Unanswered Questions/Resolutions?

[Rachy]

Are there any plot lines, unanswered questions or resolutions you would like to have answered for Emelan?

I think I’m now at the stage where I’m happy with how things ended.

[devilinthedetails]

Interesting topic, Rachy. I find the Emelan books to be quite self-contained series in the sense that each book seems to have its own conflict and resolution that can be enjoyed independently. That's why for me what keeps me reading from book to book in the Emelan universe is more the rich variety of settings we get and the characters more so than any lingering questions that might end up keeping me in suspense for years. Overall, I don't think that I have any real unanswered questions, but I would enjoy reading about Tris's experiences at Lightbridge (and seeing a more traditional academic environment than Discipline cottage would be cool) when that promised book comes out. For other members of the Circle, it would be nice to see Briar providing more training to Evvy (theirs was my favorite new teacher-student relationship in the Circle Opens books), Sandry teaching Pasco more magic and helping Duke Verdis rule Emelan, and finding out whether Dana establishes another relationship with a woman that doesn't have to end the way the one in Will of the Empress did would be neat. I guess I think there is room for Tammy to write more books in the Emelan universe about the Circle characters but I don't have any haunting unanswered questions about them. Basically, I'm satisfied with what we have in the Emelan books but wouldn't complain about more

[mistrali]

Given my disappointment with Battle Magic, I’m of the view that less is more when it comes to Emelan, and that much of what hasn’t yet been written about is best left to the imagination. There are quite a few wonderful fanfics about both Tris at Lightsbridge and the Circle post-Namorn, which has taken the edge off my appetite for new material. There’s something engaging about different people’s conceptions/headcanons of Lightsbridge.

I’d rather fill in the gaps myself.

I’d also love to see more of the Circle, but I don’t want Tammy to go the JKR route and publish all manner of prequels and companion books. The magic in the Emelan books is, for me, in its compactness, its domesticity, its sparkling vignettes of day-to-day life. Full-scale, all-out war doesn’t sit well with that.

Two quartets and a standalone are enough for me - I don’t think either Melting Stones or BM was necessary.

Not, of course, that we can’t contradict or neglect canon! But I’d rather not have any canon than have something that I disliked as much as BM. (If you enjoyed BM, though, more power to you!)

I’m happy with never finding out whether Sandry becomes Duchess, or how well Tris does at Lightsbridge, or how Daja settles down. That is, of course, what fanfiction is for

[Lisa]

Two quartets and a standalone are enough for me - I don’t think either Melting Stones or BM was necessary.

I'm definitely of this mentality, though I would actually remove the standalone (I wasn't a huge fan of WotE, personally, and I feel like the degree of brokenness of the circle wasn't quite well-managed or justified).

I wouldn't mind more in the world, but I would want them to be very separate with limited input from the characters we already know. Tammy mentioned writing about Pasco and ghosts, and that could be cool, just to see how his magic works in a little more detail. But I think I'd be just as happy without it.

(personally, the only ones I reread regularly are the original quartet, because they're so self-contained and perfect.)

[mistrali]

I think Shatterglass comes close to being as self-contained as CoM. The rest of the CO books are wider in scope (or they *feel* like they are, at least to me).

A big part of why Shatterglass is my favourite of the CO quartet is that we really don’t know whodunit until the end. There is a lot less page time devoted to the actual killers and much more to solving the mystery. This makes it feel closer to the time of the first four books.

Out of curiosity, what is it that you think could’ve been done better with WotE? What would you have done, if you could’ve written it?

For me, the only real sticking point is that they lived together for two years and never got along (and, I suppose, that they would’ve kept in touch by post, so their relationship should’ve been more amicable based on that alone). But then, I never have been the most critical of readers.

[devilinthedetails]

I agree that to me Will of the Empress, Battle Magic, and Melting Stones were probably the weakest entries in the Emelan universe. Of these, I did enjoy Will of the Empress the most. It was really the beginning of that book where the Circle hadn't just grown apart (which I could have believed even if it was sad since that is something that unfortunately happens when people mature and spend time away from their friends) but were quite hostile to each other for quite flimsy, illogical reasons that I found difficult to get through, but since I am a fan of court politics, I gobbled up much of the rest of the book. With Battle Magic, it felt like while the idea--exploring the trauma of war--was compelling, the execution was lacking possibly because to accomplish what Tammy wanted to achieve the book probably should have been an adult one but it had to retain elements of the childish so it ended up with a cartoonish villain and a plot that felt a bit like a connect-the-dots worksheet since so many of the major plot points had already been revealed. With Melting Stones, I didn't mind the lighter tone (even if Evvy was a bit more of a brat than I liked possibly because of the first person perspective that was kind of jarring to me especially at the beginning) but I felt the book could have been even shorter than it was because it seemed to take too long for these supposedly smart people to figure out that a volcano was causing the problems so the plot felt unbelievable and dragging at parts.

That's why I would say that to work well for me I think any additional Emelan books would hopefully have a Circle group that wasn't hostile to one another (perhaps expand more on them reforging their bond), a subject matter that was right for YA books (not to adult like Battle Magic or too childish like Melting Stones), a plot that is smart and doesn't drag, a story that delves into events that we don't know all the major details of, and sticks to the third person format that I believe is more Tammy's strength than the first person. Ultimately, though, I think that more stories in a world should always be motivated by a real feeling that there is more to explore in the place and the characters, so if Tammy doesn't feel that need to explore the place and the characters further, any future book would be lacking. Basically, Tammy has to feel their is an unanswered question or resolution in order to write another good Emelan story in my opinion. There has to be something that makes her think "Oh, there's a story there." Otherwise there isn't a story there.

[westernsunset]

I loved WotE SO MUCH when I was a kid and didn't like any of the Circle Opens books, but in revisiting the whole universe as an adult, I found that I loved the Circle Opens books so much and was a little disappointed with WotE. More because, like Lisa , the brokenness and coming back together felt a little haphazard. I think I understand why each of them severed relationships with the other and I mostly thought it made sense when they all rejoined their bond again but I wanted to explore those emotional relationships a little more.

Circle Opens though? W O W. I actually liked Cold Fire best, partly because the dedication to 9/11 first responders made me see the whole book differently and partly because 

SPOILER: Click to show

Spoiler
those serial killers who are really into being the hero are fascinating to me. Cold Fire was kind of the only one where the murders made intellectual sense to me, I so thought the murder in Shatterglass was going to be a priest! It made perfect sense! Knowing the city, getting more work to do?! Man, I was shocked when the murderer was finally revealed.

[devilinthedetails]

westernsunset, I did enjoy the Circle Opens books a lot for how much and how well they expanded the Emelan universe. In Cold Fire in particular I loved how we got such vivid details of the city in terms of its architecture and the skating mode of transportation. I felt like I got a great sense of many of the rich settings in terms of cities and countries that make up that world in the Circle Opens books, and I do appreciate that Tammy makes such an effort to portray different cultures not just the European medieval one that is often the default in fantasy materials. It gives the universe a fresh, exciting feeling that to me makes it great to explore. So that for me could be part of the appeal of future books in the Emelan universe if Tammy does write them: that I would have the chance to visit even more interesting, different places like the university at Lightsbridge. I also am just a fan of school stories especially fantasy school stories in general so that premise is innately appealing to me on that level.