book club | D. T. Kane

D. T. Kane reads chapter 4 of his epic fantasy fiction novel, The Acktus Trials, and discusses the chapter with his audience.

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The Acktus Trials, available now: https://dtkane.com/books/the-acktus-trials/
Map of Oration: https://dtkane.com/resources/map-of-oration/

Braveheart Torturer: https://tenor.com/view/brave-heart-prisoner-torture-a-word-talk-gif-16415942

Characters in this Chapter:

Baztian (Baz): Our main character
Leanna: Baz’s Conservator friend; Torchsire’s Librarian
Hellar Xavier: Heir to Xavier Library, one of the competitors in the Acktus Trials
Marla Kolnar: Niece of the Duchess of Kolnar Library, one of the competitors in the Acktus Trials
Deliritous: Baz’s master
Rox: Deliritous’s Harbour (bodyguard)
Vintas: Torturer (Vicar) from the Conservatory

The Three Scribes:
Leamina Fortune
Helfax Erstwhile
Pront vi Lextor

Below are my notes/script for the episode, not a verbatim transcription.

PERSONAL UPDATE

Welcome back to D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club. Today is DATE as I record this, episode 4. For my person update, it’s an exciting one for me, as this is the first podcast I’ve recorded since The Acktus Trials officially released. Releases are a bit exhausting, getting everything just right and uploaded to all the right places, and I had it doubly hard this time around because I released the podcast at the same time. But I have another book officially out in the world now. I’m eagerly awaiting my copy to come in the mail. One of my friends actually send me a photo in a text today that they’d already received their copy. Jealous! No one should get to see the book before the author does. But I guess that’s the world of print-on-demand books that we live in.

A brief note about that, for those of you who don’t know. Authors don’t have to order boxes and boxes of physical books any more. Print on demand has cured that. Amazon and other places now print books one at a time. So if you were to go ahead and purchase one of my books in paperback, it doesn’t exist at the time you click Order. It’s printed once your order is placed, specially for you.

ANAYLIS CH. 4

OK, so Ch. 4 picks up right where 3 ended, with Baz and Leanna talking about this Citiless that’s been captured, and other things.

Citiless

We’ll go a bit out of order here. Let’s talk about this Citiless first even though Baz and Leanna diverge slightly at the start of the chapter.

Right off the bat, we learn that the “Table,” which is the government of Erstwhile, made up of one Duke or Duchess from each of the nine Libraries, has a standing order to kill any of these Citiless on sight. Apparently the Citiless, as Baz puts it, have “crazy stories about living Scribes and a return to the old ways.” Leanna clarifies that this means they advocate for a return to days where men could Read, Speak, and write new Spoken Books. This obviously disturbs Leanna, and shows why the Table has such a harsh standing order against them–they pretty much stand for the opposite of the Readers, right? The Readers don’t want anyone to be able to both Speak and Read. We saw what happened to poor Yeltax.

Leanna’s vehemence against someone who can both Speak and Read unsettles Baz a bit right? He has to tell himself she wasn’t “intentionally trying to make him uncomfortable.” Baz doesn’t elaborate, but come on guys–what do you think Baz is referring to here? He is one of those individuals Leanna finds so disturbing, yeah? He can Read and Speak, we saw that in the prologue. Oh man, here’s ground ripe for tension. Leanna and Baz seem to be something at least resembling friends if not more, but Leanna is a Conservator who hates Cusses even more than the rest of society. Keep an eye out for this to cause issues in the future.

Then Leanna drops the real bombshell here–this Citiless they’ve caught knows how to Read, and apparently he’s Bound, meaning he was born able to draw power from Spoken Books, which means he’s a dreaded Cuss. That’s why they didn’t execute him on the spot, they need to figure out where he learned to Read so they can make sure more like him don’t start appearing. So Baz is about to see what happens if anyone ever discovers his secret.

And we learn that Baz has been summoned because each of the Libraries has to have a representative present for the questioning of the Citiless.

This dashes Baz’s excitement. Just another “criminal being put to the question.” He’s so cavalier about it, apparently this happens all the time in Erstwhile. Yet more evidence this isn’t a great place to be living. And maybe a bit of that good soul he’s hiding beneath all his sarcasm shows through, too? He shares what he thinks of torture, and he’s not too high on it–either the mere threat of it gets the victim to talk, or they don’t talk until they’ve been broken, and then there’s no way to tell if it’s the truth they’ve giving you or just whatever you want to hear.

