What will happen in Dead Country and the Craft Wars Trilogy?
We are DAYS away from the (US) release of Dead Country, the first Craft Sequence novel in six years and the start of the Craft Wars, a capstone trilogy for the current storyline.
Which means only one thing.
It’s time for WILD speculation.
This article outlines sixteen things I believe we will see in Dead Country and the Craft Wars trilogy; the first half is based in some kind of textual evidence, and the second half is just stuff I want to see.
You may have seen on Twitter that I received an ARC of Dead Country in January (thanks Tor!) but be assured that this article was drafted prior to reading the book, and contains no spoilers merely speculation. I have redrafted it since, but have not altered the substance.
So without further ado, what do I think will happen in Dead Country and the Craft Wars trilogy?
One. SPACE SPIDERS AS THE BIG BAD?
“Demons spin webs out there in the black. True demons, I mean, not the creatures Craftsmen summon—monsters who trap worlds in their nets. They visit us to eat, and the gods and Serpents stand against them. To us the Craftsmen, feeding on starlight, seem servants of those hungry mouths at the end of time.”
Let’s start with an easy ones. Our dear friends the skazzerai / space spiders will most definitely be making an appearance in the trilogy, likely as the ultimate Big Bad. You can read all the evidence for this in our previous article here.
Two. THE GRIMWALDS WILL DO…SOMETHING
I feel similarly confident that the shadowy Grimwalds will be key to the endgame, though quite what role they will play eludes me. They seem to be roundly on the side of our protagonists, particularly allied with Elayne Kevarian. Check out my previous Grimwaldian speculation here.
Three. SERPENTS AS CHEKHOV’S GUN
They have to use the serpents, right? You can’t put soul-eating continent-destroying giant snakes on the wall in act 1 and not have them reign fiery destruction in act 3. We hear that they fought the skazzerai last time the space spiders showed up, that they broke a continent in half the last time the Quechal used them in battle, and it feels like the kind of no-good-options-oh-my-god-what-will-we-do choice that characters in the Craft Sequence frequently have to make.
“I’d say it came through during a war between gods, a few thousand years ago. About right?”
Gods/serpents/thosebeyond/outspiders/skazzerai”
Four. DENOVO’S INLFUENCE AND / OR ALLIES WILL BE BACK
“[She is] a prominent contributor to the ‘Forum on the Will and Its Transformations’, the misguided knitting circle Alexander passed off as a journal.”
Dead Country is clearly a Tara-centric novel, and judging by our past Tara adventures, Alexander Denovo is likely to influence the plot from beyond the grave. At least, I hope it’s from beyond the grave. I really don’t want him to come back to life.
He was the Big Bad of Three Parts Dead, and his ally Madeline Ramp played the same role in that book’s direct sequel Four Roads Cross, where a significant subplot involved Ramp working to bring Denovo back from the dead. I’m not sure what his role will be but I’m pretty sure it’ll be important to the story as a whole, and Tara as a character.
Five. CHARACTERS WILL CONTINUE TO COME TOGETHER
From Full Fathom Five (in publication order) and Four Roads Cross (in chronological order) onwards, characters from different locations and plots have been appearing in each other’s storylines. We have Cat, Teo and Elayne showing up in Kavekana; Tara meeting the Dresediel Lex crowd; and Kai and Tara crossing paths in Alikand. It seems natural that this will continue in Dead Country and the Craft Wars, along with hopefully getting some new faces.
I’d like to see them all in the same place, tbh, but some that I’m desperate for:
Elayne and Caleb reunited. We last saw them when Caleb was 7, and there was a definite hint that Elayne would keep showing up in his life. I’d love for Elayne to show up as her badass Craftswoman self and Caleb greet her with a hug, to Tara’s shock.
Temoc and Gal as holy knight BFFs. Overpowered, black and white worldview, pretty literal paladins from different orders? I want to see Temoc and Gal meet up, bond and fight together, much to Raymet’s disgust.
Abelard and the King in Red crossing paths. I just think this one would be hilarious. Can you get two more opposite characters than Abelard and Kopil? I need it.
Raymet and Mina bonding over academia. So much of each of their backgrounds focuses on academia and some kind of history / anthropology. I want the two of them to nerd out together.
Six. FIXING WAR DAMAGE AND FINDING BALANCE
If I ever get round to writing my thematic article, this will be expanded upon, but for now this is all you get. It seems clear that one of the major themes and character arc resonances across the series is needing to find a new way in the world, fixing war damage and old wounds, and ultimately finding balance.
