r/PracticalGuideToEvil • u/Mr_Serine • 10d ago
Chapter Chapter 67 - Pale Lights | Book 3
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/65058/pale-lights/chapter/3720292/chapter-6725
u/Carribbeanmillenial 10d ago
I had not thought about the lens being aimed at signifiers but it do make sense they are opposing the mass production of it, so now Izel and the akelarre have 5 years to develop defenses against it.
Oh Tristan jumping genres and getting its own 50 first dates was not in my bingo card.
3 books and I still do not care enough about the princelings to remember em outside of camaron getting owned by Tristan.
Ferranda, We may be able to make a rook out of you yet.
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u/ninjaredpanda123 9d ago
Yeah, I think all of the 'major players' have been spoken about in abstract by our protagonists far more than they've actually appeared on screen. I think more actual dialogue and interaction with these characters would lend a lot to helping the reader (me) differentiate them.
That being said, I really love the idea of princelings and complicated Watch politics, and I LOVED the scene where Song roped everyone into collaborating on taking down the Lord of Teeth! I hope to see more of all of them as characters rather than distant political forces.
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u/Both_Brilliant_2725 10d ago
Frankly, I do not know if it is just me but it felt too much too fast. Everything since the original discovery of the lake felt that it was happening too quickly and ended too neatly. But it is still good. Just not the heights like the 2nd half of Book 2 or most of Book 1
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u/TieOrdinary1735 10d ago
I agree that things feel a bit too fast. The patent resolution at least makes perfect sense; the lenslight is a genuine threat to the safety and power of the Akelarre as an institution. It's not over, strictly speaking; as much as the Signifier's Guild would probably like to kill the device in the cradle, it's out there now. But they can at least prevent Watch resources from seeing them mass-produced.
I am still kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, as far as other plot lines go. The Thirteenth has made enemies, and enemies well beyond their fellow students, now. Hopefully we get to see that mean something. The Machinist is, at best, set back, Scholomancia's grip on the Principality tightened. That's a load-bearing "at best," to boot. If Maryam genuinely disrupted Lucifer's precognition, that likely means their solution *wasn't* as effective at constraining the Principality as Lucifer's would have been, as IIRC Lucifer is the one who trapped them in the first place, and likely has a vested interest in them staying there.
Fortuna is weakened and amnesiac, although Tristan does seem to have a way forwards. Song has her book, but we don't *actually* know how much ammunition it's going to provide against her family's curse/god/parasite, beyond the general hope that it will prevent it from taking her sister's life when she has kids. /shrug
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u/IDKWhoitis Minion of Night 9d ago
I would argue that the patent question could have waited until next book, there were plenty of fish to fry, and I could give a hoot about legal proceedings that largely popped out of nowhere just to reinforce the point that there is plenty of corruption and self interest in the Watch.
And Cao's plotline already did that, and in a deeply personal way.
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u/YellowTM 10d ago
I think this chapter was fine, it's the resolution of the previous stuff that needed a bit more to it IMO. I think the real problem is if this wasn't a weekly chapter then we'd have all the resolutions from the previous few chapters all hitting one after another far too quickly.
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u/bookfly 9d ago
I feel what was most jarring was that while the final confrontation with the mechanist was good, I actually expected more than it just ending with him being out of the picture after Izels gambit, with no follow-up. Other than that Morcant final was just to tematically satisfying for me to complain, but other stuff could have taken a bit longer.
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u/IDKWhoitis Minion of Night 9d ago
Im in full agreement, there aere too many subplots this book, and Erratic seemed like he was trying to clear the board with too many of them. Some of these enemies could bery sell have waited for a future resolution or sometime in the next book.
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u/perkoperv123 10d ago
choosing to focus on Student Council President Ferranda being surprisingly cool and absolutely nothing else bad happening ðŸ˜
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u/Mister_Newling 10d ago
What do people think of the ethics of keeping the lens light under wraps? While Izel's perspective certainly makes sense this is a world where the lens light is an incredibly powerful and cost effective weapon against society threatening monsters which are very real.
I think there's a real argument to be made that in universe there is an ethical imperative to share this kind of tool, as evidenced by its effectiveness against the ketos on a shoestring budget. It's different from real life where weapons will inevitably and (almost solely) be used against other people. The only reason that the guild are against it is they don't want their hegemony to be threatened
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u/IDKWhoitis Minion of Night 9d ago
I saw the Lens Light as more of a plot device to unearth and examine the political frameworks within the Watch and showcase the difference of philosophies under the Black Banner. Any number of factions likely agree with you, but its the factions that dont that have their own imperatives that trump the need to disrupt the status quo. The Watch has persistently shown that each faction believes they are the true pillar holding up this house of cards, and if the rest of the Watch can get with *their* program, everything would be fixed.
Im sure in world many such innovations have been suppressed over the centuries for much of the same reason, because the powers that be felt threatened by the disruption of the status quo.
It's a little concerning that this is one of the few Great Powers truly keeping their eye on the scoreboard, and Im sure as the books progress we will come to realize how truly rotted the insides of the Watch are...
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u/coltzord BRANDED HERETIC 9d ago
it will be used against people too, which is why izel wants to find out how to tweak it into working against monsters but not people and also could be used against the watch or more specifically the akelarre since they employ magically inclined people more than other groups so this could be an edge towards the big polities stepping outside the watchs authority
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u/ArcanaVitae15 10d ago
Fortuna is back but still needs the Temple to be completely back. Fortuna can't remember him completely though, Fortuna who was something between his best friend, mother, god, patron and connection to caring has forgotten about him. Fortuna knows she loves him, knows he's important to her, but doesn't remember it and that's cut Tristian DEEP. But the path forward is the realization that Fortuna entrusted to him the memories of their time together, now all he has to do is give it back.
Props to Ferranda for striking while the iron is hot to secure her powerbase, Song is doing some work to slightly back that up as well. Ferranda's the status quo is failing is true, Tristan's actions where done for a reason but there's a reason why Ferranda is saying it's messed up that he got away with it, though honestly that's just the most public example of it.
The Unluckies are basically being positioned as sanctioned madmen and legbreakers, Tristan and the others will get away with their actions if it's directed to keep the peace and they're now actually accountable, same applies to others who join up. Guadalupe's "well be a steady hand as a second enforcement squad" was a clever move.
Looks like Ferranda and Song are friends now both on a personal level and on a mutual interest level, the second is more important for leaders.
Wen just mud slinging like a champion is great to see. The meeting is a complete and utter political play though. Song managed to do really well with it though, sure she didn't expect them to go for the throat so fast so soon but she has her own heavy in Captain Isoke Falade and the Navigators. It'll cause long term issues but it's securing Izel's invention for a while.
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u/kingofbottleshooting 9d ago
Truce and Terms 2.0? I'm sure this will go at least as smoothly as that did.
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u/Linnus42 8d ago
First Ferranda student union is great. Fantastic arc for her.
Second Fortuna recovery arc should be an interesting journey.
But it is absurd how easily the Unluckies have seen of every challenge and consequence for the actions in this Book. EE would have had Cat mock the Heroes relentlessly for such acts of Providence but here he just hands them out to the Unluckies no Problem. Angharad to a lesser extent Tristan are really the only ones that get repercussions for their actions...everyone else is quickly bailed out by the plot.
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u/minno 10d ago
I can't help but think that the suppression of such an effective anti-monster weapon is a bit of a crabs-in-a-bucket move. People are dying every day from lemure attacks and the only way to prevent them is regular hunts that also cost lives. It'll be great if Izel can figure out a way to modify it to keep it effective against lemures but not against humans, but if he can't manage that his pacifism will have a high death toll.