#brother qown

[bookwyrminspiration]

i need to hug this poor, manipulated, sweet man and I need to do it yesterday

[wangji-blog]

i think it's so funny Kihrin just out here dropped "Relos Var is my brother but like not in this lifetime" and then proceeds with "He's also a Dragon just doesn't look like if" and also is like "Yeah there's 4 of us hellworriers" like Brother Qown Heart cant take much more.

[incorrectrok]

Janel: i like my coffee like i like my nights

Janel: endless and impossible to sleep through

Brother Qown:

Brother Qown: I'm concerned

[mad-rdr]

The House of Always (A Chorus of Dragons #4) - Jenn Lyons

★ ★ ★ ★ ★/5

This is probably my favorite book of the entire series. All our favorite people are in the Lighthouse at Shadrag Gor where time goes by much faster than normal (think one second normal time is a week in the lighthouse) as Kihrin and Vol Karoth use everyone's memories to try and win an argument. Kihrin: that love and friendship is worth the pain and suffering to get it, Vol Karoth: that is it not. Basically, the set-up has it so we're constantly changing POVs. I know some people hate that, but I absolutely LOVE it. Give me all the POVs and perspectives please I want to know what everyone is thinking constantly. Kalindra comes back to play in this book (remember her from The Ruin of Kings?) and she's now Jarith Milligreest's widow. Jarith was killed in the Hellmarch, or so we thought. We find out in this book that he is a demon, but he still remembers who he is and oh man the heartache I got from his chapters. I love Jarith and I just want him to be happy (and alive). Also in this book is Galen (Kihrin's brother/nephew) and his wife Sheloran. This two make such a pair and even though they're considered "the kids," they are incredibly smart and good at holding their own. I loved reading more about them in this book anddd Galen's relationship with Qown (yes, Qown). Believe me when I say that this book will have you so engrossed you lose track of time. The suspense, the banter and the emotions will hold onto you tight. I'm pretty sure Jenn Lyons puts drugs in her books and as excited as I am to read the finale, I'm going to miss these characters with all my heart.

[antares-8]

A Chorus of Dragons thoughts

So I recently learned that the third book of this excellent series is coming out next month and have FINALLY gotten my hands on the second. Here’s some spoilery theories under the cut.

1. Kihrin’s birth name is Khaerin.

Evidence: vané naming patterns, repeated references to people ‘mispronouncing’ his name back in Book I

2. Sharanakal’s Cornerstone is Worldhearth.

Evidence: one is a volcano, the other is fire. It fits thematically. 

3. Chainbreaker is Drehemia’s Cornerstone.

Evidence: Chainbreaker makes illusions, Drehemia is “shadowy... impossible to view directly” (TNoAT 573)

4. Relos Var has Aeyan’arric’s Cornerstone--or, at least, she thinks he has it. 

Evidence: he has at least 3 others and Aeyan’arric listens to him

5. Brother Qown is faking his defection to Relos Var.

Evidence: This is the vegetarian pacifist who spent his free time in the Marakori slums. He has not, to my knowledge, seen Relos Var do anything good enough to justify the whole ‘slaughtering entire villages and siccing a dragon on 250k people’ thing. Plus, the betrayal of ‘Father Zajhera’ stung him badly, and then Var went and gaeshed him. Also plus, he might have figured out that Kihrin is a reincarnation of his god from Kihrin’s comments about “ ‘[i]f all the dragons are children of the Eight Immortals.... Aeyan’arric and--myself--’ ” We know Qown noticed something because he immediately asked, “ ‘What about Aeyan’arric and you?’ ” (TNoAT 498). The point is that Qown has few reasons to trust the bad guy and lots of reasons to work against him.

