New year, new books! Or trying to finish old ones. Or rereads. Or...

This year I'm going to to read more consistently. Despite reading 27 books, I didn't complete any books after August last year, which feels bad. Plenty of things I still want to read.

TBR:
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by KJ Parker
Unspoken Name by A K Larkwood
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron
Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey
Dune by Herbert

January (0)
1)

One of the best things about TSA is the foreshadowing. Whether intentional or not by Bakker, its these little moments, like those you highlighted, that make the entire series feel like it was fully developed prior to being written. There are discontinuities and/or reversals that prove this isn't the case, but at the very least many specific events past/future are linked together beautifully.

Saubon selling his soul to be king for a day is fantastic, especially because its so literal. He is hardly a sovereign King for more than a few days before becoming part of Kellhus' Empire, and he does end up damned (though this is a fate that basically everyone shares). Fantastic stuff like this is what makes the series worth reading and rereading, over and over.

I actually don't think I ever really thought about the Inchoroi bringing out old weapons race from previous planets and unleashing them on Earwa. So when Wutteat talked about traveling through the void I just assumed that meant they found him out there and let him tag along for some reason.

However with that now under consideration, it seems more likely he was created - just a much older creation than anything else they unleased on Earwa.

Why does the Wracu high rate of mutation rule out selective breeding?  Its a basic tool of managing traits and the high rate of mutation means you're going to have a bunch that don't function very well or can't live because they're messed up internally.  Sky high hatching mortality is likely and probably keeps their numbers low.   Wracu are long lived so its quite possible their have only been a few generations with which to direct their development.

This just isn't how selective breeding works. It takes thousands of generations to get any meaningful separation of species/traits. When dealing with something that has any kind of generation time measured in years, let alone decades, this is just not possible. It would take millions, 10s of millions, of years to get what you have with the wracu. Since they were created on Earwa, its just not possible.

Granted, there's a ton of nonsensical biology that goes on in Earwa. We can simply say that "alien biology works differently", and therefore literally anything is possible. I find this unsatisfying, but acceptable. Magical Inchoroi "technology" coupled with infinitely "alien" biology, and a case can be made for anything. But if we're assuming any kind of IRL biology, selective breeding isn't possible.

I've seen zero evidence that Skin Spies are more intelligent than Wracu.  Skin Spies are trained to mimic men and infiltrate, which is something Wracu obviously can't do but they certainly comprehend and use language.

I disagree completely, but we're reading the same stuff so there's nothing else to say for this one. IMO, complex social behaviors indicate an extraordinary level of intelligence, well beyond anything we see of the wracu - which are closer to bashrag/sranc though maybe a bit smarter.

Did they find Wutteat in space?  The lines given suggested to me that he had been created in the Ark while it was in space. 

Its vague, but the general consensus is Wutteat was found in space. I believe the books are more clear that Wutteat is the template that the Earwa inchoroi used to create the Wracu.

As for the No-God controlling the Wracu, the writings suggest to me willing submission not control.   The No-God does not shout through Wracu throats.   They behave like vassals, not puppets.

That's not how I remember it, but its been a long time.

Souls in Earwa aren't the product of pure intelligence, but they do seem to require a near human level of intelligence because souls clearly require a significant level of self awareness.

I agree with H here, intelligence and souls seem to be unrelated imo. If random animals can have souls, then its not an intelligence thing.

The Wracu seem to possess this, although that might not be true.  Unlike Skin Spies we are not privy to their thoughts.

We have few intereaction with Wracu, especially disregarding Wutteat, but imo they show very limited awareness of any kind. Something closer to a sranc than anything else.

The other Weapon Races are dominated by their instincts and seem to lack both self awareness and ability to process contradictions.

Being dominated by instincts doesn't preclude the existence of a soul, nor does it guarantee it. Again, random animals can have souls.
Skin-spies must be extremely self aware to do what they do. As for the rest, probably not, and I include Wracu in that.

Sranc aren't as senseless as you seem to think though. For example, they have language, culture, complex social structures. They also are used as Elju for Nonmen, which indicates a huge capacity for not just memory and recall, but also communication.

All this to say, Wracu very much fit into the standard Weapon Race role. They aren't exceptional, other than their physical variation. I see no significant reasons for why they should have special rules.

I'm pretty sure that if the Inchoroi could have created a great deal of skin-spy schoolmen, they would have. That they did not is proof that they cannot. The same goes for Wracu. They created the wracu to compete with the Nonmen Quya. If they were able to make more effective tools that could compete directly, meaning with the use of better and stronger magic, they would have. But again they didn't, which to me clearly means they cannot.

The Inchoroi themselves are a created ensouled race - or appear to be. But they were definitely not given the tools to make ensouled weapons-races themselves. The Inchoroi themselves know very little other than what the proginators gave them, and I doubt the proginators wanted their weapon-race to be creating a bunch of ensouled being and leaving them around the galaxy.

Regarding wracu breeding, its extremely unlikely the Inchoroi were using animal husbandry to create wracu. For one, they appear to be very divergent as individuals which is basically impossible with selective breeding (we don't have dogs that have 85 legs or that can breathe underwater). There are also simply not enough wracu for it to be possible for some kind of breeding system to have taken place. I also think they have a lifespan that is far to  great to make breeding in the few thousands years they've had on Earwa to be in the cards. Its really just not possible all around.

Empire's Ruin by Brian Staveley (25)

The newest installment in the Unhewn Throne universe, taking place some 5-10 years after the events of the previous book. New characters, new troubles, some great writing. Staveley does a good job at keeping the religion/philosophy on the back burner and not letting it get in the way of the series. Similar to his previous books, the story follows 3 separate groups which you can see imagine coming together at the end of the series in a conflagration.

Trying to think back to Emperor's Blades, I think Staveley's writing has improved. That said, I'm not entirely sure all the stories in his most recent book are as individually compelling as they were for Unhewn Throne. Time will tell though, and I look forward to Staveley's writing career.

Bloodline by Will Wight (26)
What can I say. Its the same books, more/less, every time. But its still fun. There is something entertaining about magical kung-fu. This book feels like Wight picked a new direction for the series. Maybe "new direction" is too extravagant, but there at least appears to be a new goal, a lot of storylines were wrapped up, the general narrative will likely tighten a bit in the future because of this, and it seems new foundations were laid for probably another 10 books.

The Red Knight by Miles Cameron (23)

This remains one of my favorite books. Cameron is a great character writer, which an interesting (if chaotic) world for those characters to exist in. Cameron really knows his historic fighting, which make his battles (both large scale and individual) very believable and fun to read. The story of this first book is very standard fantasy, but Cameron sticks to what he knows and it makes the book better for it. The dialogue usually makes up for the standard plot, and I'm very much hoping there is unseen complexity in the woldbuilding that will be revealed later on.

I highly recommend this book.

The Fell Sword by Miles Cameron (24)

This book felt like a transition novel. Its still very good, but if felt like a story was shoehorned around the necessity of bringing the main character to a particular point. It took a whole book to get there, and it was written well, but I can't decide if it was really necessary. Luckily Cameron is delightful to read and so I can't really complain too much about it. There's still enough going on that I want to see the plot continue, and I feel invested in the vast majority of the storylines and characters. I'll pick up book 3 later on this year.

But first, Staveley just released his most recent book, and I got Wight's most recent one on sale, so I'll switch gears a bit before coming back.