A little bit of life, and a lot of Dragaea and Downton Abbey

[lunasariel]

Life has definitely slowed down a bit. I'm finding that I miss everything being within walking distance, and not just because gas is $4.30 a gallon. Now, if I want to exercise, I have to actually set aside time to perform exercise-related activities, which I hate. It all feels very useless and fake, whereas in Berkeley I could get more than my daily dose of exercise just walking to the store, classes, or if I wanted something a bit more strenuous, the library. Now, I spend a lot more time than I should sitting around on my butt and worrying about summer jobs. I've put in a few applications to places that I'd like to work; ideally, I would work at a bookstore or volunteer at an animal shelter. But I'm not too hopeful about my chances there, and I'd really, really like to avoid working at somewhere like Target or Wal-Mart, which, from a combination of friends' horror stories and me knowing myself and my strengths tolerably well, sounds like hell on earth. I do admit that I haven't been looking as hard as I could, though, since my cat Cassie is still sick, and seems to perk up when someone is around to coddle her. I know I'm probably spoiling her rotten, but I'm trying to get her weight to stabilize at six and a half pounds, which is scarily low even for a skinny lady like her, and she's still on twice her usual dosage of insulin. She'll probably go back in to the vet later this week, or possibly next week, for another blood glucose curve and maybe some tests for pancreatitis and other elderly kitty ailments. I'm still majorly worried about her, though. I mean, I know that she's incredibly old (13 or 14) for a cat, especially a diabetic one, but she's been milady for a long time, and I'd like her to stick around for awhile.

In more human-related/less depressing news, it's H's birthday tomorrow (well, technically today), but it's also finals week for her, so there's also planning for that. There's been talk of an excursion to San Francisco over the weekend for dancing/bar-hopping, but H is the best friend ever, and knows that this wouldn't be fun as much as excruciatingly painful for me, and so has hinted that, while the en masse SF excursion will take place, there will also be a smaller, lower-key gathering (her, AD, C, me, and possibly J if he's in town) for pizza/Chinese food, beer, and a geeky TV marathon, probably Firefly and/or How I Met Your Mother, although I'm thinking of introducing them to The Big Bang Theory.



I finally finished the next Dragaera book, Dragon, and I just might have to declare it my favorite in the series so far. Dragon had everything I like best about the Dragaera series: Vlad's hot temper and big mouth get him into a scrape (with more than a little prodding from Team Dragon), hilarity ensues, metaphysics also ensue, CMoAs and banter abound, shippy subtext between Vlad and Morrolan also abounds, Vlad gets himself in over his head, Morrolan summons and/or acts as the cavalry, Vlad figures everything out at the last minute, the bad guy gets ganked, Vlad/Morrolan/Aliera kick ass and take names, and a little more backstory is explained. And this did clear up quite a bit of backstory; I'd been laboring under the assumptions that Kieron's greatsword = Pathfinder and that the Battle of Barritt's Tomb took place some time in the distant past, necessitating more time travel from Vlad & Co. And, of course, Vlad has been hinting about that one time he fought in a war as a foot soldier for a while now, so I was glad to finally see what he'd been on about.

The framing device for this one is one he's used several times before (most notably in Taltos): each chapter starts out with a snippet from a pivotal event at the climax of the novel, followed by a segway into the chapter proper, and these snippets build on each other until the main narrative catches up with the snippets. Of course, the premise of the whole thing was that he's narrating his memories to some sort of recording device, but, to me, this makes the whole device less plausible, not more. He seems to really be stretching for a way to segway from the snippet to the meat of the chapter in a lot of instances, and after a while, the whole thing just felt like a way to build artificial tension. (Of course, I'm not a huge fan of this bouncing back and forth to begin with, so that probably doesn't help. For me, it doesn't add anything to the story the way, say, the laundry list in Teckla did.)