Baz is also depressed because he realizes he’s only being summoned because Deliritous wants to look good in public. “Delirious would burn page before he made a public appearance with only one Speaker,” Baz tells us. There’s another fun turn of phrase involving books–he’d burn pages, as in, he would rather do something deemed abhorrent in this society than be seen without a retinue in public. Again, if any of you out there think of an fun, book-based curses, email them to me and I’ll share on a future episode.

Helfax Erstwhile, Leamina Fortune, and the Romance Road

Alright, so before we get to the part of the chapter at Xavier Tower, let’s go over this back-and-forth Baz and Leanna have right at the beginning of the chapter. They’re a pair, right? What little we know about Leanna so far, she seems driven and optimistic, whereas Baz is sarcastic and abrasive. Leanna also seems to befuddle Baz. Let’s see, what does he say at the end of their exchange? Paraphrasing: Whenever he made a point that was clearly the right one, she wouldn’t concede…. And somehow he ended up feeling like he hadn’t won the debate at all.

Next we have a link to prologue, Leanna mentions Leamina Fortune and Helfax Erstwhile. They were the two who Pront vi Lextor told the book dragon had fallen fighting whatever the threat was at the Great Library. Apparently, they were the founders of two of the major cities in Oration, and also, per Leanna, “two of the most important people to have ever lived” because they “sav[ed] all of Oration at the Burning.”

Ah, there’s another connection. Maybe subtle, but not too hidden if you pay attention. This is pretty good evidence that, whatever it was that happened in the prologue, it was this Burning event we saw referenced last week. OK, so two of the most important people in Oration’s history “fell”–in Pront vi Lextor’s words–during the Burning to save Oration. And Pront obviously had some connection with them, so more evidence that he was quite important as well.

Well, how important were they? Ah, well Baz tells us, right? Well, at least for Helfax he tells us, and we can imply it for Pront and Leamina. Helfax Erstwhile was “one of the three great Scribes,” Baz says. By jove! Weren’t the Conservators praying to the Scribes last week? And Baz says again, in reference to Leanna: “Conservators were fervent in their worship of the Scribes.” And we already know the Scribes are the ones who created the Spoken Books.

OK, so lots of puzzle pieces about this world’s lore fall into place. There were three Scribes, Helfax was one, and likely Leamina and Pront were the other two. So they’re all treated like Gods, at least by the Conservators. And they were all at the Burning, yet unable to avert the calamity, and at least two of them–Leamina and Helfax–suffered some terrible fate there, and we don’t know what happened to Pront. So this drives home just how bad the Burning must have been. The three Scribes, who are apparently thought of as gods and created the Books that hold magic, were unable to stop the Burning.

We also get this quick story about the “Romance Road,” which is apparently also called the Great Road, which connects the cities of Erstwhile and Fortune. Leanna tells us Helfax built it just so he could visit Mina Fortune at her City on the Ocean Vast.

Of course, Baz’s sardonic attitude shows through here again. “It’s a child’s fairytale,” he says. The real reason Helfax built the road was “the same reason anyone does anything. Money.” Baz doesn’t seem to have much faith in anyone, does he?

He also references that the Great Road connected not only Fortune and Erstwhile, but also Erstwhile and Tome. Ah, interesting. Pront vi Lextor was Librarian of Tome–that was one of his titles–and at the end of the prologue, remember he descends to Under Tome to deal with his enemies. But apparently Tome is no more–Baz says the Great Road connected Erstwhile to it “when Tome was still a city.” But what happened to it? At this point it seems a pretty good bet the prologue occurred at some point in the distant past, when this disaster called the Burning devastated Tome to the point that it’s no longer considered a city today.

One other tidbit, Leanna chides Baz for asserting traveling through unpaved wilderness is no fun because Baz has apparently never been outside Erstwhile’s walls. Store that away for now–Baz has never left this city he’s in.

Xavier Tower

So they arrive at Xavier Tower, which is being guarded by Conservator guards called Enforcers, who are apparently massive brutes, since Baz notes they could stand up to a Harbour like Rox, who remember is Deliritous’s massive bodyguard. The Enforcers are there because there is a representative of the Conservatory there to perform the questioning of the Citiless. I don’t dwell on it any further here, but essentially Conservators have their own bodyguards in these Enforcers, just like the Readers have their Harbours.

So they head downstairs to where the questioning is happening. One of my favorite quotes from Baz in the book here:

Questionings always seemed to be done in basements. It wouldn’t be seemly to do them above ground, what with the risk of the screams carrying to the ears of ordinary citizens. Nothing to see here, my good people!

The poor Citiless seems to have already been tortured for quite some time when Baz arrives, his hands are chained to the ceiling so that he’s just sort of hanging there stretched out, semi-conscious. He’s shirtless, chest displaying marks of “the truth-finding process” as Baz puts it. Baz seems a bit desensitized to the whole process, noting he’s seen questionings like this before. “The Citiless seemed to be doing a poor job of answering in Baz’s estimation, judging by his semi-conscious state.” More evidence that you don’t want to get on the bad side of the ruling class in Erstwhile.

And just note that it’s members of the Conservatory who are doing the torturing, Xavier’s Librarian, so Leanna’s equivalent at Xavier Library, and a man referred to as a “Vicar,” which is some Conservator rank we haven’t been introduced to yet, but he’s obviously in charge of the questioning. Sort of like an Inquisitor from Medieval times. Think, for instance, that torturer in Braveheart at the end of the film. Ugh, that guy’s the worst. I’ll toss a photo of him up on the screen and drop a link in the show notes.

Other Readers

Listener Question: Diane: “D. T., I’m still just a bit unclear on the difference between Readers and Speakers. Could you explain?”

Speaker: They are born “Bound” to the Spoken Books, able to draw power form them (i.e., cast magic). But Speakers are enslaved and never taught to Read.
Reader: They can Read, but are not Bound to the Spoken Books, which means even though they can Read the Books’ words, they don’t produce magic. They have to Read the Words to a Speaker, who then repeats them and casts the magic.

So Leanna leaves Baz to join the other Conservators in the room, and Baz is left to survey who else is present. There are representatives from each of the nine Libraries, though none of the leaders, Dukes and Duchesses–apparently this isn’t deemed important enough for them. Which is interesting, right? I mean, Leanna seemed horrified over the idea of this Citiless being able to Read, but apparently the city’s government is less concerned. Perhaps some tension here between the Conservators and rulers of the city? Are the Conservators more concerned about maintaining this acute separation of power between Speakers and Readers than the Readers themselves? Or maybe the Readers just view the Conservators as a bit overzealous.

We also learned in passing earlier that the city’s government, the Table of Ennea is made up of representatives from each of the nine Libraries. But what about the Conservatory? They seem to have plenty of significance to this society, but they’re not on the governing body? Hmmm. Also, a quick naming note, I got Ennea from Enneagon, which is a nine-sided shape (en-ee-uh-gon). Google is often my friend when it comes to names.

Right, so the room’s crowded with Readers and their retinues. The first time we’ve gotten a good look at other Readers besides Deliritous in the prologue, so let’s talk about them for a minute.

Each Reader has his or her entourage. We see it’s a bit of a “keeping up with the Joneses” type situation–Readers never got out in public without their Speakers and Harbours. Being without one’s Speakers is sort of like going out in public in a cheap suit in this society. I mean, technically you’re not out of place, but everyone’s judging you behind your back.

We also see, just like Deliritous in Chapter 2, all the Readers wear hats. Another status symbol it seems. Baz tells us: “That was another game they seemed to play, attempting to out-hat one another. Each one seemed wider brimmed than the next, adorned with colored feathers of ridiculous length.” So we’re quickly getting the picture here–the Readers are wealthy and image-obsessed. Sort of your typical nobles, right?

They also have “mobile lecterns” to hold their Spoken Books for them. Think of these kind of like a mini desk on a harness so they can read from a book without holding it. Sort of ridiculous looking when you imagine it, but remember how important Books are in this society, and they’re large, so this is sort of a natural outflowing of that.

Hellar Xavier and his Influencer

Next we meet a couple of specific Readers, and I think it’s safe for you all to assume at this point that they’re both important, since we learn they’re Deliritous’s competitors in the upcoming Acktus Trials. First we have Hellar Xavier. The heir to Xavier Library, the wealthiest of Erstwhile’s Libraries. That’s emphasized by the fact that he’s got five Speakers with him. Remember, Baz said that’s a bit of a social misstep–it’s like flaunting your wealth too openly. So a bit of arrogance going on here for sure it seems.

