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lunasarielNot much has happened this week, with one exception. Whenever a new semester starts, I always panic, afraid that all my professors demand that we start reading that very day, and buy all my book in advance. All of them (as an English major, it's not unknown for one class to require ten, or even fifteen books per semester). Nine out of ten professors seem to revise the reading list within the first few weeks, so I kick myself for jumping the gun as I stand in line to return some books and buy others. But then, of course, there's always that one professor who *does* make you start reading on Day One, and it's always their books that are backordered and/or not ordered at all to find. My Irish Lit 1800-Present class is like that. I added the class late, so I already had to scramble and catch up. But the book (well, play) we're reading right now has been IMPOSSIBLE to find. The bookstore said that they only had it on special order, which should take 5-7 days, so I ordered it. A week and a half later, nothing. They said that the publisher is backordered, and they should be getting a new shipment in any day now...on the 10th, a week ago. After waiting a few days, for fear that I would get the email alert only moments after plunking down $20 or so for it online (which has happened before), I finally broke down and ordered it off of Amazon. But it's coming from Minnesota or something, and Monday is a holiday, so there's absolutely no guarantee that it's going to arrive for our quiz on it, which is next Thursday. Of course, we started acting it out yesterday, which had me terrified, because, of course, I got picked to play the female lead. If there are two things I hate, it's public performance and being unprepared, and this was both in the extreme. I managed to borrow a copy from the guy sitting next to me, but as this was the first time I'd read it, I was stumbling through my lines (and I had a lot of lines) anyway.
Another reason this was kinda scary, though, is the professor. He's one of a dying breed that one doesn't see outside of old TV shows much anymore. He wears suspenders, a porkpie hat, and a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches, complains about "those kids in the tents in front of the library," addresses everyone formally (I don't think anybody has ever called me "Ms. La Follette" outside of businesses like Safeway where the employees have to use your name as part of the customer service program), and is very much of the "teach through fear" school of thought, where he will let the class know if he thinks we're being stupid, and isn't afraid to let uncomfortable silences linger while he waits for someone to answer a question. Despite all this, though, I'm actually enjoying it. I'd rather be pushed a little beyond my limits in papers, not in class, since I definitely express myself better in writing, but I appreciate that he actually expects something of us.
Today M and I continued our habit, which is quickly becoming a tradition, of meeting up after discussion classes let out on Friday, getting lunch, and watching a movie. Today's lunch was from Dojiko Dog, an Asian hot dog stand that's been setting up just outside of campus for the past week or so, and is on both of our ways home. I was introduced to Japanese mayo, which, it turns out, is really good! The same goes for seaweed on hot dogs, a concept I was originally unsure of.
The movie was Inglorious Basterds. It was my first time seeing it since theaters, and M's first time ever. It was WEIRD seeing Michael Fassbender playing
In other news, I finally finished the Dragaera anthology! It contains the first three books in the series (Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla), and I don't think I've really talked about any of them, apart from my initial confused flailing. The first one, retrospectively, was my favorite. The characters were engaging enough to make up for the initial confusion, and there was a lot of swashbuckling, derring-do, snappy dialogue, cool magic, and intricate plots, all of which I love. Also, once the villain of the piece showed his face, he was *fun*. I love me a smart villain who makes the heroes really work for their win, and while Mellar isn't on, say, Lien's level, or Moriarty's (two other fandoms I'm active in ATM), his plot kept things hopping. Actually, and I don't know whether this was a purposeful choice on Brust's part, but his whole convoluted, multi-generational, multi-House, multi-discipline-of-magic scheme made for a really, really good introduction to the world. It involved a lot of different Houses, so the reader could get familiar with their different politics, traits, customs, and areas of expertise, although I'm not sure I'll ever be able to keep them all straight. It involved Dragaeran/Easterner race/class warfare, so the reader started to get a handle on Vlad's particular motivations and challenges ([possible?] reincarnation notwithstanding). It involved sorcery, witchcraft, and necromancy, even chaos magic, in both controlled and combat situations, so we got to see how magic works here, how it's viewed by this group or that, and what it's practical and theoretic applications are. It even involved different historical eras, so we could at least start to suss out Dragaera's history. But I especially loved the way everything tied together in the end: not only was it my favorite kind of ending, where a bunch of seemingly disparate elements come together to form a complex whole that couldn't exist without each little component in the exact right place, but it gave everybody a chance to show off their particular talents and personalities. Even Cawti got to do something (more on her in a bit)! So, yeah, if the rest of the series is like this, I'll be happy.