The real kicker is, of all things, one thing Dragon doesn't need is artificial tension; it has plenty on its own. In a war story, if you have any form of hopes or plans or dreams for after the war, you're pretty much screwed, so I was afraid for people like Virt and Aelburr, so it surprised me that Napper, whose only plan for after the war was to find another war, was the one to bite it in the end. I'm an unabashed sucker for camaraderie and the mixture of warm fuzzies and badassery it entails, though, so I liked the "one for all, all for one" (appropriate fandom joke is appropriate!) tone that was struck among the four of them. It helped that I genuinely liked all three of the Dragons and didn't want anything bad to happen to them, despite my assurance that one or more of them was going to die, and probably tragically at that. A lot of work clearly went into developing them, and it paid off.

While we got introduced to a lot of new characters, there was rather a lack of the main cast. Kragar put in an appearance (well, kind of) now and again, Daymar's introduction and subsequent part in the climax was hilarious, and, of course, Team Dragon were major players, but I could have stood to see some more of them. This goes double for Morrolan, since a lot of the scenes between him and Vlad were extremely shippy. I mean, to start out wish, there was Vlad's initial mental picture of Morrolan when trying to get ahold of him psychically, which could easily be read as Vlad being fascinated and more than a little turned on by his elegant and possibly kinda nuts new associate. Then there was the line where Vlad actually described Morrolan as "checking [him] out," and doing the same to him. I know, taken out of context, but I do get the feeling that Brust is teasing us a little here. And, finally, there was that odd moment towards the end where the fact that Fornia was counting on Morrolan doing anything, up to and including leading a full-on charge regardless of military advantage/advisability, to rescue Vlad from his (Fornia's) clutches. So, yeah; a while ago I decided that Vlad and Morrolan should just go everywhere together in case Vlad needs rescuing, as he so often does, and Morrolan seems to enjoy playing the knight in shining armor. And, of course, the image of Vlad dramatically flinging himself into a blood-splattered and half-grinning half-scowling Morrolan's arms and fake-swooning while Loiosh makes smart remarks about damsels in distress and Aliera rolls her eyes and waits for them to get done so they can get back to killing things is oddly in-character for all involved.

Speaking of shining armor, the insights we got into Dragaeran warfare were interesting. The thing about wearing no armor as so not to attract lightning strikes is sensible, but what really surprised me was that archery is either a new development, not widely used, or both, since Vlad didn't know what it is, and called bows something like "javelin throwers." Upon further thought, this makes sense, since the development of sorcery would make most conventional forms of long-distance weaponry obsolete, but it's not something I would have thought of. Otherwise, I found most of Vlad's experiences in the army with regards to tactics, formations, etc. interesting mostly because it was him having them, and I always enjoy his snarkery. If there is ever a Vlad Taltos move, though, someone is going to have to make a fanvid of his night raids on the enemy camp to the Mission: Impossible theme song.



I've also been catching up on the second season of Downton Abbey, and have gotten unexpectedly into it. The weird thing is, I'm normally so very much not a Soap Opera Person, but so many people seem to classify Downton Abbey as a soap opera. I couldn't care less about, say, Days of Our Lives, and my interest in Supernatural waned sharply when the focus shifted from fighting demons to Sam and Dean bitching about their relationship for 40 minutes straight, and yet whether Edith will ever forgive Mary for sabotaging her relationship with Sir Anthony, how Miss O'Brien feels about her part in Cora's miscarriage, or the implications of Thomas' grief at Lt. Courtenay's suicide are all major concerns for me.

