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Upon finishing PotD I was surprised to feel no immediate desire to reread
it a few times - some combination of 400 pages, the relative lack of
extended action, and Paarfi. But there were some pages or paragraphs or
words I searched for right away - perhaps the list would join me in
contemplating them.
1. Two letters were high points in the novel for me: Pel on Sethra, and
Aerich to Pel. The first, because it cast such an interesting light on
that most laconic of encounters (and one feels that for once the
translator has not had to edit Paarfi down) and because it's so
characteristic of Pel. And so hilarious. The second, because Aerich's
nobility is so evident in it and in his manner of addressing it (a gesture
worthy of his model, Athos).
While on the subject of the Three Musketeers, I'd like to point to chapter
XLVIII of TTM, in which Pel's model writes Aramis a Yendian letter, and to
Twenty Years After, from which "the desire to avoid crossing blades with
you" might have been taken. These echoes added greatly to my pleasure in
these letters - I feel that Paarfi could use some more of the bite of
Dumas (e.g., when Athos introduces his son to the teenager's mother, she
asks to take him into her care, upon which Athos says 'you may have
forgotten the story of Oedipus but I have not'). I haven't read Le
Vicomte de Bragelonne because not even the French seem to have anything
good to say about it - hopefully that's not a bad omen - reserving
judgement for another 800 or so pages...
2. Teldra spends a considerable time in the wilderness in this novel.
Looking back at the beginning of Issola, where Vlad has a typical
I'm-better-than-a-Dragaeran moment about his woodsmanship, I wonder why
Teldra has to pick her way carefully. (By the way, can someone reassure
me about the first interaction between them in that novel, where Teldra in
effect says they are friends? I had assumed their relationship had
consisted of 'Effusive greeting' -> 'uncomfortable/off-balance
acknowledgement' and 'Wine?' -> 'ditto' until that point.) There are
several points about Vlad's reporting of Teldra's account of her meeting
with Morrolan in Issola chapter 7 that are worth poking at.
3. Tri'nagore gets slapped down by Verra when he suggests Kana might make
a good Emperor. I think this is his sole function in PotD. Somewhere in
Issola Teldra says something like 'You don't hear much about him these
days' and that he was associated with the razers of Blackchapel. I didn't
identify him in the gods' confrontation with Zerika but presume he will
appear later in association with some intrigue and perhaps, to be wildly
speculative, alternate methods of godslaying.
4. Oaths - touching that Piro has adopted "Cha!". Rather chilling that
the Musketeers (except Aerich?) use "Star me", hearkening back to the
nearly-abrupt conclusion of PG. I found "The Trey", presumably appearing
to complement Verra's sisters, rather jarring.
5. Tazendra's intelligence - I admired her speech in concluding chapter
16. I find her (assumed?) stupidity grating after a while - I hope she
gets more opportunities to demonstrate that "if Sethra Lavode said it, it
must be the truth" in reference to 'no dumb sorcerer ever made it past
500'.
6. Horse racing. Is Paarfi being nonsensical in the chapter 27 digression
about a runner chasing a rider? There's a book (well worth reading)
called Chasing After Antelopes which has interesting things to say about
bipedalism and strategies for a band of weaponless hunters to run down an
antelope. Dragaerans are very tall, but also very slender - are they
heavier than Easterners? I had assumed they're heavier and would burden a
horse, but then they would also make relatively worse runners. I recall
Khaavren being impressed by Crionofenarr riding a stallion. Do we have
reason to believe gravity on Dragaera is 9.8 m/s/s? Any ideas?
7. The Paths - reading Zerika's ordeal walking the Paths, I was reminded
of Amber - both hellrides and the Pattern. Maybe I'm just imagining
things on the basis of Brust's admiration for the late lamented Roger
Zelazny (and v.v. - Z.'s intro to TRiH was what got me started down this,
uhh, path) but maybe someday we'll learn Vlad, Morrolan, and Zerika all
bear some mark of the passage. (Ok, that's way out there, but Vlad's
bonding moments with Spellbreaker were a bit like Corwin's encounter with
the Jewel of Judgment so it makes analogic sense [above proviso applies].)
0. Excellent list, everybody - I've been reading you since early December
and have learned quite a few "obvious" things I hadn't picked up on.
- Philip Hart