Yendi, the second book was, basically, one big flashback, given that Jhereg is chronologically immediately followed by Teckla, but followed in the anthology by Yendi. This one wasn't quite as good as it's precursor/follower, but still enjoyable. I really liked the addition of Norathar; I hope we get to see more of her later. I especially hope that we get to see her in a position of authority, even as Empress, because I have a feeling she'd make an...interesting commander in anything that didn't involve killing people (outright). We also got to see more of Team Dragon (Morrolan, Aliera, and Sethra), which was another good thing. All three are loads of fun, and manage, through their various
Which brings me to the one big thing I didn't like about Yendi, and which continued into Teckla, the Cawti Problem. I get the feeling that she was written as a Strong Woman and Good Role Model For Girls (she proposes to him! She leaves him, and doesn't come back begging!), but this quickly devolved into something of an informed attribute. In Jhereg, the only times she ever does anything besides keep house for Vlad was when she assisted him in a spell (which I'm pretty sure Noish-pa could have done just as well) and took out one guy in the final fight (which literally any of the dozen trained killers that Vlad has at his beck and call could have done). In Yendi, she and Norathar are talked up as these terrifying, unbeatable assassins, with their own badass nicknames and everything, but were duped into taking the contract on Vlad's life in the first place, and failed to make it permanent anyway. After that, as the plot shifts to focus on Norathar (who sounds pretty interesting), the issue of the Dragon Heir, and Vlad's turf war, and Cawti's importance is basically reduced to "Vlad's girlfriend/fiancé." In Yendi, I liked that they actually kind of addressed this, when her motivation for joining the Easterner revolutionist movement was that she was bored having nothing to do except for Vlad's make-work, and wanted something to be able to dedicate her life to the way Vlad had to his business. When I thought about this, I realized that it was actually pretty unfair of Vlad to just expect her to sit around and stare at the walls until he got home from work every day, so this decision of hers went a long way to redeeming her in my eyes. I still wouldn't exactly call her my favorite character, but now at least she has something approaching a purpose in the story.
Aside from that, Teckla definitely had a very different tone than the other two books. Jhereg and Yendi were, basically, adventure stories of a James Bond or Nightrunner flavor. Plenty of skullduggery, plenty of action, but a fairly consistent light-hearted tone and happy ending. Teckla, however, was much more about introspection, the darkness within the human soul, love vs. duty, etc. A lot of heavy stuff. I don't think this makes it a worse book, per se, but I definitely had less fun with it than the others. Don't get me wrong, though; a series can't survive on swashbuckling fluff alone. A little navel-gazing is absolutely necessary to give the antics some depth and weight, otherwise I would find it difficult to care about the characters, since nothing seriously bad ever happens to them, anyway. I just hope that this doesn't represent a permanent tonal shift, because a series that's all doom and gloom is just as bad as a series that's all shiny fluff, maybe even worse, if not handled right. And Brust's talent does seem to lie in the snappy, fast-paced stuff, which is A-OK with me! XD
Just a few notes on the series that didn't fit in anywhere else:
- Given Kiera's prominent introduction, and *actual* importance to the finale of Jhereg, I thought she would be playing a bigger role. I hope she comes back in future books; she's actually probably my favorite female character (although Aliera, in all her smug, scary-powerful, I'm-a-tiny-little-girl-with-a-sword-bigger-than-I-am-and-I-know-how-to-use-it-so-don't-laugh-at-me-dammit! glory gives her a run for her money).
- Another one of my favorite characters is Noish-pa, who is also awesome and also needs a more prominent role. Despite from his abilities to poke you full of holes and do various unspecified but presumably nasty things to you with magic, he really is just a, kind, wise, little old man who uses the hidden compartment in his cane, not for a hidden rapier or vials of poison or something, but for pear brandy. Of course, as the eminently knowledgeable Lu-Tze says, "Do not act incautiously when confronting little bald wrinkly smiling men!" and at the end of Teckla, it was really cool to see that Vlad's badassitude was, in fact, inherited, but I still like that he's a basically non-violent person. Oh, and he has a cat, and is therefore to be trusted. In fact, I think he'd get along really well with a lot of Discworld characters, especially the older ones like Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Lu-Tze.
