| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Alaundo |
Posted - 28 Feb 2006 : 20:02:20
Well met
This is a Book Club thread for Vanity's Brood (Book 3 of House of Serpents), by Lisa Smedman. Please discuss Chapters 8 - 10 herein: |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 09 Aug 2007 : 23:49:12
quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
I feel like a complete moron for not picking up on the "dog headed" being a minion of Set. Part of me was thinking "why is there a hound archon in the story, and why is he acting the way he is."
Don't feel like an idiot. I didn't catch the meaning of the dog-person myself, although I didn't think it was a hound archon. My reaction was more "wtf" than anything else, and I thought that scene was, in the end, rather out of place and not developed.
quote:
Arvin is fine, but it feels like there are a few too many people that instead of being angry with his dangerous, narrowly focused, deceptive plans, and not trusting him nor liking him afterwards, a lot of characters just say, "oh well, I understand why he did it, and deep down he is a good guy," and they bend over backwards to work with him.
At any rate, I still am really enjoying the book, and I do genuinely like Arvin as a character, I just wish some of the supporting cast weren't as forgiving.
While I didn't react to Arvin the way you have, I can totally sympathize with your feelings, because I've often felt the same way about other characters in other books (such as Phyrea...although I didn't even like her as a character). |
| KnightErrantJR |
Posted - 09 Aug 2007 : 16:40:46
This section of the book has some really good points for someone with my brain (thankfully I know of only one of us, though my children show distressing signs of picking up some of my habits).
I really like that we finally got to see Set and his deception working through Sseth's dream. Set has always been one of my favorite "villains," and I always feel a certain gratification when one of those things the mere mortals normally have no chance of knowing gets revealed in a logical fashion in novels. Plus I like it when something from the sourcebooks is "confirmed" by being mentioned in the novels.
Karrell's trick with the wounding spell is a nice trick to convince the Marilith that the fate link is still in place, but its a dangerous game. I also liked the logic of feeding the souls to Dendar so that Sseth would have a way to speak with his followers (although I'm not sure I like the idea that everyone in Faerun should be having more vivid nightmares at this point in time). Its a clever trick to do an "end run" around Set.
I feel like a complete moron for not picking up on the "dog headed" being a minion of Set. Part of me was thinking "why is there a hound archon in the story, and why is he acting the way he is."
Really good pacing so far. Definitely an interesting read, and I'm really looking forward to finishing up the story to see how this resolves.
That having been said, I'm still having a bit of an issue with how Arvin's actions affect him. I'm not having a problem with how he acts. I like the idea that, as I mentioned in the earlier threads, that Arvin tries to do the right thing, but not always the heroic thing. I understand that he doesn't automatically trust even the "good guys" because of his upbringing. All of that makes him a much more interesting character, and he has a certain traction and depth because of these traits.
However, every once in a while too much falls into place for him. While I like Pakal and didn't want him to die, the fact that Arvin put him in danger and didn't go out of his way to help him so that he could recover the circled serpent himself should have had concequences. However, Pakal survies, and the couatl not only shows up in time to heal the dwarf (and alleviate Arvin's concience), but it more or less condone's Arvin's plan.
Arvin is fine, but it feels like there are a few too many people that instead of being angry with his dangerous, narrowly focused, deceptive plans, and not trusting him nor liking him afterwards, a lot of characters just say, "oh well, I understand why he did it, and deep down he is a good guy," and they bend over backwards to work with him.
At any rate, I still am really enjoying the book, and I do genuinely like Arvin as a character, I just wish some of the supporting cast weren't as forgiving. |
| darkcrow |
Posted - 14 Mar 2006 : 03:12:39
This is crazy. Talk about so close but so far away. He had both halves then he didn't. Just like that. Tymora must favor Arvin cause he's had alot of close calls. The snake in the tree grabing him when escaping the ruined pyrimad, Dmetrio shows up just in the nick of time unknowingly saving Arvin's life by killing that dog man thing. And thats the second time this mysterious dog man had made an apperance in this book. At the end of chapter 10, Arvin has a dream about one of Sseth's rival God's in it that resembles that dog man. So I assume this dog man must be a follower of Set trying steal the only key that can unlock Sseth's prison. I still have no clue as to what Zelia has up her sleeve. Now that Arvin knows where the door is, it's going to be intresting what unfolds when he gets there. |
| Beezy |
Posted - 10 Mar 2006 : 06:11:24
I powered through the second half of the book and never posted so i am going to have to go back and browse the chapters before posting my thoughts. I don't want to get ahead of the selected chapters, I should get around to it after work tomorrow. |
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