I mentioned last time that I was kind of reflexively sorting the characters into their ASOIAF Houses, and this is how it breaks down (these are just the main characters, which gives you an idea of the scope of the series overall):
Starks
John Bates. Let me put it this way: he out-Starks the entirety of House Stark as well as William Laurence, and possibly all of them together. When his eeeevil wife is caught stealing the regimental silver of his beloved combat unit, he confesses to the theft, incurring the disdain and hatred of every one of his comrades-in-arms and a five-year jail sentence, in order to save her. He refuses to make a move on the woman he loves, and who isn't shy about loving him back, because he's middle-aged, disabled, and dishonored, while she's young, beautiful, and clever. When he finally, *finally* does make a move, the aforementioned evil wife shows back up, and threatens to expose his now-fiancé's Dark Secret and permanently destroy the honor of the family he serves if he doesn't immediately leave the only place he's ever been happy and accepted. And he does. Of course, that's not even mentioning the multiple times his evil nemesis is caught stealing and pins it on him, which he never does anything to dispute, since he thinks his stained honor deserves it or something (it takes his clever Tyrell girlfriend/fiancé to get him out of these ones). Oh, you poor, stupid, lovely creature, you. I mean, I love the guy, I really do; I just wish that he'd care a little less about his honor and a little more about his self-preservation.
Charles Carson. He's one of those old-school Old Retainer types that I'm fairly sure don't exist outside of fiction. He literally gives himself a heart attack while trying to keep up appearances during wartime, because, apparently, the first step of the total and complete breakdown of civilization as we know it and the onset of the Second Dark Ages is (gasp!) women serving dinner instead of (foot)men. To make things better, while he's recovering from said heart attack, he keeps himself occupied by advising the impetuous and headstrong girl he's taken under his wing to avoid dishonoring herself. Sound familiar? Basically, there is nothing, but nothing, more important to him than the honor of the family he serves, and he can be ruthless in its defense.
Elsie Hughes. Possibly one of the reasons why she and Carson make such a great pair of Platonic Life Partners is that they're both complimentary types of Starks. Mrs. Hughes is more willing to bend the letter of the law in order to uphold the spirit of the law, and so makes a good Lancer to his Hero among the servants. She's also deeply concerned with the honor of the family she serves, and has given up a great deal for them, but can be unexpectedly sneaky in the course of protecting them.

Lannisters
Ethel. Since she's a newcomer in s2, I had a bit of trouble placing her, but her defining characteristic is her ambition and her unshakeable sense that other people should wait on her, not the other way around. She can be nasty like a Lannister, and certainly knows how to use her sexuality as a weapon in a male-dominated world, but, also like a Lannister (at least, the not overtly crazy ones), she knows when to rein it in and when to cut lose with the ego so that she doesn't shoot herself in the foot where PR is concerned.
Gwen. Actually, let's throw her in here, too, since Ethel is basically just a suspiciously similar substitute for Gwen; Ethel is just more overtly sexual and ambitiously predatory, if that's the way to describe it; Gwen was more of a Tyrion type who wanted to put her intelligence to a use higher than scrubbing floors and folding sheets.
Sarah O'Brien. She's more of a rabidly defensive Cersei-type, but for similar reasons. They're both horribly aware how little power they really have, and seek to increase that power by whatever means necessary. O'Brien is great at playing both ends against the middle and always landing on her feet; in fact, if I were to go outside the major Houses, I'd say she's more Baelish than anything else.

Martells
Lady Mary Crawley. She adores half the members of her family, but hates the other half. She's also passionate and free-spirited, abhorring being told what to do, and sometimes doing the exact opposite of what she's told just to prove how passionate and free-spirited she is. Also, tellingly, she's the only Crawley girl to have extramarital sex, which, okay, she comes to regret, but only because her lover dies either while or immediately after (it's unclear which) having sex with her.
Matthew Crawley. I actually had quite a bit of trouble sorting Matthew, but, ultimately, I think of him as a Martell. He's an outsider imposed on the main power structure, and not in the least interested in conforming to other people's ideas of what he should be and/or do. He tries to be all dutiful and Starkish, but, ultimately, he follows his heart, for better or for worse.

