#hooks pl

I'm just gonna lead with this: words cannot express how VINDICATED I feel to have been in Angie's corner since the very beginning, despite all the hate her character gets! Huh, it seems like now EVERYONE in the Thirteenth Brigade is a Problematic Fave.

Shame, that.

Except Izel, maybe, he's shaping up to be Just a BigLittle Guy like Tristan pretends but for real. I'm watching you, Coyac. You'll get your time, lad.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I was totally on the money in calling Scholomance Murder Harvard in my book 1 thoughts. I like that we've reached the point that "fantastical school designed to train Elite Badasses in the most unethical way imaginable" has become such a solid trope, there's no need to make comparisons to any hypothetical wizard schools that would remain unnamed or I'll block you on sight. I know that I was imagining book 1 as a really ambitious Blades in the Dark campaign with some custom rules for contracts, but now I'm picturing in my head a full on Pale Lights-flavored hack that introduces the 7 different covenants as the playbooks, corruption rules for aether entity possession, gloam exposure and sainthood—as much as I've waffled between systems to place the Guide in, I think Pale Lights fits nicely into the Forged in the Dark family of games. Especially since, by book 2's end, everyone in the Thirteenth has leveled up their capacity for intrigue and skullduggery, and not just killing/blowing shit up. More on that later.

Something I've noticed EE does regularly is he'll write one "book" that is technically two in one, as the plots on Tolomentara and at Scholomance are pretty neatly separated from those on Asphodel, such that I could see them being divided up in a hypothetical future publication. I've gotten a look at his latest AMA, and it doesn't seem like that's in the plans, aside from tightening up the part 1 pacing, but I can't be the only one who feels this way, and not just because the Guide is getting this treatment.

Not that it's a negative in any way, I enjoyed both sequences immensely, and how the characters changed and grew over even this single book is honestly really impressive. You can really tell he's gotten everyone to where he wants them to really start rolling on this series (assuming it's going to be as long lived as the Guide and not wrapped up in 3 or 4 books total).

That being said, phew it was really touch and go in that first part, huh? The thing they don't tell you about Bands of Misfits, is that they're often Misfits for a reason, and won't necessarily work well with each other just cause they're all equally anti-social/unhinged. And man, the way this team fights with each other, UGH, it gets BRUTAL at so many times. Like, Hakram and Catherine's fight was cathartic and rough, but things get ugly between members of the Thirteenth, and they don't really get better until they've all been reforged in the fire of Asphodel's revolution.

And speaking of one of those fights, uuuuh so this was probably real funny for anyone reading my book 1 thoughts and was caught up on this one, when I laid out how there's no way Song could have been the one to have shot Isobel back on the island. And no, "Song and Ferranda both shot her" doesn't change that, the intent and attempt was there and she'd do it again. Damn. So two things about that; my biggest reason to disbelieve it originally was because if that was the case, it was a phenomenally stupid thing for Song to do if she intended for Angharad to remain an ally. And not only was it still a terrible idea, not coming clean about it at the end of the trials when all was revealed was what sealed the betrayal, as far as Angharad was concerned. Which, yeah, that would have been the time to come clean, but sadly the Song from Dominion is not the same as the Song from Asphodel in terms of lessons learned. In her attempts to keep her "hand on the chisel" as she puts it, she treated those around her as her hammer, her tools, and that's something she had to learn not to do the hard way.

The second thing about that is, since we've now confirmed that, since she did in fact shoot Isobel, then we all can agree she definitely also shot Lan later on when they were all escaping the battle with the devils, yeah? She was down and wounded, Angie charging into danger after her, only for Lan to then be taken out in the exact way she thought Isobel had been shot (spun from the impact to account for her facing). Which is immediately followed by Song shouting for Angharad to come back out of danger. In fact that also answers how Isobel died facing Song and Ferranda, as it wouldn't have made sense for her to turn back to face them while they were all running from hollows; shot went through her head from behind and spun her, making it appear from Angharad's perspective that she was shot from the front and spun around (I guess muskets don't leave obvious exit wounds compared to entrances? I have no idea.)

That second thing hasn't actually come up yet, as only Tristan seems to remember Ju and Lan, but if it ever does, I called it.

Anyway, yeah I knew that Angie was gonna be mad about that. Emotion-manipulation contract or not, it still means Song executed someone she cared about but even worse, made that choice for supposedly her own good. Honestly I think Angharad took it pretty well despite how furious she was during their argument, if I had Angie's skills I can't say I'd trust myself with my sword at hand during that conversation.

