Welcome back to the sixth day of our book club readalong for OwlCrate's August book, The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 21-24 of The Drowned Woods, 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! Don't forget, you can also post about the readalong on Instagram with the hashtag #OCTheDrownedWoods for another chance to win!
The story continues...
Chapter 21:
Everything had been orchestrated by Renfrew: from the soldiers back at the inn to the guards that descended on the house in Spicer’s Row. Renfrew is determined to stop the prince from starting more wars, and invading Annwvyn, and he is okay with the lives that will be lost if the ocean is no longer held at bay. A skirmish breaks out between Renfrew, Gryph, Ifanna and Mer, Mer trying to bury the jars of blasting powder in mud. Eventually Gryph has Ifanna at his mercy, and Renfrew calls on Fane, who all this time has not intervened, to help him. But instead, Fane reveals that before he swore to serve Fane, he was sworn to someone else, and he stepped into the Wellspring.
Two of the otherfolk approached Fane when he was working as an ironfetch in Annwvyn and presented him with a piece of iron brimming with magic - something that shouldn’t be possible. They tell him they need him to join the party searching for the place where there is a weapon made of this iron, and he must join them, and then return the weapon to them.
Chapter 22:
To their surprise what Fane takes from the Wellspring isn’t a weapon but an iron pot. Before anything else could be done the water rippled and woke up Ysgithyrwyn, the chief of boars. It immediately kills Gryph, and in the resulting struggle Renfrew grabs jars of the blasting powder and tries to run. Mer tells Fane and Ifanna to run, that she’ll catch up, and after they flee she uses her magic to trap Renfrew in place, knowing that the boar will kill him. She runs after the others, but just as she catches up there is a massive explosion. Renfrew managed to set off the blasting powder before the boar could kill him, and Mer can sense the Wellspring has been destroyed. The ocean immediately starts gathering power, and Mer predicts they have maybe 12 hours before it floods Caer Wyddno. They need to warn the people.
Chapter 23:
They reach Caer Wyddno two hours later, and Mer sends Ifanna to save her people and notify as many as she can about what is coming. Mer and Fane head to the castell in search of the prince. Mer thinks they may reach him without delay - until an alarm is sounded.
Ifanna tells her mothers to notify everyone in Caer Wyddno - they are to leave no one behind. Not one single life.
Questions:
- What do you think Mer wants to discuss/do to the prince? Do you think she will be successful?
- Why do you think Fane agreed to go with her?
- What do you think the significance of the iron pot is?
- Do you think Ifanna will be successful in saving the city?
- Any predictions for the last section of the book?
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