Tyrells
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham. For me, Lady Grantham is kind of a blank slate. Everybody else is always involved in all kinds of dramas and intrigues and histrionics, but she's the one that keeps things running. That said, though, she's supremely reliable, keeps her head in a crisis, and almost always comes out on top through a combination of compassion and manipulation. She loves all her children equally, whether they're running off to marry the Irish Bolshevik chauffeur, getting a job (shock! gasp!), or potentially ruining the family by banging a visiting diplomat, who then dies a sudden and mysterious death buck-ass naked in an unmarried woman's bed. Actually, Cora orchestrating the cover-up for said death was her most Tyrell-ish moment. She doesn't waste any time berating her daughter for making a supremely stupid choice (although there is some berating later on), but instead arranges for the body to be secretly transported back to its own room, and sets up alibis for (and ensures the silence of) everyone involved. Taking care of business, the Tyrell way.
Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham. She is Olenna Tyrell. She just *is*. She runs the family and their expansive holdings with an iron hand inside a silk glove, cheerfully overruling her son, who's supposed to be in charge, whenever she pleases. She's snarky and peppery and not at all above playing the "doddery old lady" card to get her opponents to let their guard down. She encourages her grandchildren to follow their hearts when possible, but is not in the least bit averse to setting up a political marriage to benefit the family as a whole. However, if you even think about hurting her family, she will know, and she. Will. Take. You. Down.
Anna Smith. She's more of a Willas type than anything else: she'll hold your hand through a tough time, she'll cover for you when you need to duck out, she'll smooth out fights and disagreements as they arise, she'll keep things running on an even keel, and she'll destroy your enemies with equal measures grace and glee. This is good, because she's paired with the Starkiest Stark in Starkdom, and he could use the help. So when he can't or won't defend himself from sabotage attempts by what I've termed the Axis of Evil, she's got his back, and neatly turns the tables so that it's them scrambling to keep their jobs and reputations, not him.

Tullys
Lady Sibyl Crawley. Sibyl is the best kind of Tully, whose genuine concern for her smallfolk doesn't cloud her judgment or make her ineffective. To the contrary, it seems to give her purpose, whereas her old life, one of obsessing over which dress to wear and who danced how many times with whom, bored her to tears. She takes a job (gasp!) as a nurse (shock!) during the First World War, and actively resents those who think she's too good for either of these things. She's definitely not a leader; she's not out to take over, or even necessarily change the world, just ease people's way through it.
Daisy Robinson (later Daisy Mason). Daisy is basically the Molly Hooper of this fandom: sweet, hapless, and with absolutely atrocious taste in men/gaydar. It looked like she was going to slip into Greyjoy or dark Lannister territory when the Axis of Evil tried to get her on their side, but she genuinely doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Although she has her Day in the Limelight moments, her purpose in the show is generally as support for other characters, which mostly takes the form of her turning the other cheek and/or making other people happy despite her own wishes. So when Mrs. Patmore, who has spent the entirety of s1 screaming at her, starts to go blind, Daisy treats her with dignity and tact, instead of reveling in her downfall. Similarly, she accepts William's proposal, even marrying him, despite her own lukewarm feelings towards him, because he's going off to war and she doesn't want him going off or dying feeling unloved.

Greyjoys (heh, I don't think I've ever noticed that the Greyjoy and Baratheon colors are the same.)
Thomas Barrow. I had initially pegged him as "the worst kind of Lannister, viciously defensive and more than willing to chew up and spit out the poor, dumb, honorable Stark he's pitted against," but, upon thought, he seems a bit more kraken than lion. He's out to make it big, so everyone else can just shut the hell up and get out of his way, or else get stepped on during his climb to the top. The only other living beings he shows anything other than utter disdain and malevolence for are O'Brien (his partner in the Axis of Evil, and thus at least kind of his equal) and poor Lt. Courtenay (why, yes, I do ship them); one of these is a sort of business ally, the other was the one time he allowed himself to deviate from his usual heartless persona, which ended up burning him hard.

