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NeilNjae
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- NeilNjae
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Directly, no. The setting is a decent one, but nothing overly special. The romance storyline is one I'd like to include in my gaming, but it's tricky to do in most contexts. I've done it sometimes, but it's something to flag up with people before t…
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I think there's enough in the setting for a talented author to write some compelling stories. It's a shame that Sullivan isn't that author, at least for me. The setting could also be a decent background for RPGs, but that's another question.
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There wasn't enough there to keep me interested. By the time the main plot arrived, I was already so bored with the book that I no longer cared. Sorry.
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The romance followed the usual progression in these stories: an initial and somewhat irrational attraction, followed by various fumblings as the two people come to accept their feelings and realise the other has the same feelings. It was OK, it's ju…
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It was an inciting incident. It got the ball rolling. It was fine. See my answer to Q3 about my issue with it (why did no-one think that Fia might actually be a bad person who deserved to be in prison?).
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I thought Fia had some depth to her, but Davik was little more than a walking bag of hormones. One thing that had real difficulty getting past, though. Davik broke into a prison and took away a prisoner , who they knew nothing about. When that pris…
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The setting was decent. It had a lot of similarities with The Expanse (space opera with no FTL, everyone in one system, lots of stations and habitats), but without dwelling on the technical details of spaceships and the like. I don't think this sett…
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Sorry to say, I had the opposite opinion of this book. I found it very dull, to the extent that I wasn't able to bring myself to finish it. Yes, there was some interesting world-building in the background, but the characters (Davik especially) were …
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(Quote) I think the book is promoting authoritarianism as a good thing. It's a book with a message. I think that if it was asking a question, it would show alternative forms of organisation. Thinking about the setting, I wonder what other authors w…
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I'd like to take the original idea, but spin it in a more solarpunk direction. Let's focus on the communities that come together. For instance, the villagers who maybe rob travellers, but support the weak and vulnerable in their village. Or the pepo…
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Go on Clash, tell us how you really feel! But seriously, I don't think the novel espouses a particulary fascist ideal. There's no worship of the motherland, hatred of others based on race, veneration of the military, all that kind of stuff. But it'…
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I think we could take "Re-emergence of the wilderness" as representing the arrival at the farm, and being prevented from entering. Just as the travelling group was reaching some form of stability and internal co-operation. That changed whe…
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Oh, I'm only paraphrasing Hobbes based on what I've picked up over time and cribbed from Wikipedia! I've not read the book. I think the groups we see in the book are too small to clearly identify exactly what social splits are in play. All the spli…
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Yes, it's a big contrast between is book and our previous one ( Nameless Fae ). I think the descent into violence is too rapid in the book, but it makes sense for the storytelling.
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The "Death of Grass" idea was reused in the RPG Blue Planet, a near-future SF game. It's not really explored in the game, rather used as the reason why a newly-founded colony world was abandoned for a century; the Death of Grass (called Th…
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(Quote) That's the one.
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I think the novel finishes when Carpenter's made his point. Leviathan was written during the English Civil War. In the novel we have social breakdown, and what is a war of all against all. The breakdown is so bad that even brother is fighting again…
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I refer back to my earlier answer about Hobbes. Yes, it's entirely medieval. Following Hobbes, an absolute monarchy is the only stable form of rule when the world has fallen into a civil war (or other anarchy). John is the king, Pirrie is the champi…
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The overall trajectory of international co-operation at the start of the book rang true. Initial aid, then that dried up as the need stayed and people started to think charity began at home. My experience of COVID lockdowns wasn't as insular as thi…
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I wasn't overly convinced by John becoming the leader. I couldn't see why Pirrie didn't take over, beyond not caring to. The other thing that didn't sit right was how Pirrie shot his wife then essentially abducted a girl, and the rest of the group …
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I'm with Apocryphal: the mechanism of the collapse was incidental. This was really a story about how civilisation is a thin and fragile veneer over barbarity and violence, and how rapidly people can fall to that state. The death of grass idea was ju…
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I try to bring relationships more into the games I play and run. Having emotional connections between characters makes the game engaging, I think. But I generally play at a local club, and sometimes get players I don't know. A lot of people can be r…
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(Quote) Tell us more!
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I think the book was, in Le Guin's terms, mostly about relating, discovering, and changing. Yes, the overall outcome was never in doubt: Gisele and Mal would have some form of "happily ever after". What was in doubt was how they got there,…
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I was pretty unconvinced by the romance. Gisele was somewhat believable, but Mal didn't have much personality other than being sweet and naïve, endlessly forgiving. Lancaster was trying to show Gisele's lust for Mal, but it didn't convince me. As fo…
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(Quote) I don't have much to add to this. It's cozy. It's an escape from the pressures of the everyday world, and goodness knows there are enough of those pressures. The fantasy aspect makes it even more distant from our current world, so this book …
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My thoughts. Yes, it's a very gentle book. I mostly enjoyed it: it rattled along, it kept me entertained, and didn't demand anything of me. It's a long way from my favourite book, but I didn't stop part-way out of boredom. For the commercial side,…
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(Quote) I don't think there's anything so sophisticated going on. I don't mean there's coherent world-building, just that it's like the contemporary world with the painful bits removed.
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Questions posted. Hopefully they'll prompt some discussion.
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I've also finished. Now to try to come up with some worthwhile questions about it. That won't be easy!