On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 08:20:41 -0800, Scott Schultz <scott at cjhunter.com> wrote: > I've found that Tekla grows "better" with time. If you've grown attached to > the characters then the initial emotional impact tends to overshadow the > actual story the first time through. The second time I read Tekla, I had a > lot more appreciation for the trap that Vlad found himself in; trapped > between his wife and The Organization. However, it was a good five years or > more before I picked that book up again. This book is where I knew that I was hooked. Jhereg entertained me, Yendi intrigued me, but Teckla broke my heart. It went in a direction that no sane author would go (from a Marketing perspective). Here's how I have it in my head: Jhereg introduces the setting and the cast, Yendi is a love story as fairy tale, and Teckla is a love story as harsh reality. It is a much more mature book. If the love in Yendi is achieved in great part because of kind circumstance, we see the punishment of love in Teckla when circumstance takes a hard left turn. Love is still there, but the one thing they had in common becomes the one thing that divides them. This is not fair, but such is life. Who takes risks like that when you don't have to? This is not a "fun" book, but it is an important one, and there are moments of wonder, such as when (and how) Vlad's assassin finally shows himself, or "meeting" the ghost on the way to the thing (I'm being deliberately vague here). Vlad goes from being a clever character to being a real one (at least for me), and the ending was about as satisfying as one could hope for under the circumstances. Love remains, but it is irrevocably changed, as is Vlad. I haven't spoken of what occurs in the author's experience to generate such a radical shift in the direction of the general storyline but one presumes that it is the working out of catharsis. One hopes it was as successful as such things are capable of being. I mentioned that I recently re-read the entire first omnibus edition (I read the three novels in three days with NaNo2k4 roaring up upon me). I did not skip Teckla, and am better for it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . johne cook wisconsin, usa johne.cook at gmail.com / jcook at apostate.com http://www.phywriter.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .