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Alaundo
Head Moderator
United Kingdom
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Oct 2006 : 01:31:53
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The Naga trial was a pretty interesting scene. It was kind of fun to read about Naga society and to get to see some glimpses of Naga language. I'm wondering what else is going to come about because of this. It sounds like there was a bit of risk in naming Ivar a potential "teacher."
All of the love scenes between Ivar and Phyrea seem to come out of nowhere, and have a very strange quality to them. Not really romantic, not erotic, just kind of . . . creepy, though not as creepy as Willem's spineless worship of Phyrea. Its strange that Ivar only really reacts in a more "human" manner to Phyrea, but he isn't the type to actually elaborate his emotions, so we really have yet to get a handle on why she affects him.
Marek Rymut continues to be my favorite character to read about, if only to follow the plots and plans that he goes through. I was surprised to see Phyrea hand the sword over to him. It was nice to see Insythrillix as well, as I like the nasty old black dragon, if only as an interesting "henchmen" (though I'm sure he would be upset at the appelation).
I'm still trying to figure our how the black firedrakes can shift to human form? Is this somethign that Marek has done to them?
I was surprised that Ran Ai Yu came back into the picture. In the last book I kind of thought she showed up, gave Ivar back his confidence, and leaves. Its interesting to have an ongoing "Shou" perspective on this story. Although I am still trying to figure out if she is really attracted to Ivar or if she is just facinated with him in general.
I wonder how a Cormyrean presense will affect this political wrangling, and if the emissary will stay over the course of the next part of the book.
The story is still definately holding my interest, but Ivar's "warrior savant" thing is kind of bothering me. He just seems too good at combat for someone obsessed with engineering.
I still have a feeling that Rymut is playing the "new" Ransar at this point, and his revolving door may not be finished quite yet, especially with the whole worker uprising issue hanging out there.
Oh, yes . . . a elven flamberge that creates undead? I would love to hear the story behind this sword, but I get the feeling that this story isn't going to be told in the middle of all of this wrangling. |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jan 2007 : 23:00:16
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quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
All of the love scenes between Ivar and Phyrea seem to come out of nowhere, and have a very strange quality to them. Not really romantic, not erotic, just kind of . . . creepy, though not as creepy as Willem's spineless worship of Phyrea. Its strange that Ivar only really reacts in a more "human" manner to Phyrea, but he isn't the type to actually elaborate his emotions, so we really have yet to get a handle on why she affects him.
Or even why he affects her so much. Really, the first book makes it clear that she sees him from a distance and is suddenly infatuated with him, and he doesn't talk much, so it can't be his personality that she enjoys. And if all she wanted was someone who was a rough construction worker...well, being the daughter of the master builder, I'm sure she's had plenty of options over the years.
So in short, I don't find this relationship, if it can even be called that, to be effectively written at all.
quote:
Marek Rymut continues to be my favorite character to read about, if only to follow the plots and plans that he goes through.
I like him too, as a character. I like his witty dialogue, as well as the genuine friendship he seems to share with another villain, the black dragon.
quote:
I was surprised that Ran Ai Yu came back into the picture. In the last book I kind of thought she showed up, gave Ivar back his confidence, and leaves. Its interesting to have an ongoing "Shou" perspective on this story. Although I am still trying to figure out if she is really attracted to Ivar or if she is just facinated with him in general.
I like Miss Ran myself, and I think Athans does a good job of showing how she has to deal with a language barrier without making her dialogue impossible to read.
quote:
The story is still definately holding my interest, but Ivar's "warrior savant" thing is kind of bothering me. He just seems too good at combat for someone obsessed with engineering.
Yes, and I've said this before. When did this guy have time to learn how to fight? |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jan 2007 : 23:17:45
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Just finished part 1, and I'm now moving on to part 2. The final chapter about Osorkan's death was exceedingly strange. First of all, was there any particular reason to make the ransar's three remaining advisors so incredibly stupid? Geez, by the way they were written, Athans should have topped off the scene with them trailing puddles of drool and saying "Duhr!" every other sentence. It makes no sense to me for the leader of a city to ever have advisors that he knows to be so ineffective, and if the only supporters you can scrouge up are people who are mentally incapacitated, your political career is probably in ruins by that point. It's also not explained why the ransar is suddenly so unpopular in such a short amount of time that only these three dolts like him.
To add insult to injury, I noticed that Athans actually gets these three idiots confused with each other--not once, but twice. Thensumkon (sp?) gets his head chopped clean off, but a page or so later Osorkon is thinking about the color of his skull...even though it was Kolviss who had his scalp melted down. Soon, only Tlaet is left alive...but he somehow disappears and is replaced by the "newly arisen" Kolviss, who rises up to be killed once again, this time with an axe through the skull.
As the ransar dies, he of course thinks about Ivar Devorast and his final wish is for Ivar to build the canal and fulfill his dream. Gee, the rather distant Osorkon suddenly has an almost fatherly concern for Ivar, only confirming my belief that our dear protagonist is an author's darling.
And lastly, while I get that Salatis is a follower of Talos and therefore wouldn't be overly subtle, weren't his methods of assassination rather heavy-handed? I mean, if you are going to personally kill the ruler of a city and destroy his palace a bit, won't that make it easier for your act to be discovered? Really, Athans can be a mixed bag: on one hands he comes up with neat and different ideas, on the other hand I sometimes just plain don't get his design decisions. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
Edited by - Rinonalyrna Fathomlin on 10 Jan 2007 23:18:30 |
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Starchaserva
Acolyte
10 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jul 2008 : 22:04:14
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| Come to think of it, as I'm reading this book, I'm noticing far more spelling screw-ups than normal for books like these. So I can easily accept little incongruence like the ones you mentioned |
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Lies of Light: Chapters 12 - 23
