I got the pages back this weekend and didn’t want to say anything until I’d addressed all the edits, but then I saw they were pretty manageable and I couldn’t wait to get them to you all!
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I’m caught up, so I can go ahead and start!
Also, that opening line is rough and probably very confusing to anyone who doesn’t have the pre-order 
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Update: I decided to just read it all and OH MY GOODNESS. I can’t wait for others to catch up so we can talk about the whirlwind that is Part 4B 
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And please note the number of the next chapter. It’s technically in part 4 but given its significance I thought it would be a great opening to the last chapters. 
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Nice touch there.
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Oh man, it was so good but also @Remus was right it’s a whirlwind. Also Ben 
but also Ben:cold_sweat:
.
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My guesses:
1: [spoiler]That one towards the beginning of the new pages describing Ben’s state.[/spoiler]
2: [spoiler]The “ending.” It was like the end of the TMP video, only instead of 
it was more 
/
.[/spoiler]
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Ding Ding Ding!
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Oh, and tinfoil (that is probably just that):
[spoiler]The end is like that because our good friend the caretaker went and tore the rest of it out when he was ripping at the briars.[/spoiler]
Or at least that’s how my brain has decided to justify it beyond [spoiler]“oh, it’s like the video!”[/spoiler]
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Well, look at you.
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Great work, as always. Here’s more thoughts that no one asked for. (seriously if these get annoying CJ, let me know and I’ll stop. I just figure talking out loud might be interesting for you to see someone else’s thoughts)
1 - I was super caught off guard and really intrigued with the circumstances of Alistair’s name. I won’t delve too deeply more into that for super spoiler protection.
It did lead to the obvious question in my mind of “Well what is her name then?” I now think back to how Bolden (whom we know knew WAY more than she let on) kept calling her ‘Alis’ and Alistair didn’t seem to like it. I’m half obsessed with the idea I have a guess at f her name and half afraid of it because then the ‘through the looking glass’ reference Ben literally makes would be so on the nose. But hey, we’ve had an anthropomorphic rabbit and his obsession with a pocket watch as canon for 4 years so we can’t say it’s not foreshadowed if it turns out that way.
2 - Ghostly women. The image in my head of Marjory as ghost visibly attached to Borden as seen through the mirror (I admit I had trouble visualizing this part so I may have read it wrong) really struck me as reminiscent of the ghostly woman we heard about way back in the Secret Society days attached to the lighthouse keeper. Took me a bit to dig it up, but sound familiar? From 4.5. The Search for Magiq: All Ascender Notes
I guess we’ve met Marjory before…or at least Knatz has.
3 - I actually think Zev’s betrayal just became b-tier to the Caretaker. I realize we know nothing about him other than a few paragraphs at the beginning, but I thought someone living in a kinda magical world wouldn’t have been such a complete jerk. I was like “Yay, they found her and are taking her somewhere safe.” Yeah no. And what was with him murdering all the forest animals? How can she keep finding new, even more, horrible people than the last? It’s a gift.
Everyone except maybe Alistair’s aunt/uncle and Ben have horribly betrayed her, and long plotted behind her back. At this point I’m not discounting the concept even they will. I don’t know where this is going but I hope she eventually gets a break.
4 - By the way my own internal joke when Ed said that “What the Mountaineers know could fill a thimble” is to think of it like Pirates of the Caribbean. When everyone kept telling Captain Jack he was the worst pirate they ever heard of his response was “But you have heard of me.”
Sure, the Silver doesn’t think we know anything…but they have heard of us. 
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Oh I forgot one.
5 - Ben and magic. Alistair tells him if he had actually killed Frank then he couldn’t have done magic. Ben counters that wasn’t him so it’s debatable if he did it or Valorie just used him as a puppet to do it.
But it’s really kinda sketchy once the details came out. Ben admits he wanted to kill Frank. He used the power of storytelling (aka magic) to weave a story to convince Frank to want to kill himself, and then actually held the knife while it happened. He doesn’t even know if he helped move it or not. He thinks he killed Frank. He’s totally contributed a majority to the forces behind his death. He held the weapon. And even if he didn’t ‘do’ magic, he’s the tentpole holding up one of the greatest magic stories in the magicverse… Magic clearly isn’t shunning him.
We’ve always handwaved away the ‘if you kill then no magic for you’ as a general feel good rule. This seems way too close to a loophole to me. I don’t at all fault what he did. I applaud it totally and understand why. But it felt ‘odd’ to me.
I’m done now. Promise 
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Your #2!
[spoiler]When she said she put “one eyed witch” in the box, there was definitely an “Ooh! That one!” reaction.[/spoiler]
I was so distracted by my tinfoil that I forgot. 
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[spoiler]
My thinking is… Would Ben have ultimately gone through with it? His inclusion in the Book of Briars, his ability to perform magic on the bridge, and his languishing torment over that night that lead to his isolation and “retirement” (he acted on behalf of the magimystic in a way, in lieu of an actual barring from magic) all lean in the direction of maybe not? At least in my opinion, which is a funny thing to say as an author, but I love leaving big picture things open for interpretation. It’s what I do. 
The violence and rage that Ben grew up with is in him, but so is compassion and sympathy, and I don’t know if Ben would have gone through with it.
My vote: Frank cut first. 
But who knows, maybe I’m wrong.
[/spoiler]
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Oh, and yeah. Marjory was leading the Silver during the Monarch’s Manor arc. It was Marjory controlling the faux Collector in the lighthouse. Knatz saw her in the mirror.
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Only just got the book can’t wait to find out what happens
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Great idea! Done!
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So I would just like it to be on record somewhere:
At the start of chapter 25 I had to put the book down for a second just to process what the heck had just happened in chapter 24. (Marjory and the Silver and Alistair and ahhhhhhhhhhhhh SO GOOD AHHHHHHHH!!! Seriously, I think this book took me the longest to complete so far just because of the amount of times I needed to put it down just to PROCESS.)
It was in that small break that I noticed that at some point near the end of chapter 24, Feed the Machine by Poor Mans Poison was playing on my spotify. And it just fit so well with what was going on in the book and this is my offical headcanoned theme song for the silver now, and will be playing in my head any time they show up, thank you.
“Nothing’s going on, no need to fear.
And we’re all in this together,
And just to make it all clear;
We want the same thing as you
This will all be over soon.
Now here’s a little pill
Now here’s the truth…”
Also have I mentioned how much I love the villains in this series yet because I LOVE the villains.
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