I thought the same thing, Barry.

*nods* Good. It was kind of a grisly thing to picture, but even so, there it was...kind of a COINCIDENCE that Jack should run across a six-appendaged man at two different points in his life, no?

*nods* Good. It was kind of a grisly thing to picture, but even so, there it was...kind of a COINCIDENCE that Jack should run across a six-appendaged man at two different points in his life, no?

[SIZE="3"]This is what I love most about my readers...they can count.[/SIZE]

1,2,5...Three Sir....Three

BLOODLINE AND BY THE SWORD SPOILERS AHEAD!

Before I forget to mention it, and I apologize if someone else already brought this up, but think for a moment on the image of a man with, er, his arms...cut off at the elbows and then sewn under his armpits. Kind of makes it like he has four arms and two legs, right?

...kind of like the Kicker Man symbol, no?

There are no coincidences.

First off, if anyone is looking for a copy of Revelations ed. by Winter, try Paperbackswap.com -- if you sign up, please give me referral credit using my email address joelfinkle at hotmail, and y'know dotcom. I just ordered one, and there's at least another copy there. Signing up means you have to somehow be willing to give up (or at least list) ten books of your own in exchange for those of other people's, and gets you two free starter credits.

I'm also surprised in the [SIZE="5"]SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER [/SIZE]department that nobody's mentioned Quaker as related to Kicker/Q'kr, and Jack overhearing something about a "Compendium". It almost seems that there's too much back story here, Jack's going to need some reason to forget this stuff. The Lodge uses a seven-sided symbol, but the pyramid had six (plus one on the bottom). Six is the number of limbs on the Kicker Man, and as well as faces on the cube. If the cube had unfolded more like
. X
.XXXX
. X
I might have thought it to be the side of the big G... but it's prety clear it isn't.

I certainly hope that Our Host here finds a reason to bring Weezy into Jack's current adventures, otherwise I fear he'll find a way to have very bad things happen to her.

I certainly hope that Our Host here finds a reason to bring Weezy into Jack's current adventures, otherwise I fear he'll find a way to have very bad things happen to her.

[SIZE="3"]I seem to have developed a rep for that, haven't I.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="3"]I seem to have developed a rep for that, haven't I.[/SIZE]

It's one of your better reps, Paul.

Last night I finished SECRET HISTORIES, and I enjoyed it! It's awesome story. Everyday, I was reading 7 or 8 pages per day(yeah, I'm slow reader). But last night I read last 22 pages at one sitting. I couldn't put it down.

All charcters were great, especially, Weezy. She reminded me of my childhood friend.

Now I understood why Jack knew about Walter Erskin in "Bloodline".

My favorite scenes were the pistachios and bucket. Clearly Jack had talents for fixes. And, trapped a suit guy and trooper.

There was one thing that bothered me. It's about Jack's Dad's metal box. Seemed Jack've never seen that box in "Gateways". But he had seen the box in this "Secret History". He even tried to open the lid. He forgot that box in "Gateways"? Or is it a different box?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to "Secret Vengeance"....oh, of course before that, I'm looking forward to "BY THE SWORD".

THANK YOU FPW

From me too. I absolutely LOVED it! Harry who?

This is a wonderful book, I love it's connections and foreshadowing of events and characters to come. I am lending it to my 13 year old son next. He has never read any FPW so I will let you know what an RJ virgin thinks of it as a pure YA novel.

I am intrigued to know how a YA who knows nothing about RJ (and doesn't get the nostalgia buzz) will receive the book.

Any feedback yet, Dave? I'm also very curious what a new to RJ, actual YA reader thinks of it.

I assume the trapper is one of those in Pelts (pa?), after all he is on Foster's land and the lady tells us one day he will trap something he shouldn't.

Has to be, doesn't it? I had just finished rereading The Barrens and Others, including "Pelts" while waiting for By the Sword and Secret Histories to arrive, so it was fresh in my mind when I read that scene. Made me smile.

Any feedback yet, Dave? I'm also very curious what a new to RJ, actual YA reader thinks of it.

My 14 year old son has finished the book, it took him a while but he is not normally a prolific reader. He enjoyed it, especially the end where Jack sees the klazen.

He definitely wants to read the next one

Best thing is it has got him reading more, he has read 2 Darren Shan Demonata books since finishing SH.