Whether that’s balance between gods and Craftsfolk (see: everything in Alt Coulumb), a way to balance the Craft itself and Applied Theology (see: Twin Serpents Group and Caleb’s ability to channel either magic), a balance in ways of life between old and new (…basically every book and character), I can only see this theme continuing into Dead Country and the Craft Wars trilogy.
Seven. ELAYNE SACRIFICING HERSELF
I’ve never been one for speculating on character endpoints, despite my many years as a lurker in fandoms. To be perfectly honest, I often don’t even notice the signs that more hardcore fans see clear as day. But, having spent far too much time reading and thinking about the Craft Sequence, my mind got ahead of itself and I’m making one of my biggest (aaaand probably wrong) predictions yet: I think Elayne’s story will end with her sacrificing herself for the greater good.
If I can find the time, I’ll write further on this idea but here are the headlines. In Last First Snow, where we got a huge amount of Elayne POV, she often ponders what her future will be. She shows little desire to go full skeleton and ascend to Deathless Queen status, appearing to look at Kopil with pity. In Three Parts Dead, when conversing with Denovo, she similarly shows no interest in the immortality that is the endgame for her Craftsfolk colleagues. She is still dealing with God Wars PTSD and has no taste for violence, making different choices this time around even when it means breaking longstanding friendships. I don’t see her living past the end of the Craft Wars trilogy, and it would be fitting for her to sacrifice herself for the greater good.
“When I was a young woman, I thought myself an actor, someone who moved the world. And I was. But the older I grow, the more I feel like everything I thought I willed, I willed because of forces beyond my control. The closer I stand to the centre of history’s river, the more I’m swept in the current. In my youth, I broke gods, and my power has grown since. But power is time’s tool, not mine.”
Now after that depressing prediction, let’s move into my utterly baseless suggestions of things I really want to see.
Eight. CALEB AS A DAD
As our main characters age up, I want to see at least one as a parent - and Caleb is the obvious choice. It works thematically, as so much of his story is related to parental trauma with Temoc, and it gives him the opportunity to make different choices than his father did. I also think it’ll be adorable (and I really want to see the King in Red interacting with a toddler).
Nine. TARA IN A RELATIONSHIP (WITH SHALE?)
Similarly, as we reach Tara’s third book it feels right to see her in a relationship of some sort. She has been so fiercely independent that I’d love to see her figure out the compromises of being with someone in a serious way. She’s mentioned flings in passing but nothing serious.
I’m generally not a fan of having romance as a major focus in fantasy fiction (largely because it’s often done poorly), but I really want to see it here. And for me, the obvious candidate is Shale. I mean, come on. Look at their arc in Four Roads Cross. Enemies to allies to friends - to lovers? He literally flies around the city with Tara on his back and will listen to her against all his instincts in Dresediel Lex. Tara threatens an ancient goddess on his behalf. And yeah, sure, she’d do that for a lot of people, BUT she did it for Shale.
I’m not much of a shipper, but I ship it. Tale? Shara? What are we going with here, fandom?
Ten. A RELIGIOUS OR CULTURAL FESTIVAL WILL FEATURE
Given the number of cultures and religions we’ve come across in the Craft Sequence, we haven’t seen much of their festivals and holy days. There’s a reference to the solstice in Three Parts Dead, and the climax of Two Serpents Rise and Mal’s betrayal happens with a major eclipse celebration in Dresediel Lex, but it’s rather less than you might expect. I’d quite like to see some more. Maybe a Seril holy day, or a new tradition around the Blue Lady?
Eleven. BELLADONNA ALBRECHT SHOWING UP
“Not that Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao was in the habit of killing people who stopped in without an appointment. Suggestions to that effect had been raised at board meetings, but Elayne was relatively sure Belladonna Albrecht meant them in jest.”
Each time Belladonna Albrecht is mentioned, she sounds equally hilarious and ominous - quite like Kopil, in fact. She appears to have been something of a mentor to Elayne, and given that mentorship will be a key plot point in Dead Country (with Tara mentoring a new character), it seems natural for Belladonna to finally show up on page. Part of me hopes she remains an off-screen reference as per the quote above, but I also want to see what the legend is like in person. I feel like she and Kopil would be an excellent pairing for a scene or two - imagine the smiting!
