What is a Wookie and the Viscount of Adrilankha trilogy
Hi all
As you have no doubt guessed, I've been a busy little Fish. It mostly has to do with work and uni, organising eResearch showcases at the Australian Synchrotron and trying to hold everything together for the final semester of the final year of my degree. Nonetheless, I have also gotten myself into trouble with the amount of reading I habitually undertake and apparently the fact that I'm drowning in work doesn't change that. Mostly the stuff I've been reading doesn't bear mentioning: series that I've already mentioned before or young adult books like those by Rick Riordan that I just read for fun but not obsession. However, there are two things that I would like to bring up.
1. What is Wookie,
Yes, this is one of those childrens' books where the words are in large print and still manage to take up less space on the page than the pictures. I am not now, nor have I ever been a Star Wars fan. When I was in high school they tried to make me watch one of the movies in class and I got bored ten minutes into it and faked sick. I have never watched any Star Wars movie completely. I like Star Trek (TOS and TNG but DS9 is also acceptable). My Not-Fiance, however, is an avid fan whose heart squeals at the mere mention of it and can probably recite the names of his favourite 20 droids without taking a breath in between. There is also a deal between us that was made long, long ago that means that one day I will probably be forced (by my honour) to watch the movies with him. But until then there is no way known. Which leads to my Not-Fiance giving me this book and anouncing that there would be a test at the end of it. So, deciding to one-up him and memorise every damn thing in the book(!) there is one thing that I've realised; remembering Star Wars crap is hard :( Just so you know, I did perservere though, and now know the names of 6 droid thingies (the R2D2 type ones), 5 protocol droids and half a dozen or more planets. After showing off my knew knowledge, Not-Fiance's response was to gleefully tell me about all the OTHER stuff he was going to teach me (yes folks, there is more). And upon my outrage reminded me that what I had in fact struggled to read was only a kids book. Yes folks, if I every meet George Lucas I am prepared and ready to blame him for all the evil in the world.
2. The Phoenix Gaurds, 500 Years After and The Paths of the Dead
Before I get started on this let me explain that all three of these books plus The Lord of Castle Black and Sethra Lavode make up a collection called The Khaavren Romances. It is a strange name because all of them are written under the premise of a history book and what little romance there is, is completely destroyed (in a good way) by the style of the books. The Paths of the dead, The Lord of Castle Black and Sethra Lavode are also parts of the The Viscount of Adrilankha trilogy and although I have read The Lord of Castle Black before, I have never until now read any of the other parts of the trilogy. On top of all of that The Khaavren romances also take place in the same world as the Vlad Taltos books and a number of main characters from there appear in them. However, this all happens several hundred years before Vlad is born.
Reading these is quite an event and if you don't get into the spirit of things you will never finish the first two. This is because the dialogue for the 'history' is written to - as the historian explains - mimic the type of speech used in an old but popular play. In essence this means that conversations go in circles for a long time before getting anywhere because if Person A wants to ask a question he must anounce his intention first, to which Person B must acknowledge the anounced intention. If Person A then asks the question the polite response is for Person B to then clarify (again) that Person A wants to know something and what that something might be. But if you are still wanting to read them then that is good because once you get past all the tension and shouting at the characters to 'Just bloody well get on with it', it is funny and it gives you some insight into what life is like for your average non-minority Dragaeran and now that I have read them I am rereading the Vlad Taltos books and I feel like it has given me some insight. For example in Teckla when Khaavren shows and Vlad approaches him and states that is was just an Easterner (read: human) conflict and that there is no longer any need for the Phoenix Guard. Vlad points out that Khaavren seems to be looking down at him with an attitude of disgust. For those who are not familiar with the books it is completely natural for a Dragaean to want to kill an Easterner just for being there and this remark does not appear to be at all strange. However, in The Phoenix Guard a major turning point is when Khaavren makes a deal with the leader of a band of Easterners to prevent a war. This doesn't mean that he doesn't look down on Easterners but it would be extremely difficult to have considered what was best for both of them and set terms with the Easterners in the way that he did if he saw them only as cokroaches to be squashed. Which is why I believe that his disgusted reaction wasn't so much as to Vlad being an Easterner as to him wearing the colours of the House of Jhereg.
One thing that really bothers me about the Vlad Taltos books is his wife Cawti's insistence on joining an activist group. This doesn't irritate me as much as it should because it is really well written in terms of explaining this from both perspective even while only ever showing things through Vlad's eyes. But it just seems so common to have a female character who suddenly decide to start protesting for 'the greater good' to the detriment of everyone who cares about her. In 1986 Forest Gump did it, In 1987 The Vlad Taltos books did it, in 2007 Across the Universe did it and in 2012 I got really tired of hearing about it. I don't like hippie types, I don't like activists or activist causes and when people act bitchy to each other for activist reasons it pisses me off. I think the reason it is always female characters doing it is because the authors (always men) don't want to be associated with such stupid opinions. I don't blame the, I would do the same if I were writing a book in which a character started acting so annoyingly, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it either.