[John II]

Wow, that was an amazing ride. I know a lot of people don't like the philosophizing in this book, but I loved it. It made me think about what was going on, and although boring at times, it made the ending better.
And what an ending! That was truly spectacular. I've always been a Rake fan, and this just made it even better. He killed the fucking LORD OF DEATH! Not only that, he then got killed himself, and went on to confront his mother for walking out on him. Most people would balk at that, but it's just all in a days work for good ol' 'Mander.
Still not sure why Shadowthrone let the Hounds loose in Darujhistan, let alone why Cotillion allowed him. It seemed to achieve nothing except senseless slaughter, and while Shadowthrone might have been okay with that I would have thought Cotillion would have objected. It doesn't bother me too much, because the Hounds are fucking OP.
Hounds of Light - these confuse me. But in a badass way, so it's okay. Why are there ten of them? There are seven Hounds of Shadow, and seven Deragoth. Damn Liosan have to do things differently!
Also on the subject of Hounds - Tulas Shorn implies that there are Hounds of Fire, Ice, Life, Death, etc. Is this true? I want to meet them! The Hounds of Chains would be pretty cool too.
The Tiste Andii believe that Mother Dark was the first creature. However, this is just what they think. Could it be possible that the Tiste Liosan believe that Father Light was the first creature? And if Mother Dark was the first creature, and she created Father Light and the Tiste, where did the Elient, K'Chain Che'Malle, Jaghut, Imass, or Thel Akai come from?
How old are the members of Nimander's group? They seem to act fairly young, but Rake is ridiculously old (over 300 000 years, because that's how old Onos T'oolan was in GotM, and the Son of Darkness has to be older than that). Therefore, was Nimander born recently, or do the Tiste Andii simply mature incredibly slowly?
This saemenkelyk is pretty powerful stuff. How is it that no other gods have tried using something similar? Surely the Crippled God would love to use it?

Finally, Stonewielder. When should I read it? I want to read Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God consecutively, so will I be spoiled by reading SW before both of them? Or is it better to wait after reading TCG?

[Aptorian]

Some things happen or are hinted at in Stonewielder that might be sorta spoilerish but nothing big as far as I remember.

As far as I recall The Hounds were unleashed in agreement with either Rake, Hood or both. Remember the prologue and St and Cots meeting with Dassem. That outcome was planned.

Most likely the hounds were there to run interference with other ascendants and power players who would want to interfer. Maybe the hounds massacring people may also have helped Hood manifest though I don't think it's implied.

The Kharkanas books will explain a lot of things about the Elder Times.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 26 April 2019 - 06:14 AM

[worry]

Apt is right, but more specifically (IIRC) the Hounds of Shadow are there to scare off anyone who wants to take Dragnipur.