Targaryens
Lady Edith Crawley. She may seem like a quiet, dutiful Tully or Stark on the surface, but, as both the odd one out of the family and as a secretly spectacularly vindictive person, I'm going to have to put her down as a Targ. I waffled between Targ and Lannister for a while, but she doesn't have the Lannister flamboyance or familial protectiveness. In fact, the way she ruins her arrogant, impetuous sister Mary after what's hinted to be years of living in her shadow has more than a few similarities to Dany finally letting Viserys complete his own destruction.
Tom Branson. Similar to Lady Edith, he conceals the personality of a wild-eyed, frothy-mouthed revolutionary behind an enforcedly meek demeanor. His particular blend of "genius and madness" is the result of the Easter Rising, which takes place during s2, and he's understandably upset about his unarmed countrymen (including at least one relative) getting slaughtered. Like all Targaryens, he has his share of revolutionary ideas, and his passionate ideal of a socialist utopia where poverty and hatred are eliminated and all races, classes, and genders are equal does rather smack of Dany's whole "Breaker of Chains" persona.
Isobel Crawley. She's a slightly more stable Targaryen, but she's a Targaryen all the same. She's devoted to her Cause, but within that Cause, she'd better as hell be in charge, and woe to anyone who tries to get in her way or changer her plans. She's normally reasonable, even clever, but when someone attempts to usurp her authority, she will fight tooth and nail to regain her threatened position.

Baratheons
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham. Maybe it's just because he's in charge of everything and called Robert, but to me, he just screams "Baratheon." Like his Westerosi namesake, he enjoys his hunting and his port, but unlike Robert the First of his Name, he has a loving and supportive relationship with his wife and children. He's very proud of being a military man, is elated when he's called back to duty for WWI, and is devastated when the position turns out to be, basically, a mascot. He's very aware that he's no longer of an age to go out and lay down his life for his ideals, and is even more concerned with the preservation of his house (both literal and genealogical).
William Mason. He's a Gendry-type Baratheon, where he'd much rather be left alone to moon over a pretty girl and do some good old-fashioned hard labor, but if he finds himself threatened or insulted, it's freakin' on like Donkey Kong. And I mean this in both the personal and national sense; he'll go from peacefully sitting at the table to beating seven kinds of shit out of Thomas when he (Thomas, that is) makes an overly callous remark about William's recently dead mother, but he's also raring to sign up for the War once it breaks out, and King and Country are in need of defense. He's also a rather simple and doe-eyed lover and, all up, actually reminds me quite strongly of Samwise Gamgee.
Beryl Patmore. There aren't many Baratheon-type ladies anywhere, in any fandom, but I think Mrs. Patmore qualifies. She likes a bit of noise and mayhem and *loves* being the best at what she does, and being in charge of he own little world (the kitchen, in this case). She certainly isn't afraid to bellow at people when they're doing something wrong, with an option to whack them with her spoon, and often does so to cover up deeper insecurities. She's also uncomfortable with the aging process, as it means that she can't do as much or as well as she used to, and does her best to circumvent it.


Sorry, I haven't had a chance to finish the other half of that meme yet, so nothing meme-wise this time.

Comments

[brit-columbia.livejournal.com]

Wal-mart and Target DO sound like hell on earth. I feel a horrible, crushing sense of wrongness even when all I am doing is shopping there. It's almost like some giant, unseen, malevolent entity is slowly sucking the life force from me.

A book store would be perfect for you. I don't know about an animal shelter. I can't even go into those places. I'm too sensitive to the animals and I would want to take them all home. But that's just me. I'm glad there are people out there who are stronger.

Oh, get your friends into Big Bang! My husband and I love that show.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I feel a horrible, crushing sense of wrongness even when all I am doing is shopping there.
Yeah, me too; what is it about those places?! I can only handle shopping there for brief periods of time, I couldn't imagine working there for hours on end. *shudder*

I don't know about an animal shelter. I can't even go into those places. I'm too sensitive to the animals and I would want to take them all home.
I'm with you there! I can only even think of working at no-kill shelters, since I would probably end up with waaaaaaay too many animals if I adopted every one that was in danger of being euthanized.

Oooh, I didn't know you watch Big Bang! I've only seen the first few episodes of the current season, but I love it.

