Ashlords

Though she only appears halfway into the novel, Quinn is vital to Pippa’s character arc. Explore Quinn’s character and her influence on Pippa. What are Quinn’s motivations? How does she get Pippa to rethink her own behaviors and attitudes toward the world?

Pippa and Imelda both experience the ups and downs of fame on the Empire’s form of social media, the Chats. Explore the role of social media in Ashlords. How do the riders manipulate their public personas to aid in their efforts in the Races? How do the Chats mimic real-world social media platforms?

From the Ashlord gods, to the shortened Dividian surnames, to the monikers of individual phoenix rebirths, names are powerful in the Ashlord Empire. Analyze the use of names in Ashlords. What do characters’ names and naming conventions convey about the world of the novel?

Imelda is known as “the Alchemist,” someone who can build something out of nothing. Explore this theme of “building something out of nothing” in the context of Imelda’s character arc. How does her growing social consciousness contribute to her act of rebellion? How does she come to better embody the title of “the Alchemist” through her actions in the Races and after?

Imelda, Adrian, and Pippa have all been raised with powerful but distinct family values. What role does family play in each of their story arcs? How do they embody, resist, and reshape the values they grew up with as they prepare for and participate in the Races?

Adrian’s father, Ben, plans to use Adrian as a mascot to set off a second rebellion against the Ashlord Empire. The Dread warns Adrian that he may be just a pawn to his father. Given the events of the Races, is the Dread correct? How does the Longhand rebellion take shape throughout the novel? What ultimately sets it off?

In many ways, Pippa is the paragon of Ashlord ideals. However, below the surface, she is quick to challenge and criticize Ashlord attitudes and traditions. Does Pippa’s emotional development throughout the novel suggest that she will indeed become “something new,” or does her position as a leader in the Ashlord military at the end of the novel suggest that she will go back to traditional Ashlord values?

The key difference between the Ashlords and the Longhands is that in the distant past, the Longhands rejected the influence of the gods of the underworld, while the Ashlords embraced the gods in their war against the Dividian. What role do the gods play in Ashlords? How do Pippa’s and Adrian’s interactions with the Madness and the Dread shape their participation in the Races, and, more broadly, their individual worldviews?