The third novel in the “Seed of Glory Sown in Sorrow” saga stands completed. A five-year journey has reached its end, and that end is spectacular.
I’m very proud of this installment. With the plot of a spy thriller, the vistas of a travelogue, the action of an Arabian-Nights-meets-Cold-War swashbuckler, and a climax as frenetically involved and emotionally wrenching as anything Sanderson has ever written, Loose the Sealed Tongue takes its place as a unique and crucial volume in the tale of Hugh Conrad and Ilina Lightkeeper’s struggle to reconquer Arlam.
Here’s the story so far:
- Book 1, A Sea Sought in Song — 116,559 words (~389 pages)
- Book 2, Wrath and Crimson Rime — 101,753 words (~339 pages)
- Book 3, Loose the Sealed Tongue — 121,434 words (~405 pages)
The fourth novel—Bind the Tree of Time—will be the last. As of this moment, the epic saga is 3/4 finished with a running total of 339,746 words, or approximately 1,132 pages.
The outline I made on September 13th—103 days ago—encompassed six chapters: the bulk of the novel’s second half (aside from the entr’acte Cadenza and the ending Epilogue, which I’d already written). I largely adhered to this structure, although I ended up eliding/combining some scenes and adding additional ones as the need arose. It’s interesting to review the analytics:
- Chapter 11 — 9 scenes outlined — 11,141 actual words
- Chapter 12 — 11 scenes outlined — 8,940 actual words
- Chapter 13 — 8 scenes outlined — 3,520 actual words
- Chapter 14 — 10 scenes outlined — 3,571 actual words
- Chapter 15 — 26 scenes outlined — 7,105 actual words
- Chapter 16 — 5 scenes outlined — 1,405 actual words
The final installment will take a while to arrive. In the meantime, I’ll be doing everything in my power to get the dang series published, God willing.
I can’t wait for you to sink your teeth into this thing.
Arlam Online 