Casey Rousseau writes: > I just re-read the first 4 Vlad novels last week. I remember being torn > up over Vlad and Cawti when I read it for the first time. Now, in close > succession and knowing a bit more of the 'lay of the land', I would argue > that Teckla is _not_ depressing. It is an integral piece of Vlad's story > that shows how he got to the point in his life where the events of Orca > and Issola could happen. Naw, it's still depressing. Sigh. I suppose I shouldn't just let that sentence lie there. OK, in more detail: Certianly the occurances in Teckla are an incredibly important part of the lives of both Vlad and Cawti, and important to the Empire as a whole. But from our point of view (the reader) what we see is two people we know and like heading down a road that leads to inevitable tragedy for both. That's depressing, even if it is inevitible. Equally depressing is the fact that Cawti and group, while certianly on the moral high ground, are doomed to failure -- probably bloody failure. As Brust-speaking-through-Sethra says, this is basicly a `you can't get there from here' problem. You (Dragaeraian society) has to get somewhere else first, and that place is generations away. -- "The faster you go DEAF the more time you have to READ." edu-core heavy-metal band Bloodhag <http://www.bloodhag.com>