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rivkat March 15 2009, 16:46:24 UTC
Hi! I liked the Engineer trilogy much better (though still found it frustrating and, I thought, ultimately a failure or at least a success at something I wasn't interested in seeing). Poldarn's bad luck ended up feeling to me like Vaatze's good luck: deus ex machina, and not more interesting because it was supposed to be that way. I guess I'm not a fan of unchangeable DOOM; I need the sense that it could have been different if not for--well, something, whether character or weather or what have you. Have you read Jacqueline Carey's Oathbreaker/Banewreaker? It's in essence a retelling of the Lord of the Rings from the side of the bad guys, where the prophecies are all against them. I loved it.

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exceptinsects March 17 2009, 05:45:17 UTC
KJ Parker is a woman? I just finished Devices and Desires, which was so awesome in many ways, but totally does not pass the Bechdel Test. Interesting.

After your comments I'm wondering if I should keep reading the series, but I really want to know what happens next.

It was a very interesting book--I liked how the plot was so machine-like. It felt like every chapter was adding another cog or gear or something that would keep changing your expectation of what the eventual result was supposed to be, but that that result was inevitable anyway.
click. click. click. click. BOOM.

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rivkat March 17 2009, 06:01:58 UTC
KJ Parker is a pseudonym that claims femaleness; I know no more. Yeah, I ended up feeling like the mechanical nature of the plot was connected to the Bechdel failure, because of the overarching and I thought ultimately overblown thesis that all the characters were just mechanical dolls jerked around by love that was not under their control; women were there to inspire love and thus get everything going, but they didn't even seem to have big doll movements like the men did ( ... )

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