- I also liked the funny little cultural differences that started to arise, such as Vlad not knowing the origin of the term "buried" as a euphemism for "outlived" (what *are* Dragaeran funeral rites, anyway?) and clapping instead of knocking on a door. In fact, one of my favorite scenes in Teckla was the look of absolute, "why would you even *do* that?!" confusion on his face when he first saw someone knocking. I mean, think about it: if you didn't know what knocking was, wouldn't you be a little confused the first time you saw someone banging on a door with their fist in order to gain entry?
- I've tried to stay out of fandom as much as possible to avoid spoilers, but I ran across the theory that Kragar (another one of my favorites) is really the über-assassin Mario, which I actually kinda buy. Vlad has said, time and again, it takes an actual act of will, and not an inconsiderable one at that, to notice Kragar if he doesn't draw attention to himself. This makes me think that Kragar's lack of noticeability isn't just a funny character quirk, as I thought in the beginning, but a magical ability of some sort. I don't know whether this will prove to be true (or if we'll ever even be able to meet Mario), but it would be cool if it was.
As I mentioned last time, I've squirreled away quite a supply of memes, but essay prompts are coming out, so the deluge might be somewhat slowed for the next week or two. For now, though, here are the first 25 of a 100-question general life meme that I picked up somewhere (Tumblr, perhaps?).
1: Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
Usually closed, but these days open. When I was little and shared a room with my brother, I actually used to have a recurring nightmare about Medusa from Clash of the Titans (a movie I used to watch a lot as a kid) (and I mean the old, stop-motion Ray Harryhausen one, not the new stupid CGI one) hiding in my closet. By the time I had my own room, I had a cat, and she loved to nest, for lack of a better word, in my closet, so I had to keep the door closed then, too. But now that I’m at college, I’ve found it a lot less hassle to just leave it open. I usually get up a lot earlier than The Roomie, and our closet doors are old and not all that well-mounted, so opening one to get my clothes out in the morning runs a good chance of waking her up. I’m usually a creature of habit, though, so without the impetus to change, I would probably still sleep with it shut, only because it’s what I’ve always done.
2: Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?
Nope. I mean, I’ll use them if they’re there and I don’t have my own shampoo, but I don’t take them with me or anything. I guess I just like the way mine smells better.
3: Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?
In, if I understand the question correctly. I tend to move around a lot in my sleep, or while falling asleep, so sleeping in loose sheets is a recipe for mummy-like disaster.
4: Have you ever stolen a street sign before?
Nope. I’m boringly law-abiding, and I’ve never seen one that I wanted that badly. By the time the possibility occurred to me, I’d already realized that I’d never be tall enough to reach one without a truly embarrassing degree of help.
5: Do you like to use post-it notes?
Yes, but only in weirdly specific capacities. They’re great for writing notes (to others; I use my iBrain to leave notes for myself) and as bookmarks (textbooks and books with appendices/indexes only), but not otherwise. I like that they were invented more or less by accident, though, which always struck me as kinda funny.
6: Do you cut out coupons but then never use them?
Not really. The only place I see coupons anymore is the bi-weekly (I think?) CampusCred email that gets sent out to all Cal students, and even those are to places that I wouldn’t go to anyway.
7: Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees?
Bear, because bears are actually relatively gentle, and provided that I wasn’t messing with its cub or trying to hurt it, it probably wouldn’t bother me.
8: Do you have freckles?
Sort of. I used to have a pretty good crop, and they do show up more in summer, but since I’ve gone through puberty and spent more time inside (unrelated incidents), they seem to have faded from my face. Oddly enough, I do have fairly freckly arms, though.
9: Do you always smile for pictures?
Ugh, I hate smiling for pictures! It looks fake, and it feels fake. I know that some people don’t like having pictures taken of them when they aren’t aware of it, but I actually kinda like it, as I come off more natural and less…creepy, like I do in photos where I’m actually trying to smile. Whenever someone yells “Smile!” I always have to run through all these questions (lips open or closed? Teeth apart or together? Look directly at the camera or off to one side? How much should my eyes be crinkling? What do I do with my hands? WHAT SHOULD MY POSTURE BE AAAAAAH-*asplode*), and the result is never, ever worth it. In fact, one of my favorite pictures of me smiling is when I was about to go rappelling off a castle in Wales (also one of my favorite memories), and was pretty much scared witless. When I was thinking about what I was sure, at the time, was the impending plunge to my doom and not thinking about smiling correctly, it actually came out really well! Go figure.
10: What is your biggest pet peeve?
Being condescended to/talked down to, I think. I have a speech impediment, I look a little odd, and sometimes my social skills aren’t exactly stellar, so that makes me very sensitive to being treated like I have some sort of mental disability.