6. Kihrin is beginning to remember things from his past life. 

Evidence: We know that these memories are possible both because of Teraeth and because Kihrin briefly regained “[e]very memory of every lifetime” when he slammed S’arric’s old spear Khoreval into Xaloma’s mouth (TRoK 503). While he forgot his Afterlife experiences, Kihrin remembered flashes of them during his long talk with Janel and Qown. He also knew little snippets--that Relos Var’s real name was Rev’arric before that was revealed in Janel and Qown’s narrative (TNoAT 334) and that S’arric was apparently short for Solan’arric (TNoAT 88). Granted, he might have just learned that from Thaena in a scene he didn’t tell Talon about, but there’s also a moment when he thinks of “his brother--[of] Relos Var rather” (TNoAT 449). That is, he thinks of his brother, then corrects himself to think of the guy’s current name. I think that looks a lot like S’arric’s old thought patterns peeking through.

7. Urthaenriel was the sword used in the dragon creation ritual. It might even be Rev’arric’s ‘Cornerstone.’

Evidence: We know that a sword was used in the ritual to destroy S’arric (TRoK 357). One of Urthaenriel’s names is literally Godslayer, and it offed a bunch of god-kings and -queens before Atrin Kandor lost it. The thing had to get its incredible power somewhere, and where better than a ritual that sacrificed a god in the beginning of an attempt to overthrow the Eight Immortals? Additionally, Kihrin has a weird connection to Urthaenriel. “[H]e shouldn’t be able to hear her if he’s not holding her drawn, but he still can.... Kihrin can use the sword differently from anyone else” (TNoAT 32).

8. Thurvishar is a reincarnation of Simillion, the first Emperor of Quur. 

Evidence: Sandus’s son was originally named Cimillion (TRoK 425). The other Hellwarriors are reincarnations of an emperor, an empress, and a literal god. It’s hardly far-fetched that there would be another emperor in there. Simillion is one of the few historical figures who’s been named, and we know that the Eight Immortals favored him a lot because they cursed Quur’s Royal Houses for the crime of murdering him (TRoK 298). So I figure that either Thurvishar is Simillion or he’s some brave, random nobody (because that’s my weird idea of humor) and Tyentso is Simillion. 

9. Book 3 will be more Teraeth-focused and contain his POV. Book 4 will do the same thing, but with Thurvishar. Book 5 is all or mostly Kihrin again.

Evidence: I read somewhere that this is supposed to be a five-book series (don’t know where I saw that or if it’s credible. Sorry!). If that’s true, it makes writerly sense to give the spotlight to each of the four Hellwarriors in turn before going back to the series protagonist. Kihrin went first, Janel second, and the third book’s cover has a picture of one of Thaena’s elephants on it, plus it’s set in the Manol (Atrin Kandor, anyone?), so that means Teraeth’s third up. That leaves Thurvishar with Book 4 before the epic finale with Vol Karoth, Rev’arric, and Kihrin. 

There’s still lots of questions/wild cards that I have no idea about. What’s up with mimics? What about the Gryphon Men? The Vishai Mysteries? (Personally, I hope that Kihrin steals them from right under Var’s nose.) But here’s my two cents that I spent waaay too long thinking about. 

[thetypedwriter]

The Name of All Things Book Review

The Name of All Things Book Review by Jenn lyons 

I swear to God that I feel like I have been reading this book for my entire life. I can’t remember a time I wasn’t reading Jenn Lyons’ next installment in the A Chorus of Dragons Series. 

And while I found the first installment, The Ruin of Kings, filled with jargon, confusing for a large portion, and sometimes over inundated with the many god-kings, characters, and places, I also found it action-packed, whimsical, and truly original with her use of POV and world building. 

This unfortunately all goes to shit in the sequel. 

I was excited enough about The Ruin of Kings to immediately pick up the sequel and read it with starry eyes and enthusiastic gusto. However, it was quickly established that this novel was not like the others for one dominant reason: the main character. 

Now, I won’t get into the nitty gritty about why I enjoyed Khirin D’Mon as a main character in the last book, as you could simply read my review about it here, but to summarize, I found him witty, charming, engaging, and driven. Perhaps naively, although I truly feel like I was duped, Khirin is hardly in the second installment at all (even if the jacket cover makes you believe otherwise). 

Instead, the main character of book two is a girl named Janel Danorak who has suffered at the hands of the demon Xaltorath (just like Khirin) and has manifested superhuman-strength as a result. It chronicles her life up to the current present where she is currently sitting in a tavern with Khirin three days after the conclusion of last book and is essentially telling Khirin every single fucking thing that has happened to her in her lifetime to bring her to the current moment. 