I'm still glad it came out eventually, even though Angharad had to ask not once, but twice, for a straight answer from Song. Especially since that first time was right after Song was saved by Maryam's shade and woke up to the fact she needed to connect better with her squadmates, and then just didn't apply that to Angie. Needless to say I was not a fan of Song for a while there, but by the time of her dealings with the Yellow Earth and her dealing with the assassination attempt on Evander I was back in her court. In fact I'm gonna say everyone in the Thirteenth were lowered in my estimates at some point or another, only to rise back up and exceed my expectations.

Which I think is definitely something EE as an author is just amazing at; letting characters make mistakes, be genuinely flawed and at times unlikable people, and then put them through a crucible where they are forced into a position where they need to, not just trust someone, but put their faith in them. And come out the other end a somewhat better person, and better for it as well. I eat it up every time :D

Speaking of, the last few chapters were real standouts, it's kinda hard to pick a favorite, but by far the most impactful ones were Tristan and Maryam. Izel is here! And Cressida... is not a friend, but she's still in the story, which is good cause I like her. And Maryam! She has a sister, and she's her Stand! What? Okay! And their big moment was so cool, Tristan being willing to die by Maryam's side was barely a footnote in the same chapter by comparison, and that was also a moment of amazing sweetness.

So book 2 ends at pretty much the most cliffhanger cutoff point. How is everyone reacting to Angie staying on? How frigid are Maryam and Song toward Izel? Is anyone gonna ask about why Maryam now has a ghost popping out of her chest? Does Hooks count as a member of the Thirteenth? I have so many questions!

Speaking of new members, with Izel added on, EE has confirmed two more figures in the banner

So it now is confirmed to be Song - - Angie - - Izel - - Maryam - - Tristan - - ????

I have no clue on who the sixth member is. I'm not banking on anyone we know so far, it seems more likely to me they'll be someone introduced in book 3, same with how Izel was introduced to us and recruited in the same book.

I also notice the brigade membership cap happens to also be the same as the number of covenants at Scholomance. So far we have Academy/Stripes (Song), Skiritai/Militants (Angharad), Akellare/Navigators (Maryam), Krypteia/Masks (Tristan), and now Umuthi/Tinkers (Izel). All we're missing are Peiling/Savants (Scholars) and Arthashastra/Laurels (Diplomats). Hmmm. Given that Hooks has access to the Cauldron, were she to somehow end up in a separate covenant she could be Peiling with all that knowledge, but I have a feeling she's more attached to Maryam (being her Nav and all). So we have the potential for TWO more members from what are so far the two covenants we know the least about.

I'm looking forward to the next book taking place back on Tolomentara, I really liked that place and wanted to see more. A deadly school that's trying to eat you while you attend class is amazing, and there's still so much potential there. And now that everyone has been through their second major adventure, and, as I said before, seem to be at the place where EE wanted them to be so they can actually be a functional team for once, I look forward to what further intrigue they're going to get into.

So far it seems their skill sets have grown more broad rather than deep; Angie is slightly better at using her contract in a fight, but where she really excels with it now is information gathering, espionage that's nearly undetectable (able to know what's in a safe without opening it? Potentially busted when it comes to intrigue!). Song reading people better will make her both a better leader and tactician, if not any more deadly with a gun. Maryam and Hooks have a literal library in their brain(s). And Tristan has the potential to have gotten the biggest boost compared to any of them with his probability sight, but could lead to him taking more risks and leaps of faith, as he just did.

I feel like we're also gonna see what genre the book is gonna land in come book 3. We've broadened out from pure dark fantasy this time, but since what the team seems to be building themselves toward is getting deeper into intrigue and skullduggery, and then thriving in chaos when it inevitably breaks out, I can't really say we're gonna go full high fantasy again like in the Guide. Like Asphodel was the Thirteenth punching WAY above their weight class, and that was given circumstances lining up for them to even attempt it. But as a hint of what's some of the bigger threats out in the world? That was thoroughly demonstrated, and will likely have consequences for what further instructions/assignments they get now.

I have to say, it feels really nice to finally be caught up, and to actually be waiting on reading weekly updates instead of binging. This must be a fraction of what One Piece fans feel when they've caught up. I like it :)