11: Do you ever count your steps when you walk?
Sometimes, especially when I’m walking on some sort of patterned/non-uniform surface (checkered tiles, concrete blocks, old asphalt, etc.), but usually my mind is otherwise occupied.
12: Have you ever peed in the woods?
Yup. My family used to do a lot of camping/hiking, so this became kind of a necessary thing.
13: What about pooped in the woods?
That, too. One of the first, and most important, rules of camping/hiking hygiene I learned was to tell everyone where you’d gone, especially if you’re actually camping in the area and not just passing through, to avoid…mishap later on.
14: Do you ever dance even if there’s no music playing?
Nope. I never dance even when there *is* music playing, as I invariably feel incredibly stupid. On the whole, coordination and I do not mix well.
15: Do you chew your pens and pencils?
No. I used to, but I seem to mostly have grown out of that.
16: How many people have you slept with this week?
Um…one? Actually, The Roomie was housesitting back home in Vallejo all last week, so it was kinda nice to have our room all to myself up until Monday.
17: What size is your bed?
Single narrow. Which was slightly annoying, as I had to buy new sheets, but I got used to it.
18: What is your Song of the week?
“Talk Dirty to Me,” by Poison. IDK, I’ve just been in a “silly 80s pop-rock” mood for a little while (last week’s was Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero”). Also, it contains the unintentional and extremely geeky lol in the form of the lines, “Down the basement/Lock the cellar door/And baby/Talk dirty to me.” This is funny because, according to the extremely straight-laced Tolkien, “cellar door” is “the most beautiful phrase in the English language.” …gawd, I’m a nerd.
19: Is it okay for guys to wear pink?
No. Absolutely not. Boys must only wear blue, and girls only pink. Once they turn three, though, it’s okay to loosen up a bit. And even before then, if you want to get really crazy, you might even try experimenting with some different shades of blue and pink. You just might scar them for life, though, so choose carefully.</sarcasm>
20: Do you still watch cartoons?
Not really. I know there are a lot of nostalgic shows out there, as well as ones enjoyed ironically (I think?), but I can’t think of any animated shows that I would watch today for something other than nostalgic value (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, hell yeah!) or to figure out what everybody sees in it (MLF:FiM springs to mind). That said, this is just talking about shows; I love me a good Disney and/or Don Bluth movie as much as the next girl.
21: What’s your least favorite movie?
Ooh, interesting question! I tend to avoid movies that I know I’ll hate, of course, but out of the ones I’ve seen probably Ralph Bakshi’s animated Lord of the Rings, which was *atrocious*. It was plagued by creative squabbles and money troubles, Tolkien was dead set against the idea of it (notably, it went into theaters five years after his death), and it’s just a weird, slightly grotesque little movie (which, of course, is still too long) that fails to be faithful to the source material in anything except the very bare bones of the plot. In particular, Gandalf and Sam, two of my favorite characters, are just flat-out embarrassing. I’m fairly sure Gandalf had Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, or something else that made him start to wave his arms and yell more or less at random. Sam, sweet, dignified, loyal, courageous Sam, became a child-like, brain-damaged hick without two brain cells to rub together. In addition, the technology of the time was clearly not up to the task, and some of the attempts at primitive motion-capture actually come off as slightly surreal and nightmarish.
22: Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some?
That would depend on whether I wanted anyone to find it. If I knew I was about to be murdered or something, and wanted to keep the treasure out of my killers’ hands forever, I would divide it into separate, small packages, each weighing only a few pounds, travel to the Himalayas, and throw each package in a different stream or river. If I was leaving it to a descendant but wanted to make them work for it, in the grand tradition of batty old ancestors in adventure novels and movies everywhere, I would bury it somewhere fairly remote, but with some sort of discoverable connection to my life, like the wilderness preserve I used to go camping at as a kid, or even just in my backyard.
Of course, this is assuming that the treasure is of no sentimental or historical value, in which case I would probably sell/donate it to a museum so they could look after/display it properly. Even if it does turn out to be valuable only for the precious metals and stones, I might even wait for the gold/gemstones market to be good, and convert it to some other, more stable form of currency.
23: What do you drink with dinner?
Water, almost invariably. Again, I am a creature of habit, and it’s simple, good for me, goes with anything, usually cheaper than the other options, and I can get it anywhere. I definitely won’t say no to the odd Coke or Diet Coke, though.
24: What do you dip a chicken nugget in?
Either ketchup or ranch. Damn, now I’m hungry for chicken nuggets!
