Reading roundup

[hamsterwoman]

Still on a reading kick, as a means of not thinking about all the other crap.

24. Cinda Williams Chima, The Warrior Heir -- This was a random YA book I picked up just because I felt like some YA fantasy, and I was actually pleasantly surprised (although, admittedly, my expectations going in were pretty low).

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

I think it also has to do with Sam/Corwin's attitude of casual superiority toward Brahma/Eric, despite not being in a position of power at all. Brahma isn't quite secure, and Sam knows it and uses it to set him off balance.

That's right! It works better in Amber, I think, because you get Corwin's POV and Corwin's actually *scared* of Eric, at first, so you know he's bluffing successfully, rather than just being casually superior for real. Yama as Benedict -- there are definite similarities, the powerful-yet-not-ambitious thing you mention, but, yeah, it's far from exact -- Benedict is universally revered while Yama is almost-universally underestimated, and, I know Benedict's bloodlessness, levelheadedness, coolness is supposed to be partially Corwin's perception, but even taking that into account Yama is a much more vibrant figure, again, for all that he is Death.

another thing that makes Yama feel more whole and concrete than the other characters is, I think, that he gets a lot more physical description, so it feels as though he has the same body the whole time.

You're right! I'm not sure other characters even *get* physical description -- there are references to strong bodies, Kubera's fat, Krishna's (I think) dark skin and so on, but specific details -- not so much. Maybe Kali's hair at a couple of points, but that's about it. Most of the other description is of the *Attributes* not the physical bodies. And I hadn't thought before of the special problems of describing characters whose bodies are pretty much constantly changing in the background -- I kind of want to reread the whole thing now, focusing on physical descriptions and noting how they change, or don't. But I won't, of course, because it's too much work. But somebody should write a paper on that...

Yama has a scar at one point, right? I couldn't find what chapter it was in (one of the early ones?) or what body it corresponded to, or where it was supposed to have come from, and it's bugging me now...

Almost every time they met, Sam would say something to Yama about how he couldn't understand why Yama was letting his inferiors order him around and make a henchman out of him, and sort of laughing about how Kali had him whipped. I guess Yama finally decided Sam respected him more than the gods did, and decided to go someplace where he was appreciated.

That was lovely! And I think it's that aspect of their relationship, plus something about Yama being Sam's charioteer, that reminds me of something big, but I still can't remember what it is. Dammit! this is driving me insane now...

it's sort of backwards from the usual sci-fi/fantasy setup, where you might have some kind of magician-savant kid whose talents everyone looks askance at because these days magic is rather passé, and technology is the modern thing;

Oooh, interesting! There's that whole rule of fantasy/sci-fi: "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" (Clarke's Law) and the converse that "sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology" (Niven's Law) -- but it's interesting that in Lord of Light you have what is essentially magic (the "native" mutant powers) becoming technology and technology advancing to the level of magic, and, yeah, kind of going into the other side. So that Yama's "pure" technology is less well regarded than "magic" but is actually superior to it.

I find it funny that most of the Russian vocabulary I actually use comes not from my two years of taking Russian, but from looking up words in DDT and Vysotsky songs.

Heh. I'm sure the Russian dialogues/vocabulary are as insipid as those my Italian text books used. It's *hard* to read literature in a foreign language, but at least you get something out of it... I don't know what the ideal balance is...

[_grayswandir_]

It is totally ridiculous for me to come back and leave more comments to this gigantic thread three years later, but --

That was lovely! And I think it's that aspect of their relationship, plus something about Yama being Sam's charioteer, that reminds me of something big, but I still can't remember what it is.

Now that I actually know something about Hinduism, I think I may have figured out what you were talking about. I'm guessing you were referring to the Baghavad Gita, with Krishna, in the role of charioteer, urging Arjuna into battle against his cousins (in the name of duty -- dharma -- no less). Yes? It's a little strange since, of course, in Lord of Light, Krishna himself is one of those "cousins"; but I think one could make the argument that Krishna's role in the Baghavad Gita is dharmic, so that Yama in that aspect suits the part...

...Right. Leaving now. XD