More Swordspoint musing
Feb. 26th, 2003 01:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
resonantI 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?
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?
(no subject)
Date: 3/18/03 12:54 pm (UTC)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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