25: What is your favorite food?
I don’t really have one, actually. Food is kind of like songs for me, in that I can have a favorite of
the week, and some good ol’ standbys to keep falling back on, but I can’t point to just one and say “Yup, that’s the best.”
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Date: 2012-02-18 08:13 pm (UTC)I love seaweed and hotdobs separately, but that would not have occurred to me as a combination... Does the seaweed get soggy?
one of my favorite pictures of me smiling is when I was about to go rappelling off a castle in Wales (also one of my favorite memories), and was pretty much scared witless.
That is really a cool memory to have a picture of! I prefer people taking pictures of me when I don't know it, too, because otherwise I either blink or have a crazed expression on my face as I try valiantly not to blink.
This is funny because, according to the extremely straight-laced Tolkien, “cellar door” is “the most beautiful phrase in the English language.” …gawd, I’m a nerd.
If it makes you feel any better, I totally knew that :)
On the other hand, I did actually enjoy Bakshi's LotR, despite the utter craziness of it... but that might be because it was the only adaptation around in those days... (I do kind of like the creepy rotoscope stuff, though.)
I shall be stealing this life meme, as these 25 at least manage to not repeat almost any questions from memes I've done before, which is a little amazing.
Dragaera:
Jhereg is definitely my favorite of the three in the first anthology (and I suspect Brust's, as well; he's said he is disappointed by the way Yendi came out, and Teckla... well, Teckla was written around the time of his own divorce, and could not have been fun). The broad introduction to the various Houses, eras, etc. is, I'm pretty sure, deliberate. You get a bit more of that in Taltos, but after the introductory Jhereg, the books nominally tend to focus on the House they're named after, though they do it in different ways (some of which are obvious, like featuring a person from that house, and some less so, like Vlad learning something about that house's essence or participating in their type of engagement or milieu, and some of them really subtle).
I do like Mellar quite a lot, as I, too, admire competent villains.
Yendi, the second book was, basically, one big flashback,
I wouldn't worry about flashbacks and such between books, because the chronology is all weird if you read in publication order, and only slightly less weird if you read in internal chronology order. And once you start thinking about chronology, you have to worry about at least two strands even in the most straightforward books -- the timeline of the events Vlad is describing and the timeline Vlad-the-narrator is describing them from. I don't remember if it ever becomes clear from what point he's narrating Yendi, but you get books like Dragon where it's really clear.
We don't really get to see Norathar properly until, I would say, Tiassa, which is the latest, but she's there in the periphery in many of the subsequent books. Do you want me to answer your question regarding whether we see her as Empress in the published books, or would you rather keep spoiler-free on that score?
We also got to see more of Team Dragon (Morrolan, Aliera, and Sethra), which was another good thing. All three are loads of fun, and manage, through their various neuroses quirks to turn any situation they get even peripherally involved in into a capital-A Adventure.
Yep! Team Dragon, as you put it, is definitely my favorite, both for themselves and their interplay with Vlad and other people who have more common sense than them.
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Date: 2012-02-18 08:14 pm (UTC)It took me a while to come to this realization, because I can't keep Yendi straight in my head the moment I close the covers, and the revolutionaries in Teckla really annoyed me because, well, having grown up in the country that followed through on that sort of stuff, I have a lot less sympathy for revolutionaries, even fictional ones, than I think most people do, so it was hard for me to see Cawti's involvement with them as a positive! But, I think it absolutely makes sense given what she tells Vlad about herself in Yendi, and finding herself without her partner and basically a housewife instead come Teckla. I also think that one can, and probably should, given that Teckla starts up right after, read Jhereg as Vlad being one of those people who assumes he's happily married because he's oblivious to the other partner's problems. On my last chronological-order reread, when the end of Jhereg, where Vlad is joking with Morrolan about buying Cawti a castle, flows into Teckla, and his marriage falling apart, that's actually pretty neat, in a painful sort of way.
I don't think this makes it a worse book, per se, but I definitely had less fun with it than the others.
Those are my feelings on Teckla exactly. I think it's a good book, and a brave book, and how often do you see marriages falling apart in fantasy, reall? And not in a spectacular, gored by a boar sort of way, but slowly and painfully and with a lot of unpleasant soul-searching and realizations about the sort of people you both apparently are. So, I actually respect the hell out of Teckla, after a couple of rereads, but I don't actually enjoy reading it.
