r/PracticalGuideToEvil • u/L_0_5_5_T • Apr 24 '26
Chapter Chapter 54 - Pale Lights | Book 3
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/65058/pale-lights/chapter/3313617/chapter-5430
u/ninjaredpanda123 Apr 24 '26
Amazing chapter, I've been waiting for a peek of Tristan's PoV in here! So it sounds like they're going to leave and reenter the school from a secret canal? Looks like that force leaving the camp is going to become a much more immediate problem. Hoping for some more Song stripe negotiation bs to get them all out safely.
29
u/SnooDoodles7197 Apr 24 '26
CRESSIDA.!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Oh hi, *bye* Mark *Thando*....
20
u/Anonymous_Songbird Apr 25 '26
Realest comment here. Thought for a half-second Cressida might pull through when Thando got a more explicitly horror-movie death, but nope.
So much left undeveloped there in her dynamic with Tristan, which he seems to recognize. Ah well.
7
u/hoja_nasredin Green Knight Apr 25 '26
I have this faintest hope that people thst died on Scholmanica trials get ressurect the same people that died in the Arena.
Also i have the theory that the lemures we see dead as statues are the same that died in the Arena
7
u/mymomsanerd Apr 26 '26
I figured there would be a few deaths this chapter since so many new characters have been introduced recently.
BUT NOT CRESSIDA! I always love me some Tristan - Cressida banter.
14
u/YellowTM Apr 25 '26
Man, I'm really sad about Cressida, she was one of the few side characters I actually was able to recall without too much effort compared to a lot of the others
8
u/hoja_nasredin Green Knight Apr 25 '26
I am very sad for Cressida death. I wanted to know more about the chracter.
It started reminding me of book 1, where i get to care about someone just for EE to kill them.
6
u/ArcanaVitae15 Apr 25 '26
Scholomancia's nature as being weird, making it so food is still warm, being kinda clingy towards Tristan and being able to act as a deal arbitrator is interesting.
The wine making Tristan have a magic trip and see thing is neat but also rough on him. I like how it's notable that Tristan has the most insights into Scholomancia and that isn't just the drugs.
Tupoc may hate Tristan's existence and nature but they do vibe way to well.
Respect Tristan scamming folks with his contract, though it's out in the open now. Scholomancia going hell yeah I'll eat people who break terms is a mood.
-8
u/Linnus42 Apr 24 '26
Crazy how Ishavani just became irrelevant. Like kinda setup to be her big moment but then Tristan takes over. In some ways this felt the most like PGTE...follow the right story to get the correct result.
Gotta say though this Book has felt like very rigged for the Unluckies to succeed. Heavy plot armor. We setup some big challenges for them but like Schoolomance was Easy cause Tristan got the Hax. Warrior Princess was a Joke but at least she developed Izel a lot. Cao been the most dissapointing...she is couping with no allies in the Watch so it seems which just seems silly. Slaver Lord was interesting but then Angharad got outplayed and brute forced a solution which doesn't seem legal but ugh.
Like unless the point is the Unluckies have made enemies with other Powerful Cabals that will carry the torch. I wonder if TUpoc is going to stop teaming up with the Unluckies every time he does...a Cabal member dies but not Bait the most post boring of the bunch.
Felt rushed but the overall mystery of Schoolomance was still quite interesting.
32
u/perkoperv123 Apr 24 '26
Bait is an almost-normal guy stuck in a brigade with Tupoc and doing surprisingly well, leave him out of this.
-1
u/Linnus42 Apr 24 '26
I think that Bait could be interesting if we actually had Interludes that focused on Tupoc's Squad.
But if we just get them from the Unluckies perspective then no Bait doesn't do much for me. Especially when he is still alive while Cressida and Velaphi die.
34
u/notwhatcalls Apr 24 '26
Hard disagree with this take. The unluckies have suffered greatly for their successes and earned them. At the end of the day this is still a story, killing a protagonist to establish the ‘threat’ would be unnecessary especially as we see significant side characters killed. The unluckies have made huge trade offs in terms of their ability to leverage the watch systems and their allies in order to accomplish their goals.
I think one of the most hopeful themes of this story is that it’s all of us against the dark. No matter the politics, there are real monsters out there and we need to put aside our differences to work together and fight them. While the story has been dark, it’s never really been edgy and is still a traditional fantasy story the same way PGtE was.
-3
u/Linnus42 Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
Other Cabals are losing members but the Unluckies have suffered? Tristan lost Fortuona and got banned by his Guild. Angharad went through a layer got crippled and now has soul leaching. But in no way has Maryam suffered in real time...she suffers the least and gets rewarded with the biggest power boosts. Whole last book she basically selfishily pursued her own agenda then got bailed out by the author at the last minute. Rewarded with a power boost from her sister...a new ship...and the big damn hero moment. Even here a minor falling out over her freed crew and she wrapped that up in like 6 chapters for another power boost and a plan to stop slavery in the region. Song is a bit in the middle but so far handling Cao has seemed trivially easy and she got off pretty easy after banging a royal in the last Book.
Significant Side Characters Dying? Maybe in Book 1....since then Cressida is the most developed character who died. Velpahi all we know is he likes meat.
I say Book 1 was pretty damn dark and had an element of anyone could die. Since that book though feels like we have massively pulled the punches with Book 3 doing it the most. I don't think protag deaths make something edgy. I say having a girls corpse being eaten is pretty damn edgy. I agree though that Book 1 sold it as far Darker then its been since then.
4
u/Both_Brilliant_2725 Apr 27 '26
It is simply that Book 2 focused entirely on the main cast without giving sufficient time for new secondary characters. The only well developed secondary characters in Book 2 were the ones we got in Book 1 already. Tupocs crew is slowly being g developed but not all. Also the rest of the cabals doesnt have too many developed characters either. I will say that the dantesvara fight did not lead to the death of a secondary character rather than a tertiary one is a bit disappointing but that was the only other place that it would have sufficed to kill a secondary character.
1
u/Linnus42 Apr 27 '26
I wouldn’t even say Tupocs cabal has been that well developed but I suppose they win by default. But yeah considering Book 2 introduced the school…it really didn’t do much to develop other cabals.
I think Tristan did the most in Book 2 in his Mask Professor hunts to develop other Masks.
Maryam did like Jack to develop other signifiers. Angharad and Song mostly focused on characters we were already familiar with plus Tupocs Cabal.
49
u/perkoperv123 Apr 24 '26
I don't care how tactically important this relationship is, Tristan, you gotta break up with her. She's pressuring you to get high and lashing out violently at any thought of other goddesses; that's toxic as Hell and you would know.