Whew, I *just* finished KoA. I was waiting until I was done to reply to this.
Great questions!! And great answers to your own questions!!
"Revealed in All His Glory." I love this, because it sort of puts a spin on the same thing Teleus said, "You are revealed at last." And how funny it is, because it's the first time they're seeing him undressed.
I think I've made it super obvious that Irene is my favorite character in this series :). Here, I see her slowly coming to accept that she is worthy of love, not just the necessary evil to keep her people alive and as fairly ruled as possible. Seeing her through Relius's eyes, as well as Costis and Aris, has fleshed her out - one sees her as both daughter figure and beloved, terrifying sovereign, one loves her as the embodiment of strength and justice, and one is fiercely loyal while also regarding her as completely alien, if necessary. Seen from below, Irene is just as awesome as seen from Gen's perspective in the second half of The Queen of Attolia.
I love that entire paragraph. I love your interpretation of her and of others' perspective of her. I didn't know Irene was your favourite though!
-o-
Now, for my attempt at answering some of the questions...
11. It's interesting to me how Baron Erondites actually does not appear very often, but a lot of the conflict that Eugenides had to overcome was orchestrated by him. I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, I would consider him to be an effective villain for all the grief he's caused, even though that grief is brought about by other characters.
12. I think one of the biggest changes I see in Attolia here in KoA -- and one I didn't really understand during the first few times I read the book -- was her desire to have Gen assume the role of king. I used to be really confused about this. In my reread though, it makes sense. I think she quickly realized that if Gen was to remain a figurehead, it would be more difficult for both of them to rule, with all her barons fighting to control him.
13. Yes! Gen was so awesome! His cleverness always amazes me, but I tend to forget his super cool kung-fu skills.
14. Well.... it's plausible. I think Costis and Teleus's reactions were reasonable, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were others in the Guard who were not as persuaded.
-o-
Anyway, after rereading, I'm reminded of how much I love this book! T__T I love it so much. Here's a sketchdump.
I was struggling to make sure my chapter titles didn't just repeat a line from the chapter itself, since I feel only authors are allowed to do that, since they came up with the line in the first place. :) MWT's thematic and literal parallels are magnificent!
How odd - I shall have to be more vocal about my love of Irene, I see!
I definitely agree that Erondites is an effective villain - I was thinking more about complaints by some people who say that there's a lot of telling and not showing - but I think there's a very deliberate choice of who and what is shown. If you're looking for counterfactual narratives - like the Tale of Erondites and His Noble Fight Against That Evil Queen Attolia, you're reading the wrong book. :) But I do think that it's interesting that we never really see Erondites himself, just his catastrophic meddling.
One thing I didn't think about until you brought it up is that Irene's desire to have Gen rule is a sign of her trust. Unlike her barons, who want to rule Attolia for their own enrichment and power, Irene wants all of Attolia to prosper - and for her to want Gen to rule indicates to me that she now trusts that he has the country's best interest at heart as well.
One thing I'm really hoping for in Thick as Thieves is a check-in with Costis, Teleus, and the (now much smaller) Queen's Guard, to see how everything's going.
Oh, interesting, I don't think I've seen those complaints before about Erondites in particular. I did hear of "telling-not-showing" complaints in QoA, the most common of which was that all the characters were talking about how awesome Gen was, but some readers didn't see it. I agree with what you're saying; I think it was deliberate. It also adds to the subtlety we all like about the books. There were so many things I thought I was being "told" in the narrative, when I was actually being "shown" something else.
I think the whole "telling instead of showing" is actually silly - it all depends on what you want told and what you want shown. I think MWT got the perfect balance of reader desire to be shown some things and told others.
Great questions!! And great answers to your own questions!!
"Revealed in All His Glory." I love this, because it sort of puts a spin on the same thing Teleus said, "You are revealed at last." And how funny it is, because it's the first time they're seeing him undressed.
I think I've made it super obvious that Irene is my favorite character in this series :). Here, I see her slowly coming to accept that she is worthy of love, not just the necessary evil to keep her people alive and as fairly ruled as possible. Seeing her through Relius's eyes, as well as Costis and Aris, has fleshed her out - one sees her as both daughter figure and beloved, terrifying sovereign, one loves her as the embodiment of strength and justice, and one is fiercely loyal while also regarding her as completely alien, if necessary. Seen from below, Irene is just as awesome as seen from Gen's perspective in the second half of The Queen of Attolia.
I love that entire paragraph. I love your interpretation of her and of others' perspective of her. I didn't know Irene was your favourite though!
-o-
Now, for my attempt at answering some of the questions...
11. It's interesting to me how Baron Erondites actually does not appear very often, but a lot of the conflict that Eugenides had to overcome was orchestrated by him. I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, I would consider him to be an effective villain for all the grief he's caused, even though that grief is brought about by other characters.
12. I think one of the biggest changes I see in Attolia here in KoA -- and one I didn't really understand during the first few times I read the book -- was her desire to have Gen assume the role of king. I used to be really confused about this. In my reread though, it makes sense. I think she quickly realized that if Gen was to remain a figurehead, it would be more difficult for both of them to rule, with all her barons fighting to control him.
13. Yes! Gen was so awesome! His cleverness always amazes me, but I tend to forget his super cool kung-fu skills.
14. Well.... it's plausible. I think Costis and Teleus's reactions were reasonable, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were others in the Guard who were not as persuaded.
-o-
Anyway, after rereading, I'm reminded of how much I love this book! T__T I love it so much. Here's a sketchdump.
Reply
I was struggling to make sure my chapter titles didn't just repeat a line from the chapter itself, since I feel only authors are allowed to do that, since they came up with the line in the first place. :) MWT's thematic and literal parallels are magnificent!
How odd - I shall have to be more vocal about my love of Irene, I see!
I definitely agree that Erondites is an effective villain - I was thinking more about complaints by some people who say that there's a lot of telling and not showing - but I think there's a very deliberate choice of who and what is shown. If you're looking for counterfactual narratives - like the Tale of Erondites and His Noble Fight Against That Evil Queen Attolia, you're reading the wrong book. :) But I do think that it's interesting that we never really see Erondites himself, just his catastrophic meddling.
One thing I didn't think about until you brought it up is that Irene's desire to have Gen rule is a sign of her trust. Unlike her barons, who want to rule Attolia for their own enrichment and power, Irene wants all of Attolia to prosper - and for her to want Gen to rule indicates to me that she now trusts that he has the country's best interest at heart as well.
One thing I'm really hoping for in Thick as Thieves is a check-in with Costis, Teleus, and the (now much smaller) Queen's Guard, to see how everything's going.
Reply
You should, because Irene deserves more love =P
Oh, interesting, I don't think I've seen those complaints before about Erondites in particular. I did hear of "telling-not-showing" complaints in QoA, the most common of which was that all the characters were talking about how awesome Gen was, but some readers didn't see it. I agree with what you're saying; I think it was deliberate. It also adds to the subtlety we all like about the books. There were so many things I thought I was being "told" in the narrative, when I was actually being "shown" something else.
Ahh yes, good point about the trust!
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I think the whole "telling instead of showing" is actually silly - it all depends on what you want told and what you want shown. I think MWT got the perfect balance of reader desire to be shown some things and told others.
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(I lol'd at poor lil Costis, rocking in his corner.)
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Haha, yes, "Poor Costis." Come to think of it, that should probably be the title of every chapter in this book.
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