Reading roundup

[hamsterwoman]

20. Lev Grossman, The Magicians -- very interesting book. I loved the first half of it, while Quentin and company were at Brakebills. I enjoyed the rest of it, too, but in a different way. I liked the way the plot unfolded, all the echoes and connections. I enjoyed a lot of the details, bits of dialogue and prose... but past the halfway mark, i.e.

Comments

[q99]

There is one very weird bit in this book where Vlad thinks: "It suddenly flashed into my head to wonder if he [Morrolan] and Sethra were currently or ever had been lovers. Now that was an interesting thought, and one that would probably come back to me on many cold nights". So, uh... Vlad thinks about Morrolan's sex life now to keep himself warm at night? Is that what I just read? I kind of have no idea where Vlad is getting this speculation from, because it's plenty clear from Sethra's interaction with Morrolan, especially here, that she treats him the way one would a teenage nephew, who is pretty bright and almost an adult but still not nearly as grown-up as he thinks, and thus requires a lot of advice and occasional ribbing. Maybe Vlad's just thinking of the wrong Dragonlord? 'Cos I do continue to see possible chemistry between Sethra and Aliera, or at least can easily see them as two people who were once lovers but are now simply friends

[hamsterwoman]

I like to think Vlad's just a mental fanficcer like that ^^

Heh, Vlad ships Morrolan/Sethra, basically? :P I guess he's been spending a lot of time in the wilderness by himself and needs stuff to think about. He can get into ship wars with Loiosh.

There's a lot of people Morrolan'd carry, but that was downright thoughtful.

Yep! And given the point below about Morrolan being better with objects than people, it's especially impressive, heh. (Good point about that being why he was so quick to pick up on the window/portal, too!)

Yes, I really enjoyed Vlad's summary of Morrolan and Aliera's relationship, and their reactions to it. :)

I was actually planning to skip Teckla, but I have one of the omnibus editions, and it was there, in the same volume as Jhereg, so it pulled me in. Oops.

[q99]

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Heh, Vlad ships Morrolan/Sethra, basically? :P I guess he's been spending a lot of time in the wilderness by himself and needs stuff to think about. He can get into ship wars with Loiosh.
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Yep :) Hm, I wonder if he ships Kiera with anyone separate from Sethra shipping... then again, he likes Kiera in a more friendly way than any of the others, so he might keep her out of it.

[hamsterwoman]

Hmmm... I would agree that he's likely to avoid shipping Kiera with anyone. I feel like (ironically!) shipping her would give him sort of an RPF squick, 'cos he's known her for so long.

[q99]

He did meet her as a kid and is very casual and close, while the others wrap themselves up as mythological figures.

Which is why he has so much fun teasing them ^^

[hamsterwoman]

That makes sense! (Although I do think a fair bit of the mythologizing is Vlad's own, at least for Morrolan and Aliera -- but maybe that's 'cos of the circumstances he met them under.) Sethra, of course, has plenty of mythology around her without Vlad.

[q99]

Vlad does some, but c'mon, Morrolan calls his place 'Castle Black' :) And Aliera floats all the time!

These two work on their images.

[hamsterwoman]

Oh, they definitely do. After reading LCB, I do feel like the origin of "Castle Black" is more young Morrolan going "SORCERY! WHEE! :DDD" than him being a smug bastard, though of course he is that, too, and only too happy to have people challenge him over that, and all that's part of it. But even Castle Black aside he's got his fondness for dramatic capes and never misses a chance to play up the awesome power of Blackwand

[q99]

-After reading LCB, I do feel like the origin of "Castle Black" is more young Morrolan going "SORCERY! WHEE! :DDD

[hamsterwoman]

Kinda interesting considering how long he's been at it, but I'm guessing it's a sign of how Vlad's grandpa is just That Good, and passed much of it on to Vlad. Oh, and Morrolan seems to have some bad sorcery habits he applies to witchcraft (the converse is probably why Vlad's not that great at sorcery, he's a Witch foremost).It's funny, because Morrolan was a witch for a hundred years or more before he even discovered the concept of sorcery -- but it's pretty clear sorcery is more his style -- maybe 'cos it requires less patience

[q99]

Part of it may be that Morrolan's not as good at the symbolism aspects too. Like when he asked Vlad about whether it was better to use reptile or mammal blood for a ritual, and Vlad had to inform him it's always best to use your own blood for mystic connotations.