It is beyond maddening. 

If Lyons thought she was creatively manipulating the narrative by doing a paltry back-and-forth maneuver in which Janel and Brother Qown are re-telling their own stories to “bring Khirin up to speed” it failed. I didn’t find it clever, charming, or engaging. Instead I was irritated, bored, and indifferent. 

Instead of getting more action, progressing the plot, establishing more of the world, building relationships that have already been established, and you know, advancing Khirin’s character and motives, a character we have entirely seen the world through up to his point, we instead get what comes across to me as the longest, most boring “filler” in the history of books I have ever read. 

This whole almost-600-page book felt like a, “Oops. I wanted to include all this information earlier cause it’s important. Yeah. Important. I’ll just spend a whole book talking about shit that doesn’t matter and that already happened so that I can tell everyone how important Janel is. Perfect.”

I don’t remember the last time I was so frustrated finishing a book. This book did nothing, and I mean nothing, to progress anything that happened in book one except for maybe the last forty pages, and that’s being generous. Instead, it was essentially Lyons’ way of word vomiting exposition onto her audience without actually telling an engaging story or continuing book one in any fashion. Make no mistake, ladies and gentleman, this is the Janel Danorak show and nothing else. 

Maybe I wouldn’t have hated it so much if I actually found Janel to be an engaging character like Khirin, or even like Thurvishar, Tyentso, or Teraeth, but nope. Hell, I would have taken Senera or Brother Qown over Janel any day, as they were much more interesting side characters than Janel could ever hope to be. 

To me, Janel came across as the most generic crybaby who whined like a little bitch and pretended to be strong for the entire book when she was really just unintelligent, uninspired, and lacking in every way. Lyons tries very, very hard to tell you that Janel is amazing. She’s so cool, so strong, so authoritative, so different, omg. But no. 

Unlike book one, where we learn Khirin’s characteristics through trial and error and are able to deduce them for ourselves, Lyons switches methods completely in this book and just tells us over and over again that Janel is super awesome hoping that it will stick. 

It doesn’t. 

And on top of that, why do Khirin and her get together at the end? Why does Khirin give one inch of a damn about her?? He has no reason to. He’s known her for three goddamn days as that is the duration of THIS WHOLE BOOK. It’s completely out-of-character for Khirin and frustratingly nonsensical. It simply serves as another example of how Lyons is spoon-feeding us how cool Janel is when all it really does is make me never want to pick up the book again.

I can’t even really say anything about the plot. Which, it being 600 pages is pretty pathetic. Bottom line: Janel needs to kill a dragon. She needs a special spear to do it. She spends a vastly inordinate amount of time getting this spear and dicking around and then goes to kill the dragon. Oh, and Senera and Relos Var are killing people like normal and Relos Var betrays everyone again. 

That’s about it. That’s the whole book. 

Hopefully now you can see why I’m so vexed. There was no reason Lyons needed to take this much time and this length to tell Janel’s story. Quite honestly, a chapter or two would have sufficed for her background and then her and Khirin could have set off for their adventure. That’s it. That’s what should have happened. 

But it didn’t. It didn’t at all. And this poorly paced, poorly written, horribly executed sequel was the epitome of a disappointment. 

Recommendation: I don’t even know. Read The Ruin of Kings and pretend it’s a stand-alone novel. When the third book comes out, check Google Pages to make sure the whole thing isn’t a flashback of Janel Danorak and I might be interested. Huge emphasis on the might. This is why I stick to YA, people. 

