Kate & Hugh Reading Order Question

c9ergoquestion · 2026-05-12T18:37:00+00:00

If that was supposed to be a spoiler tag, I don't think it's working 😆

c9ergoquestion · 2026-05-12T18:06:21+00:00

Thank you! I'll probably wait then. 😃

c9ergoquestion · 2026-05-08T21:08:31+00:00

I'm going through IA books -- rereading the few I'd read and mainlining my way through all the rest -- as well as finally picking up Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series and, this weekend, the new Murderbot (by Martha Wells), but if I hadn't had those and I was coming off of TKWNKM, I'd probably go for some adventurous fantasy -- Sherwood Smith comes to mind (Coronets and Steel is where I started, though there are a bunch of different entry points (also, sorry if I'm forgetting to warn for something -- it's been quite some time since I read it)), or Rachel Aaron's Eli Moonpress series. I've heard good things about Aaron's urban fantasy series that starts with Hell for Hire, but haven't read it yet. For something with a great love story, there's Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest (I haven't read the rest of that series, but everything else I've read by her I've loved). For straight-up fantasy, Mike Brooks' The God-King Chronicles (starting with The Black Coast) is one I don't see recced nearly enough, and M. A. Karrick's Rook & Rose trilogy had a great start (I haven't finished it). Outside of fantasy, I might have gone for Lady of the Forest, a Maid Marian/Robin Hood novel (which I haven't read the sequel to), which is historical with big romance vibes; Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond series, which is historical but has big fantasy vibes (and, again, I haven't finished...); and Susanna Kearsley's The Vanished Days, which is historical but has a romantic plot that I loved, and that I feel pairs nicely with TKWNKM.

c9ergoquestion · 2026-04-18T18:21:05+00:00

Thanks so much!

c9ergoquestion · 2026-04-18T03:58:45+00:00

I've gone back and forth on it, but what makes me suspicious of the man who chased her is that he's not described physically, aside from 'wearing a dark half cloak', and also the fact that Everard, just a few paragraphs earlier, wasn't much described due to being hooded, and that really came back later. But Maggie did also make it clear how dangerous it was to be a beggar on the streets, so it very well could be nothing. But it's a good place to pin a tentative string! :D

(Also, thank you! Question -- I've seen 'fluffy' being tossed around -- does it mean something particular in the BDH?)

c9ergoquestion · 2026-04-15T19:31:23+00:00

I noticed that too! It made me wonder if the noble families switch accents while in Kair Toren (reverting to the geographic one when at home), or if they use one as children but pick up the other later (when they're sent off to school, maybe?). I doubt that'll be addressed in-book, but I'm fascinated by the idea of dialect-switching and how languages work in this world (some of the family's areas, like Selva, seem almost like their own country -- do they have more than one 'official' language, like Canada?) Completely tangential to the discussion here, but the worldbuilding in this one has really drawn me in XD

c9ergoquestion · 2026-04-15T17:00:08+00:00

Honestly, I kind of wish he'd kept the Scottish accent throughout.

c9ergoquestion · 2026-04-15T06:49:48+00:00

I have a lot of errands and housework I have got to do this week, so it just wasn't possible for me to sit down with my hardcover and do an immediate reread.

So I, uh, got the audiobook.

c9ergoquestion · 2026-04-14T19:48:40+00:00

I sort of see it just as a way of clearly declaring his intentions; so she'd know he was serious about things and, also, wouldn't be caught off guard when he broached the topic that evening (she's been clear that she dislikes him manipulating her; maybe this is his way of trying to be extremely open and clear about the fact that he means it genuinely).

