stuff i read 14 Februrary 2020
Feb. 14th, 2020 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tabacoychanelDaphne Du Maurer, Frenchman’s Creek (1941) If you thought this was going to be a sexy romp where a very bored, very married aristocrat has an affair with a swashbuckling pirate then you don’t know Du Maurier. If you do know Du Maurier you’d assume she’s congenitally incapable of writing a book that’s not a stealth-paean to the Cornish countryside, AND YOU WOULD BE CORRECT. Dona St. Columb is a fugitive from her own life. She’s run away from London to rusticate in Cornwall. She’s a bad wife, a bad mother, a bad neighbor, and (most damning as far as I’m concerned) a bad employer to her servants. Even when she’s surrounded by pompous douchecanoes I found it hard to sympathize with her, which means, probably, I’m not meant to. What this book does really well is examine the difference between hunger for diversion/stimulation and hunger to achieve/accomplish. Initially Dona can’t tell the difference because she’s been entombed in a life that asks her to abdicate her sense of self, and she’ll take anything at this point. Any escape hatch. The worst part about Dona’s entourage of male admirers isn’t that they pressure her for sexual favors; the worst part is they demand her attention and energy and they’re livid when she mentally peaces out because she’d rather daydream about piratical hijinks than listen to these useless men drone on. Utterly relatable. I think this is a technically accomplished book but not one that resonated with me. Du Maurier can do better, and my campaign to make everyone acknowledge My Cousin Rachel as the zenith of Du Maurier’s work proceeds apace!
Steven Burst, Taltos (1988) (Vlad Taltos #4) “Why did Morrolan have walls around a castle that floated?” For the #aesthetic, Vlad, jeez. Teckla was a heavy book and it was so nice to have Vlad back to his breezy self, here at the start of his journey. What makes this book work is the flashbacks, which are interspliced with surgical precision between the stitches of the present-day narrative thread. In the present, this is a “how I met my Dragonlord buddies” origin story. In the past, it’s a “how I became an assassin” origin story. These are both facts I already knew about Vlad—that he’s an assassin, and that he has Dragonlord buddies who would die for him—but it’s the how that matters. I was legit tearing up at the end of every flashback, particularly if Vlad’s grandpa appeared, and when Loiash switched from calling him “Mama” to “Boss” I may have shed extra tears for how large the House of Jhereg’s mercenary values loomed in the poor kid’s life. If Vlad can never be a “real” Dragaeran and his atypical upbringing precludes him belonging wholly to the category of “Easterner,” then what does that leave except “assassin”? That’s one identity he chose for himself. Of course in the present-day it’s a running gag which is the more insulting term, “Jhereg” or “Easterner.” Goddamnit this is such a good book. The point at which it definitively blew my mind was when those centaurs commended Vlad on being “a good companion,” and the whole story flipped on its head. This is Morrolan’s quest; Vlad is just the sarcastic sidekick. I thought it was going to take the form of an elaborate heist but then it turns out they’re haring off to the Underworld omg. And the way Vlad saves the day by drawing on what his grandpa taught him!! I was chuffed to see everybody acting EXTREMELY Slytherin primary in the third act (everyone except Sethra, who seems to have prioritized saving Zerika over saving Aliera but that may have been bc she saw the entire Dragaeran Empire as her circle of concern). I think this series does its finest work when Burst is wrestling with questions of identity and Taltos is a real standout.
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Date: 2020-02-17 02:12 am (UTC)and my campaign to make everyone acknowledge My Cousin Rachel as the pinnacle of Du Maurier’s work proceeds apace!
I'd just been trying to remember which was the du Maurier book you'd recommended to me, very thoughtful of you tomention it XD
Alright, TALTOSSSSS, the consolidated waterfall :)
“Why did Morrolan have walls around a castle that floated?” For the #aesthetic, Vlad, jeez.
Indeed! Morrolan is definitely the sort of man who would do things for the #aesthetic :D
and when Loiash switched from calling him “Mama” to “Boss” I may have shed extra tears for how large the House of Jhereg’s mercenary values loomed in the poor kid’s life
Yeah, like, it's such an adorable and funny detail on the surface, but if you stop to think about it, ouch. I'm glad you continue to like Noish-Pa as much as I do!
If Vlad can never be a “real” Dragaeran and his atypical upbringing precludes him belonging wholly to the category of “Easterner,” then what does that leave except “assassin”? That’s one identity he chose for himself
Nod. This is also why I've tentatively recommended Taltos to a friend who enjoys the Paarfi books but couldn't stand Vlad the mobster -- not that I necessarily expect Taltos to win her over, but more as a, if you're not reconciled to Vlad after reading Taltos, then there's no point trying with the other Vlad books -- his choices, I think, don't get more understandable than this.
Of course in the present-day it’s a running gag which is the more insulting term, “Jhereg” or “Easterner.”
