--- Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote: > > > On Mon, 28 Jun 2004, Johne Cook wrote: > > > >Not as often as I should. But rereading them can be quite painful > for > > >me. On the other hand, it can also be fun. I'm doing it now, and > > >discovering that YENDI doesn't suck as much as I thought it did. The > > >voice, at any rate, is just where it should be for the most part. > > > > Thank you. I've always thought this wasn't as bad as has been made > out. > > Ditto (somehow from "dictus" - "said" hence "what he said"). I didn't realize that. But it's quite regular--Latin "ct" turns into Italian "tt" and Latin "-us" turns into Italian "-o". > Someone's definition of "novel" is "long prose work with something wrong > with it", That's a good one! And I take the liberty to agree with the author: the voice is fine. > and probably each Text of the Vladiad has a different fault, > but > I've never had any particular complaint about _Yendi_ (except perhaps > for > a grumble about the Author waving the solution to the novel in front of > us > as the hero sticks out his foot). Certainly I prefer it to _Taltos_. Spoiler warning for _Yendi_, I guess. For people like me, all the death that no one cares about is disturbing. Especially the SiG's guards. Why revive her but not them? Were their souls destroyed? I find it annoying that Vlad interrupts Morrolan *twice* when Morrolan is about to give Vlad the clue that the SiG is a Yendi. Also, it's got plot holes. Why didn't it occur to Laris that he was putting himself in the SiG's power? Why does the SiG give Vlad a useful clue by sounding out Norathar on the invasion of the East? I'd think she's be focusing on how to keep Norathar from becoming Empress, since N. is sure to want revenge and will have excellent resources for finding out who slandered her parents. One point of the SiG/Laris plot is to disgrace Morrolan and Aliera. Well, that works--they intervene in a Jhereg matter. But we never learn anything about the consequences of the disgrace. Did A. and M. get themselves off the Heir hook before they even found out who the Sword is? Have they blown their chances of becoming Warlord, which seems to be important to them? (Speaking of which, I don't think we ever found out why StY wasn't working on invading the East now instead of thinking ahead to the next reign.) I think there are one or two other similar problems that I can't remember. Also, I don't enjoy the first part of the book--Laris blows up something of Vlad's, Vlad kills one of Laris's employees, forehand down the line from Laris, backhand slice by Vlad... But I do like it after the Sword and Dagger show up. (And I'm hoping to see Menthar again.) > By the way, why "YENDI"? Because Vlad comes to terms with--indeed, wallows in--the Yendi side of his character? Jerry Friedman __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail