Community Read-along: A Conspiracy of Kings section 1

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Welcome back to the community read-along of all the books (so far!). This week, we’re starting A Conspiracy of Kings, reading from the start of the Prologue “The king of Attolia was passing....” to the end of Chapter 12 “...You came in. And you laughed.” Thirteen chapters sounds like a lot, but some of them are actually very short, so please keep reading and don’t panic!

These discussions are spoiler-free for the new short stories The Wine Shop and The Knife Dance, as well as for the ARC Thick As Thieves. If you have any comments on these in relation to ACoK, please write them down or tell them to the cat, so you’ll remember them to share with everyone else in Less Than A Month’s Time!!! :D

Obviously, there will be spoilers for the four extant books, so if you’re very very new to this fandom, I echo the Queen of Attolia: Go Away – and finish reading all four books!


So, so, so. This book contains some of the most uneven chapter lengths Megan’s ever published, so for discussing, I have divided the narrative into 6 parts:

1. Reunion (Prologue)
2. Life – and death – at the villa (Chapters 1 & 2)
3. An unexpected escape (Chapters 3 & 4)
4. Life and learning (Chapters 5 & 6)
5. An unexpected rescue (Chapters 7 to 9)
6. Flight to Attolia (Chapters 10 to 12)

For each of these, (in imitation of pendrecarc) I have added a few rather random thoughts and questions in separate comments below. As you’re reading through and want to comment, pick the thread that matches your section and reply. Quotes, comments, suggestions, elaborations, arguments -- all welcome!

Enjoy! And don’t delay! Next week is section 2 of ACoK led by ibmiller, while May 16th gets nearer every day!

Comments

Flight to Attolia

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“You and I go to Attolia...” And Sophos hatches yet another plan, as the success of the previous section goes up in smoke – literally, as the Mede (or accomplice) fire the tent.

Apart from leaving Sophos and the Magus completely destitute on their arrival in Attolia, does the robbery on the road add or reveal anything to justify it being a whole chapter?

After a brief revisit to the route of The Thief, it’s back to courtly life and one of Gen’s all-time stunners: “The quickest way to end a war is to admit you’ve lost it.” Just what did he really mean by that remark?

And finally, we end with my favourite line of the whole section: “and you came in. And you laughed.” Is it because Eddis is glad? Or because she’s spent her whole reign refusing to marry Sounis and is now proposing to marry his spitting image?