Yep! And it occurs to me, back to the 'Morrolan and Vlad on the stairs' discussion we were having, that Vlad simply picked the wrong identity to lean into with Morrolan. And once he course-corrected, with Fenarian brandy and stuff, things went much better, though not totally smoothly, of course.
The point at which it definitively blew my mind was when those centaurs commended Vlad on being “a good companion,” and the whole story flipped on its head. This is Morrolan’s quest; Vlad is just the sarcastic sidekick.
Ha, you know, I never stopped to think of it that way -- I mean, that there's a deliberate point that triggers this thought -- probably because I read EVERYTHING in these books through a Morrolan lens -- but you're right!
I thought it was going to take the form of an elaborate heist
Never fear, there's one of those as well! It's called Hawk, and you've got a ways to go to get to it, but it's also one of my favorites.
Sethra, who seems to have prioritized saving Zerika over saving Aliera but that may have been bc she saw the entire Dragaeran Empire as her circle of concern).
Yeah, that's how I read Sethra: the whole Empire is her circle, and she optimized for a least bad outcome. (Zerika, btw, is also a rather fun character, although I did not realize that until I read the Paarfi books.)
I think this series does its finest work when Burst is wrestling with questions of identity and Taltos is a real standout.
It is certainly the aspect of the series I love best (and am unsurprised that this holds the same for you :D) -- and I agree both that Brust is very good at it, and that Taltos is a standout in this regard. I mean, there are several other books in the series that are also powerful explorations on this theme -- I think Phoenix is also good in this regard, and Jhegaala -- but Taltos also combines it with being a lot of fun.
moving into bespoke commentary from the other thread:
I cannot believe that we got Spellbreaker’s origin story and it was…that. omg still not over it. I don’t think Vlad is generally speaking a himbo but that was Big Himbo Energy
Hahaha, yeah, a very unexpected origin story! Though, actually, I really wonder what Morrolan saw in Spellbreaker that he directed Vlad to it. It's not like Vlad would ever ask him, because that would be validating that Morrolan might know something that he doesn't, and we can't have that :P
and holy shit i just started Phoenix and did she just—summon Vlad so she could hire him for a hit wtffff haha
Yeah XD These books have an idiosyncratic relationship between the gods (well, really, mostly Verra) and people who are supposedly their worshippers, and Vlad's relationship with Verra is particularly interesting. But, I mean, she's kind of got an assassin on retainer, spiritually speaking, so why not use him XD
By the time we got to Vlad calling Morrolan’s bluff “You? Attack a disarmed opponent?? Pffttt” I was completely :D because this is so! much! growth! since that ultra-tense moment waaaay back there on the stairs when he completely misread Morrolan
Yes! And actually, for most of Taltos, until the very end (when they succeed in finding Aliera and then, oops, they now have Aliera, and are united in their desire to facepalm at her Aliera-ness), they're growing in their understanding of each other, but Vlad is still fairly antagonistic, but one of the later books, Dragon, fills in the space between Taltosand Yendi, and the early part of it is also a delight to me, because at that point Vlad has tentatively accepted that Morrolan is a (potential) friend, and you can almost see the two of them figuring out just how far they can push each other's buttons without setting the other person off, and it continues to be a masterclass in Enemies to Friends, or, really, Enemies to Vitriolic Best Buds.
I knew the third braid was occurring in the future ofc but I think it’s the kind of thing that has more impact on a reread when you already know what’s coming down the pike and you can pick apart the resonances.
Honestly, Brust's timing shenanigans are such, that I'm not at all surprised the third piece of the braid slipped past you as a conscious thing on first read -- it is a very confusing structure, especially as the spell part is so abstract. But it's a thing i really like on rereads.
my waterfall of Taltos thoughts
i see what you did there. you have Deathsgate Falls thoughts, i’m listening!
I'm so tempted to just link you to my 3 separate Taltos read-through posts, but they are spoilery for future books, so I think instead I will just sort of dump the non-spoilery pieces of them here, in vague order. This is like 95% ship manifesto stuff, so, you know, caveat lector, but you did ask XD
- It never stops being amusing to me that Vlad's first words about Morrolan are "Bit of a show-off then" (upon Kragar reminding him about the floating castle). Soon to be followed by "Pretentious bastard" and "pompous, supercilious jongleur".
- It also never stops being amusing to me how during the first interview with Vlad, Sethra does all the talking while Morrolan is rolling his eyes and making disparaging noises in the background like a sulky teenager. Hush, dear, grown-ups are talking. XP
- I keep forgetting that when Vlad and Morrolan almost get into a fight on the steps of Dzur Mountain, Morrolan doesn't actually draw Blackwand, and Vlad doesn't actually touch any of his squirreled away hardware, he just thinks about it, and Morrolan just takes a step out of knife range and looks at him. It's such an action-charged scene, I keep forgetting that very little action actually happens and the rest of it is mostly in Vlad's head. That's actually a very neat trick.
