More Swordspoint musing

[resonant]

I re-read Swordspoint this week, just to see if it could clarify anything from The Fall of the Kings. (And also to see if I could make myself notice anything but the romance, the second time around. From my first reading I remembered precisely one line: "First he was rough, and then he was gentle.")

In some ways, reading the two of them so close together was a pleasure -- it was great getting to see Lindley's and Godwin's and Genevieve's literal ancestors, as well as the figurative ancestors of Basil's research. On the other hand, I must say that I have now had my decade's quota of quivering half-mad aristocrats, however lovely. But then, I'm a farmer's granddaughter, and have never claimed to have refined tastes.

Those of you who commented me and said you hated The Fall of the Kings -- I'm curious now. Was it because it cut off so soon after the end of the Theron/Basil story (which I grant you)? or because of a certain sense of Jessica Ex Machina? (which I also grant you, though I felt the ground was so well prepared that I would have been disappointed if she hadn't come back to pick up all the loose ends.)

Or was it because you expected or wanted Theron and Basil to succeed?

Comments

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

oh, how weird, I was just urged by somebody to read Swordpoints last night. I'd never heard of it but they convinced me to order it. However, they also told me that I should let them know before I read Fall of the King because they had to "warn" me about it. o.O

That combined with this post has me very curious.

[northern]

I didn't hate The Fall of the Kings, but I *was* a little surprised when they didn't succeed in some way, yes. And Jessica was very handy, there.

But still, I rather liked it, though not as much as Swordspoint. :)

None of the above?

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

Sorry if I gave the earlier impression that I hated the book. I didn't hate it, I was just disappointed in it and very frustrated after reading it. I've never read Swordspoint before (never managed to obtain a copy), so I didn't have any attachment those characters and granted, perhaps there were tons of nuances and carry-overs from that novel into this one that I simply wasn't aware of.

Regardless, I did like the universe that the authors created in Fall of the Kings a lot. I liked all of the characters and I thought that the plot was interesting.

But.

I thought that the execution of the tale left a whole lot to be desired. Namely, any emotional resonance whatsoever! Important people died/were tortured/etc. in the book and it seemed that none of their friends or associates could be bothered to notice. Characters did odd things that seemed out of character or absurd (i.e. Theron's whole decision to run off and get married) and no one seemed to care one whit. It left me with a sense that, because the plot needed the characters to do X or Y that the authors forced them to behave that way, whether it made sense or not. I wanted to care about the characters, but the authors seemed to treat them like pawns in the plot. Overall, the emotional storyline felt very shallow and unsatisfying to me.

Jessica was amusing and diverting, but...once she arrived, it felt to me like the authors said, "Thank god she's here! Now we can wrap up all these dangling plot threads in 40 pages or less!" Then, it was as if the whole plot was rushing downhill at breakneck speed, with lots of sly innuendo and clever manipulation (that set my teeth on edge), towards it's inevitable "Let's set things up for the sequel" conclusion. Feh.

Yes, I was hoping that Basil and Theron would have a life together but I could have lived with the fact that they don't live "happily ever after" if anyone in the story (including the principals) seemed to care that they didn't! ::g::

[bettyp.livejournal.com]

No, and yes. Easy part first: wtf is with Jessica, and why would I care? She's not a character in any meaningful sense of the word, which makes her signal role in the end of the story seem like it takes up space. I gather that she picked up her wisdom from Travels in Exotic Lands, but it felt like bullshit to me. I would have vastly perferred one of Basil's students to pull everything together out of the raw information he'd allowed them to have, because I *liked* the students, even the ones I didn't like. I at least felt like they were part of Basil's story.

But no, my problem wasn't the abrupt end. It was that, I think, there was no one *acting* in this story. Basil begins as a curious skeptic, and his research and his academic politics are his own; I started out caring about his work and where it would lead, the rivalries both personal and philosophical within the university, and his relationship with his cadre of students. In short, I liked him and wanted to see what he'd do next. From the moment he finds the book, Basil appears to have essentially *no* control over his own actions; he becomes obsessive and creepy, vindictive and power-mad. It's interesting, seeing his mental decline as he delves further into the Forbidden Mysteries, but it feels like something that's been done to this bright, ambitious young guy, just like the madness was something that was once done to the ancient wizards. It's not a matter of him failing or succeeding at any of his goals; Basil's goals are irrelevant a hundred pages into the novel. The grimoire's goals, the wizards' goals, and the Land's goals are all-powerful, and Basil's life gets ground up in a blender because of it. Theron's situation, of course, is even worse; he barely ever had a *shot* at free will, and even before Basil laid claim to him, it's not clear exactly what Theron wanted to do with his life (though that's appropriate enough for a college student).

Basically, I like stories where you have one or more characters with a goal, an obstacle toward the goal, and then the story revolves around the smart and dumb and worthy and wicked things they do to get there. Neither Basil nor Theron really *did* jack in the book, except get weirder. The climax, the abortive sacrifice of the king, felt utterly hollow because I didn't feel like there was anything of characters I cared about *invested* in the outcome. Basil was pretty much a mental wreck by that point, and Theron all the more so -- again, not due to anything they did; The Magic did it all *to* them. In real life, I don't buy that there's some force that propels us along blindly, and I find it unconvincing in fantasy, too, even if you say, "Oh, well, it's magic, though."

As a romance novel, of course, it fails on the grounds that they weren't in love. They might have been; there was clearly an attraction there, and they were both loveable people. But (as proven by the truth spell), Basil's driving motivation was, from very near the beginning of the relationship, to re-establish the line of kings, and to consecrate and sacrifice Theron -- which requires first controlling and reshaping Theron. Theron may have had purer motives, but regardless, it's hard to find their relationship terribly romantic.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi --

I actually loved the Fall of Kings because I loved the world it created, but it did leave me puzzled. It took me a while to go back and find the part at the beginning about the outlaw wizards on Kyros -- so at the end I was wondering what Jessica's deal was -- was she helping or hindering? I still wonder. Will Theron be king? Is Theron king?
Also, it so clearly ended in the middle -- what will happen next? Will he meet those wizards? Will they come back? Will the students become wizards?
Also -- what was the point of Theron becoming king? Did the country have a problem that needed a king to solve it? I would have liked more of a sense of what the land was like, and what the North was like. Maybe a few scenes with Finn or Greenleaf at home, or Lindley's grandmother.
Also -- it seemed so gratuitous that Basil and Theron should fail. It almost felt like they failed because the authors had decided they should fail. I don't know -- this is sort of linked up with my question about why they needed to succeed -- what was the point of it? And it's linked up with my questions about Jessica, too -- what's she in it for? I'm not sure I trust her, either -- mainly because I knew too little about her. I don't know her angle onthe whole thing.

Anyway, all that said, it was a good read, and I loved all the houses and fireplaces and chocolate. Although I don't see why Basil wouldn't dance in Riverside with Theron, and I think he should have.

Thanks!

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