Just wanted to pop in (late) to say thank you to this community, all the regular commenters, Mark and of course Tammy. Following along with my favorite books, watching people experience them with the same joy I felt at first and discussing them with a diverse group of fans has been an absolute blast. I'm so sad it's over! (But looking forward to Numair's books!)
Or collaborators/ traitors among the Gyongxin people. They very probably wouldn't look like Evvy or stereotypically Yanjingyi (though there could be historical mixing between peoples) to have been successful. I assume there is spy magic for changing appearance short-term, though it might not be effective in this magic- saturated place. Or just the expedient of getting a native to do it for pay or blackmail. Its actually kind of ironic to me that they suspected the obvious Yanjingyi person when in reality its the person who is skilled at not being obvious or is "trusted" who is going to succeed.
I... wasn't as pleased with this as some other people. Its a deus ex machina, (even though we don't ever get confirmation of any gods other than the little gods- this is more an elementals/ immortals save the day than gods but anyway.) I felt it reduced the complexity of the whole story to Gyongxe's specialness and made me wonder- not for the first time in this book- what was the point of having our heroes there at all if this was the ending. Why did they need to come warn them about something they already knew about? Why did Rosethorn need to go on her quest? Why did they have to split up? Why did they have to fight? It just doesn't make sense to me. It makes the story seem so pointless. (AND we've already had this "defeat the evil emperor with help from the gods and weird magic" plot before- but this time there are no zombie dinosaurs.)
And... since Weishu was defeated, I think its safe at this point to voice my bitterest disappointment with this book. Despite what he told his sisters at the end of Will of the Empress, Briar was NOT locked up while in Gyongxe or Yanjing and he did NOT have to create the Discipline cottage image in his mind to cope. It never happened. So his heart to heart was either a lie, confusion, an alternate reality or or just a huge authorial/ editorial mistake. I FULLY expected them to be locked up here for a while before this final showdown. It would have been so easy to add in. I could even see that it might have been written and cut for space. Instead it was over so fast, and the powerful ending for one of my favorite Tammy books was just forgotten. On my first read through, it was the thing I was looking forward to most, apart from meeting Luvo. And its just not there. Why was this book even written if not to explain the events that had already been written about? There's more chapters but I have no recollection of them because I was so angry.
Lrf, V'z ybfg nobhg jurer jr ner va gur npgvba bs gur obbx. Vf guvf gur fyrrc fcryy? Gurer ner sbhe puncgref yrsg? V qba'g erzrzore. Ohg lrnu, ab zvaq-Qvfpvcyvar vf whfg n greevoyr birefvtug. Qbrfa'g nalbar rqvg sbe pbagvahvgl? Guvf vfa'g zvabe, vgf gur pngunegvp raqvat bs n cerivbhf abiry!
So Briar's already having nightmares- actually, he was already having some nightmares after events in Chammur. He said something to the effect of being horrified by the dead, but not the mute. And by the time he returns to Emelan in a year and a half/ two years, they will be so bad and so frequent that he can't sleep alone or stay on temple grounds. I really wish Briar/ someone else had picked up on this as a problem - and in world, a mind- healer as a potential solution- long before we reached the time of Will of the Empress.
To me, both this drive-by war assistance and the seeming insignificance of Rosethorn's side quest after the fact both make me seriously question the validity of their reasons for getting involved in this war in the first place. And both of those situations are jarring and take the wind out of the sails of the book's purpose/ urgency/ significance for me. I'm with Souda and Parahan- this is out of left field and pretty heartless. You are either committed to the cause or you're not. It goes against Tammy's writing before, too- Aly, for example, stayed and committed to the cause even though she was an outsider (and she was much more upfront from the beginning about her temporary status). And its very possible that when they leave Gyongxe will be very vulnerable- thus, not really accomplishing what they set out to do.
I do also think that its important that Briar is saying this, and its very possible that that isn't going to be the decision/ it speaks more to his exhaustedness and his inexperience than anything else.
I find the idea that they are going to leave in the middle of the war jarring and pretty laughable compared to the rest of the book. You don't just escape out of a country at war when you've fought your way in, fought your way across the country and are now in the besieged capital... just.. what? If catching their ship was more important than Rosethorn defending the faith- and now they are in Garmashing where the first temple actually is- then none of these events would have happened. Its super duper weird to say "oh we've helped you up until now and have been key to your success but we're late for dinner so we have to go! Bye! Good luck with the unstoppable army without us!" What on earth was the point of all of this fighting then if you care that little about this place? It also feels really really out of character for Briar, who is generally pretty loyal, to say. (And you know, Briar, there may just possibly be more than one ship going in that direction?)
This does answer my question the they don't leave through Yanjing- they go south to the realms of the sun which is perhaps India? Southeast Asia?
You could always email and ask? It might be a nice palate cleanser after Battle Magic.
Or possibly convince someone on Spoils to suggest it as a patreon bonus commission?
What is bone's day out?? If it's by Tammy it has not been read/commissioned.
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Contraption