GHOST IN THE HUNT question & answer time
There were some good questions and comments on GHOST IN THE HUNT, so I decided to round them all up here. (My answers are marked off with “JM sez”.) Note that this post will have !!!SPOILERS!!! for GHOST IN THE HUNT.
Margie asks:
So what really happened to Kylon and his wife? Are they still alive? The comments near the end about the stormdancer that threw the huntress into the sea seems to say so . . .
Will New Kyre be woven back into future stories?
Will we ever find out what’s actually happening with the Pahdishah?
JM sez:
The beginning of what happened to Kylon in New Kyre was hinted at in the short story GHOST SWORD. We’ll find out exactly what happened between the Red Huntress and New Kyre in the next book, GHOST IN THE RAZOR. That said, Cassander Nilas was telling the truth when he described how he had hired the Huntress to kill the archons who favored allying with the Empire against the Umbarian Order. GHOST IN THE RAZOR will reveal what exactly when down when Kalgri went to New Kyre.
Currently, there are only four people in Istarinmul who know exactly what happened to the Padishah. Grand Master Callatas is one of them.
Cassandra asks:
Every time Laertes or Nasser commented on her ‘male’ gender or about how she should get a woman, I about laughed by ass off! The Ghosts series is my favorite series I have read so far. I am really curious if Caina will ever find another person she will love like she did Corvalis. Cheesy I know, but I still wonder.
JM sez:
That’s one of my favorite running jokes in GHOST EXILE so far. Laertes has a lot of daughters to marry off, and Ciaran the master thief seems like a competent, solid fellow. A bit too grim and wrapped up in his own head, but obviously not the sort to sleep around and carry on with loose women in taverns. Of course, Ciaran is a wanted man, but if Callatas finishes the Apotheosis they’re going to die anyway, and if they defeat Callatas, Laertes will still need to find husbands for his daughters.
As for romance, well…future books are coming. Caina might intellectually think solitude is probably the best choice for her, but her heart and body disagree with her intellect on that matter.
Ashley asks:
I noticed mention of Murvain and Ark towards the end of the book. Will we see either of them in a future book? I also wonder what it would be like for Nernia and Claudia to meet, it seems to me like it would be a very amusing conversation to say the least.
JM sez:
Ark and Muravin are still alive, and working with the Ghosts in Malarae to keep the agents of the Umbarians (like the Silent Hunters and others) out of the Imperial capital. They’ll both turn up in future books, but not for a while yet.
Nerina Strake and Claudia would be hilarious together. Naturally, they will have to meet at some point (likely under conditions of crisis), but I haven’t decided when yet.
Annie asks:
I was amused when I read that the Voice made Kalgri’s new body into a mix of Caina and Claudia…But I was wondering what gave you the idea for Kalgri’s new body to be a combination of those two ladies?
JM sez:
A two-part answer. First, it amused the Voice, because the nagataaru very much enjoy trolling. (If you’ve ever read CS Lewis’s PERELANDRA, the scene where the possessed Weston pulls the wings off alien birds just for the lulz is essentially the mindset of a nagataaru.) So since Kalgri had been defeated by Caina and Claudia, it amused the Voice to rebuild her face in an amalgamation of Caina’s and Claudia’s features.
Second, Kalgri herself had something to do with it. Neither Kalgri nor the Voice are entirely in the driver’s seat, and Kalgri influences the Voice and vice-versa. Kalgri was focused on Caina and Claudia before she fell off the side of Silent Ash Temple’s mountain, so she subconsciously influenced how the Voice rebuilt her.
-JM