> From: "Bryan Newell" <bryann at bryann.net> > > I recently reread "Teckla" for the first time since it originally came out > (I freely admit it is my least favorite of Mr. Brust's works), and I found > that it was quite a different book than I remembered. I had the same experience on my second rereading. The first time I read it the grief of the breakup seemed to overwhelm anything else in the story. I think a lot of bitterness about that gets placed on Kelly's shoulders, for no fault of his. > > The suprising thing I noticed on rereading was that Vlad appears, at times, > to be reduced to nothing but a Socratic foil: Kelly states a belief, and > Vlad reacts in a manner that, BY COMPARISON, makes Kelly's beliefs appear > reasonable (or at least more level-headed). If you hadn't noticed, reread > the parts of "Teckla" that involve Vlad and Kelly talking to one another. > Kelly states a moral principle, and Vlad responds by... threatening him... > saying something sarcastic and off-point, or just plain dumb. In my opinion, Kelly is a little too perfect. I figured that Brust was writing a character that had views very close to that of the author's. That makes it hard for the author to have the character make a mistake. There are parts, though, where it seems that Brust is arguing with Vlad, instead of Kelly. This is very common in most sf and fantasy. Because of Brust's ability to make his characters unique and self-consistent instead of either foils or voices of the author, I found this particular slip a bit surprising. I guess I am just spoiled. The really important thing about Teckla, though, is that it is the start of Vlad's big growth as a person. You have to read it to understand what happens later. I also think that stylistically, the books change after Teckla as well. This is not really apparent until I read (or reread) Dragon. In that book we are suppose to see the old Vlad but it does not feel quite right to me. All of this comes out after only, say, the third or fourth rereading.... No, I am not an addict, I an quit anytime I want to...I just don't want to.... -- Bradford Holden "It is the Casablanca of dystopias!" - A. McDaniel on _We_ by Yevgeny Zamyatin