It’s been noted before that the timeline is off in Peril’s Gate - the Spring Equinox sections do not occur in the midpoint of Spring like they should, but rather the dates mentioned place the occurrence between the transition between Late Winter and Early Spring.
I was wondering, would it be possible to get what chapter sets/subchapters are supposed to be first set in Late Winter, Early Spring, Spring, and Late Spring so I can correct the dates in my ebook copy?
Sorry for the trouble!
Welcome WirtsFam!
I believe you and I may have conversed about this issue by email under another handle in the past. Nothing new to report, but perhaps Janny will have more time to re-check the Late/Early modifiers once the Song of the Mysteries release furor has wound down.
Somewhere I have notes on this.
People have asked before. Paravian dating is NOT the same as we do here on Earth…I don’t have time to pause from painting deadline and full swing effort to make the launch of Song of the Mysteries all it must be, so there is a lot going on here! My notes in Peril’s Gate have a markup that the opening of sub-chapter Divide, Chapter XIV. Hunted, and sub-chapter Gone to Earth - ought to be Spring/not Early Spring as in the USA hardbound (my desk copy) so yes, there is an error there. The rest of the dating is OK.
Got that marked up.
However, I think there’s a bit more wrong with the timeline than just that.
On Athera, the Solstices and Equinoxes happen in the middle of their respective seasons, right? As in Grand Conspiracy, where it goes from Winter to the Solstice then back to Winter once the Solstice is done. Shouldn’t it be the same with the Spring Equinox as well, where the calendar should go from a month of Early Spring to a fortnight of Spring, then the Spring Equinox, then another fortnight of Spring before finishing with a month of Late Spring?
But yet in Peril’s Gate Chapter Set XI, we go Late Winter in the second subchapter straight to Spring Equinox Eve in the triplets of the same subchapter - and forgive me, but it doesn’t seem like a month and a half would have passed in that chapter set, so that suggests to me that the transition from Late Winter to Early Spring, and likewise from Early Spring to Spring, should have happened at points before Chapter Set XI’s triplets occur.
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but my mind just won’t stop fixating on this bit lol
I think I got it figured out now. Thank Ath for ebooks as it helped so much when I was searching the text of Peril’s Gate for any hints or clues related to the passage of time or phases of the moon to help with this.
Janny, please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that Early Spring should start in Chapter set V. main “Spinner of Darkness”, and Spring should start in Chapter Set 8, subchapter Observations.
In addition, regarding a line in Chapter Set 15, subchapter Gyre: “Across the world from the point where she rested, the blazing noon sun touched the zenith, conjoining the balance of opposition. The waxing half-moon notched the eastern horizon, dragging the sea’s tides, and the twining dance of the subtle energies of creation marked and measured each moving change of alignment.”
When taken into consideration with the following line from Chapter Set XVII “Second Recovery”: "Underfoot, now, the deep drifts of the Mathorns, shadow black and salt white beneath the thin gleam of a waning moon. "
I really think that instead of “waxing half-moon” the line from 15. ‘Gyre’ should read “waning half-moon” instead, for two reasons: 1) “Waxing half-moon” would imply that it’s been over a month since the full moon of the Spring Equinox, and it would imply that the span of text from the Equinox to the end of the book takes place over a period of a month and a half, instead of what seems the more reasonable (to me) timespan of only a fortnight, and 2) I’m working under the assumption that Athera’s moon follows an east-to-west path along the sky like Athera’s sun does, and if so then the waxing moon should be in the west of the sky at noon, whereas the waning moon should be in the east of the sky at noon.
Let me know if I’m wrong about anything in this post and please correct me if I am!
There are other dates in the headers that are off, but they are easily spotted, going forward from the ones mentioned. My desk copy is marked for future reference IN CASE we ever get a special edition.