[Dragaera] Jhegaala etc. (mild spoilers)

[Jon Lincicum]

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Matthew Jennings wrote:
> After completing my detailed re-reading this week, I have to admit that I
> failed as a reader the first time through.  I blame being far too impatient
> as my inner-self started muttering "Get on with it!" in the middle of the
> book.  I also missed so many of the great lines, that when I finished the
> first time I really could only think of a handful of favorite quotes.
>   
I always have this problem. I've found that evaluating Vlad novels is 
like drinking fine wine.

When you're drinking good wine, the first sip of wine you take, you 
don't pay any attention to the flavor. You take a quick sip, let the 
liquid thoroughly coat your tongue, and use it to wash away whatever 
flavor might have been there before. It's the SECOND sip that you savor. 
THAT is when you are ready to judge the quality of what you are drinking.

My first read-through of a book (any book, really, but especially the 
Vlad novels) is usually a race from plot-point to plot-point. I skim at 
breakneck speed, and just try to absorb the raw facts of the story. It 
is the second (and subsequent) read-through that allows me to slow down. 
My preconceptions about the story have been washed away, and I'm ready 
to savor the nuance.

Oh, the above on wine tasting applies equally well to single-malt 
scotch, I've found.

There, wee what I did? Now I've gotten all pretentious like I'm a wine 
expert or something. I ought to be ashamed of myself.

> Second time through, taking my time, reading it closer, not in a rush to
> find out "what happens", and I have to admit this one's got nearly as many
> great lines as Issola (the current leader).  A great part of this is due to
> Loiosh being at his snarkiest best, and let me just add: Loiosh rocks.  This
> is as much his book as any we've seen so far, and he rules.  He's my hero.
> (And Rocza is just nearly too cute, too.)
>   

I enjoyed Loiosh in this one. He really is Vlad's only help this time.

Vlad's really more ON HIS OWN in this one than I think we've ever seen 
him. I mean, there's really *no one* there to help him. Even in /Orca/, 
there was Kiera, and to a lesser extent Hwdfr'jaanci. In /Athyra/, Savn, 
Polyi, Sara, and even Master Wag come to his aid at various times.

This time, it seems the whole town is after him, and there's no one he 
can trust anywhere to be found. Just Loiosh. (Well, and Rocza, but she's 
always been the strong silent type.)

> So, on to the notes:
> The infamous p.22 "Dzur".  Actually, I kind of like the idea of Vlad being
> told that Dzur hunt the forests.  It seems like something a Dzur might do.
> Because it is just so silly and... um, macho?...
>   

Why would a (member of the House of) Dzur go all the way into Fenario to 
hunt? Aren't there forests in the Empire that contain similar prey? I 
have to consider this just a mis-capitalization of the word unless I 
hear compelling evidence otherwise... Which I think could only come from 
SKZB himself.

> Conspicious by its absence: a moon.  Is the Dragaeran 'planet' moonless? Did
> we already know this. Would have been handy for Vlad.
>   
In /Phoenix/, Vlad talks about the winds and tides when going to 
Greenare. Tides means moon. QED.

It is somewhat curious that we do not see mention of it. But then, 
perhaps it is a much smaller moon, or it was a new moon during the two 
or three days he's in town stirring up trouble before he's... 
inconvenienced, and not in a position to notice anymore. Alternatively, 
perhaps the moon is composed of dark matter and not visible at all?


> Nesiffa powder: I can't help but feel that it does more than what Vlad
> describes.  He says its part of a treatment for curing migraines. Any chance
> that the powder interferes with psionics? No? Just asking.
>   
The invisibility-spell story just doesn't hold a lot of water with me, 
either. Makes me wonder what the Nesiffa powder might really be in 
furtherance of. Of course, it's always possible it might be just what he 
says it is. (Vlad: "No. It isn't.")

> p.265 - Interesting hints towards a future book.  Why do I get the feeling
> that it probably involves a lot more foul-ups than Vlad admits to?
>
> And we learn that this happened three years before the telling of it.  Which
> ( I think) implies that Vlad was on the run for at least that long.  I'd
> make that meaning that the telling of this happened not too long before
> Athyra, but wouldn't swear to it.
>
> Matt

He says he spent a little over a year in Fenario, all together. It's 
almost certainly a few months, at a minimum, on foot from crossing the 
Eastern Mountains to the Northwest part of the Empire where Loraan is 
located. He spends about a year looking for help with Savn, and it's at 
least a few more months between the end of /Orca/ and the start of 
/Issola/. That's about three years right there. Maybe he's telling all 
these stories to Sethra at Dzur Mountain, and the narration of his trip 
east happened at some point during the events of /Dzur/?

Majikjon