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NeilNjae
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(Quote) So what were they a metaphor for? Did you get something other than colonialism?
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One decent treatment of uplifted animals is the supplement Ancient Echoes for the Blue Planet game, that deals with uplifted cetaceans in detail. (I think it's a treatment that gives a somewhat idealistic view of cetes, but that's just me). There's …
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I mentioned Jurassic Park as perhaps drawing deeply on the contents of this book. The trope of intelligent animals is common in SF, fantasy and folklore: Moreau's vivisection is just the SF mechanism by which it happens. Where I think this book is d…
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I think it's his expression of hope that Cartesian dualism is true, and there is something inherently different about humans that separates human minds from animals. But most of the book seems to reject that idea, with the beast-folk able to think, …
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I think it's a nod to some people being similar to beasts, and the alcohol is something that robs people of their personhood. It's a way Montgomery is closer to the beasts than Pendrick. Did Moreau drink alcohol? I think he drank a little. And there…
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I think the community of Moreau's compound and the community of the beast folk are different. Three of those have people forced together in order to survive (the Lady Vain, the Ipecacuanha, Moreau's compound). The other two are more communities of l…
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Moreau hasn't given the beast people names because they're just objects to him. I don't think the beast people name each other, apart from the title Sayer of the Law. Is that saying something about people and anthropomorphising? Are the boats someho…
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I think the start is creepy, when Pendrick is trying to understand the island. The endless screams of the vivisected puma are horrific, I think, especially as Montgomery tries and fails to ignore them. I think Pendrick's sojourn in the beast's villa…
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I think Prendick is meant to be the ordinary, decent, respectable member of society. I think he's the voice of "decency". His attitude to the animals changes a lot through the book, from fear and disgust to camaraderie to pity. He also cha…
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As I said elsewhere, Montgomery is a parasite. He contributes nothing to anyone and exists only to drink. I think he's meant to show the bestial nature of some people, while M'ling shows how some "lesser beings" can become almost human (an…
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I think Moreau isn't doing "evolution" but "eugenics". It's about deliberate improving of a race. I don't recall Moreau espousing any religious views; instead, he's the epitome of the amoral scientist. Moreau is vivisecting becau…
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I read the animals as victims, and I think it was intended that way. The novel also a blatant justification for all the worst aspects of colonialism. These poor benighted animals were raised to person-hood by the painful intervention of the white ma…
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I think Prendick thought he was in a thriller, but no one else was playing along. Virtually all the characters were friendly towards him. They were variously damaged and/or evil, but few were hostile. I think Wells did a good job creating and mai…
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Sorry, missed that! It's now at https://www.ttrpbc.com/discussion/618/june-choice-a-memory-called-empire/p1?new=1
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Nice to see Priest being eco-friendly before it was call, reusing this story for The Islanders. I'll admit, I didn't read it deeply. I think it lacks some impact from both being the second time I read it, and the lack of even the sliver of context …
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Another story from 1978. To me, that context is important. To me, this isn't a story about sex, it's a story about war and its after-effects. Violence was inflicted on Winho and the effects contineu, the damage increasing over time. Violence was in…
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I might add the third book to my TBR pile. You know how it goes...
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I'm struggling to read much more into this story than a Cold War allegory. Two indistinguishable side, separated by a wall, the soldiers young men manipulated by the distant rich. The notion of walls in people's minds as well as the physical aspects…
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I looked up, and this story was originally published in 1978. That makes sense, as the notion of two large powers glowering at each other over a wall is very reminiscent of the border in East Germany and East Berlin. I think we're meant to assume t…
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I liked the introduction to the vortex. It's an interesting idea that the world has no time zones: it's the same local time at every place in the world. The chapter serves the purpose of saying that this is not our world, and also the notion that th…
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(Quote) Wasn't there something at the end where Alex was executed, flayed, and the skin used to intimidate Catherine? I'll admit, I was skipping the book at that point so may have the details wrong.
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There are lots of stories to tell about war and intrigue, but I don't think you need the Aztec empire to tell them. The key reason for the setting is to ask what would happen if Europe (especially Britain) was the subject of imperialism rather than…
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The world-building seemed solid and I liked how we didn't have large chunks of exposition shoved down our throats. It probably helped the worldbuilding that it wasn't explained in detail: if Evans had said more, where would have been more opportunit…
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In the first part of the book, there was a nice feeling of suspicion and second-guessing. I don't know what Bevan was eventually revealed as, but he was set up as either a double agent or a mole for the Aztecs.
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I thought the world-building was interesting. The AH diversion point seemed to be Cortez joining forces with the Aztecs and therefore the Spanish conquest never happening. The technology was mostly described at the right level of detail: mostly it j…
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I'm sorry to say, I didn't find the pace improved. Just after posting my comment the book did the bombing of the large greenhouse and picked up for a bit. But then it went back to "self-centred and entitled person sits in room" and I start…
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Maybe not people, but... landmarks? shops? neighourhoods? And, relating this back to gaming, there are different ways to present and use maps in RPGs. One is the precise, realistic method with distances and angles. The other is the node-and-connect…
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I think we see how it works.
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(Quote) Is that another feature of the Archipelago's genesis? There's the semi-exotic Mediterranean islands opening up to UK tourists. There also the backdrop of the two rival imperial powers of USA and USSR, each with a web of client states, fighti…
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(Quote) I don't think that we should care about "authors." The entries span loads of space and time, and Priest doesn't call attention to any of the non-story authors. I don't think it's a useful line of investigation. Priest could have ma…