Welcome back to the final day our book club read-along for OwlCrate's October book, Jade Fire Gold!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 45-End of Jade Fire Gold, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.
Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box! The winner will be randomly selected on Friday, December 10th!
The story concludes...
Chapter 45:
A messenger drops of a note from Linxi for Altan. Pagoda. Lake. Grandmother. Deciding not to wait for Tang Wei, Altan heads to the palace to find a way to break inside. He easily scales the palace wall and knocks the guards unconscious, donning one of their uniforms. He finds the pagoda, and on it the symbol of the Diyeh, which he uses to produce a secret passage underground. He believes he has found Ahn’s grandmother.
Chapter 46:
Ahn wakes gagged and bound in a room with the empress. She removes Ahn’s gag and tells her she wants to make a deal. She wants Ahn to kill her father and marry Tai Shun, to protect him on the throne. She also reveals that there is no dark sword or light sword, they are one in the same, but Yuan Long corrupted the sword with his magic, and the only way to fix both the sword and the cursed land is to cleanse it with his blood, or his bloodline, of which Altan is the only one left. She also knows that Altan is currently in the palace. If they come to an agreement the empress will give Ahn the antidote to the poison now running in her veins that will eventually kill her.
Chapter 47:
Altan awakes in a cell to the sounds of sand hitting the floor.
Chapter 48:
In her chambers Ahn feels the effect of the poison wearing off, but still cannot feel her magic. One of her father’s henchman disguised as a lady-in-waiting comes to bring her to her father, taking her to an open field where a young man is suspended, bloodied, from the wall.
Chapter 49:
Tai Shun releases Altan from his cell, and the torture of the sand. He claims to have known nothing of what his mother was planning. He also reveals that Zhao Yang is the leader of the priests, and Altan puts together that Ahn knew this and stopped him from killing her father at the camp. Can he trust her now?
Chapter 50:
The girl throws Ahn down in front of her father. He tells her he caught Leiye and knows he is a traitor. He demands to know what they have been planning together and when she won’t reveal anything he tortures Leiye with his magic. Ahn begs him to stop, revealing that she came back to rescue her grandmother, but leaves out Altan and Tang Wei. She attempts to attack her father with her returning magic, but it sputters out in the last moment when she has a memory of them happy together. He tells her it’s time to raise the army of the dead, and when she says she never will, they bring out her grandmother on her knees.
Chapter 51:
When Altan and Tai Shun find Ahn’s chambers empty Tai Shun insists Altan take him “hostage” and take him to his mother. Their ruse doesn’t hold out long and Tai Shun ends up telling her he knows everything, from the past and present. He tells her he wants Altan to take the throne, as is his right, and she needs to tell them everything she has planned. She does so, revealing she was the one who planted evidence that incriminated Leiye. Altan tells Tai Shun to get Linxi while he goes to the northern wall to Leiye.
Chapter 52:
Ahn stands atop the wall before her father’s army. It’s time to raise the army of the dead - but before she can do so the Lotus Sect cause mayhem. Her father holds her hostage, saying he knows know that she will never raise that army. Standing atop the wall, it is a far drop on the opposite side. One of Altan’s arrows hits her father and they tumble, Ahn managing to grab the sword from her father’s hand. Miraculously, she lands back stop the wall as her father falls.
Ahn realizes it has to be her that is sacrificed to cleanse the land and the sword. The blood of another Life Stealer. Altan insists is should be him but Ahn reminds him that her magic cannot hurt him. She points the sword at the sky and then there is darkness.
Chapter 53:
Altan catches Ahn as she falls after plunging the dark sword into her chest. He holds her as the life drains out of her and watches the dark sword turn light.
Chapter 54:
Ahn finds herself in a strange place with the Phoenix. It asks her what she wants, and she says she wants everyone she cares about to be safe.
Chapter 55:
Leiye tells Altan that Ahn would want them to finish this. Using their magic together they wrap the remaining priests in ropes of wind and fire while the Lotus Sect deal the death blows. When it is done, Altan once again picks up Ahn and hears the faintest of heartbeats.
Chapter 56:
It’s one month later and the palace is preparing for Altan’s coronation with the support of Tai Shun. Nandah has retreated for now and Altan has opened diplomatic channels with other nations. The trapped souls from the Dragon Triangle have been freed and the desert is slowly retreating to it’s original state.
Altan finds Tai Shun and they walk together before being accosted by Leiye, Linxi and Tang Wei. They remind him it’s the Winter Solstice. He sprints to find Ahn telling her they should celebrate her birthday. Her wounds are healing, but there is something darker on the inside that needs healing too. She tells him that she’s leaving the next to for Cuihai Port to see Li Guo, and from there she will travel to Xinzhu to see if anyone there knows of her mother. Altan tells her he loves her. She tells him she knows.
Chapter 57:
Altan asks Ahn if she thinks there will ever be an “us” and she agrees that there probably will be. She kisses him.
Epilogue:
A girl wrapped in furs receives a note from a messenger saying to return to the palace immediately and together they will return to Beishou. It is time to take back what is rightfully hers, remembering the boy she once loved, her brother now the emperor.
Questions:
- As it stands this book is a standalone - would you like to read more of this world?
- What part of the book was your favorite?
- Would you like to be a Tiensai or part of the Lotus Sect?
- And of course did you enjoy the book?
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