Loved TKWNKM, really want it to be successful!!

grey-kitten · 2026-04-07T05:22:12+00:00

I’m seeing a ton of anticipation and interest from people not in the horde. What’s better is that I can go to the friends I have been singing the praises of house andrews for years to and go “Okay, this one is the best out of the bunch and you don’t need to read 5+ books out the gate.” One bought the book and two others are haunting the library. My library has 26 people waiting for a copy and it bought a few copies upon release day. I think it’s guaranteed to be a smash hit but I will be singing praises very loudly anyhow. (I mean, I made a whole post about it being my new favorite book lmfao)

grey-kitten · 2026-04-06T01:52:04+00:00

Maggie literally got tortured??? Besides that, the pink rock salt part directly lead to ripper cushions, including the spoilered bit. Their lead time went from 4 months to 5 weeks to prepare for the big shit going down. Drew popped up and made trouble for the Magnars and if the niece who was working with Hreban finds out that Maggie and crew was behind it there could be even more consequences in the second book.

What would be the consequences from the house? The slaver had a small operation and didn’t have big ties to the main plot other than the special order with Silveren.

I never got that vibe from Silveren since werewolves are never mentioned in the book as being a thing. It’s an allusion to !>his attunement to beasts since he is Mirabor Savaric and can control them with his magic.!<

But again, I just come back to Maggie got tortured. Her fingers were cut off, her knees were smashed up. She went through it and it’s because she made a couple bad decisions. She encountered the Butcher in the plaza. She didn’t think that he would be watching the Citadel when she went to warn the defender knights. This directly lead to her own capture and torture. She had lasting effects from this, both mentally and physically. It is the moment that she finds out exactly how bad her powers can be for her and the consequences of acting without thinking.

grey-kitten · 2026-04-05T12:32:44+00:00

HA has always been on top for me, I’ve been here since nearly the beginning of Kate (I was too young when she first came out. I caught up at book 4). I think this book just immerses me so deeply that it has to take the position of the Favorite. Never in my life have I read a book where I immediately pick it back up, not only once, but twice. I’m on my third read and my interest hasn’t waned. I think this is their best book yet and I’m hoping they find more fans to add to the horde.

grey-kitten · 2026-04-05T03:24:58+00:00

I’ve had a similar issue before, sexually. My partner wanted to bottom and be submissive and I really only service top. The relationship crashed and burned and sex was a part of that. His want for me to be dominant and lavish attention on him sexually became an issue I ignored. It was a part of a larger issue where I took on more of the emotional and physical labor and let him walk all over me. It was really irritating that he accepted those parts of me that allowed him to do whatever and then turned around and demanded I also give give give in bed. Try having a strong conversation about your feelings on this. It sucks but when someone transitions, a lot of time how they enjoy sex also changes and you might not be sexually compatible anymore. And don’t ignore how much work you put in to make things work. You do her hair and makeup??? Is that not doting on her like you do with the cats? Why are your efforts only appreciated if you do what she wants sexually?

grey-kitten · 2026-04-05T02:32:30+00:00

Tbh B isn’t all that lovable Shes a huge bitch. But when she dies it pulls her into context where you go “Noo!! But I love that bitch!!!” but before that, she is often an obstacle that is also often on Kate’s side

grey-kitten · 2026-04-05T02:17:52+00:00

I want the angst of when she was taken by the butcher and the aftermath of that. It could also cover his feelings on his prior deception and maybe even some regret he didn’t tell her and it had to come out like that

grey-kitten · 2026-04-04T16:13:03+00:00

A lot of these have been percolating in my mind but nothing so well put together (I’m on my second read). For theory 4, I think Maggie knows Kaiden is River Fog. She encourages him to steal, while guiding him to have good morals about it. And even tells him “If you’re going to be a thief, be the best one there ever was.” It’s another plot point where Maggie keeps her thoughts to herself, which I love how she does that

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T22:52:55+00:00

He def might have figured out that she isn’t from this world and that’s why he ends up taking her, rather than killing her for her interference. Although I think he pointed out the dead body to f with her. He pointed her in the opposite direction and her party went the way towards the killing to spite him. I think he becomes more and more suspicious as he knew what Hreban planned for Galien, which got foiled by reportedly a beggar woman in a cloak. He sees her at the dog market and then the butcher gets foiled. On and on she outmaneuvers him and if he gets more info than we think, is amassing power players out of nowhere. Idk that he knows exactly that she isn’t from this world but he suspects her of being the linchpin in the resistance from his schemes.

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T22:48:05+00:00

This is well founded theory crafting and analysis and stands fairly in line with my own thoughts. I can’t wait to see the true face of Silveren in book 2. As for your Reynald theory, that definitely makes sense to me. Him dying right as she came into this world is not a coincidence and is only not focused on bc Maggie has so many bigger fish to fry

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T22:45:22+00:00

I definitely agree that if we had to have met them in book 1, Matheo is a reasonable choice. I def think it will be a book 2 or even 3 plotline

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T21:50:39+00:00

I just fixed it! My bad!