- So why does Vlad have Morrolan meet him in the Easterner's ghetto for their little fieldtrip to Deathgate Falls? Just out of contrariness? But "I think he enjoyed being the only Dragaeran in the place, too" (he would). And "he hadn't known that Ferenk's existed". (I wonder if Morrolan later sent somebody to buy up half the guy's cellars, or if he has his own sources of stuff like this directly from the East...)
- "We rested under the open sky that night, which sounds romantic but wasn't" -- suuure, Vlad :P. Also, the same paragraph contains the vital information that Morrolan doesn't snore. Also: "It was, I have to say, hard to stay hostile to the man next to me, if only because the day was nice and the walk so pleasant."
- Who wants to bet that Morrolan having them drinking tea from invisible glasses -- rather than teleporting/materializing a normal glass -- was just totally showing off.
- The pedestals at Deathgate Falls: "Morrolan tied one end of his rope around this pedestal [the athyra] which some might think in poor taste, I don't know." I'm gonna choose to take this as a fuck-you to Loraan, tbh.
- "The water was very cold. My teeth started chattering, and I saw that Morrolan's were, too, but I was too cold to be pleased about it." And just a few pages later: "I sat up and looked at Morrolan; he seemed even more exhausted than I. He was also very wet, as I was, and he was shivering as much as I, which I took a perverse pleasure in noting." (oh look, Vlad has recovered his schadenfreude, I was worried there for a minute) "Presently he caught me looking at him. I suppose he guessed some of my thoughts, because he scowled at me. He sat up, and I noticed his hands twitching as another scowl crossed his features. 'Sorcery doesn't work here,' he remarked." Poor baby, missing his magic :P
- On a related note, how much do I want bickery hurt/comfort fic of the two of them during their life-changing fieldtrip? Huddling for warmth when there's no sorcery to warm up with, recovering from the aftereffects of the right-hand turns on the path, Morrolan taking care of Vlad after they finally get back out...
- One of the neat things for me about the flashbacks of Vlad joining the Organization is seeing the restaranteur's kid in him as he goes about his first jobs -- learning to sharpen a dagger to a point to stick in a target's eye rather than sharpening the edge to chop vegetables, noticing how badly the restaurant storeroom in which he's hiding is organized. And just young punk Vlad fumbling within the Organization in general, having to be told about where he is not to try to assassiante people (home, place of religion, in front of his family) and fretting about laying low and if he messed up or not by using Loiosh as his distraction. The other awesome thing about young punk Vlad is, of course, Loiosh calling him "Mama" and then switching to "Boss", and just Loiosh volunteering to be his helper and being the sensible one in that duo even back then, as a hatchling.
- The sequential duel thing that Vlad doesn't go for -- I decided to count, and it looks like Morrolan and Vlad each dispatched six of the twelve Dragonlords attacking them, though presumably Morrolan was more orthodox/honorable in his fighting even after it dissolved into a melee. Also, I don't think I've ever noticed this before, but Morrolan's temper has a trigger, and it's Vlad calling him names, apparently. The first time they had their standoff, in Dzur Mountain, Vlad had just called him a bastard, now, in the Paths, Vlad says, "Drop dead, asshole" (and a bunch of other things, but fairly innocuous ones), and at that point Morrolan switched from glaring to: "His face went white and he took a step towards me. 'You never learn, do you?' He raised his sword until it was pointed at me. I held my hand out. 'Killing a man who isn't5 even holding a weapon? That would hardly be honorable, would it?' He glared at me a moment longer, then spat on the ground. 'Let's go,' he said." Now I'll need to keep an eye out for it in future books, because I wonder if Vlad did learn, after this, that while he could get away with a lot, calling Morrolan things like that to his face is not a good idea. Too direct an insult to his honor to ignore?
- It really jumped out at me this readthrough how much time Vlad spends looking at Morrolan's face here. Like, he reports his expression or lack thereof in pretty much every situation. I mean, OK, it doesn't have to have a shippy explanation, because Morrolan is the only familiar thing in the Paths of the Dead, a place where Vlad reeeeally doesn't belong, but it's very noticeable. In fact, he even remarks on it when he *doesn't* look over at Morrolan, when they first meet Kieron: "I wondered what Morrolan thought of him [Kieron], but I couldn't take my eyes off the Dragonlord's face to check Morrolan's expression."
- You know, whatever else, I've got to admire Aliera's sheer chutzpah in the face of absolutely everybody, starting with gods and ending with Kieron the Conqueror. Especially considering she was barely able to stand for a good chunk of her interactions, and has just learned of the death (and infamy) of her father and the entire world she has known.
