Back in August, a reader commented that Chapter 5 – in which (no spoilers) Arden Clarkson makes his first contact with the sylueds and discovers his father’s secret – could easily have functioned as the opening of the book. At the time, I replied that the first five chapters were intentionally designed that way, with each chapter introducing a new character that could easily serve as the book’s protagonist. While Chapter 6 does introduce Zorai and She That Is, characters that function as protagonists just like those we’ve met in the preceding chapters, it is also a continuation of Chapter 2’s story of the occupation of House Yesidreel, creating a bookend to the introductions, a tidy “end of the beginning.”
Again, no spoilers, but Chapter 7 is not only marked by the return of Gelgarth Arbekka, but also the return of two other heroes from earlier chapters, making this the first time that the characters’ stories begin to cross over each other in unexpected but significant ways. The “avengers” are “assembling,” to coin a totally legal and not-at-all-copyright-infringing phrase. This is where all of the characters, clues, and world-building start to add up. This is the beginning of the end.
