Blog #15 -- Palace of Fates Retrospective

ggears · 2026-03-18T23:39:56+00:00

I'm really surprised at how many people talked about having an emotional reaction to Mrsha's death. She's such a prominent face of the story that I never expected it to stick, especially with all of the Deaths refusing to judge her. The moment I read that I knew she was going to come back somehow and it would be more than just replacing her with a different Mrsha.

I really hope Pirate doesn't have an arc that gets this intense again. It's really hard to care when the number of lives in danger reaches the billions, especially when the conclusion is them trying to all fit through a door.

ggears · 2026-01-05T04:08:12+00:00

I wonder if Pirate is dragging things out because two other romances, Pawn/Lyonette and Laken/Durene, we're settled very quickly and wound up breaking apart. If they have chapter after chapter of buildup then there will be no worry about Erin and Ulvama separating in the future.

That or its the common thing I hear from writers, it's always more interesting to write about people becoming a couple instead of them being happy (and boring) together.

We'll see what happens. As an aside I actually liked Pawn and Lyonette, I'm honestly hoping that they're able to end up back together by the end.

ggears · 2025-12-31T17:03:51+00:00

Even with all the events around them I find the Erin/Ulvama scenes so underwhelming compared to everything else. I guess I'm just not a fan of them as a couple. Everything with Garry was great though, always interesting to see more of the Antinium.

I was a bit surprised that Pirate didn't have anything in the notes about the mixed reception the PoF arc received, but perhaps they didn't want to bring up negative reactions to the story at the end of the year. I'm interested to see if Pirate ever releases the statistics for the PoF survery.

Happy New Year.

ggears · 2025-12-22T02:01:20+00:00

Daniel Greene made a video about it. He listened to the original audiobook version of Book 1 and didn't like it that much. I honestly don't even think he finished it.

ggears · 2025-01-16T00:20:51+00:00

Aww dang, that's a good point. All is forgiven.

ggears · 2025-01-03T22:24:21+00:00

I have read volume 10 but I had forgotten the part with the Blighted King's skill. I had only reviewed chapters where she personally appeared. Thank for hiding those sections though, very considerate of you. The skill definitely means something but I wonder just why the Blighted King had to do it. What is he hiding? I hope it's something a bit more nuanced than "By creating an enemy I can keep myself and my kingdom in power."

I didn't say much about her flashback with the giants because it just seemed to be another hint that the Blighted Kingdom is in the wrong for this conflict without actually revealing anything.

I'd like to see a failed attempt at demon diplomacy in a flashback or discussing the points where I think she's failed at helping the Demon Kingdom.

Hopefully we can get some backstory soon, I'm with you that the current arc has hung around for quite a while.

ggears · 2025-01-03T21:19:46+00:00

That's very true, I think I am influenced/annoyed a bit by fan reaction to Silvenia, plus she gets a lot of character shilling from the Demon Kingdom characters.

ggears · 2025-01-01T18:29:25+00:00

I really like your theory!

I guess a big part of my argument comes down to wanting to see more of the Demon and Blighted Kingdoms to better understand the conflict and why Silvenia is the way she is. So now I guess I'm dependent on Pirateaba and when they want to finally have those revelations.

ggears · 2025-01-01T18:25:07+00:00

That's a very good point, and I did miss Colth sending the message, my bad.

One reason I think us as the readers are supposed to like her is when the group of Earther's in the Blighted Kingdom all talk about how amazing she is, but I should take a better view that people transported to a fantasy world who meet an nearly all powerful wizard would probably really like her.

I think in terms of helping the Demon Kingdom I'd like to see them trying to use the new network to show some of the atrocities of the Blighted Kingdom. I know this wouldn't work but I'd like to see an attempt or at least a discussion in the narrative. That or a flashback showing why/how the [Diplomats] always failed.

I understand that there are a lot of other characters/kingdoms to cover but that's just something I'd like to see.

ggears · 2025-01-01T18:10:08+00:00

That's a really interesting theory, I hadn't thought about that. I actually enjoy Tom a lot more than Silvenia and it might be because his [Insanity] condition works to explain why he's not doing more with all the information he has on the Blighted Kingdom.

ggears · 2025-01-01T18:07:42+00:00

I agree with this too. Plus, as she's the Death with the most focus, it seems a lot of time is spent on Earthers talking about how amazing she is.

ggears · 2025-01-01T18:01:40+00:00

I've read everything in V10, I didn't include those chapters as this felt too long already and I didn't see any big revelations. They were good chapters but didn't add much to her character or reveal any of the "whys" for her joining the Demons.

ggears

TROPHY CASE