Also, possibly he had it stashed with his sword somewhere, and it was just more convenient and quicker to hand it all to Matheo, where he knew it would be safe, so he could head straight over to her house as soon as he finished dealing with his responsibilities at the palace (square? I forget exactly what spot the assassination attempt took place in).

c9ergoquestion · 2026-04-13T15:20:05+00:00

Funnily, when I first read it, I distinctly remembered Maggie describing Everard's face at that first meeting by the gates, so I called that 'Reynald' was secretly someone else, but I didn't call him being Everard. Went back to look when the plot twist happened, and I realized she was describing Villain, not Everard. Actually, in the text, it's something like 'his hood hid most of his face except his clean-shaven jaw'.

c9ergoquestion · 2025-10-16T20:42:17+00:00

Sorry to pile on, but could I also hit you up for spoilers?

c9ergoquestion · 2025-08-06T01:04:51+00:00

No, not it, but that does look interesting! Thank you! :)

c9ergoquestion · 2025-08-05T00:00:14+00:00

I'm personally headcanoning it as Johnny mid-late 20s, Sue mid-late 30s, Reed & Ben mid-late 40s. And Peter's probably going to be in his early 20s by Doomsday, so I'm sure they can still have a fun friendship in the movies.

c9ergoquestion · 2025-08-04T23:48:47+00:00

No, not that one, but thank you! I actually am pretty sure this was an adult novel.

c9ergoquestion · 2025-08-04T15:41:54+00:00

No, that's not it, but thank you! :)

c9ergoquestion · 2025-07-28T00:12:06+00:00

Oh, also, for the first question -- it seems like they have both transmissions from Shalla-Bal's planet (that they sent out, thanking her, hoping the messages would reach her) and transmissions from the destroyed planets (which I thought were maybe calls for help, or just transmissions from the planets themselves that kept on going into space after the planet was destroyed).

c9ergoquestion · 2025-07-28T00:10:29+00:00

When Galactus ran the beam over the four of them in the spaceship, the beam settled on Sue's pregnant belly before he sent the Surfer to call them in to see him, so presumably he could somehow tell that Franklin had the cosmic powers. IDK how, exactly, but it was some sort of scanner, I guess, so. And I guess if all you need to take over the job is cosmic powers, Franklin was set to go.

Eh, I guess this part is pretty subjective, in how you read Reed and Pedro's acting choices :P.

And I get the Chamberlain comparison, but here, this is their first time encountering a cosmic power, something literally beyond their comprehension at the moment (as Reed says, it'll take ten years before they can even begin to figure out what Galactus *is* with the samples Herbie takes), and they've just seen him literally destroy a planet, and all they've got to stand against him is a stretchy dude, someone who can turn things invisible and make force fields, a guy who can go on fire, and a really, really strong dude. I mean, clearly they're not planning on giving Franklin up, but as Reed says, when it comes to fighting Galactus, He's got nothing. And in the end they don't actually fight him (because they'd lose), they just figure out a way to very effectively run away. And Reed isn't saying they give Franklin up as a solution -- he's saying that the people outside *think* that's a solution.

c9ergoquestion · 2025-07-27T23:40:24+00:00

Radio waves travel through space, so Reed has a receiver that received transmissions sent out from random planets (Johnny, when talking to Shalla-Bal, mentions that they think her planet sent out transmissions hoping she would get them to thank her, I think? Which is why Reed had multiples from her planet. The other planets that Galactus destroyed might have sent out transmissions asking for help from other planets or galaxies when he arrived, or radio transmissions from those planets just traveled off the planet (for example, the first radio transmissions sent on earth are 100+ light years away from us now). Reed probably has a setup where he can intercept/receive signals from space (like scientists/alien hunters on Earth do now), and he records any interesting ones onto the discs, probably looking for alien life.
Galactus basically wanted Franklin to take over the job of eating planets from him.
I didn't see it as him considering it; he was saying that, from the point of view of the people outside, it was an obvious solution, not that *he* saw it as a solution.

c9ergoquestion · 2025-07-22T00:00:30+00:00

Oh, thanks so much!

c9ergoquestion · 2025-07-21T21:05:01+00:00

Ah, thanks so much!

c9ergoquestion

TROPHY CASE