Mark Reads ‘Lioness Rampant’: Chapter 5

In the fifth chapter of Lioness Rampant, Tamora Pierce switches to the point of view of multiple characters in Corus, and SHIT GETS UNBELIEVABLY REAL. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Lioness Rampant.

Chapter Five: In the Capital of Tortall

OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD!!! HOW CAN SO MUCH STUFF HAPPEN IN A SINGLE CHAPTER.

• Okay, I was already stoked on chapter five once I started reading it (CHECK OUT THE AWESOME VIDEOS BELOW) because I’ve come to love it when Pierce decides to narrate from someone other than Alanna.
• BUT THEN ON LIKE THE SECOND PAGE, SHE REVEALS THAT THE KING COMMITTED SUICIDE OUT OF GRIEF FROM LOSING HIS WIFE. And I am immediately torn to pieces by my emotions for this series and these characters.
• I love the contrast between Alanna’s lack of excitement for the Dominion Jewel and Jonathan’s desperate hope that she’s bringing it back to Corus. Bless this book. BLESS IT. I mean, this is so fascinating to me! Alanna nearly died getting that jewel, and she nearly just handed it to someone else. It means almost nothing to her, but Jonathan knows it would be a way to solve the chaos in his city.
• Claw went after George’s mother? Oh my god, this is so fucked up.
• MYLES. MYLES. You are just so stupendous. Offering your house to Mistress Cooper? You’re the best.
• HAHAHA HOLY SHIT, GEORGE SHIPS HIS MOM/MYLES. THIS IS NOW CANON.
• oh
• oh my god
• OH MY GOD
• THOM POV. HELP ME. I DIDN’T THINK WE WOULD EVER GET THIS.
• I CAN’T
• What the HELL is happening to Thom? Why is he sick? Why is he withering away? WHY IS HE EVEN TALKING TO ROGER? I mean, CLEARLY THAT’S AN AWFUL IDEA. But from this first POV, I got the sense that Thom was stuck in this confusing, complicated situation, that he’d bit off more than he could chew. He’s openly hostile to Roger, but it seems he’s that way to everyone.
• NO, CLAW’S MEN ARE ATTACKING GEORGE, OH MY GOD HE WAS JUST SLICED FROM “SHOULDER TO HIS THIGH” please don’t let this be his death scene.
• SOLOM IS DEAD. OH GOD.
• NO, WHAT THE FUCK, THERE HAVE ALREADY BEEN LIKE TEN PLOT TWISTS, AND MYLES JUST LEARNED THE IDENTITY OF CLAW FROM DALIL AL MARGANIT.
• CLAW IS RALON OH MY FUCKING GOD I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT HIM
• The best part is that HE TOTALLY HAS A REASON TO TURN INTO CLAW AND BECOME A TOTAL BIGOT.
• And for real, the dude was disinherited after trying to rape the second daughter of a bailiff, but she defended herself by throwing acid on his face. Fuck you, Ralon of Malven. I will cheer when Alanna or George or Jonathan or ANYONE annihilates you.
• You know, it’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Roger of Conté is back. The idea alone is so fucked up and complicated, so you can imagine just how bizarre it was to read that he rode alongside Jonathan during his procession through the Corus marketplace. God, this whole royal culture is just so strange! I would have already banned Roger from being in the same state as me, but what can he do?
• I don’t necessarily think of Tamora Pierce as a particularly brutal author, though I know that’s partially because this is only the fourth book of hers that I’ve ever read. I don’t know if she has a reputation for certain tropes like authors such as George R.R. Martin, or like Joss Whedon. Because of that, I really can’t anticipate what she’s going to do with her characters or where the story is going to go. So when Jonathan is attacked during his ride through the marketplace, I started worrying that he was going to die here. That’s something I felt throughout this whole chapter, and to Pierce’s credit, she’s created an atmosphere of total chaos with this book. Corus is falling apart, I can’t guess the ultimate motivations of the antagonists, Roger is back and I have no fucking clue what he’s going to do, I don’t know if Thom is going to play a part in anything beyond this, and I am so scared for the future.
• Fifteen dead and thirty-six hurt in the Great Market Riot. My god.
• “Soon Alanna would be home, and he could put his Lioness – and the Dominion Jewel – to work.” So, how have Jonathan’s opinions of Alanna changed? Does he still love her? Does he want a relationship with her? Or has he resolved that she’ll just be his best knight, one he can depend on to defend Tortall and help him rein in all the chaos around him?
• This also creates a unique situation for George. George loves Alanna, is unsure he can compete with the likes of Jonathan and Liam, but he cares deeply for Jonathan. When a man named Aled informs George of a plot to kill the prince and usurp the throne, it gives him a complicated choice: Does he betray his moral code as the Rogue, or does he save his friend?
• And then he learns from Thom that Thom is incredibly ill, that his body is burning hotter than any normal human should be able to withstand. Oh god, what the fuck is happening to Thom? Will contactin Si-cham help Thom at all?
• OH MY GOD, GEORGE TOLD JONATHAN, AND NOW JON, THE PROVOST, AND FUCKING ROGER ARE HIDING IN THE WALLS OF THE CASTLE TO SPY ON CLAW.
• Jon’s scribe betrayed him, as did his groom of chambers, and his maid. And a Palace Guard.
• OH GOD, HOW DOES CLAW KNOW THIS IS HAPPENING? HE GOT AWAY. OH GOD, there is no way Roger isn’t behind this. I don’t trust him at all.
• No, let Rispah be okay OH SHIT ERCOLE WAS STABBED FIVE TIMES.
• “They’re dead, Myles – Scholar, Red Nell, Orem, Shem, Lightfingers, the Peddler, and Zia the Hedgewitch; we was the only ones t’escape.” WHAT THE FUCK HAS THIS BOOK BECOME DID YOU JUST KILL OFF SEVEN CHARACTERS IN ONE SINGLE SENTENCE.
• Oh no, OH NO. They were betrayed SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE GEORGE TOLD THE PROVOST ABOUT CLAW’S PLAN. The tragic irony is too much for me, y’all. This is HEARTBREAKING.
• I CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS CHAPTER ANYMORE. I 100% give up, it’s done me over, and I am just in awe at how Tamora Pierce took this book, and just ejected it into the stratosphere of Awful Things Happening Over and Over Again. Here, she reveals the entire group of conspirators, and it’s just… WHAT THE FUCK.
• Seriously: Ralon, Delia, Princess Josiane, Alex, AND DUKE ROGER. oh my god OH MY GOD.
• ” ‘What do you want from this?’ Alex met his eyes for a long moment; then, smiling slightly, he bowed. He knew Roger would guess what he desired of any plan to take Jonathan from the throne.’ OH JESUS SWEET BABY CHRIST ALEX SCARES ME.
• “He raised a hand. Slowly blood-colored fire – the fire of magic – collected in his palm.” OH, YOU FUCKING LIAR, YOU CAN DO MAGIC. Oh my god, WHY DID HIS MAGIC CHANGE COLOR FROM ORANGE TO RED, AND WHY DOES THIS MAKE ALEX SMILE

H E L P M E What has this book become?

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

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