Crossposted for Charmian, mostly
Mar. 19th, 2010 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petroniaArnaldur Indridason, Voices: bought this while browsing used book stores in the free hours between work and radio, looking for something to occupy me as I ate. It's kind of grim - nearly all the characters have tragic pasts and depressing presents, drug addictions, fractured relationships with their families, etc. - but not in a wallowing darkfic sort of way; more a sort of melancholy. That four-hours-of-sunlight-a-day feeling (the story takes place over Christmas in Reykjavik). Wondered, though, if there were as many addicts and foreign prossies in Iceland as this makes it seem. XD;; Reykjavik has a population of 120,000! Proportionately there ought to be like 25 junkies with everyone knowing who they are! (It definitely seems easy to find people - rarely does it take the police more than a few hours to track down and talk to someone, even on the vaguest hearsay. No one has the expectation that the police wouldn't be able to find them, either.)
Steven Brust, Issola: darn, I shouldn't have skipped this. XD;; Not only does it infodump re: the worldbuilding (which is now Clear As Mud), but there's more characterization as well; the variety of stuff that, as I once complained to Charmian, Vlad either doesn't know about his friends and doesn't care to know, or knows and doesn't care to think about. There's this sort of graduated approach to theory of mind - Cawti >= Loiosh, Grandpa Taltos > Kragar, Keira >= Morrolan, Aliera >>>>> all other Dragaerans - by which I don't mean the characters are more psychologically complex (Loiosh is a simple guy) or even that Vlad/the reader knows more about them (arguably he didn't know shit about Kragar or Keira XD;;), but that the model he holds of them in his head is more three-dimensional, and 90% of the time you're in his head. Which is beautifully congruent to Vlad's character, tbh. Actually, Charmian said she didn't get this vibe at all, but to me it's really obvious in the plots like this one, where Team Great Weapon embarks on an endgame campaign of willpower rolls against elder deities. Even at this late date it feels like Morrolan and Aliera are RPed by other people.
Thing is, theory of mind is really central to these books, in that whatever conceit Brust has going tends to involve some spotlighting of the eponymous House's psychological profile - and of all fantasy novelists that have done houses/tribes/castes as personality sorter, Brust works up his stereotypes in the greatest detail... when he wants. IIRC Orca didn't feature the sort of deep convo Vlad had with Teldra, or with the young Lavode dude in Dzur. (This book actually feels really Vlad/Teldra, which given the ending, well. I mean they're literally soulbonded, among other salient aspects. ^^;)
Not gonna lie, I half-expected Dragaera-verse to turn out to be a virtual-reality simulation run by the Jenoine. XD;; The whole feel of the thing reminded me of nothing so much as going up the Infinite City in GetBackers, I was sort of wigged out.
G gave me the Forgotten Realms Dark Elf Trilogy for my birthday and I still haven't gotten around to it - it makes me think of those SSBB stories, yanno. XD;; I've a couple more books to order (Novik is like Pratchett, once one falls behind one may well never catch up) and then maybe I'll have the courage to eyeball my manga backlog. Steel Ball Run isn't over yet! But they seem to have made it to New Jersey, so the end is in sight.
Easter Sunday: Classic Flavour Easter is the same as Regular Flavour Easter this year. May be able to get hold of the new Doctor Who ep on Saturday night, assuming the usual Internet Jolly Rogers,* but if not it'll accompany the lamb-and-retsina mayhem. Until then this establishment is back to .**
* Apologies to those of you paying the fee ahaha; ironically I wasn't watching during the years it was co-produced by the Ceeb.
** Insert own Jesus Lives joke.
Steven Brust, Issola: darn, I shouldn't have skipped this. XD;; Not only does it infodump re: the worldbuilding (which is now Clear As Mud), but there's more characterization as well; the variety of stuff that, as I once complained to Charmian, Vlad either doesn't know about his friends and doesn't care to know, or knows and doesn't care to think about. There's this sort of graduated approach to theory of mind - Cawti >= Loiosh, Grandpa Taltos > Kragar, Keira >= Morrolan, Aliera >>>>> all other Dragaerans - by which I don't mean the characters are more psychologically complex (Loiosh is a simple guy) or even that Vlad/the reader knows more about them (arguably he didn't know shit about Kragar or Keira XD;;), but that the model he holds of them in his head is more three-dimensional, and 90% of the time you're in his head. Which is beautifully congruent to Vlad's character, tbh. Actually, Charmian said she didn't get this vibe at all, but to me it's really obvious in the plots like this one, where Team Great Weapon embarks on an endgame campaign of willpower rolls against elder deities. Even at this late date it feels like Morrolan and Aliera are RPed by other people.