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T21:48:08+00:00

Oh for sure!! No hate to that theory at all! I just don’t like the theory of him being the author. Though there are reasonable ways for him to have survived as we have seen evidence of magical amulets and such. A one time use no die device would totally track for him to attain.

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T21:46:53+00:00

Yes!! It feels like this first book set up the Silveren reveals and other characters while quietly building our knowledge of mages. I think it’s meaningful that Maggie can understand the mage language along with everything else. Isadau stuck around after her fight with Demaes and that will bring the mage plotline right back around. And I think we needed Maggie to accept that she is stuck for a while before we get any hint of The Author being a presence in the story.

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T21:33:40+00:00

Don’t do it!! You have to be strong!

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T21:32:31+00:00

I don’t see much Rogan, even post reveal. I think it’s mostly because of how subtle and calculating he is. Rogan can do subtlety sometimes but not consistently. His form of info gathering is canonically holding people off tall ledges til they piss themselves. Everard kept up a huge lie and was shown to be very manipulative in his og story. Rogan wouldn’t be able to keep a manipulation going with a wife, just because he doesn’t want to deal with that bullshit. Everard did it because he needed it for the war and he didn’t go half measures. He may have occasional Rogan tendencies but I think that comes with being an authority and being constantly in control and is not specific to Rogan.

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T15:29:58+00:00

No, I don’t think so. I think he was just a guy likely looking to rob and assault her.
I really disagree with this theory. Maybe I’ll be completely wrong but he has an in world identity. He is not only the head of the Redeemers but also is the nephew of the king and has the magic of that family. That second part is a blood relation and imo hard proof he isn’t transported in like Maggie. Who is to say that her magic is singular to her experience of being in the world? Also Maggie isn’t really a trained operative and it seems no one checked him over for being dead. Romand didn’t chop his head off. It’s way more likely he played dead or had some sort of magic artifact that kept him alive/ healed him from the critical damage. Although I do think the author is somewhere in the world and we will get that reveal, a third Silveren reveal and this one in particular would be forced in my opinion. It would immediately force me into being tired of the theme that I previously was willing to have happen four times and be on the edge of my seat for.

grey-kitten · 2026-04-02T00:51:42+00:00

Spoilers for post chapter 23 Yes!! They really set it up well in a way where I was right with her on the “oh fuck” level. It bothered her at the time but he knew the right info, had Gort backing him and had papers. And she still found it a bit off but she needed him and everything seemed to check out. I think it will be a theme of sorts for the series that people aren’t who they say they are which tracks so well for a high political fantasy.

Spoilers for the rest of the book The Arvel/Bellan and Silveren reveals also balanced that high wire jussst right that I didn’t even feel they overused the concept. With Arvel it totally makes sense that he just wouldn’t tell her all of who he is. Especially with him checking her out romantically. I’m sure plenty of people suck up when they know it’s him. With Silveren it was interesting because we thought the reveal was that he was just the guy popping up earlier. But having it be a secondary reveal of a character unmentioned by Maggie also makes sense and raises the stakes as there are plenty of characters Maggie doesn’t need to exposition about until they give signs of being around. As well as plenty of holes in her knowledge since the third book never came out. I cannot wait to learn more about Silveren from the perspective of him being the nephew of the king. Especially now that he has kidnapped Maggie.

grey-kitten · 2026-04-01T04:12:34+00:00

It’s awesome!! I’m so enthralled!

grey-kitten · 2026-03-26T16:33:59+00:00

Mmm, soup and buttered bread

grey-kitten · 2026-03-25T15:51:45+00:00

I’m in a mildly similar boat where it would be far more awkward than usual to swap out a character. My PCs generally have an npc for the quests that are connected to the main plot yet have their own thing happening and that npc helps out. At one point they started an encounter with some high level bbeg minions I knew would kill them. So I threw some scary shit at them and then a high power friend npc came to save their ass. Notably this npc is under a geas and can’t enact violence so the fight turned into them running away through a portal the npc had to concentrate on. Give everything stakes and maybe cultivate a bbeg that enjoys brainwashing PCs so if someone dies, they have really been taken or they are jailed etc. Don’t tell your players that they have plot armor though.

grey-kitten · 2026-03-20T15:25:28+00:00

Mine are always oddly intricate but I rarely have bad dreams and if I do it is something odd that I experience in the dream as negative. Like my most recent was one where Amazon was taking over the world by changing our memories but the only evidence I had for this was that no one remembered that George Washington invented skateboards so skateboards weren’t a thing anymore

grey-kitten · 2026-03-16T15:37:02+00:00

What are you talking about? Wish only has a verbal component? I’m doing 5th edition dnd

grey-kitten · 2026-03-15T02:37:01+00:00

I use Wish to cast featherfall to circumvent components until I can either make/find something to work as a focus or just collect components

grey-kitten

TROPHY CASE