darkness descending questions

[Fiji]

This seems as good a place as any to ask.

I picked up darkness descending from a bargain bin (or rather a bargain fest ... as in 80000 titles at bargain prices, but anyway ...)

some stuff is not explained (probably cause it's been explained in previous books)

so, here goes:
- what has everyone got against the Kaunians?
- is there any purpose to the Algarve-Unkerlant war ... I'm 200 page deep and so far it just seems like a slugfest to determine the top dog
- is there anything north of the equator?
- how are sticks charged ... it's hinted somewhere that you need individual charges for it, and that (human?) sacrifice has something to do with making those charges (is there something like a fixed exchange rate ... like 1 human = 50 charges)
- Ley line caravan = really slow maglev train?
- is human sacrifice needed for ALL kinds of magic
- is this just my impression or does everyone really have the same religion

well, that's what you get for jumping into the middle of a series ... which reminds me, is Darkness Descending the final book?

thanks in advance

 

[Dave Howery]

Sorry, but you have only the second in a series of 6 books. This series deliberately parallels WW2 but in a magical fantasy world.
Anyway, to answer your questions...
the Kaunians are the counterparts of the jews. Several peoples hate them because they used to have an empire that ruled over them. Also, they are clannish and speak their own language, so that just makes everyone suspicious.
The Algarve/Unkerlant war is the counterpart of the eastern front. As in OTL, there's no reason for it other than Hitler/Mezentio's hatred of everyone else.
There's a big tropical continent (Sialia? something like that) and some islands get mentioned briefly, but it isn't really discussed.
Sticks=rifles, and just like you have to get a factory to make bullets and get them up to the front lines, you have to get magic up to the front lines to recharge sticks. Not everyone in the world can do magic. However, apparently, a lot of people can use human sacrifice to power magic items.
Ley lines are taken from mythology of our world; basically, they are lines of magical energy that arise naturally from the world. The caravans in the book simply make use of them to magically move freight cars.. yeah, basically they are trains, but you can't put them just anywhere, like a real railroad. You can only put them where a ley line runs.
No, human sacrifice is not needed for all kinds of magic. In fact, most of the world considers it to be repugnant. Mages simply channel magical energy through themselves by will. The rules of magic are kind of vague. While it seems that only mages can do most kinds of magic, several non-mages in the book do spells that are taught to them, but they can't seem to do much of anything else.
Most of the world seems to believe in 'Powers Above' and 'Powers Below'. Gyongyos has some kind of star worship (big time astrologers, apparently), while the Ice People believe in unnamed gods who have a strong influence over their land.

 

[Fiji]

second of 6?!?!?

wow, and I still have half a metre of books to work through ... note to self ... buy fewer books!