[hamsterwoman]

Good luck with the job search! And hope the kitty continues to feel better. And hope your friend's birthday celebration goes well and involves things you actually consider fun! (Although if you're in the City and want to take a break from bar-hopping, you are very welcome to nip down to the Sunset for a change of pace ;P)

I'd been laboring under the assumptions that Kieron's greatsword = Pathfinder and that the Battle of Barritt's Tomb took place some time in the distant past

I shared both of those erroneous beliefs before Dragon :)

As far as the framing device, I'm semi-convinced that the reason he did the flashback thing again in Dragon is so that he could start a book with "No shit, there I was." :P (Which still loses out to "The building was on fire and it wasn't my fault" as far as favorite opening lines go, but not by a lot :)

(Also, as with Taltos, there are actually three timelines, and Brust made sure that while the in media res one of the actual battle and the earliest strand that eventually catches up to it, of everything leading up to Vlad "enlisting", take place between Taltos and Yendi, the latest thread, the one where Sethra the Younger comes to Vlad and asks him to intercede in her proposed trade of Pathfinder for Kieron's greatsword, takes place *after* Yendi (that's why StY is persona non grata with Aliera at the moment, though I do get the sense that nobody actually likes Sethra the Younger very much even before that). Because Brust wanted to mess with people. Or at least so he says.)

I was disappointed by the dearth of Morrolan in the bulk of Dragon (after the first couple of chapters, which are some of my favorite in the series as a whole, because I'm nothing if not predictable in this fandom), but I did very much like Virt, and thought Aelburr and Napper were fun, so I still got my Dragonlord fix.

Morrolan/Vlad shippiness, heh. It's definitely my favorite aspect of the book, and one of the things I like best is Vlad sort of trying to get used to Morrolan before he really comes to trust him but now that (at least Morrolan appears to have decided) there's no more need for pissing matches. Like, Vlad continually not being able to tell if Morrolan is trolling him or for real, starting with the letter of invitation,

After reading the Paarfi prequels, I've basically come to the opinion that Morrolan sees the world as divided into two kinds of people -- (a) people it would be fun to try and kill and (b) people who are his friends (and/or otherwise his responsibility), and it's basically a step function between those two states. So that while Vlad is still at "why is this Dragonlord not making fun of my nausea after teleportation?" and "did he hire some thugs to mess me up and pretend it was Fornia's fault?", Morrolan has cheerfully concluded (some time around Vlad's decision to risk his life in the Paths of the Dead, I reckon) that Vlad now belongs in the "friends" category, and is acting accordingly, which means he would gladly risk his life for Vlad, assumes Vlad wants to hang out with him, and so on. That's like the cutest thing to me.

moar...

[hamsterwoman]

but what really surprised me was that archery is either a new development, not widely used, or both, since Vlad didn't know what it is, and called bows something like "javelin throwers."

Well spotted! This actually totally went over my head both the first time I read Dragon and when I reread, but the mailing list has some extensive discussion on what the "javelin thrower" teminology means about the history of archery in Dragaera. I don't remember if this was pure fanon speculation or fanon speculation that Brust said was correct, but I believe the conclusion they reached was that archery would show up occasionally, but defensive sorcery quickly catches, or offensive long-distance sorcery overtakes the damage that can be done with arrows (the Paarfi prequels feature flashstones, for instance, which stand in for muskets, but that makes arrows rather obsolete; but then the Interregnum means flashstones don't work, and after the Interregnum sorcery makes so much progress that flashstones become useless because they're too easy to guard against), and it's sort of cyclical like that. So it appears that Dragaera is emerging from a period when arrows are not used during warfare into one where they may be useful, and that's why they're on the field but Vlad doesn't recognize them as a thing.

Very glad to hear you enjoyed Dragon as much as you did! I hope you feel the same about Issola (which is one of my favorites).

I'm not watching Downton Abbey (although looks like Redbox has season 1 and I've been eyeing it), but I enjoyed reading your character descriptions/sorting.

Let me put it this way: he out-Starks the entirety of House Stark as well as William Laurence

That is impressive, LOL! And I've heard about Violet's Olenna-ness from pretty much everyone, which makes me more curious about the show than anything else I've heard about it... :P

Re: moar...

