I'm reading the series again for J FeatherWing's reading race, and I thought it would be fun to read the series all in the first edition this time, since I have those now. Well, I just finished book one, and noticed a rather significant difference between this edition and the new one! In chapter 51, A Letter from Home, Podo tells Leeli that the whistleharp belonged to her great-great-great-aunt Madia rather than her great-grandmother Madia, and that Madia was the Queen Sister of Anniera, rather than the Queen. He then goes on to say that whenever a third child is born, that child learns to sing and play music, and that legends says there's power to protect Anniera in the music of a Queen Sister who knows the right songs. I've always wondered why there was power in the music of a queen who knew the right songs, since the Queens would have been taught art, not music, and Leeli wasn't a queen. Apparently Andrew didn't come up with the term "Song Maiden" until later!
If you have read both editions, what other differences have you noticed?
Two more differences I've noticed:
In chapter 9 of The Monster in the Hollows, in the first edition, Rudric says to Nia "You fled Anniera nine years ago. It was at least nine years before that since you set foot in our land." But in the new edition he says, "You fled Anniera nine years ago. It was years before that since you set foot in our land." If you didn't catch it, the difference was the difference was the number of years since she'd been in the Hollows BEFORE Gnag conquered Anniera. I do think the new edition makes more sense, personally, because I would assume they wouldn't wait years to have children, and Janner was only 3 when Anniera fell.
In chapter 43 of The Warden and the Wolf King, Artham takes an ermentine from a pair of ridgerunners and uses it to get information from them. In the first edition, the ridgerunners are Zouzab and Mobrik, but in the new edition the ridgerunners are Zouzab and Bizzik. The new edition also makes more sense to me here because I think it's likely this would be the same ridgerunner Zouzab had been working with previously, and Mobrik was busy at the Fork! Factory! while Zouzab was working his treachery.