Twelve. MINA’S RETURN
We have sorely lacked Mina content since Last First Snow - and her POV only really comes in throughout the second half. She’s an absolute badass who can stand up to the toughest characters in the series, and will have been a huge influence on Caleb, one of our main characters, as he grew up. As mentioned above, I want to see her meet Raymet, I want her and Elayne to get coffee together, and I really want her to tell Temoc what-for.
Thirteen. VISITING THE DEMON WORLD
Demons play a key role in much of the Craft Sequence, whether as opponents in battle, janitors, or misunderstood artists. Yet, we see little of their world and culture in the main series. Akargath, the demon world, features heavily in Choice of the Deathless, one of the Craft Sequence games, but I’d love to see it show up in the main novels.
“The sky over the demon world is broken. Lightning licks the strange geometries of cloud. Around you rises the demon-city Akargath, warped crystal and flame, thorns and razor wire. And this is the nice part of town.”
Fourteen. CAMEOS
Speaking of Choice of the Deathless, I want to see more cameos! Both from the games and previous books - doesn’t need to be huge, but small moments of characters showing up like Ash Wakefield in Four Roads Cross and R’ok in Ruin of Angels would be amazing.
I mean, I want more R’ok generally. Emo artist demon? Here for it.
A non-exhaustive list of cameos I’d love to see if possible:
R’ok (obviously) - previously seen in Choice of the Deathless and Ruin of Angels
Zack the golem - previously seen in Last First Snow
David Cabot - previously seen in Three Parts Dead (where did he get to in Four Roads Cross, now I think of it?)
James Regulum, Deathless King - previusly seen in Three Parts Dead
Twilling, priest / salesman - previously seen in Full Fathom Five
Tan Batac, Teo’s father - previously seen in Last First Snow
Gabby Jones - previously seen in Four Roads Cross
Verity Chen - previously seen in City’s Thirst
Jess - previously seen in City’s Thirst
Any of Tara’s schoolfriends - referenced but not seen in Four Roads Cross
Izaak - previously seen in Ruin of Angels
Alana Mezatchul - previously seen in City’s Thirst, and a tiny bit in Two Serpents Rise. I mean, look at this quote! “She burns like a star in the vacuum. You saw her kill a god once, in the Wars, above a Dhisthran temple. Her hands and forearms still bear bloodstains of ghostly light.” Don’t you want to see her on-page??
Ok, I’ll stop there otherwise I’m just typing out ‘list of characters in the Craft Sequence’ in full.
Fifteen. NEW LOCATIONS
I really want to see some new locations! I love Dresediel Lex and Alt Coulumb as much as the next girl, but I adore discovering new places in the world of Craft. Alikand / Agdel Lex was a revelation in Ruin of Angels; Ajaia’s kingdom in Choice of the Deathless was amazing to briefly see. We have so many named places: Camlaan, the Shining Empire, Zur, Alt Selene, Schwarzwald, Iskar, Chartegnon, the Gleb, King Clock’s lands to name a few. With only three books left I’d love to explore somewhere new.
I’m particularly intrigued by Alt Selene, as it’s been so frequently referenced. What is this city of ‘death cults and warring spirits’, sieges and outbreaks, where many Craftsfolk seem to have property, from where Tara’s grandparents escaped in the Wars? Will we see it on-page, or only held up as a warning?
Sixteen. POP CULTURE
And finally, a fairly minor piece in the grand picture but one I love to see in modern secondary world fantasies: what’s the pop culture in this world? We’ve seen a bit of sport in Dresediel Lex, slam poetry in Kavekana, mentions of Camlaander plays and novels. Is there an equivalent of top 40 music? Broadway? The Kpop idol industry? Are there movies? What sports exist other than ullamal, which is distinctly Quechal - is there a football world cup? An Olympics? Eurovision??
There has to be Eurovision, surely? Invented post-calamitous-war to help build unity amongst former enemy nations, turned into a ridiculous camp spectacle? Kopil would have a front row seat every year.
And with that, I’ll bring this speculation post to an end. Do you think we’ll see any of the above? What would you like to see in Dead Country and the Craft Wars trilogy?
If you’ve read the book, please keep any thoughts spoiler-free! Most people haven’t had the chance to read it, and it doesn’t come out in the UK for over a month at least.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments, on Twitter or on r/CraftSequence. And don’t forget you can subscribe to be the first to hear about new articles and fun projects in the pipeline.
