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dr_mitch
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- dr_mitch
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Comments
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The "pneumatic" business really did make me wince on this read.
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Maybe as recently as 10 years ago, it felt to me like things might be heading in that direction. But now the 1984 direction feels more plausible. The oppression I can see in the world is much more direct than that in Brave New World, with fear ra…
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I didn't pick up on Severian as Dorcas' grandson, but agree it makes sense. In terms of the ending, it was a natural place in terms of the time line to stop. A few dangling threads were dealt with, and parts made more sense, but more than anythin…
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I've not read the Urth of the New Sun, but have it queued up for early this year. I'll talk about it when I've read it - I'm motivated at the moment.
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Final post in this thread. 64--66: Count Brass, Champion of Garathorm, The Quest for Tanelorn (Michael Moorcock) So...66 in 2019, though that's counting some novellas as individual books. It's not really about getting a high number though. And...…
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PCs don't need to be outsiders, and for my interests it's better that they're mostly not. But the culture needs to be briefly summarised in a few bullet points and maybe deepened with play. And getting smaller details wrong has to be okay. I'm t…
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I don't think so. For example, we get the Star Trek Federation from its own point of view, or in most stories Iain M. Banks' Culture from its own point of view. Much historical fiction manages just fine, though outsider elements are also often used.…
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Gaming a utopia is easy if there is a threat, going forth to do good elsewhere, coming into contact or being threatened by other societies, or if the utopia isn't all that it seems. Plenty of examples in fiction and gaming, some of which you've rais…
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I don't think being forced to starve, being denied shelter or medical care, or being kept ignorant is freedom - quite the reverse. I don't think anyone should be deprived of those things as a result of decisions. So I think everyone is entitled t…
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Oh, I think so. It's got some deep questions, well worth asking. it's well crafted with some clever bits in terms of style. The characters *are* simple, though I would argue there's some character to Bernard Marx. Interestingly though, the one ot…
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I don't think art needs suffering as such, either for the artist or in the art itself. For example, are the novels of P. G. Wodehouse art? I think the answer has to be yes. Though I would argue art has to have emotion, compassion, and skill at cr…
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I think there's an alpha minus explicitly referred to as non-white. But yes, it's racist. We could recast that by saying the founders were white and that was seen as desirable along with the other alpha characteristics. But that's not what was done …
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I don't see belief in God and science as remotely contradictory. I see biblical literalism and science as opposed, but that's not the same thing at all, and indeed the former is a modern phenomenon. The thing is that what the people in the book r…
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Almost everyone is absolutely happy. All material wants are met. All emotional wants are deliberately minimised. But there's absolutely no freedom or purpose to it; if any of us were dropped into that society it would be utterly miserable. It's i…
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I'm still trying to work out how I feel about Severian's moral growth. It's there, but it still somehow doesn't seem sufficient. Maybe that was never the point.
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Okay, I *think* I understand more. It's different branches with different and changing probabilities, the same way we've seen all time travel work. And for that matter the way resurrection with the Claw works.
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51 - 53. The Eternal Champion, Phoenix in Obsidian, The Dragon in the Sword (Michael Moorcock) 54 - 57. The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, The Sword of the Dawn, The Runestaff (Michael Moorcock) 58. The Secret Commonwealth (Philip …
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Judging from when I read it over the last, 2 chapters per week feels right.
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Excellent!
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Excellent!
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Dues paid or not I'll happily assist; I've read the books and would be able to do it, as long as @NeilNjae is happy to do the initial organisation.
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I think with these final chapters the book is slightly suffering from being a slow read (whereas it usually benefits). Still, just one short hop until the end when we can consider it as a whole.
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Thanks Chris for looking after this. The next one will be up in a matter of minutes.
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I'm in. I like for example the Master and Commander series, so I have enjoyed at least one piece of naval fiction.
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I really need to reread The Other Wind. It was beautiful, and it's been a long time. A Tehanu reread was more recent, but maybe I don't remember it as well as I thought I did.
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One thing I like in this book is that magic seems to be part of everyone - they're will to make decisions to do things other than just mindlessly carry on. Without it, all that is possible is to go through the motions of life. Were animals affect…
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Yes, he's not all that old. He's at the height of his powers, but willingly sacrifices them up to deal with the crisis. The question is what is Ged going to do now. He no longer has power or purpose. His loss of power could also be seen as being str…
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Arren I find a very pleasant character. There 's echoes of archetypes there, and Ged and Arren echo Merlin tutoring King Arthur. The big difference is that Arren is not a warrior king. That's the subversion. He has struggles but they're different.
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Oh, the sick burn was great. One of the few times Severian actually comes across as, dare I say it, cool.
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Theorising: (1) Nessus and the Ascians are proxies for the war between Abaia and Erebus. As @Apocryphal said. (2) The Autarch is the Autarch because he (or potentially she) carries the memories of previous Autarchs. (3) For the memories t…