[Dragaera] I reviewed Hawk. :-/

[Jon Lincicum via Dragaera]

----- Original Message -----

From: "Jerry Friedman via Dragaera" <dragaera at lists.dragaera.info> 
To: dragaera at lists.dragaera.info 
Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 8:41:42 AM 
Subject: Re: [Dragaera] I reviewed Hawk. :-/ 

> On Sunday, November 2, 2014 4:31 AM, Jon Lincicum via Dragaera <dragaera at lists.dragaera.info> wrote: 

> > On 11/1/2014 9:04 PM, Jerry Friedman via Dragaera wrote: 
>>  P 
>>  D 
>>  L 
>>  Ti 
>>  H 
>>  D 
>>  Is 
>>  Ts 
>>  V 
>>  J 
>>  Io 
>>  C 
>>  Y 
>>  O 
>>  Te 
>>  A 
>>  P 
>>  
>>>And I would like to start 
>>>  seeing more hints about the final plot, as well as developments in 
>>> Vlad's  love life (which the way may be open for now). 
>> 
>> Hmmm. I saw quite a bit of that in /Hawk/. It certainly wasn't as flashy 
>> as it has been in some of the other books. 
>> 
>> But there are times when Steve likes to put the "b" in subtle, I 
>> suppose. 

>Could I prevail upon you to do me and others the honor of vouchsafing us 
>one or two examples? 


Well, the problem with foreshadowing is that in some cases, the "clues" turn out to be red herrings. So, I can't readily provide ahead of time anything in /Hawk/ that /I know for a fact/ will prove to be a clue to his ultimate fate. 

But there were several subtle things in /Hawk/ that stood out to me as possibilites. Again, they could point to nothing at all. Or they could be the subtle signpost that tells you exactly where Vlad is going. But at present, it's all completely speculative. How could it not be, since Steve reserves the right to change any of it at any time if he thinks of something cooler?

But, you asked for examples, and so, I, cheerfully and obligingly, offer up the following possibilities. 

1. It would not be a major shock if Vlad dies of (or at least suffers) a heart attack or stroke. 
His heart did an awful lot of "thumping" in /Hawk/, and while one could (and is likely meant to) read that as just an expression of his nervousness, it's quite possible this is being merely being *presented* figuratively, as a mask for actual heart-health issues that will come up later (possibly fatal ones). 

2. Lady Teldra says "I didn't mean to do that." So, while it seems that the /destiny/ of both Sethra and Iceflame may end up opposing Vlad/Teldra (Godslayer), there may well be some say in the matter by the particular soul that inhabits that weapon. One finds it hard to imagine Teldra /as Teldra/ killing anyone. We know there will be a "test of wills" (from Dzur). Perhaps this means that the Teldra/Vlad soul entity will experience a corporeal reversal; Teldra's soul ends up in Vlad's body, and Vlad's soul ends up in Godslayer... And then Verra is /really/ in trouble. 

3. Is it just me, or does Aliera's attitude toward Kragar in this book (and his resigned attitude back to her) seem like an "older sister vs little brother who let her down" dynamic? Would explain an awful lot. But would raise all sorts of questions regarding Adron, Verra, Devera, et al.

4. Diyann will prove to be the most cunning and deadly Jhereg Vlad has ever had to face. Or perhaps we never see him again. There was definitely some foreshadowing-like hints given in his introduction; but this again could prove to be utter red herrings. But certainly, at least one of the Jhereg compromised by Vlad's trickery in this one is likely to attempt to devise a way around the problem of potentially losing all his assets, and my guess is it would be Diyaan. 

As a bonus, whichever one of these three /does/ figure out a way to protect his assests stands to have a good means to bankrupt the other two... (i.e. shine Vlad, and let The Empire take care of his rivals.) This depends greatly on how closely their "business activities" are interrelated, of course. My guess is this would take several years to set up at a minimum. 

So, that's four things I noticed that point (potentially) to important directions to come. There are likely many more I could spot once I've had a chance to re-read more than once, but I don't want to take all the fun out of it for everyone else. 

--Majikjon