It was never given to Gale or Astarion, I kept it. Yes I have the gem, use option to place gem in book, open the book, use only the sorcerer dialogue options, 1st to attune to the magic, 2nd to use sorc powers to make the book reveal itself, 3rd to calm the book. After those 3 successes, book closes. Because I didn't choose to read it or turn any pages, I didn't learn speak with dead. But it still triggered dialogue with Gale, during the deer stew cut scene when he reveals he need artifacts, saying I already have an item, again only item right now is the book, but it isn't listed as an option to give. So a maybe a bug that either: it is useless when the sorcerer option to calm the book is used and the dialogue that I have something already shouldn't have happened or since I didn't read the book or got the spell, it should still be of use for Gale's condition and should be an option.
Ah, thanks for the clarification. It’s been a while since I did a sorceror playthrough so I couldn’t remember how their interaction with the book went. You’re right that it seems as though something needs tweaking here to make this hang together. Sounds like something it’s worth reporting to Larian as a bug in case it’s not already on their radar.