I just hope that this doesn't represent a permanent tonal shift, because a series that's all doom and gloom
It definitely doesn't. Taltos is very much a swashbuckling adventure and fun bickering and bad puns (there's a reason it's my favorite; well, that, and it's very heavy on Team Dragon). Phoenix, which continues chronologically from Teckla, has some of that heaviness, too, but also way more in the way of adventures and double-crosses and stuff, so I don't think it's nearly as heavy as Teckla -- I don't think any of the books are. And after that the tone really skips around, but I don't think you get another introspective book until Jhegaala (which is still about six books away), and that one's handled with a lighter touch, I think.
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Date: 2012-02-18 08:14 pm (UTC)Given Kiera's prominent introduction, and *actual* importance to the finale of Jhereg, I thought she would be playing a bigger role. I hope she comes back in future books
You're in luck! She definitely keeps cropping up in the subsequent books, and Orca, which is book #7 is actually half-narrated by her.
I like Noish-Pa a lot, too! You get to see a fair bit more of him in Phoenix (book #5), and probably even more of him in flashback as Vlad was growing up in Taltos (#4). And now that you mention it, I kind of want to see how he would get along with Granny and Nanny, because I do think that, despite being male, he is a witch whom they could respect, and definitely more of a witch than a wizard in the way Discworld uses the terms.
The little cultural differences -- from our own world and between the Easterners and Dragaerans -- are one of my favorite parts of the books, because i apparently love this sort of world-building, and don't find a lot of it, and even more rarely is it paired with snappy dialogue and plot rather than ponderous, let me show you the 500 pages of backstory appendix type of narratives (which, as a LotR fan, I have no problem with, of course, but it's nice to have variety).
what *are* Dragaeran funeral rites, anyway?
Heroes/other worthy dead are taken to Deathgate and -- you'll see a lot more about that in Taltos, but because of the reincarnation thing, the Dragaeran funeral rights are a lot more tied to reality. There are people, such as executed criminals and stuff, who are specifically denied Deathgate, and thus reincarnation. I'm not sure what happens to the people in-between those extremes, though, or, for instance, to the bodies of those killed Morganti, who have no shot at reincarnation anyway.
If you want me to answer the Kragar and/or Mario questions (to the best knowledge of current fandom, at least), let me know! :)
So, want to borrow the next couple of books the next time we meet? :) (Which I'm game for, btw, just about any time you are free to come out into the City :)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-18 10:53 pm (UTC)A little bit, yeah, but it doesn't lose consistency or anything.
otherwise I either blink or have a crazed expression on my face as I try valiantly not to blink.
Me, too! I seem to have some trouble calibrating between "eyes closed" and "slasher smile." XD
but that might be because it was the only adaptation around in those days
Yeah, I think the fact that I saw the Peter Jackson version first is definitely a contributing factor to why I don't like the Bakshi version.
I shall be stealing this life meme, as these 25 at least manage to not repeat almost any questions from memes I've done before
Please do! One of the reasons I'm doing this meme is that the questions are actually original and interesting, not just "What is your favorite color?"
Do you want me to answer your question regarding whether we see her as Empress in the published books, or would you rather keep spoiler-free on that score?
Yes, thanks! But no "Norathar conspires with Morrolan and Aliera for years to get close to the Empress in order to assassinate her, and then pins it on Vlad" or " 'Norathar' has actually been [blank] in disugise this whole time" type things, please?
their interplay with Vlad and other people who have more common sense than them.
I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy any time they show up, mainly because of their abilities to lead Vlad into and/or instigate all kinds of fun intrigues and adventures!
Vlad being one of those people who assumes he's happily married because he's oblivious to the other partner's problems.
Yup! I was kind of perplexed by him considering whether to buy Cawti a castle. I mean, has she ever expressed desire for a castle? Is she the kind of person who even wants a castle? I can see Vlad considering this not because it's something that he knows she wants, but because it's something that he thinks he's supposed to do.
And yeah, I wasn't entirely sympathetic to the revolutionaries either. I think Brust took a very deliberately unromantic attitude towards them and their goals, a lá Les Miserables or Night Watch, as in their hearts are probably in the right place, but then enver had much of a chance of success in the first place, and a lot of people died for an amorphous, non-existant "The People" rather than just people.
slowly and painfully and with a lot of unpleasant soul-searching and realizations about the sort of people you both apparently are.
Exactly! The first two book were Vlad basically having a lot of high-flying "ZOMG U GUYZ LOOK AT ME I'M SO AWESOME YAAAAY" adventures, leavened with appropariate amounts of amusing snark, and Teckla is when it all comes crashing down and Vlad is forced to seriously consider many of the less pleasant aspects of his life/job/relationships, without the distraction of various plots and schemes to allow him to escape from some fairly depressing realizations.