And if anyone thought that Baz’s disdain for Readers stopped at Deliritous, he quickly debases us of that assumption when he describes Hellar. “Hellar had short dark hair, pale eyes that reminded Baz of a dying fish, and a smile upon which Baz hoped he was never on the receiving end.”

We also get our first look at another type of Speaker–an Influencer. Hellar’s actively engaged in Reading a spell to his Influencer when Baz enters, and we learn Influencers are essentially capable of low-level mind control. Now, it’s got limits, right? You can’t just pull someone’s strings like a puppet and make them do exactly what you want. Baz clarifies:

True mind control was nearly impossible on all but the weakest of men, and generally a man that weak would be dead before you could control him. But the spells of an Influencer could push all but the strongest of wills in the Speaker’s desired direction.

So Influence seems an apt name for them, right? They can push your thoughts in the direction desired by the Reader who is wielding the Influencer’s power. Sort of a frightening thought. Think of a society where this type of power exists. You must need to be constantly on alert, wondering if the person you’re talking to might have an Influencer hidden somewhere influencing the turn of the conversation. I don’t think we get into it here, but you’ll learn later on that Influencers are viewed as an important tool in trade, using them to get yourself a better deal. And here they’re trying to influence this poor Citiless into giving them answers about where he learned to Read.

Another interesting tidbit here is that it’s a Reader from one of the Libraries doing the Reading, even though it’s the Conservatory doing the questioning. If there was any doubt about the implications of this, Baz clears them up by explicitly telling us this is a point of contention between the Libraries and the Conservatory. Remember, Conservators can Read, but Baz tells us they have no Speakers of their own. The ability to cast magic from the Spoken Books is pretty much the entire basis for the Readers’ power in this society, so obviously they want to keep a monopoly on it.

Marla

The only other Reader Baz can identify is one from Kolnar Library, which he describes as a “middling Library” approximately the same size as Torchsire. And she’s not a pleasant one, right? She’s enjoying watching this torture, lips twitching into a grin, almost petting the dagger she has at her belt as she watches. Baz obviously didn’t care for Hellar, but Marla seems to legitimately frighten him–he doesn’t even want to look at her.

Also, just a quick look into the writer’s mind here, I’m pretty sure I lifted her name from Fight Club. When I was imagining a name for her, I was trying to think of a name that one might say with a healthy dose of contempt, and I kept coming back to Edward Norton in Fight Club. Marla. “If I did have a tumor, I’d name it Marla.”

Deliritous

Baz finally makes eye-contact with Deliritous and it seems not much has changed in the Torchsire heir. We get the sense he’s still a bit of a brat, still hasn’t quite grasped how to act in accord with his station. “Deliritous motioned for him to come over, the frustrated urgency in the gesture not quite befitting one who was destined to take over a Library of Erstwhile.” And obviously Baz has little respect for him, noting that the glares of the other Readers’ Harbours supplied far more motivation for him to hurry over to Deliritous that did Deliritous’s angry stare.

And once again things only seem to get worse when Deliritous opens his mouth. Indeed, Baz actually seems to have more sense that he does. This is an official function, a man is being tortured just a few steps away. Baz made a point of remaining silent so as not to annoy the Conservators performing the interrogation. Deliritous, though, has no such restraint. He begins berating Baz for being late, basically whining over how it was embarrassing to have only one Speaker with him.

That one Speaker who was already with Deliritous is named Delida. And another strike against Deliritous here, as he’s apparently sleeping with her, Baz noting that she’s frequently absent from her quarters at night, which happen to be right next to his. There doesn’t seem to be any love lost between her and Baz, either. She gives him an annoyed glare when he looks her way, and Baz makes a point to say how he doesn’t exactly find her attractive.

And Deliritous just keeps going on and on, right? Baz grows increasingly uncomfortable with all the attention he’s drawing to them, but Deliritous seems oblivious to the disruption he’s causing. And we also see that same reticence to use Baz that Leanna noted earlier. Even though there had been a Speaking that morning, Deliritous seems to believe Baz was better used as an errand boy. Which is ridiculous, right? Baz makes clear that the Library has “ordinary” servants, presumably that means ones who don’t have the ability to draw power from the Spoken Books. This is sort of like someone who runs an auto repair shop constantly sending his best repairman out for groceries, rather than having him work on cars. So maybe there’s some truth to Leanna’s theory after all, that Deliritous is afraid to use Baz for fear of Baz taking revenge on him.

