catherine's Dick Swinging Contests

 

The end of book 5 had some foreboding lines that brough a sense of urgency to the upcoming war with the Dead King.
Specifically Dead King's

Spoiler

“There is no peace,” the Dead King said. “There is no truce. There is only the shiver before the blade claims your neck. You will fight and you will rage and you will weep, but in the end there can only ever be one end to this.”

The red burned, burned like red star that would swallow the world whole.

“I am the King of Death,” the last king of Sephirah said. “I come.”

Or later Catherine's

Spoiler

And so we went to war, against the King of Death.

which gave the impression that book 6 is gonna be the final stretch focused solely on the war itself.

The first chapter already shown this is not the case, instead we got a "new normal" situation about the whole war and now the story mostly focuses on the inner conflict at Catherine's side. Not that I don't enjoy these Arsenal chapters, but it feels like the author failed to take an opportunity for a snappy finale to the whole series.

I guess I can't blame him, he probably doesn't want to end things too fast. But as is, I can't imagine book 6 actually being the last.

 

Spoiler

Can we all agree that Hanno repeatedly stamping MK's head into the fucking ground was really satisfying?

 

Very satisfying, in a visceral way.

 

So what do you lot think her name will be? I've pretty much been reading to find out, but it never comes.

 

After the last confrontation with the bard, I’m starting to think she won’t have a name at all. I hope I’m wrong though because I find names to be the most interesting part of the story and Sve Noc to be profoundly uninteresting.

 

Like two chapters ago she directly addressed bier name as a living entity so yeah, it's a thing.

What is it? Who the hell knows. It reared after her conversation with Cordelia and that makes me think that like Cordelia's possible name it will manifest more towards ruling than martial ability despite Catherine's attitude towards ruling.

Then, the author might feel like that's too obvious and pull one over on us.

The ultimate troll would be to make her name heroic in nature.

 

My guess is it'll be something based on uniting everyone to protect the world from the Dead King. So something you'd traditionally consider "heroic".

Probably not the wildest of guesses, but things seem to be heading in this direction.

 

Charlatan IV was posted today, by the way; a mostly predictable, but not disappointing origin story.

 

We haven't talked about this story in a while guys which I've found strange because despite the negativity around certain arcs and themes, I still read every update on the day.

The latest/last book has so far not been a disappointment. Far from it, I've found it thoroughly engaging with plenty of things to like.

Now though... The latest update has brought us to a point where it has to be discussed. If you've read it, you know.

Though we all know what the likely outcome is I still think I should offer a slow clap for the sixty seconds after reading the last words where my heart was still in my mouth before cold logic took over.

 

Every time Cat is out of the picture I find to lead to some of the greatest moments for this series. Seeing Vivienne nail a scourge to the ground, insult it for being terrible at something she mastered as a teen, and then burn its head off was magical. Probably right up there moment was as her stealing the sun from the summer princess.

Overall, I'm really liking this book. It feels like its returning back to the roots that made me love Guide in the first place. Its losing some of the over the top moments that crowded the drow arc and has given a proper unifying villain to deal with. One who is just as aware of stories as Cat, has had thousands of years to prepare, and has proven time and again how impossible he is to deal with.

I also hope that my boy Hanno comes through his moral quandary stronger than before. I'm purely wanting that Gandalf coming to helmsdeep moment and I can't deny it.

 

Really enjoyed this last chapter. Kinda down we didn't really get to see the Drow kick ass before they were nerfed, but like Legacy said seeing Vivienne kick ass and come in to hold the line at the end was so freaking cool.

 

Having never been a fan of the drow I don't mind their importance to the story being downscaled.
Really hyped for Cat's potential name.

I've seen several people speculating about the sacrifice of Hakram to wake Cat.