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Date: 2012-02-18 10:53 pm (UTC)It's kinda funny how similar-yet-different Discworldian and Dragaeran definitions of witchcraft and wizardry are! On the Disc, it seems to be a pretty strict gender divide, whereas on Dragaera it's dictated by one's talents/methods, but witchcraft being quieter/subtler/more headology-oriented, but not less powerful than flashy blow-stuff-up wizardry. (Also, Daymar really needs to hang out with Ponder Stibbons at some point!)
Heroes/other worthy dead are taken to Deathgate
Wait, Deathgate is a real place? For some reason, I've been thinking of it as some sort of metaphor for death/reincarnation, or at least on another plane of existence. Ooops! XD
If you want me to answer the Kragar and/or Mario questions[...], let me know!
Thanks, but I know objectively that it's probably not true, so I'd like to keep my illusions for the moment. XD "Kragar = Mario" isn't so much something that I think is canon, but more like an interesting alternative/"wouldn't it be cool if..." scenario.
So, want to borrow the next couple of books the next time we meet?
YES, PLEASE! After hearing so much about it, and after the depression of Teckla, I can't wait to read Taltos! As to timing, how about sometime next week, if you're not too busy and feeling better? Or maybe next weekend, if your week is full of life/sickness?
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Date: 2012-02-18 11:41 pm (UTC)"Norathar conspires with Morrolan and Aliera for years to get close to the Empress in order to assassinate her, and then pins it on Vlad" or " 'Norathar' has actually been [blank] in disugise this whole time"
Heh, very Brustian hypothesesm, those! :) (But no, neither of those things happen :)
I mean, has she ever expressed desire for a castle? Is she the kind of person who even wants a castle? I can see Vlad considering this not because it's something that he knows she wants, but because it's something that he thinks he's supposed to do.
Yeah, I think it very much is that sort of thing. And one of the things about Vlad is, not only does he pretty much exclusively hang out with Dragaerans despite claiming to hate them, he seems to more and more be rubbing shoulders with Dragaeran nobility, and for all that he thinks of himself as one of the oppressed minority still, and, of course, does suffer from prejudice against both Easterners and Jhereg, he is really pretty far removed from the truly downtrodden, and, by the end of Jhereg, seems to be thinking more and more like one of the Dragaeran nobles he professes to despise.
I think Brust took a very deliberately unromantic attitude towards them and their goals, a lá Les Miserables or Night Watch, as in their hearts are probably in the right place, but then enver had much of a chance of success in the first place, and a lot of people died for an amorphous, non-existant "The People" rather than just people.
I agree, and I was impressed by this, because Brust's political views, I gather, are a lot closer to the revolutionaries' than to anyone elses. I'm glad he chose not to go the prosletyzing/straw argument way. The Empire's policies are genuinely problematic, but the revolutionaries aren't making things better, for the most part.
but witchcraft being quieter/subtler/more headology-oriented, but not less powerful than flashy blow-stuff-up wizardry
I noticed this also, and find this an interest similarity. And, yes, Daymar and Ponder would get into lots of interesting conversations that no-one but them would understand.
Deathgate is indeed a real place (but also a metaphor for death/reincarnation. One of my favorite geeky allusions in the series is the briefly mentioned play "Redstar and Goldwreath Go to Deathgate"). It's not only a real place, though; you get to see more of it in Taltos, but I don't know that what you see makes it a lot more clear what Deathgate is.
I hope I haven't oversold you on Taltos, btw! I just love it so, because it's all Vlad and Morrolan on Boy's Own Adventure and non-stop bickering.
Next week should work. I'm feeling much better today (and so is L) and hope that means I'll be over it. We have no plans for Monday, right now, so that would work for me. I'm planning to work from home Wednesday and probably Friday (unless I end up having to go to Oregon), and depending on how I'm feeling Monday, I might work from home Tuesday, too; and next weekend is looking pretty open at the moment too -- let me know what would work with your class schedule and general life schedule, and hopefully we can make it work!
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Date: 2012-02-19 03:26 am (UTC)Y'know, I never thought about this before, but your description of Vlad here makes me think of the connections between him and Sam Vimes: they're both self-made men who aren't accepted by their current elite peers or their peers from their humble beginnings. The difference is that Vlad isn't as aware of the disjunct, and, as you say, is starting to think like a Dragaeran and despise the poor and downtrodden for being poor and downtrodden, while Sam is fully aware of his status as a creature of two worlds, and pretty much hates everyone equally.
