BenOfTomorrow

I would guess it's to maintain a better weight-calorie ratio. Grain-free dog food should be more calorically dense, so it's easier for him to carry a longer lasting food supply.

If it's fake, the OP has done an admirable job of duplicating Ebert's writing style.

IMO it's not because he doesn't plan backstories, but because he rushed to finish the series. If he'd kept with the ~5 year release cycle he'd been doing through the early books, his process would have worked out fine, I think.

I interned with the WebSphere team over a decade ago - nice to see things haven't changed.