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What’s New in The Warren Brood, Second Edition?

The second edition of The Warren Brood trilogy is coming, and soon! While I’ve talked a bit about why I’ve taken the time to revise and release a second edition of this strange, ill-advised series, I haven’t been very specific about the content of these updates. And that’s because there’s a hell of a lot to talk about if I’m going to go into exhaustive detail about everything that’s changed between now and when the series was first released five years ago. Luckily for us both, I will not be going into exhaustive detail. Instead, I’ve compiled a high-level overview of what’s changed in the overall series, as well as within each book of the trilogy.

Warning: While I’ve tried to be vague where possible, the below list of changes contains some spoilers. Read at your own risk.

General

  • New covers!
  • The epigraphs have been updated; Thaddeus Coolidge’s dense, uninviting prose has been replaced with Isaiah Thorne’s relatively accessible remarks on magic and the Primal Ones
  • Many, many general improvements to flow and readability
  • Improvements to ebook layout, including optimized CSS, custom typefaces for chapter headings, and more
  • Some language has been updated, making it more appropriate for 2022
  • Certain cultural references have been updated or outright removed
  • Astute readers may now notice a few nods to Into Vermilion hidden here and there

The Spider Children

  • Word count reduced from 150,744 to 138,746
  • Chapter 1 is now a prologue, and is significantly shorter
  • Spinneretta now starts the story at 17 years of age instead of 16
  • Piedman’s POV has been removed from Chapter 5, replaced with more Kara
  • Some minor scenes have been abridged or removed entirely to improve flow
  • Several of Arthr’s scenes have been rewritten from Spinneretta’s POV
  • Amanda’s investigation plotline, which previously began in Helixweaver, now begins in The Spider Children, with several new scenes supporting it
  • Some of the longer chapters have been split. This is most obvious in the climactic chapters, nearly all of which have been split into two
  • The timing of some events have been slightly adjusted for sanity and flow
  • Spinneretta now figures out the Golmont Corporation’s involvement on her own
  • The details of the backstory about Will have changed a bit, moving the emphasis to the coverup instead of the guilt Spinneretta feels

Helixweaver

  • Word count reduced from 175,730 to 155,560
  • Kyle’s segment from The Spider Children‘s first chapter has been moved to Helixweaver as a prologue
  • Zigmhen has been renamed to “Zigmahen”, to make its pronunciation more intuitive
  • Some aesthetic details of Zigmahen have been tweaked
  • It is now more clear that the sky in Zigmahen has awakened something dark within Spinneretta’s mind
  • Most scenes using Ralph or May’s POV have been removed or summarized
  • In accordance with the change to Spinneretta’s age, she now turns 18 instead of 17 during Helixweaver
  • Marauder POV scenes have been removed or summarized (with the notable exception being when the Websworn are introduced)
  • As in the first book, some minor scenes have been abridged or removed entirely to improve flow
  • The “Dead Spider” interludes, which previous were only found in Tatters of the King, now begin partway through Helixweaver and include several new scenes
  • Several climactic scenes involving Nemo and the Cheshire Man have been cut to make the final chapters more focused
  • May and Spinneretta now independently discover that the Warren children do not share any of Ralph’s blood

Tatters of the King

  • Word count reduced from 250,000 to 194,931
  • The beginning has been significantly shortened, and many of the events of the first chapter are now mentioned in passing after the time skip
  • The number of interludes has been reduced, as many of them have been moved to Helixweaver
  • Many scenes with Annika and Arthr have been reduced significantly in length
  • The Yellow Dawn is now called the Black Dawn, to emphasize their removal from all things Yellow
  • The Wayfarer bus driver is less pointlessly cruel
  • The sexual undertones of Nemo’s interest in Amanda have been toned down
  • Spinneretta and Kara’s nature hike has been greatly reduced in length, as has Spinneretta and Arthr’s traversal of Zigmahen
  • The Carnival Sword chapter has been reworked, making The Great Garridan actually important to the plot
  • Annika et al‘s escape from Ur’thenoth has been streamlined, and now contains less filler. “The Pit”, for example, has been entirely removed
  • Generally speaking, the Fatewoven plotline is less intentionally obscure. Several things that were previous only hinted at are now explicitly stated, making the climactic plot threads more accessible
  • The climactic plot twist has been completely reworked, and now includes a brand-new chapter from Nayor’s point of view. This should help clarify several previously confusing plot threads
  • More foreshadowing of said plot twist has been added
  • There is now an additional chapter near the end between Mark and Spinneretta, in which they digest the events of the final act
  • Added a scene in the final chapter that should leave Spinneretta and Arthr’s relationship on a more satisfying note

And this concludes the high-level change log! Between these updates and all the tiny, hard to define tweaks that have built up over the years, I consider the second edition to be the definitive version of the Warren Brood trilogy. If you’d like to get your hands on the new version, set a reminder for April 3rd!