But there’s also a bit of an interesting dynamic here, right? Despite Deliritous berating Baz, the two of them are sort of bickering like an old married couple, right? I know we haven’t seen much interaction between Readers and Speakers yet, but we will soon, and this certainly isn’t common. Remember Baz noted back in Chapter 2 that merely opening your mouth out of turn as a Speaker is a sure way to an early death. But that doesn’t seem to be the case between him and Deliritous.

The Vicar

Finally, Baz and Deliritous’s conversation draws the attention of the Vicar, who is the Conservator leading the questioning of the Citiless. Vicars are members of the Conservatory who specialize in studying the “mysteries of the Scribes,” as Baz puts it. So they’re sort of the zealots of the already religious Conservatory it seems. And apparently they also play the unofficial role of being torturers. Sort of like the Hand of the Light in Wheel of Time, or if you’re not familiar with Wheel of Time, inquisitors from the Spanish Inquisition. Using religion as a cover for their cruel methods.

The Vicar here is named Vintas, and he certainly strikes an unsettling note. Sleeves rolled up, blood splattered across his white robe. We definitely get the sense he’s not someone you want to get called out by in front of your peers. We see Deliritous wilt under this scrutiny, his voice cracking when he apologizes to the Vicar for interrupting the questioning. And the Vicar capitalizes on his embarrassment, asking if he can borrow Rox to try and get additional information from the Citiless he’s questioning.

Such a request is apparently a faux pas. Baz notes it’s like asking someone to help you move a big piece of furniture. No one ever wants to agree to help, but you kind of look like a jerk if you decline. Same deal here—Harbours are the Readers’ bodyguards, they’re not supposed to leave their side. At the same time, though, everyone in this room is supposedly on the same side, so Deliritous would almost be insulting everyone else in the room if he insists on keeping Rox at his side. You certainly get a feeling here that Baz might not be the only one who doesn’t really respect Deliritous. We don’t see the Vicar asking any of the other Readers if he can use their Harbours.

Home of the Scribes

So Rox goes over to help the Vicar, yanking on the Citiless’s chain until he forces the man’s head off his chest. When the Vicar asks where he learned to Read, the Citiless responds “The home of the Scribes,” which Deliritous tells Baz means Tome.

Interesting, and potentially another connection back to the Prologue. Remember, that took place at Tome in the middle of some great disaster. And Baz seems to believe the Citiless has clearly gone mad from the torture at this point, since Tome had been “razed over three hundred years ago, now little more than a big pile of rubble.” There’s no way the Citiless could have learned to Read there. Again, not coming right out and saying it, but if we piece together what we’ve heard about Tome and the Burning, this seems to be more evidence that the Prologue was depicting a scene from the Burning, which ultimately destroyed the city of Tome. And yet, this Citiless is claiming to have learned to Read at Tome? You can see why neither Baz nor anyone else present believes the man’s answer. Indeed, the Vicar confirms most of this a few paragraphs later, expressly saying no one has lived in Tome since the Burning.

But despite not getting his answer, the Vicar seems almost pleased, right? Obviously this guy’s a bit sick, getting excited at exacting more pain on the man. And apparently he’s grown tired of his ordinary torture tools, instead asking if any of the assembled Readers has a dagger he can borrow. Marla is only too happy to oblige him, right? She almost seems to be competing with him over who is taking greater enjoyment at the torture of this poor Citiless. She isn’t even hiding her smile now when she gives the knife to the Vicar. Man, she is not someone we want to see again. Which, of course, means we’re going to see more of her.

Baz’s Decision

And we all know what happens next. Rox yanks on the chain again, but this time it snaps. If you were paying close attention, you’ll have noted that I took care to mention when Baz first entered that it was an “old, rusty chain,” so I very subtly setup this could happen. Rox goes flying backward since he wasn’t expecting the chain to snap, temporarily taking him out of action. The Vicar also drops his knife and while everyone else in the room is frozen in surprise, the Citiless sees his chance, attacking the nearest person in the room, which happens to be Deliritous.

The Citiless still has the chains around his wrists and swings them. Delritious dodges them, and instead his other Speaker, Delida, is struck in the throat and thrown backward. Then the Citiless grabs the knife the Vicar dropped and charges Deliritous. Turns out on top of everything else, Deliritous is a bit of a coward, right? Despite having taken fencing lessons as Baz points out, Deliritous does little more to defend himself than cower away from his attacker and scream.