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Although if you're in the City and want to take a break from bar-hopping, you are very welcome to nip down to the Sunset for a change of pace ;P
I'll keep that in mind; thanks for the offer! :)

I shared both of those erroneous beliefs before Dragon :)
Good to know I wasn't alone! The Battle of Barritt's Tomb thing actually disoriented me a little bit, as I kept waiting for someone to do a time travel spell and Vlad to have an "oh, shit" moment, but it never came.

I'm semi-convinced that the reason he did the flashback thing again in Dragon is so that he could start a book with "No shit, there I was."
...which is a damn good reason! Heh, I'm not sure I'd be able to resist an opening line like that.

Morrolan sees the world as divided into two kinds of people -- (a) people it would be fun to try and kill and (b) people who are his friends (and/or otherwise his responsibility), and it's basically a step function between those two states.
This is a really useful way to think of Morrolan's thought process. I was actually musing on this as I read through Dragon, trying to find the point where, for him, Vlad went from "yappy Easterner that Sethra needs for her plots" to "someone I would risk my life for." And, yes, Vlad still being stuck at being nonplussed/confused(/vaguely turned on?) while Morrolan has already mentally graduated them to BFFs is all kinds of adorable.

On a related note, I'm finding it interesting on how Vlad sometimes makes such a point of hating any and all Dragaerans categorically, except when he doesn't. Basically, he's always all "All Dragaerans are oppressive racist scum, and I wish they all would die! Except for Morrolan, he's okay. And Aliera, sometimes. Lady Teldra and Kragar are okay, too. So is Savn. Oh, and my army buddies are fun to have have a drink with. ...But aside from them, I hate them all!" So what I'm wondering is, is the fact that he only likes Dragons (and one Issola) a product of his past life/reincarnation, or is it just that he's more drawn to the types that are more straightforward, or at least less openly malevolent?

Interesting fanon/approved fanon re: archery! I'd thought that the widespread use of sorcery would mean that archery would never have had a chance to be invented in the first place, but I forgot about the Interregnum. Yay for well-thought-out worldbuilding!

I've heard about Violet's Olenna-ness from pretty much everyone, which makes me more curious about the show than anything else I've heard about it...
Violet is one of my favorite parts of the show. I really hope they get Maggie Smith (her actress), or at least someone like her, to play the Queen of Thorns in GoT, because she would be absolutely *perfect*.

I'm actually not sure whether I'd recommend Downton Abbey, though. The first season is 10 episode, each about an hour long, so it is rather a time commitment. It's light on the actiony bits (although WWI does factor prominently into the plot, so there's at least some action), and it certainly tends towards a fluffier/more idealized view of the aristocracy and nobility/servant relations than is probably historically accurate, but the characters are all interesting enough to keep me coming back, and it's hard not to fall a little bit in love with a lot of them.

Re: moar...

[hamsterwoman]

I was actually musing on this as I read through Dragon, trying to find the point where, for him, Vlad went from "yappy Easterner that Sethra needs for her plots" to "someone I would risk my life for."

LOL at that initial characterization of Vlad -- spot on! XD

I would guess that point was in Taltos, right around the time they meet Aliera and Morrolan discovers she is not the most tractable person in the world. That seems to be the point after which they go from "Drop dead, asshole"/affronted glaring to sharing exasperated glances about Aliera and Vlad volunteering to try a spell that would leave him stranded in the Paths of the Dead along with Morrolan (and Aliera, who is just too damn stubborn), and Morrolan lets Vlad inject an unknown liquid into him (which, admittedly, he had nothing tangible to lose at that point, but as a matter of principle I think it was still a big deal). Actually, looks like I noted down the exact moment I'd pin it at:

"Morrolan suggested that Aliera sit down and rest her legs. Aliera said, 'Shut up.' || I saw that Morrolan's patience was wearing thin. So was mine, for that matter. We bit our lips at the same moment, caught each other's eyes, and smiled a little."

I think it is a bit of a friendship born of desperation, kind of a, "at least you're more sensible than her" thing, but it doesn't take much with Morrolan, I think.

Vlad still being stuck at being nonplussed/confused(/vaguely turned on?)