Score: 3/10

[bookwyrminspiration]

Dorna: Around here, the people choose their leader, and when they're doing a shit job we get rid of em and pick another

Brother Qown, New In Town™:

[bookwyrminspiration]

also you are so right the mission of every character is to deceive people and be something entirely different or confusing or shocking. case in point FATHER ZAJHERA IF THAT'S EVEN HOW YOU SPELL IT. but oh man also. after the diagram (although i haven't gotten to pore through the full family tree yet) a lot more things Make Sense like it's just so interesting. wouldn't u like to be a centuries old guy that got killed BUT NOT REALLY because your magic necklace was like haha. no. and so now you did this to historians. you're making them suffer like this.

re: "Not everyone knows the same things or is up to date on everything, and instead of having off-page explanations or saying things like "we caught so-and-so up to date on everything" some of the characters! Are lacking a lot of information sometimes!" YEAH. YES. JUST. obviously i'm only on the second book so far and i've only met so many people, ninavis and dorna and even janel/brother qown not really knowing the full details of the story they're telling/hearing is SO INTERESTING!! and SO COOL to me as well bc that is just!!! life!!!! and what a life it is so many people in the same room with all the different pieces of the puzzle. OUGH i love these books so much already not only bc i get to share them with you but also just because. the sheer amount of things that are so well done and real-world feeling and just. complex while also not making the thing dense like other books (cough cough. priory of the orange tree) tend to do with so many characters (sometimes even less!) and a large empire and so much politics. so good

Are you even an a chorus of dragons character if you're not simultaneously three other people at the same time? well. there are actually a fair number of characters who are just one person, but there's also so many who are other people too.

Also, I find it hilarious that really it's just this one family tree that's fucked beyond recognition. Because it's a super important and powerful necklace, so they've kept it in the family, and it keeps getting used within the family and so now genealogists will forever hate this one family and this one family in particular. Everyone else is unaffected by the stone of shackles its Just Them.

It is just life! Obviously I understand the convenience of keeping all your characters on the same page, especially if they're all working in close quarters together and see each other a lot, but when that isn't the case? It's so much fun to play with different knowledge and perspective, how it informs your actions. There's a scene in book 5 (this is vague, not spoiling, dw) where one character figures out something another character has been trying to work out for a while, but they're simply not in the same location for a while so character 2 just!! Doesn't know! even though they're trying to find out and a main character already figured it out! and that's both infuriating (in a good way) and SO fun. because that's realistic! just because one character figures something out doesn't mean another finds out in a timely manner.

I also love sharing these books with you this is like the highlight of my day every time you send an ask i explode (good). But you're right, that's something I'm impressed by; yes, the books are unbelievably complicated and in-depth, but it doesn't drag. And it doesn't accomplish that by rushing through everything either. It takes some effort on our parts to engage, but if you put it in? Beautiful story, world, and experience. We know enough to differentiate places, characters, beliefs, etc, but we're not spending an eternity explaining each either. Lyons is showing off and she should be. staring in awe

[bookwyrminspiration]

finished a reread of the all for the game trilogy by nora sakavich, back to reading a chorus of dragons once again- kihrin is FIFTEEN???? his dad is DARZIN D'MON????? WHAT. HOW DOES HE GET OUT OF THIS ONE tell me he gets out of this one (don't actually tell me i am just dismayed. darzin is such a dick). but also w reading the futurish-not-present so interesting to learn a bit abt the gods and their dwelling places AND ALSO to see him struggle again with xaltorath, which. just paused for a minute to run back through and make sure i wasn't mixing the storylines up--xaltorath IS present in his mind even when he's a slave again on an island with a bunch of snake people man i love continuity of trauma. also i am so sorry dude ola may not be dead but you can bet she is not doing great!

FUCK I tried to answer all your asks in order but I missed this first one. Also btw I think you're about half my inbox at the moment.

BUT YEAH!! You've finished book one by now so you know Darzin's actually his older brother not his dad, but either way this boy has HORRIBLE luck with family. Brothers in particular. Darzin is like genuinely so unredeemable. his character is a dick and that's it. he lives a dick he dies a dick no one mourns him not even his own father. rest in agony, you wretch

and Xaltorath!! god I love Xaltorath. yeah the 'demon disconnected from the human concept of gender who presents as different genders and uses different pronouns IN CANON' does have a lot to do with it, but also just all the mystery around it...what's she doing...what's he know...the way it interacts with all the characters!! And how Kihrin reacts to him and confronts trauma, so so nice. The things each of the characters have been through have a lasting impact! And we see that, and how it's fucked them up--how they react, the choices they make, how they feel about themselves. Thinking about Qown and Senera in particular like my GOD

