Help offset server costs by donating. This is totally optional. Any overages will go to library fines or new books.
RichardAbbott
About
- Username
- RichardAbbott
- Joined
- Visits
- 6,081
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member, Administrator, Moderator
- Games I like
- Sundry, mostly board
- Books I like
- Science fiction, fantasy, some historical fiction
Comments
-
No cheapo deal for us UK types... but it's only £2.99 so no problem...
-
(Quote) Presumably then the PCs might well communicate with each other and avoid the GM altogether... is this a good thing or a bad one? How many others here have played Diplomacy with the crucial role of covert negotiations (and acrimonious repercu…
-
(Quote) That sounds cool... presumably in some futuristic setting you could have signals amplified by odd electromagnetics in a nebula, or on a bigger scale gravitational lensing. Your comment reminded me of a James Blish story I read years ago (in…
-
What a splendid piece of research joining things up! Thanks @Apocryphal
-
Of course the other strand I forgot was Dorcas apparently starting to remember the reality of her death
-
Unless the process of becoming Autarch involves cruel and unusual modifications...
-
> @clash_bowley said: > Ah! OK, @RichardAbbott! I read that last as meaning "The autarch at times spoke to the androgyne", figuring the androgyne was high up in the autarch's favor, and was betraying him. Another fascinating poi…
-
> @clash_bowley said: > I'm looking for the Autarch and you are distracting me with Father Inire! :wink: Try the 4 paragraphs from "For a moment the androgyne stood silent again" to "The Autarch spoke to him, something I was…
-
The character who - so far as I know - we have never knowingly met is Father Inire, who seems to be behind loads of stuff but as yet has remained mysterious
-
Love the cartoon 😁
-
Right, let's have a go. There's so much in these three chapters, only some parts being explained. The fundamental thing that emerges for me here is Gene Wolfe's extensive use of metaphor. We begin with the finding of the sword - at first sight a…
-
I felt that these chapters, especially the last, contained something of the core of what Gene Wolfe wanted to say - I've read them twice so far and will probably read again before commenting properly :smile:
-
Happily I spotted the Theseus reference :smile: And the best bit about the Jonas reveal was surely the description of the means of transport. Presumably Jonas will return in a future chapter / book, and at that stage we will learn a bit more about …
-
> @Apocryphal said: > I would have liked if the Innu had played more of a role in the story. One Amazon reviewer I read complained about the racism in the book toward the natives and the French, which I didn’t notice at all. There was one use…
-
(Quote) This is an interesting one, I think after doing some research. I think there are two bits: 1) "The land of Cain" - I'm not convinced that this has any direct connection. Genesis 4 has Cain saying to God after his punishment has be…
-
@Apocryphal the gold theme was a curious one... I guessed early on that this was the secret of Lion Lake, but in the end nothing much was made of it. Sure, there were the huge nuggets just lying around when our intrepid explorers got there, but then…
-
First, I liked it. Definitely. Some more detail on that. Yes, it was my first Innes novel. I thought the strongest point was the presentation of character - necessarily almost all male because of context, so it was light on female input, but I foun…
-
Not really a question I can answer very well. I did like the way that the terrain was unpredictable and implacable - I suspect that those who live there see that at least in some seasons it has a stark beauty, but that didn't really emerge here, onl…
-
(Quote) This is a point about which theologians debate greatly ("infinite are the arguments of mages..."). A Hebrew Bible prophecy (in Malachi) indicates that Elijah will be a forerunner before the Messiah. Now, in Christian terms, John th…
-
There was also a chapter called The Shadow of the Torturer in the book of that name... perhaps a theme? The prison is surely metaphorical as well as literal... humanity as a whole seems to be effectively a prisoner on Urth, and is as resigned to th…
-
(Quote) Your comment made me think a lot about the possible connection to communion (Eucharist or Mass in Catholic terms, which I presume Gene Wolfe would think in). In many ways the consumption of Thecla (whether her real body or not) is indeed a p…
-
Just finished it on a long train ride this morning (appropriately enough). Enjoyed it and looking forward to the discussion :smile:
-
Severian still has mixed motives, "'I have to do an errand for Vodalus'... I had no intention of performing it". I took the representation of Thecla that was eaten not to be her actual flesh (as I think you imply, @dr_mitch ) but rather…
-
(Quote) And presumably etymologically related to words for fire, as in pyromania or pyrotechnics
-
(Quote) Yes, totally agree. It is more (I think) a form of active recapitulation than memory in the ordinary sense. As happened just before he was seized by Vodalus's men, he can easily become lost in the reliving and then find it hard to reorient b…
-
> @Michael_S_Miller said: > FWIW, I listened to the audiobook, which is really excellent. I'll be rereading it in ebook in preparation for the discussion, so I'm curious if the format will make an impact. I have backed away from audiobooks…
-
Another great set of chapters for getting us into the deep mythology of Urth... "I who had been blind before understood why it was that Abaia had sent me this dream, and had sought to enlist me in the great and final war of Urth". But als…
-
(Quote) Aha, I should probably cultivate odd mutterings like "fool of a Took" as well...
-
(Quote) Nothing so clever...
-
Thanks @clash_bowley I'll put the review out and about. Apologies for the bold text in one of the paragraphs - it was supposed to be just a marker line for the end of the review proper, but I suppose that counts as some kind of mark-down signal :(