- I kind of love that Morrolan's response to Vlad's instructions to "Bare your arm" -- when he's holding a vial of unfamiliar liquid that he got gods know from where -- is "Which one?" I mean, Vlad is probably past answering frivolous questions like "Why?" but I still find it amusing. I bet Vlad did too, in retrospect. (Morrolan does hesitate a bit when Vlad is holding a knife and tells him to come closer.)
OK, and I think the rest is either spoilery or Vlad/Morrolan quotes, so I'll stop here XD
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Date: 2020-02-19 11:45 pm (UTC)omg!! yr right
wait there are people who find Vlad off-putting??? and prefer Paarfi books? wut. haha he is the main draw for me. i know you view everything through a Morrolan-lens but VLAD! i can’t relate to not rooting for Vlad.
It's not like Vlad would ever ask him, because that would be validating that Morrolan might know something that he doesn't, and we can't have that
adfkdjfdkfjd so true
you can almost see the two of them figuring out just how far they can push each other's buttons without setting the other person off
:nods:
Brust's timing shenanigans are such
i never commented on the way he structured Teckla around a laundry list, and here in Phoenix it’s a—idk, i’d shelve it in the self-help section i suppose. targeted at independent contractors and small business owners.
but they are spoilery for future books, so I think instead I will just sort of dump the non-spoilery pieces of them here
i really appreciate you taking the time to consolidate non-spoilery thoughts for me! benefits of a bespoke consligiere ;) really though if it’s too time-consuming in future i’m perfectly happy to consume your spoilery thoughts once i’ve finished consuming the relevant canon
It's such an action-charged scene, I keep forgetting that very little action actually happens and the rest of it is mostly in Vlad's head.
whoah!
It really jumped out at me this readthrough how much time Vlad spends looking at Morrolan's face here
omg! reminds me of this thread where someone just collated all the times Harry spends thinking about Draco’s stupid face
awww i see we both honed in on the Mama-->Boss changeover and how charged it was
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Date: 2020-02-20 01:34 am (UTC)Well, Vlad is not, you know, a nice person. And I think the friend in question would just never voluntarily read a book about a mob boss. She was bothered by stuff like him running brothels and so on, which, I mean, that's a fair thing to be bothered by, but it also comes with the property.
And don't get me wrong! While I'm all about Morrolan, I do really love Vlad, too,and find him both a really interesting character and a very effective protagonist.
i never commented on the way he structured Teckla around a laundry list, and here in Phoenix it’s a—idk, i’d shelve it in the self-help section i suppose. targeted at independent contractors and small business owners.
LOL re: Phoenix's frame XD Every book has its own different framing device, some of them more off-the-wall than others. I think the laundry list in Teckla is my favorite, though. I am kind of impressed Brust hasn't run out of ideas for them yet :P
really though if it’s too time-consuming in future i’m perfectly happy to consume your spoilery thoughts once i’ve finished consuming the relevant canon
Ahaha, trust me, it is the exact opposite of a problem for me to read back over my notes from the Vlad books and share them with you so that we can talk aboutthese things sooner than we otherwise might have :DDD (But of course I will be very happy to link you to the full write-ups once you're done with the Vlad books and the Paarfi books if you decide to read them or my digest version thereof :D)
where someone just collated all the times Harry spends thinking about Draco’s stupid face
Yeah, it's rather like that, LOL. (Nor does it stop in Taltos. There are some lines where I'm genuinely like, um? I don't know how to read this platonically...?)
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Date: 2020-02-27 08:24 pm (UTC)"laundry list" was p wild, can't wait to see how much more off the wall it gets...
i'm kinda stalled on Phoenix been having a few mental health days BUT the Ada Palmer is really interesting because it's like...so new and different it's basically teaching me how to read it as I go along? does that makes sense? most of hte time i pick up a book i kinda know the shape of it and i can read like 5 words per page and i'll still be ok (this is more true in some genres--cough romance cough--than others) but Too Like the Lightning is some kind of terra nova it's so groundbreaking. i have to pick my way through it carefully but i'm making steady progress!
it is the exact opposite of a problem for me to read back over my notes from the Vlad books and share them with you
XD thank you
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Date: 2020-02-28 06:52 am (UTC)Aww, sorry to hear that *hugs* (and, yeah, Phoenix is kind of not the most cheerful Vlad book)
it's basically teaching me how to read it as I go along? does that makes sense?
It does! Like, it's very intentionally constructed to gradually reveal some pretty complicated effects, using some tools I've never seen in genre fiction, or modern fiction I've read, for that matter. So, yeah, I felt the same -- I wasn't sure what a lot of it was doing, early on, but it was (almost) all really interesting. And some of the things that did not impress me at first continued to work better for me the farther in I got with the series.
I'm very happy to hear you're finding it interesting and fulfilling so far!