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NeilNjae
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This was a part of the book I liked. I thought the changes were interesting, and making them psychological rather than physical was an unusual twist. (But there could also have been physical changes as well, making the crew able to live in an non-Ea…
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I'm not a good one for picking up on writing, turns of phrase, and that sort if thing. That said, I think the writing here was serviceable if a little dull.
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Yes, it was another Big Dumb Object book. As you say, that's a fine tradition to join! But this book seemed just a bit too much like a low-budget Ringworld knock-off, even to following many of the same plot beats. As for the object? I guess we shou…
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Opening the novel with a sex scene was ... a choice. It certainly distinguishes the novel from the asexual stories of Clark and Asimov. This was a novel very much in the tradition of Big Dumb Object, so the characters weren't the focus of attention…
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(Quote) In my local group (the Milton Keynes RPG club) there are quite a few players who will make strong choices about how their characters will change, even over the space of a few sessions. In the game I'm currently in (Everway), one PC went from…
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Yes to clever women, but also a lot of women who are treated as no better than property than their fathers and prospective husbands. Disguises, yes, both deliberate (al-Rashid) and accidental (the three dervishes). Yes to stories and the power of …
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Yes, I also remembered the Odysseus reference just after I posted my notes. I also think that talking animals are a staple, but perhaps not ones as gifted or forthright as the talking bird in this one! As for the wrap-up, I think the introduction …
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OK, that all sounds good. And thanks for the comments on my notes. Let's keep to the schedule for a bit, we'll just post thoughts and musings as they come to us. But also, feel free to start threads on each week if you're ready before I am!
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On the one hand, this is somewhere the book could shine: hackneyed settings and plots often make for bad literature but excellent RPG settings, where everyone's improvising stuff and there's no editing. However, much of this setting is military age…
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There was the anti-progress slant, where the embracers of technology were all decadent wierdoes, but the "real men and women" of Virga were thrusting and assertive and heroic by being primitive. Or some tosh like that. I didn't get any mo…
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I'm not sure it really added much to the story. The only effect of the trip to the "visitor centre" was to prompt a complete reversal of what we thought Aubri's goal was. Again, I think this is somewhere the book fell between two stools. …
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I agree with the sentiment here. It was a setting that was trying too hard to mesh the hard SF ideas with the "cool vibes" approach of doing dieselpunk. If you compare this setting with some of the bizarre habitats dreamed up by Iain Banks…
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Aubri and Verena were the two most interesting characters. Aubri was a bit enigmatic and Verena had her own agenda, manipulating people around her. Hayden and Chaison were a bit one-dimensional and dull. Hayden's inner conflict, between hating the …
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I found it all rather dull, to be honest. I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, so wasn't involved with all the histrionics and angst over whether whatsitcalled nation was free or not. It was competently told and decently written,…
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Regarding Aladdin and his restraint: I think it's meant to be held out as a moral highlight of his character, that he continues to live modestly even when he could have riches. At least, that's what I think the author is getting at. I agree that th…
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(Quote) I'm most of the way through it.
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(Quote) "Members of the Hugos"? I'm not sure what you mean by that. The World SF Society doesn't have a great deal of structure or controlling officers. It has something to protect the "Worldcon" trademark and a process to shunt …
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See also the commentary from John Scalzi. It seems there was some pre-emptive censorship by the convention, which leaves a bad taste. I'm concerned about how the Anglophone SF world will further retreat from other communities. Not a good situation …
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I think we've rather lost track of the frame story at this point. These aren't tales supposedly to educate a psychopathic sultan, but ripping yarns to amuse in a coffee house. But I agree that there are a lot of tropes in this story that are very f…
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(Quote) I agree. If this tale had the pace of the earlier ones, it would have been about five pages rather than 25. (Quote) I agree with that, especially her very specific request for Shaybar. What did she think would happen when he appeared?
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I agree Falco was a paper-thin caricature, not a decent villain. He was just an excuse for the rest of the action. If he'd been toned down a bit, it would have made a better novel. There could have been some questions about whether he was right, or …
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I was getting at the idea of of "entrapment" being a restriction over what you'd like to do. Amina doesn't want to be away from her daughter, and doesn't want to be hunting down magical artefacts. But she wants to be a good Muslim and a go…
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(Quote) Thanks! Clash has talked about religion. For jurisprudence, the action is away from civilisation for most of the time, and for the rest the characters are in places frequented by sailors rather than landlubbers. When they are in Aden, they …
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@Apocryphal , can you please give an example (or two?) of things you found jarring? What was it about these characters that said "modern" to you, and what would have been the "medieval Arab" alternative?
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Questions posted. Let's hear your thoughts!
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It's Frebruary! How are people doing with The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi? Should I post some questions?
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As for the problems of using the treasures, I don't think we've had any hint of downsides for using them so far in the story. And I'm not sure we'll get back to them either, as the focus is now on the pari. I'm pretty much of the opinion that there…
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One thing that struck me about the story of Hasan is how fate and prudence combined to make his fortune. It was fate/luck that he got the diamond, but prudence to only sell it for a high price, and more prudence to invest the proceeds in buying and …
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I'm with Richard, in that I'd not heard of Marjana before this story. I wonder why she has been forgotten in English (European?) literature? It's also another example of cleverness being lauded over strength, as with Dalila the Crafty and many other…
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The main issue for my use of the setting is that we've only seen the military side of things during a war. That's OK, but isn't my taste in gaming any more. I think the setting would need some more fleshing out to make it suitable for gaming (and I …