Thing is, theory of mind is really central to these books, in that whatever conceit Brust has going tends to involve some spotlighting of the eponymous House's psychological profile - and of all fantasy novelists that have done houses/tribes/castes as personality sorter, Brust works up his stereotypes in the greatest detail... when he wants. IIRC Orca didn't feature the sort of deep convo Vlad had with Teldra, or with the young Lavode dude in Dzur. (This book actually feels really Vlad/Teldra, which given the ending, well. I mean they're literally soulbonded, among other salient aspects. ^^;)
Not gonna lie, I half-expected Dragaera-verse to turn out to be a virtual-reality simulation run by the Jenoine. XD;; The whole feel of the thing reminded me of nothing so much as going up the Infinite City in GetBackers, I was sort of wigged out.
G gave me the Forgotten Realms Dark Elf Trilogy for my birthday and I still haven't gotten around to it - it makes me think of those SSBB stories, yanno. XD;; I've a couple more books to order (Novik is like Pratchett, once one falls behind one may well never catch up) and then maybe I'll have the courage to eyeball my manga backlog. Steel Ball Run isn't over yet! But they seem to have made it to New Jersey, so the end is in sight.
Easter Sunday: Classic Flavour Easter is the same as Regular Flavour Easter this year. May be able to get hold of the new Doctor Who ep on Saturday night, assuming the usual Internet Jolly Rogers,* but if not it'll accompany the lamb-and-retsina mayhem. Until then this establishment is back to .**
* Apologies to those of you paying the fee ahaha; ironically I wasn't watching during the years it was co-produced by the Ceeb.
** Insert own Jesus Lives joke.
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SORRY FOR ALL THE YELLING.
Date: 2010-03-20 04:02 am (UTC)YOU SKIPPED ISSOLA HOW WHY I ACTUALLY BOUGHT THAT ONE DEAD TREE, F'REALS.
When I was reading Issola I was totally like "SO ARE THERE VLAD/TELDRA SHIPPERS OUT THERE (but I thought he didn't have sex with Dragaerans HOW CAN ONE GET AROUND THIS)" and then that happened and it was like "DID HE JUST SINK THE SHIP OR IS THIS THE BEST THING EVER Y/Y?"
Issola was kind of allll payoff (Iorich, too). Dzur was the most recent published when I basically just read all of them, and at first I was like "DIRECT FOLLOWUP TO ISSOLA YEEEEEEEEEEEEAH" and then, er, minimal Lady Teldra development. So you skipped over Issola and read Dzur? Were you confused about it? ^^;;
Sometimes I feel like Vlad feels like he wouldn't be friends with these ppl except they've gone through so much shit together and none of the humans understaaaaaand him either (not even Cawti! T.T Or more like the other way around,) so whenever shit goes down it's basically "argh, fine, w/e already". But if it were really up to him, he'd like to just go around being useless (curse you, Demon Goddess Verra!) which is sort of what he's been doing, skulking around in the wild hiding from the Jhereg. And then they have to keep dragging him back to civilization so he can be useful and have shenanigans. ^^;;
(I have to wonder if this is how it's going to be until The End. Yeash, he's been lurker-ing for years and years now, and the Jhereg have just been sitting on their asses. I wonder if they've kind of forgotten about him or forgot that he won't live as long as they do, after all, they're Dragaerans, maybe their Awesome Revenge is a plan 50 years in the making and Vlad will be dead of natural/other unnatural causes by then....)
I keep picturing Lady Teldra as Gwyneth Paltrow = =
Date: 2010-03-20 04:30 am (UTC)The thing about Vlad, which is what the conversation with Teldra about courtesy was mainly about, is that he has a decided self-image and ascribes motives and even feelings to himself in accordance with it, which may not at all be how other people see him (not to say what he "objectively" does/is). Sethra says: you want to know root causes and hate being used, but in actuality root causes freak you out and you're most comfortable with a clear, narrow goal to work toward. Teldra says (not in so many words): you think of yourself as this tough mouthy guy whose temper and sarcasm constantly get him in trouble, but you're actually a natural diplomat in that you navigate vastly different and fraught social contexts and always know exactly when to stop pushing. Cawti, well, you're right, Cawti understands Vlad better than Vlad understands Cawti. XD; And one of these contradictions is that he gives more of a shit about people than he believes he does, even in his own head.