I think he thinks in ingredients and assembling something, rather than the meaning behind it, and that's an issue he'd have even before learning sorcery.

-although it does look like Sethra the Younger was Court Wizard before Morrolan, and she's a Dragonlord too... )-

Being Sethra's apprentice is special circumstances I would think.

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I'm rereading Phoenix right now, which is when Morrolan and Noish-Pa meet, and M shows him around his work-shop, but we don't get to see much of the interacting first hand (Vlad is understandably distracted by things like Cawti facing execution and needing to end the war with Greenacre).-

I hope they get to hang out in the next book or two :)

[hamsterwoman]

I think he thinks in ingredients and assembling something, rather than the meaning behind it, and that's an issue he'd have even before learning sorcery.

That is an excellent point! And, yeah, that seems to be rather intrinsic to Morrolan's personality, and I can definitely see how it would seriously hamper him as a witch -- or, at least, allow him advance to a sort of journeyman level but no further.

Being Sethra's apprentice is special circumstances I would think.Yep. Although I wonder if it's also a manifestation of Zerika's sense of humour that she keeps naming as her Court Wizards Dragonlords who would much rather be Warlord. (Although I do wonder if Sethra the Younger being Court Wizard is a goof/inconsistency. I think she was Warlord at some point early on in Zerika's reign? And then became Court Wizard somehow

[q99]

Hm, they went over the whole "Who'll be warlord during the next reign?" thing during Yendi. I forget the details.

And yea, Zerika does seem like she'd mix things up occasionally- if nothing else, the ever-shifting Dragon Heir situation inspires changes in other areas involving dragons.

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I do too! Having just finished my Phoenix reread, the last thing Morrolan tells Vlad is that he'll look after Noish-Pa. Of course, Noish-Pa then goes off to Lake Szurke... but I wonder if M drops in on him periodically to make sure he is doing well and chat about witchcraft. -

We have got to visit Lake Szurke in a book at some point.

[hamsterwoman]

Ah yes, the musical Dragon Heirs :) Though, since Aliera only appears in Taltos, almost 450 years after the end of the Interregnum according to that timeline thingy, looks like Morrolan was Heir for a good long time, poor guy. (I do wonder how much time he spent with the Orb over the course of this, since Zerika tells him in LCB that, as Heir, he'll need to get used to it or something... and whether he at least got to know his father a bit through the Orb's memories of him. And Adron, too, I'm guessing. I've clearly been thinking about this stuff way too much.)

Hm, they went over the whole "Who'll be warlord during the next reign?" thing during Yendi.They did... and I can't keep it straight for the life of me even though I just finished Yendi a few weeks ago. XD But it mainly seems to be along the lines of who would get to be Warlord during the next Dragon reign (as it was centered of what would happen when either Morrolan or Aliera or Norathar took over as emperor, and would they name Sethra the Younger as Warlord). I guess it's

[q99]

-Ah yes, the musical Dragon Heirs :) Though, since Aliera only appears in Taltos, almost 450 years after the end of the Interregnum according to that timeline thingy, looks like Morrolan was Heir for a good long time, poor guy. -

One thing that strikes me about the Warlord/Aliera situation is that she hasn't technically known the Empress that long in Dragaeran terms. Even if they became fast friends, a couple years before putting her in the spot is sensible.

The Orb'd have some memories of Aliera, which likely helped, but that's a fairly short time. Hm, I suppose they got to know each other due to Aliera being Dragon Heir, until she wasn't at which point she was just a high-rank noble...

[hamsterwoman]

One thing that strikes me about the Warlord/Aliera situation is that she hasn't technically known the Empress that long in Dragaeran termsGood point, I hadn't thought of that... I suppose Zerika must have relied on Sethra's judgement in that, as I can't think of anyone else still alive who spent any time with Aliera. And the Orb, if all it had to rely on there was Tortaalik's memories, wouldn't have had anything particularly useful, either