Mark Reads ‘Wolf-Speaker’: Epilogue / ‘Emperor Mage’ Predictions / “Elder Brother”

In the epilogue of Wolf-Speaker, Daine says goodbye. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to finish Wolf-Speaker AND predict Emperor Mage.

Epilogue

Oh god, I really didn’t want this to end. The epilogue mostly exists for Daine and Numair to say goodbye. I’m holding out hope that we’ll see some of these characters in the next two books in some capacity, but as Numair says, good byes are sad things. Still, this was a nice chance to reflect on the journey, on how Maura grew to become the new human representative between the world of the animals, humans, and immortals. (Tkaa is an immortal, so it totally counts!) Oh god, she was once the ignored child of a treasonous noblewoman, and now SHE RUNS DUNLATH. There is no better person for the job, honestly, especially considering how loving and empathetic Maura is.

I was sad to see Flicker go, to know that Daine wouldn’t run with her pack for some time. After everything that happened, the entire pack finally accepted her as one of their own. Like the badger wanted, Daine was able to bring about a unity to the Long Lake valley that wasn’t there before. And I have hope that Maura will be able to keep everything this way, too!

Still, I just didn’t want this to end, y’all. No one is surprised that so far, this is my favorite Tamora Pierce book. I loved it fiercely. How is she going to top this? Oh god, don’t tell me. I admit that I’m eager to move forward because this series is so unlike Song of the Lioness. Virtually every plotline brought up in Wild Magic has been resolved, so imagine the second half of this quartet is going in a completely different direction. It’s almost like the first two books belong in their own series, you know? We found out why immortals were in our world, why Daine was so important to Tortall, and who was behind the terror in Wild Magic. Oh god, I genuinely don’t know where this is going to go! That’s terribly exciting. But I do want to just state definitively that I am so pleased that I finally listened to all of you who had been bugging me for ages to read anything from Tamora Pierce. It was totally worth it.

Here’s my video for the epilogue:

Okay, since we’re looking forwards, let’s deal with my Wolf-Speaker predictions, and then I’ll attempt to predict Emperor Mage!

• I feel like I have even less to go on than usual, but I’m going to make a good effort of this. Okay, let’s try an easy one: Daine will speak to a wolf. HAHAHA, I AM SILLY. 1/1
• Daine will meet someone else with wild magic! Technically, no, right? 1/2
• Daine will meet a new creature from the Divine Realms. HOW ABOUT HURROKS AND TKAA AND COLDFANG OH GOD 2/3
• She will also experience people being mean to her because she’s raising a dragon. Oh. Not really! 2/4
• Skysong will burn someone other than Daine. Nah, she’ll just woo doors to unlock. 2/5
• Daine will have to escape some place at some point, and she’ll do it using Skysong. (I wanted to say that she would ride Skysong, but I get the sense that this quartet isn’t going to move through like a decade of time in four books, so I don’t know if Skysong will actually be old enough for Daine to ride her like a horse.) Okay, I get no credit for the parenthetical statement, but… BUT. Technically, she had to escape from the Coldfang in chapter 10, and Kitten helped her? Bah, wait, Daine didn’t technically use her, so that doesn’t count. 2/6
• If and only if Daine rides Skysong, Cloud will get jealous. Shut up, you are so wrong. 2/7
• Wolves? Shut up, you are cheating. 2.0000001/8
• We will see Coram and Rispah at some point. (Where are they???) I DON’T KNOW WHERE HE IS. 2.0000001/9
• King Jonathan will appear in one chapter. Holy shit, I was really bad at this. 2.0000001/10
• We will find out who let the Immortals out of the Divine Realms. Finally, I got one right! 3/11
• And my big prediction for this book: Daine will find a way to enter the Divine Realms. Oh god. I’m stealing this for my next set of predictions. 3/12

Clearly, I was terrible at this, and I don’t have much faith I’ll be able to do better for Emperor Mage. Oh well. Here goes!

• Daine will find a way to enter the Divine Realms. Yes? Please?
• The Emperor Mage is Emperor Ozorne.
• That means most of this book will take place in Carthak!
• We will see Riskah in this book!
• Numair will travel with Daine.
• So will Alanna!
• Kitten will grow a lot, and she’ll learn to use her fire.
• I spaced out for 10 minutes while writing this and listening to Tegan and Sara because WHAT ELSE DO I HAVE TO GO ON?
• Oooh, Onua will be back in the narrative! YES! I miss her.
• Daine will become FIVE separate animals during Emperor Mage.
• I am so painfully unprepared that it’s not even funny anymore.

WELL. ONWARDS I GO. But before I do, I was commissioned to read the sequel short story “Elder Brother” that goes after this book AND OH MY GOD, I AM SO HAPPY I DID BECAUSE QIOM AND FADALA HELP ME. 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Mark Links Stuff

– I am going on tour in 2013! There are 27 tour dates spread across the eastern half of North America. Please help suggest venues, offer up a place to crash, and RSVP for dates near you!
– I have begun writing posts in advance to compensate for tour. All commissions are open, and I have listed all upcoming Mark Reads posts that are missing commissions.
- You can also commission me to read bad fic/fiction on ANY Mark Does Stuff Tour date. You can claim a specific date to have a live reading right here.