Heh. It must be admitted that Vlad really does seem to pay a lot of attention to how Morrolan looks while doing certain things, striking certain poses, his reactions and so on. I know I'm reading obsessively with that in mind, I can't help it, but I can't think of another character that Vlad is so physically aware of with possibly the exception of Teldra (and he seems to have a thing for the Issola ladies...)

I'm finding it interesting on how Vlad sometimes makes such a point of hating any and all Dragaerans categorically, except when he doesn't

Yeah, I think he actually reflects on this in one book, or possibly more than one, how he hates all Dragaerans except... his best friends are all Dragaerans. He actually starts out disliking Dragonlords the most -- and that (mostly one-sided) one-upmanship doesn't actually quite leave his relationship with Morrolan -- presumably because most Phoenix Guards are Dragons and they hassle the Jhereg. But after Aliera's revelation of the past life thing, I believe he wonders whether his dislike of Dragons might be because his past life was kicked out of the house. I don't think Vlad himself ever stops to wonder if perhaps so many of his friends are Dragons (or ex-Dragons) because his past life used to be a Dragon too, but it would make a lot of sense. (He does have a couple of friends who aren't Dragons, Teldra being a key one, and then there's Kiera, with whom it's not clear whether she should be counted as Jhereg, Dragon, or Dzur (there seems to be some confusion/dispute in-universe over what Sethra is, exactly...)

The time commitment makes me leery of Downton Abbey, and it's not really my kind of show. Maybe I'll wait and see if it shows up in the library...

Re: moar...

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I know I'm reading obsessively with that in mind, I can't help it, but I can't think of another character that Vlad is so physically aware of with possibly the exception of Teldra (and he seems to have a thing for the Issola ladies...)
Right there with ya! We certainly do get to hear a lot more about how Morrolan looks, holds himself, etc. than most of the other characters, sometimes to the point where I really do wonder if Steven Brust is teasing us or not. I mean, we know the exact shape of Morrolan's face, his widow's peak, his height, while Aliera's description is usually left at "short, blonde, and angry," and Cawti's at "female, maybe with brown hair." XD A while ago, you said something about not being sure how to interpret certain lines in the context of a platonic relationship, and there were plenty of these sprinkled around.

and then there's Kiera, with whom it's not clear whether she should be counted as Jhereg, Dragon, or Dzur (there seems to be some confusion/dispute in-universe over what Sethra is, exactly...
LOL, Sethra/Kiera's entire existence could be summed up by "it's not clear what she should be counted as."
Oooh, I also forgot to mention that Vlad's new Dragonlord friends being impressed with him knowing Sethra et al was hilarious! Although I'd still love to see a bit more of her vampirism explored, since it was made such a big deal of in Dragon.

Re: moar...

[hamsterwoman]

while Aliera's description is usually left at "short, blonde, and angry,"

Hah, yes, although it must be noted that occasionally it's "short, blonde, angry, and probably really hot if you're a Dragaeran" ;P

A while ago, you said something about not being sure how to interpret certain lines in the context of a platonic relationship, and there were plenty of these sprinkled around

You haven't even gotten to the one that really made me go, "Wait... what? O.o" (it's in Issola, and I genuinely have no idea what Brust is doing there except, possibly, trolling).

I also forgot to mention that Vlad's new Dragonlord friends being impressed with him knowing Sethra et al was hilarious!

Heh, yes. Other people's reactions to Sethra are wonderful (and this carries over into the Paarfi books, too, which have a fair bit of Sethra in them).

Re: moar...

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

although it must be noted that occasionally it's "short, blonde, angry, and probably really hot if you're a Dragaeran" ;P
One of these days, I kind of want to see Aliera get hit on, just to see what she'll do...

You haven't even gotten to the one that really made me go, "Wait... what? O.o"
Anticipation, ahoy! :D

Re: moar...

[hamsterwoman]

Five Hundred Years After contains a fair amount of people hitting on Aliera ;)

And Issola has got some really great Team Dragon moments in general. I think/hope you'll enjoy it.