Here’s Baz’s dream come true, right? Deliritous is about to eat it. But we learn that Baz perhaps wasn’t as in earnest as he’d have had us believe when he’d spoken earlier to Leanna about Deliritous dying.

Baz quickly takes stock of the situation. Rox is still getting off the floor, and no one else is moving to help Deliritous. While everyone in the room is supposedly on the same side, Baz sees it for what it really is—they’re all competitors and if one of their competitors is killed? Well, no one’s going to be upset about that. And that just doesn’t sit right with Baz. He’s actually a bit annoyed at himself, right? Let’s go to the text:

Baz ought to have felt satisfaction at that, Deliritous falling victim to the same societal mores that had victimized Baz’s brother. But instead, Baz found a hollow emptiness in his gut.”

He helped the lady with her chicks, he tried to help that Illit with that door, and now he’s going to save Deliritous, however much he might dislike him. Baz has got a conscience, even if he won’t admit it to himself.

He sticks out a foot, tripping the Citiless, and preventing him from stabbing Deliritous. That’s all the time Rox needed to recover. The Citiless tries to push himself up to get at Deliritous again, but now we see for the first time just how vicious Rox can be. As Baz puts it, he punches the Citiless in the face with his razor, basically slicing the top half of his head off. But it’s not a clean slice, more like an explosion, showering gore everywhere. He mauls this guy.

Now, just for an instant, we think we see a bit of humanity coming out of Deliritous. He jumps up and runs to his fallen Speaker, Delida who got hit by the chain. He’s concerned for her, right? “Oh, Delida! Speak to me!”

She responds and her voice is all messed up—she just got hit in the throat by a chain, after all. But we quickly see that Deliritous wasn’t concerned about her at all, but rather himself. She was supposed to go on the Trials with him, but if she can’t Speak, she’s useless to him, right? “Oh, your voice! What will I do for the Trials if you can’t Speak?”

The chapter ends with that creepy Reader, Marla, laughing. Remember, she’s set to be one of Deliritous’s competitors on the upcoming Trials, and she just reinforces what Baz observed a few paragraphs back—she doesn’t care about her fellow Readers. She’s glad to see a fellow competitor put at a disadvantage.

The Declaimer’s Transcendence

OK, that’s the end of the chapter, just one final thing to note. Store away what the Citiless said before he charged Deliritous. “The Declaimer’s Transcendence!” he cried out like a madman. “He’ll speak the words to set us free!” There was no time at all to consider this in the moment, other than Baz quickly wondering what that means, same as I assume all you out there listening are. Well, everyone seems to just think the Citiless was a raving madman, but we’ll soon learn that likely wasn’t the case. The Declaimer’s Transcendence. Keep that in mind in the weeks to come.

CONCLUSION

Homework: OK, that’s Chapter 4. Next week we’ll read and discuss chapters 5 and 6. We return to Torchsire Library and find some Readers fighting each other and learn some more interesting details about the dynamic between Reader, Speaker, and Harbour. Then we meet the Duke for the first time, Deliritous’s father. What do you think of him? What does Baz think of him? Maybe for the first time, too, we start having just a bit of a reason to feel sorry for Deliritous, despite everything he’s shown to the contrary so far.

Then we get to what’s probably the inciting incident of our story. Delida has been injured and won’t be able to accompany Deliritous on the Acktus Trials, so what does that mean? I bet a lot of you see what’s coming, but no worries if you don’t, you will after Chapter 5.

Chapter 6 is relatively short, but we see an interesting interaction between Deliritous and his Uncle that sheds some light on the challenges Deliritous faces at the Trials. Then Baz and Deliritous have their first true interaction with one another that we’ve seen. It doesn’t go terribly well. We learn another interesting tidbit about the magic system, though, so look out for that.

And remember! If you don’t do your homework, it’s OK. You all get A+’s just for tuning in. I’ll read for you and answer all these questions and more next week.

Quest: For this week’s quest, I’d like you to send me your favorite excerpt from Chapter 4. I think Baz in particularly has some pretty entertaining one liners in this chapter, and I wasn’t able to touch on all of them in our discussion. But it doesn’t have to be something Baz said. Just anything your found interesting or profound or though-provoking. 1 exp for everyone who emails their answer to me, dtkane@dtkane.com. And keep sending your answers for quests week 1-3. I’ll accept answers until the beginning of March 2022!

Quote: “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

Until next time, this has been D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club.