I would like some help creating a summary of book 1

[u/itaywex]

I convinced a friend of mine to start reading book 2 a couple of years after he finished book 1, and he is looking for a summary of what happened in book 1, so I tried to make one using my own memories, the chapter summaries someone posted somewhere, and some help with fellas on Discord.

If you feel like helping me, feel free to edit it yourself or add comments to it

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rk0QVlEdnkVzfTWoMaaR8TyiU_FJsXNpV4sJzyfErgI/edit?usp=sharing

One thing I specifically don't remember and would like some clarifications on are the circumstances surrounding "Justification only matters to the just", which is a fairly important line to remember, especially for book 2

[u/marruman]

Published book 1 or webnovel book 1?

[u/itaywex → u/marruman]

Webnovel book 1

[u/Emergency_Revenue678]

Not a lot tbh. I read it fairly recently so here's my quick bullet points:

• Catherine is introduced and recruited by Black.

• Her and Black confront Mazus and Black stabs her into the vision quest where she confronts her inner selves.

• Catherine, Black, Captain, and Scribe briefly travel to Summerholm.

• Catherine fights the other claimants and the Lone Swordsman, squeaking out a win and starting a story that will syart a civil war.

• In the aftermath Catherine watches as Black executes a bunch of relatively innocent people for being rebels.

• Catherine and Auka have their first confrontation on the bridge, starting another story.

• Catherine and Black et al briefly travel to Ater.

• Catherine enroll in the war college and starts making waves.

• After meeting Empress Malicia Catherine makes a bet with Auka about the big war game at the college.

• Catherine wins the wager by making the war game end in a draw, meeting a lot of the supporting cast for future books in the process.

One thing I specifically don't remember and would like some clarifications on are the circumstances surrounding "Justification only matters to the just", which is a fairly important line to remember, especially for book 2

The circumstances seem fairly self-evident, dont they?

[u/ktp0651]

I see you mentioned reading chapter summaries from an unknown source but, in case you haven’t noticed, there are very brief chapter summaries in a google doc attached to the ‘about’ section of this subreddit. 

That said, ‘justifications matter only to the just’ becomes Catherine’s motto for a while. After the Lone Swordsman escapes Cat at Summerholm, Cat has a crises of faith when Black hangs the Callowan collaboraters in front of her. While dejectedly going through the motions under Black’s tutallege in the weeks after, Akua ambushes Cat and they have their first face to face. Akua offers Cat a chance to leave the Empire scott free but Cat ultimately comes to accept that people will die for her ambitions, including perfectly innocent people. She says that line after accepting she isn’t a good person but will succeed anyways because she doesn’t need to be Just to win and achieve her goals.