I was impressed by this, because Brust's political views, I gather, are a lot closer to the revolutionaries' than to anyone elses.
Hmm, I didn't know this! Good on Brust for keeping it impartial, then! Actually, an author using a fantasy novel to force a particular socio-political issue down our throats in a ham-handed fashion is one of my least favorite tropes, so doubly good for him for avoiding it.
it's all Vlad and Morrolan on Boy's Own Adventure and non-stop bickering.
I think I can live with that! XD
Re: next week: I have an appointment from 4-5 on Monday, but I'm free anytime after 2-ish on Tuesday and 5:30 Wednesday (pretty much anytime Friday also works). Do any of these work for you?
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Date: 2012-02-19 05:26 am (UTC)Vlad does confront some of these things, although, not being the introspective type for the most part, it's a bit hard to say what he learns from all of it. Sam's coping mechanism is great, though, and universally applicable :P
Actually, an author using a fantasy novel to force a particular socio-political issue down our throats in a ham-handed fashion is one of my least favorite tropes
Likewise. The time I remember being angriest with an author I really liked was reading Tamora Pierce's preface/introduction to the Young Warriors anthology, which I felt was incredibly slanted in a certain political way. (And it doesn't even matter if it's a position I agree with or not -- if not, I feel like I'm being brainwashed, and if I do, then I get an equally unpleasant case of "you're making my side look bad"). That's just not what fiction is for, and it doesn't make for good fiction. So, yeah, I respect Brust a lot for having Teckla be as balanced as it is.
If I'm working from home Tuesday, that might be an especially good time for me. If I let you know Tuesday morning that I'm working from home, would that be enough notice for you? Pretty much any time after 5 would be good for me on Tuesday if I am working from home. If I'm not home Tuesday, Wednesday could work, but if you finish up at 5:30, I'm assuming it would be 6:30-7 at the earliest that you could make it into the City? Which is OK with me, but may be a little short on time in general. And I should know in a couple of days if I'll be in Oregon or at home Friday, so if Tues/Wed doesn't work, we can aim for that.
My manager basically told me not to come to work and spread my germs around, so I think I could justify working from home an extra day (I don't think I'm super-contagious, but I'll try not to breathe on you :)
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Date: 2012-02-19 07:50 am (UTC)I'm not totally against examining social and/or political issues via fiction, but it's incredibly difficult to do deftly, and not just smash the reader over the head with your point, which can backfire horribly, and which is what sounds like happened here.
If I let you know Tuesday morning that I'm working from home, would that be enough notice for you?
Sure! My comment notifications are still kinda sluggish, so don't be alarmed if I don't reply for a bit, but that's more than enough time! (Also, if we do meet on Tuesday, about what time are you thinking?)
And yeah, I probably wouldn't get to the City until 6:30 at the earliest on Wednesday, so if you're not going to be out of state, Friday might work better for me.
I don't think I'm super-contagious, but I'll try not to breathe on you
Heh, don't worry about it; various public schools have basically beefed my immune system up to near-unbeatable levels.
Famous last words XDno subject
Date: 2012-02-19 08:45 pm (UTC)I think this can be done well, but seldom is. I also think it requires a higher level of authorial skill than just telling a good story, and a willingness to avoid strawman arguments, and lots of other things.
In that cool English 1B class I've mentioned to you before, we read The Handmaid's Tale as an example of a didactic dystopia, and even though its political agenda is very clear, and the social critique not exactly subtle, it's still a powerful book and I, at least, didn't feel like it was trying to brainwash or manipulate me. But not very many authors are Margaret Atwood.
My comment notifications are still kinda sluggish, so don't be alarmed if I don't reply for a bit
Oh yeah, mine too, and that's a good point! I'll try to comment in the morning one way or another, and if I haven't heard back from you by 12-1 p.m. I'll text you with the same?
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Date: 2012-02-19 09:08 pm (UTC)Exactly! I've seen some damn good authors fall into this trap, when they really should just stick to what they're actually good at, which is fiction and not IRL politics.
if I haven't heard back from you by 12-1 p.m. I'll text you with the same?
Good idea! I have class from 11 straight through to 2, so I'll actually probably get a text before an email/comment notification, if LJ continues with its current levels of slowness.
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Date: 2012-02-20 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-20 07:47 pm (UTC)