"ola may not be dead" famous last words </3

[bookwyrminspiration]

when i was talking about the names i was also thinking about kihrin in the second book because i was in the first bits of the book when janel and brother qown are trying to explain everything and (although i think he's? getting more used to it? considering they are 3/4ths of the way through this book at least) for so long he was just like wait hold. hold on step back a moment can you explain this one to me. and it is such a nice way to show the learning & the mistakes in such a natural way so as to set up for the pain as janel is constantly misgendered, both in yor and also for the not knowing why with oreth (which for the latter. OUCH). it's a very interesting take on gender even with the lack of me getting to see the geldings where are the genders that are transed in a specific non binary way. BUT obviously dorna is extremely cool go dorna <3 she and that guy were like t4t but like opposite and i think that's beautiful

Yeah!! Kihrin is just so open to everything even when he's confused and I love that about him. You're saying your country has a third gender and you're a female man and this lesbian used to be a man until she went to a festival of trans your gender? I don't understand half of those words but that doesn't mean it isn't real and doesn't matter, would you mind explaining it to me again? He's confused but he's got the spirit! Literally!

And I appreciate that he doesn't necessarily get it all right away, he has to double check, and he compares it against what he knows. Because when you encounter something for the first time it's not necessarily natural to immediately accept that, so there's a learning curve. Which he embarks on willingly and we get to see it! he wants to be taught and is willing to engage with things outside his perspective! Kihrin D'Mon I love you

It is a shame we don't get to see any geldings, as someone who would be a gelding who doesn't run (translation for those who haven't read: asexual who is neither binary man nor woman internally). But I 100% appreciate the fact that they exist and that their existance is acknowledged and included non-judgmentally. There's so much other queerness going on (though rip janel, so many people keep calling her a woman </3) that that's enough to just know about it.

And Dorna! And her former spouse! They really are the opposite of t4t you're right, that's beautiful. What if we were in love and had a kid but then we both transed our genders and now we're not attracted to each other anymore but we still value and wish each other well in our new lives <3

[wangji-blog]

i cant believe it took Kihrin like 10 chapters to for him to realise that Brother Qown worshipped him 🙄 men

[antares-8]

A couple weeks back, I posted a few theories for A Chorus of Dragons. Now that I’ve read the third book in the series (and [slightly] recovered from the INSANE ending), I’m posting how my theories held up to reality. Spoilers for The Memory of Souls below the cut.

1. Kihrin’s birth name is Khaerin.

Shockingly, this didn’t come up once. UNKNOWN.

2. Sharanakal’s Cornerstone is Worldhearth.

CONFIRMED.

3. Chainbreaker is Drehemia’s Cornerstone.

UNKNOWN.

4. Relos Var has Aeyan’arric’s Cornerstone--or, at least, she thinks he has it.

It turns out that Rev’arric was fused with his Cornerstone, Cynosure, which has the ability to control dragons. He’s probably using that to make her do his bidding. However, it’s entirely possible that he actually does have her Cornerstone, since Grizzst collected them and they have that alliance/deal thing. UNKNOWN.

5. Brother Qown is faking his defection to Relos Var.

We didn’t see enough of him to learn anything more. UNKNOWN.

6. Kihrin is beginning to remember things from his past life.

CONFIRMED.

7. Urthaenriel was the sword used in the dragon creation ritual. It might even be Rev’arric’s ‘Cornerstone.’

While Urthaenriel was used in the ritual, it isn’t Rev’arric’s Cornerstone. PARTIALLY CONFIRMED, PARTIALLY DISPROVEN.

8. Thurvishar is a reincarnation of Simillion, the first Emperor of Quur.

Nailed it! CONFIRMED.

9. Book 3 will be more Teraeth-focused and contain his POV. Book 4 will do the same thing, but with Thurvishar. Book 5 is all or mostly Kihrin again.

We got Teraeth’s POV eventually and he had a few... pretty big moments, but this book was about Kihrin. DISPROVEN.

So, of my 9 theories, 4 remain unknown, 3.5 were proven correct, and 1.5 were disproven. Not bad.

Expect more theories soon, as I am currently on a bit of a kick.