Book re-reading

[imhilien]

One sad thing about the COVID lockdown of my city right now is the closure of the libraries (you can't even return books through the slots, but no late fees will be charged), however, I'm reminded that I'm only half way through my Exiles / Galactic Milieu re-read.

I tend to get distracted by new books to read at the library like a magpie who sees the new Shiny Thing.

Comments

Book re-reading

[uncle_arthur]

I have just finished my GM re-read and am now on TGT of the Exiles series. I prefer reading the series in that order. In fairness, I can't wait until Marc turns up in the narrative.

Re: Book re-reading

[imhilien]

It's great how you can re-read the series in different ways and it will still make sense. Things certainly get into higher gear once Marc arrives, yes.

In TV Tropes, one of the things Marc is listed as* is 'Magnificent B**stard'; when they turn up, the heroes know they're in trouble!

*He's also listed as Well-Intentioned Extremist and Evilutionary Biologist.

Re: Book re-reading

[uncle_arthur]

In TV Tropes, one of the things Marc is listed as* is 'Magnificent B**stard';

One of the many enjoyable elements of Exiles is pinning a character down to a 'known' person or trope. One I missed for ages was Tony Wayland who (I must assume) is based on the Germanic 'Wayland the Smith'.

From Wikipedia: "Wayland the Smith is a legendary master blacksmith, described by Jessie Weston as 'the weird and malicious craftsman, Weyland'. [...] ... Wayland is a smith [...] is enslaved by a king. Wayland takes revenge by killing the king's sons and then escapes by crafting a winged cloak and flying away."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayland_the_Smith

Perhaps we should compile a list! ;-)

Re: Book re-reading

[imhilien]

Poor Tony... he was like a football that got kicked from pillar to post. I think one of the most chilling moments in the series is at the end of 'Adversary' when he's trying to make the second time gate operational but telling Cloud and Hagen during the chaos that they'll never escape their father. Brr.

A list has been made of some of the character comparisons here: https://manycolored.fandom.com/wiki/Saga_of_the_Pliocene_Exile

Re: Book re-reading

[uncle_arthur]

Just got to this bit in my re-read. Interested in your thoughts!

https://www.reddit.com/r/JulianMay/comments/ien840/who_else_did_felice_ask_for_help_when_destroying

Re: Book re-reading

[imhilien]

Very interesting... I think that the 'two-in-one' are Elizabeth and Brede, as they briefly became Unified when Brede was raised to operancy by Elizabeth. Then they quarreled, with Elizabeth shutting her mind to Brede, making them 'separate'.

I do think the Howlers were the others Felice had approached with the 'other ways' being, 'don't do the Thing, please'; because the destruction that she had planned would indirectly affect them too.

Re: Book re-reading

[uncle_arthur]

Your theory of the 'two-in-one' makes perfect sense. Felice cannot be calling to a Tanu, so it has to be either a human/lowlife or Brede; the brief unified nature of Elizabeth and Brede would explain the descriptor. However, Felice even bothering to request aid from them seems illogical and even dangerous to her from a world-building perspective!

Felice knew that Elizabeth was a farsensor/redactor and therefore would have no useful creativity to lend towards the Gibraltar zap. Of course, Felice may not have known what metafaculties Brede had. However, it's an illogical thing for Felice to do anyway, even in her madness, and probably impossible given the timeline of events. That's because at the time of the zap, Elizabeth had withdrawn into her cocoon of fire (Sukey couldn't farspeak her to warn her, remember) and, even if Elizabeth had been available to refuse Felice's request, the latter wouldn't have wanted her to know of the plan in case she gave the game away to the Tanu and helped them to escape the flood. This concern of Felice's surely holds true even more so for Brede.

With regards to the 'many-in-all' identity, I can't think it can be anyone else except the Howlers for the reasons stated above (they must be either Firvulag or humans - and lowlife humans were mostly torcless and wouldn't hear the call for help). I'd still love to know what alternatives to the zap (if any) they offered to Felice.