Help offset server costs by donating. This is totally optional. Any overages will go to library fines or new books.
NeilNjae
About
- Username
- NeilNjae
- Joined
- Visits
- 1,880
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member
Comments
-
(Quote) > (Quote) I'm with you on this opinion. A lot of the last few chapters has been about Severian undertaking the test to return the New Sun. And what is the test? Why does Severain (and us) think he could succeed, where so many others have…
-
(Quote) And yet... the narrator-Severian says that the tomb he visited at the beginning of book 1 was the tomb of that earlier Severian. And that tomb is old. Of course, it could be that the other-timeline Severian died and was buried in the alread…
-
I've updated the schedule to indicate when we'd be reading if we did two chapters per week. If we discuss the first two chapters on 9 January, we'd finish the book on 20 August.
-
I don't know how many pages are in each chapter, as I've only got the books on Kindle. But I've just re-read a couple of chapters, so two chapters a week should be fine. Shall we start at that pace? We can always adjust if things are going too fast…
-
(Quote) Thank you!
-
(Quote) The books have two for three viewpoint characters, and chapters (roughly) cycle between them. I think the whole trilogy is shorter than the Book of the New Sun, so we could go with two chapters a week and finish in the autumn. (The interlude…
-
Unrelated to this discussion, take a look at this time lapse of the milky way. The camera is stabilised to the sky, so you see the sky still and the planet rotating underneath it. It's the same perspective Severian has of the world.
-
I've taken a look at a schedule for the long read. There are 66 chapters in all, which is an awkward number to fit into about 50 weeks. I've gone for one chapter per week, but two chapters on the third week. I've kept the weekly deadline on a Wednes…
-
Thanks for the offers, folks. I'll sort out the schedule and kick things off. If I flounder, there's help about.
-
The manner in which he saw Dorcas was a bit implausible, I thought. The coincidence of finding her, and the timing of that at just the moment when she was burying her husband. In fact, the way these last few chapters have played out reminds me great…
-
Shall I offer to co-lead Broken Earth for next year? Next year might be busy, so I'd like to have a partner in doing it.
-
I'm happy to give it a go. I struggle with military RPGs, especially how to give the players agency while keeping a military feel. More examples from literature are good.
-
(Quote) I took that as a statement of the power of Old Speech, so that Arren could understand the words without having previously known them.
-
(Quote) I think in Atuan, Ged has a definite objective and is out to achieve it. When we meet him, his first plan has failed, but he's still intent on achieving the objective. In Shore, Ged knows that something is wrong and intends to fix it. But h…
-
I liked that the loss of magic affected people's personalities, rather than their power necessarily. It reminded me a of a CJ Cherryh novella where the hero traded with the fae and gave away his morals as a price for rescuing his son (at the end of …
-
Hort Town as an interesting place for me. I thought le Guin did a good job of showing both what the town was like in the past and contrasting it with what it's like now (the hazia addicts, the wizards without power). Similarly, Lorbanery showed the …
-
(Quote) I don't think Earthsea magic fits the tropes of "standard" fantasy, or even much folklore. There are some spells, such as the ones that keep lambs healthy and the ones that allow silk to be collected and dyed. I agree with @Michae…
-
Ged has two goals in this book. One is to stop the death of magic, by closing up the hole in the wall bounding the land of the dead. The other is to develop Arren so he can become the true king of Earthsea. I think the former is the more important t…
-
(Quote) Yes, I think the novel is more about Sparrowhawk's story than Arren's, but perhaps that's a discussion for another thread. Arren does gain wisdom and confidence in the book. He learns to make decisions and sit with the consequences. He gain…
-
(Quote) Yes, but who (or what) actually are the leviathans? What do they want? Why are they using Nessus and Ascians as tools in their struggles? I don't think the books have yet been clear on the matter. (Quote) Agreed. But as more than one person…
-
(Quote) I got the impression it would be the other way around: Severian will become the autarch by absorbing all the personalities of the current one. With hindsight, it's an obvious extension of what we already know: what happens if you absorb the …
-
I'm sure the subject of utopia / dystopia will come up, as will a comparison to 1984 and perhaps The Handmaid's Tale. And then still think about how the ideas in the book could relate to gaming. It's been a while since I've read the book, so it'll …
-
(Quote) I'm happy to stay with Brave New World: I hope there will be plenty for us to discuss. We can always do Time War another time. Oh, and to clarify my comment above: Jade City is a good and well-written book. It's just the (accurate) portraya…
-
In an update on my own reading, I got about three quarters of the way through Jade City before putting it down in disgust. The author isn't flinching from the "gangster" aspect of the story. The viewpoint characters are all happy to murder…
-
The main feature of these chapters was the weirdness of the various forces engaged in the battle. Near-naked infantry, midgets on blind giant humans, peltasts with large glowing shields. And despite the widespread use of energy weapons, the tactics …
-
I think the reason for the trip to the Last House, in the narrative, is for Severian to understand more about prophecy and time travel, and for us to be reminded that such things are possible. The reason in-fiction? I'm not so sure. But how did the …
-
(Quote) and does Mannea have another motive for sending Severian there?
-
(I hope your partner recovers soon.) I liked Foila's story. It seemed a nice jibe towards all her suitors trying to show off for her. Severian may think he's disposed of the Claw, but I'm sure he'll be reunited with it again soon. We had another …
-
Thanks all for the clear and unambiguous advice. Most helpful. Let's do Brave New World
-
I also liked Loyal's story. I liked how it was an example of playing with language. An interesting thing that came up in Ava's conversation was the madness of "corpse-eaters", those who have eaten the alzabo. Vodalus and the others at the…