January 2020, Question 5
- What did you think about the characters - Harry Gilmour? His crewmates? Harry's girlfriends? Harry's superiors?
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Only some of them emerged for me as memorable characters, though I suspect some are being set up for a longer life in future books.
The girlfriends were an exercise in contrast, and (I suspect like most of us) I hugely preferred Shirley to Janis. No doubt that's something else to be continued...
Someone I found intriguing (and, of course, repelling) was Janis's father. I had not heard before that there was a belief that the Royal Navy would if necessary cut and run to a safe place - but if said belief existed, it is all too credible that someone in his position would try and leverage the potential family connection to his advantage.
I myself find Janis strange and Shirley eccentric. Lord I love the English language!
I’ve read a few books with fun, incidental characters this winter. One Russian novel I read featured a zealous administrator that everyone nicknamed ‘the quotationer’ for his ‘habit’ of ‘framing’ ‘everything he said’ with ‘air quotes’. He’s depicted in a scene threatening someone with torture.
I found all the characters interesting and distinct, and well drawn. There were some good examples there of how to have a cast of competent characters, all good at their jobs, but still very much people. This is the sort of thing I find difficult to do in my gaming, so it's good to see it done well.
One of the things I really like about Black is his characters. They are, well, characters.
Yes, the characters were great and really vivid. It was a nice contrast that one of the very first non-Harry Gilmour characters we get a glimpse of is the arrogant, high-class spotter plane pilot, and then we close out with that assistant to the VIP who decides he has had enough of "carrying another man's pencil box" and wants to go into the Trade himself. The Shakespeare quote was nicely used.
Although the romance story was barely a subplot (as opposed to the main SUB plot), I did like the way Harry is described as not really understanding that Janice considers him her boyfriend.
I see what you did there, @Michael_S_Miller!
As the series goes on, you do find out more on the father!
> As the series goes on, you do find out more on the father!
Well, I bought the next book immediately after finishing this one!