o.O
Date: 2010-03-20 10:38 am (UTC)... I think I sort of picture her like Uma Thurman, who I find rather unusual looking and not necessarily and unreservedly attractive outright. Dragaerans and humans sort of seem able to pass as one another, but may not be entirely attractive to each other (issues of facial hair aside), I guess that could really be a part of it. Also, the issola comes off as kind of a crane/swan creature, and Uma Thurman has a looooooong neck. And is also incredibly tall (or seemed so in Gattaca, next to Ethan Hawke anyway. XD)
I haven't yet finished the last 1 or 2 volumes of The Viscount, myself, but... probably won't be happening for a while. orz
I have to think a lot more about his reincarnation is going to pop up in the last few (chronological) books. We get that leveled on us in the first book before we can possibly know what the significance is, but aside from almost making a Pond of Amorphia in a tavern somewhere and tinting his interactions with Verra, it hasn't impacted him in very apparent ways. Maybe because he's all in denial about it, since I think he's aware that he wishes it would just go away....
Anyway, I don't know how deliberate Brust is about it, or maybe I'm just dense, but it seems that Vlad loquaciousness is pretty much a smokescreen, and the reader has a tough time inferring Vlad's feelings until he suddenly spews it out, e.g. when he meets Cawti and they engage in some Dragaeran-hatin together. I was minorly traumatized when he said he still hated Morrolan and Aliera, too, but maybe he's lying (to himself) and saying the things Cawti-of-the-time would have wanted to hear, since he never goes to hang out with other humans and continues to surround himself with Dragaerans (even if it's inevitable in his career).
Maybe Orca is a special case, since Vlad has a special place in his heart for Orca? ^^;; Not likely he'd get introspective and sympathetic about them. And Jhegaala, we don't get any Dragaerans, so....
Re: o.O
Date: 2010-03-21 05:27 pm (UTC)Maybe because he's all in denial about it, since I think he's aware that he wishes it would just go away....
Vlad is so in denial it's hilarious. XD Like, from a plot POV it hasn't had much impact, because no one's telling him anything and he doesn't want to know anyway, but it ought by rights to have a characterization impact. And probably it does, from the other characters' perspective, but Vlad basically refuses to really think about eg. Kiera or Verra and What It All Means.
I was minorly traumatized when he said he still hated Morrolan and Aliera, too
Colonialism innit - you can be friends with someone but they will still be privileged oppressors because that is the System you all operate under. And per their privilege (even over 99% of other Dragaerans) Vlad's friends can be thoughtless. As well as awkward, at times. XD I tend to assume that if he really didn't want to hang out with them he would be able to find a way to avoid it (fate of the world aside). But hell, at least the food's good. XDD
Re: o.O
Date: 2010-03-23 03:36 pm (UTC)Yeah, but from a story progression POV I don't really get why Brust is letting it go on so long? I guess to fit in certain stories, and maybe the resolution frot eh Jhereg has to come towards the very end and he has things he need to cover before then, damnit, but it's really getting to be "and what improbable circumstance will Vlad find worth reporting to us on?" And just kind of frustration that apparently he can hang out in Adrilankha for the duration of a book without being horribly killed, maybe he should just do that. LADY TELDRA WILL PROTECT YOOOUUUUU.
He's definitely in denial, I just wonder how much he's aware of it—he's definitely aware of some of it, since he says stuff like "I just don't like to think about that and shove it into a dark corner" or something all the time, but then there seems to be things he's successfully repressed to the point that when it comes out he'll be surprised by them. I don't know if "ohshit, can use amorphia!" counts or not, though. I forget how he knew how to collect his blob of amorphia in Issola, was it something he knew from Way Back, or had he done some research since finding out?
... I still don't understand Devera, and I don't know how anyone was supposed to intuit anything about her from the books alone. ^^;;
Is klava real? That's what I want to know!
Re: o.O
Date: 2010-03-23 06:23 pm (UTC)Amorphia: he'd done some reading in Morrolan's library after the tavern incident, but it fell by the wayside as Vlad had a full life and becoming an Elder Sorceror was low on his list of priorities. But he happened to remember this one very basic spell for making amorphia marbles for future use! ...So yeah.
I just read about a Scandinavian method of brewing coffee that involved putting eggshells and eggy water into the brew to filter out particles, so... maybe? XD Like, I'd imagine Brust himself had at least tried it.
Re: o.O
Date: 2010-03-23 09:07 pm (UTC)I read Brust's blog sometimes, and at one point there was a discussion about how if he put out Godslayer/Spellbreaker/Morganti letter openers, ppl would be all over them—I can't remember if a collaboration with Starbucks was mentioned, though. But maybe I will hang onto my eggshells from now on, he does give a pretty description of how to make it in the tavern with Lady Teldra....
no subject
Date: 2010-03-20 04:56 am (UTC)LET ME KNOW IF YOU GET IT.