Message part one: A Conspiracy of Kings (Not a review HEAVY SPOILERS under CUT + Comments)

[elle_winters]

SHOUT OUT TO: CHECKERS, PHILIA FAN, ROSALEELUANN, and anyone else who
a) has read A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner or b) Doesn't care for SPOILERS

This post is specifically for you guys! (I would send you messages but I wasn't sure how to send multiple people ONE message)

Any and all discussion will be posted on Sounis in due course aka

Comments

verrrrry long comment

[checkers65477]

Hyacinth--I loved the part where Sophos launches himself at him, and how no one helps for awhile, and the line "It was not much of a rescue." <3

Re: verrrrry long comment

[elle_winters]

Oh, that was my favorite part too!! I just love how Gen gets half way up and then falls over laughing! It relieves so much stress in that esp. since Sophos has just been humiliated. And when they are in the tavern, I love, love, loved when Gen dunks his finger into the wine and splashes Sophos! And I thought, that's just like little kids!

OMG yes, you put it very well!
He doesn't want to be Sophos's friend because he doesn't want to be his friend and then keep having to play him. It's sort of that whole "honest thief" idea.

So the bigger picture is this whole plan devised by Gen and Eddis-is to save Eddis. And Eddis is feeling guilty for tricking Sophos into giving up Sounis. Oh, dear. I wonder, there was no other way, was there?

What was your take on the gifts?
THE QUEEN MADE ME and I MADE THE KING

Re: verrrrry long comment

[emerald_happy]

YES, AND YES. Thank you for putting it coherantly

*glomps*

Sophos. He is made of awesome. <3 <3 <3

[rosaleeluann]

I just read through everyones comments and: yes

Re: Sophos. He is made of awesome. <3 <3 <3

[rosaleeluann]

And I meant to close my italics after the CONSPICUOUSLY. *fail*

Re: Sophos. He is made of awesome. <3 <3 <3

[checkers65477]

Are all Mede ambassadors slimy, lying idiots with unpronouncable names? I think so.

Haha, YES.

Sophos's scarred face and intimidating look wasn't the only reason he was first in line to eat--remember that everyone thought he'd killed a man, so that contributed to his tough-guy demeanor.

THE QUEEN MADE ME and I MADE THE KING.

Maybe everyone's reading too much into that. I took it to mean the first gun saying, "The Queen made me" because she did indeed have it made, and the second gun saying "I made the king" because Gen knew that if Sophos resorted to using it, it would only be because it was the only way for Sophos to remain king. That the gun would make or break him as king. Which it did.

Re: Sophos. He is made of awesome. <3 <3 <3

[philia_fan]

That's what I thought, too.

[philia_fan]

Also, re Bunny. From faulty memory -- the other animals in the library are the fox and the lion, right? So, the lion is Sounis. What is the fox? Or did I miss that first time through?

[checkers65477]

Yeah, I wondered that, too. You'd guess it would have something to do with Attolia, but I don't remember a fox ever being mentioned.

More on Animals

[elle_winters]

The wolf that Sophos offers his throat to, Sophos thought it was Attolia...I thought it was Attolis, I mean Gen can be ruthless, and Sophos is offering him his neck (by giving him Sounis), knowing that the wolf is a friend and WONT bite him.

[deirdrej]

Well, wouldn't the fox be Gen? A trickster character? I know it seems unlikely -- but then again, a Thief of Eddis was also the architect who built the Attolian palace

[checkers65477]

I have a sneaking suspicion that even Megan doesn't know what the map should look like--that it all doesn't jibe when you try to put it together. Don't put that comment in Sounis where MWT can see it, Elle, or I will be IN THE SOUP!

[elle_winters]

I think you're already in the SOUP Chex...didn't you call mwt weird or old or something? :P

But I agree, maybe she was writing and really never thought about it, but I find that HARD to believe, she had FIVE YEARS to write the book, she certainly has some sketch as to what/where everything is.

But (after reading what Philia said) I guess, it's...okay.
I forgive you Megan. Though, during the battle, I really did stop and wonder, and I don't really ever do that..

[philia_fan]

Megan said specifically that the last thing she wants is a map that looks like Middle Earth, because her landscape isn't like that, but that it's hard to draw a map and have it not come out Tolkein-y. She also said that, generally speaking, maps are not her friends, and the geographical confusion in the books (north for south, etc.) reflects her own inability to follow a map in real life. Also, she's probably a little afraid to pin things down because she might discover at a later date that she needs X to be closer to Y than she thought it was. I completely relate to this. I drew maps of my setting while writing my last book, and I kept having to go back and change things around when I realized it wouldn't work the way I'd drawn it.

[freenarnian]

Ha... before I realized the magus was faking it, I was thinking, "The mentor dies? Seriously? Cliche!" I was preparing myself for major disappointment. BUT. Really Megan, how could I have ever doubted you? That whole scene is hilarious/awesome.

I have to admit that one Mede ambassador blends into another.

As for the inscriptions, I assumed "THE QUEEN MADE ME" was Attolia's way of reminding Sounis that it was her soldiers and her aid winning his throne for him, and "I MADE THE KING" was Gen reminding him that, ultimately, Sounis would decide his own fate. Maybe I'm wrong?

[rosaleeluann]

I like your explanation of the inscriptions. Nothing we haven't said before, but you said it best I think :-)