Informal Group Read 2007

Mortice Root · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:58 pm Post subject:

Good summary, Soulbiter.

I think a good portion of Terisa's attraction to Eremis has to do with her own lack of self confidence. I mean, she is going back and forth as to whether or not she considers herself is real. Eremis is attractive to her, I think, because he is so sure of what he thinks and what he wants. Even though what he wants is for her to be an object, ie not a real person, he is so sure of it, that he provides an answer to her questions about herself. And it is that answer that Terisa finds so attractive.

Cameraman Jenn · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:47 pm Post subject:

You also have to factor in that Terisa has never had anyone act like she is HOT and Eremis is practically falling over himself to get under her skirts. That can be a very intense thing and also very heady.
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Now if I could just find a way to wear live bees as jewelry all the time.....

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Mortice Root · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:58 pm Post subject:

Which raises another interesting point. Are there any non-hot women in Orison? I mean, Terisa, Elega, Myste, Saddith..... I gotta find me a mirror. Big Grin

Usivius · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:11 pm Post subject:

I've thought about the same thing many a time ...
Wink

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~...with a floating smile and a light blue sponge...~

Cameraman Jenn · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:40 pm Post subject:

Well, Madin was not exactly a looker and neither was Torrent. Razz

_________________
Now if I could just find a way to wear live bees as jewelry all the time.....

www.fantasybedtimehour.com

Mortice Root · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:43 pm Post subject:

Maybe that's the real reason they left Orison. Laughing

SoulBiter · Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:54 am Post subject:

Thanks everyone. I am really enjoying these books. I must admit.. I got so caught up in the story that I have finished the first book. I am a voracious(sp?) reader once I get interested in a story.
_________________
"He torments himself sufficiently."

My 5 year old nephew Eli
Eli: Dammit!
His mom: Eli, that is not a nice word. We need to find another word to use.
Eli: I am a bad guy mom. I use bad words and fight with my lasers. Dammit!

"All of the above is my opinion and thus shouldnt need to be supported by anything other than more of my opinions. twocents

"

We miss you Tracie but your Spirit will always shine brightly on the Watch

Cameraman Jenn · Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:59 am Post subject:

I love that. Soulbiter, I wish you could bring that to the watch fans that never appreciated the joy and beauty and fun that is MN. I literally missed bus stops on more than one occasion by getting sucked into the story. I'm trying to drum more MN love up with this read! Thank you so much for being here for this! Seriously. I've told SRD to his face that the depth of charactors in his writing of this series are my favorite. It's one of the few series that make me actually sob. He of course, laughed and being a creature of logic and structure, smilingly tells me that while he loves his creation in MN, his favorite work so far is The Gap and that the final Chronicles will be his best catharsis. He also said that MN was the most fun he had had writing and I think it shows.
_________________
Now if I could just find a way to wear live bees as jewelry all the time.....

www.fantasybedtimehour.com

IrrationalSanity · Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:04 pm Post subject:

One correction, SB - It was Barsonage, the Mediator, who swore Terisa (and everyone else) to silence - though it was indeed Eremis who suggested secrecy (subtrifuge and deception seem to come naturally to him, don't they? Smile

)

Also, in this chapter we are shown the Congery's Augury, which prompted both the summoning of the Champion, and Gereden's involvement in the process. The fact that augurys show "pieces of what will come" stuns Terisa, and gets her to wondering if maybe her sight of the same scene in different times was as much proof of her non-existence as she originally thought.

Just as she is starting to make some minor sense of things, she notices a piece that shows the three riders she saw in her dream back in New York! Of course, she doesn't get a chance to fully consider what this means when she is interrupted by (on one hand) Master Quillon asking if she sees anything interesting, and Master Eremis (on the other) trying to "help" her interpretation.

I'm starting to question his motivations at this point, but one thing is clear in this chapter - the conflict between Eremis and Gereden.
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- Woody -
Linden Lover and proud of it...
But I love my wife more!

Usivius · Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:23 pm Post subject:

Mortice Root · Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:20 pm Post subject:

IrrationalSanity · Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:54 pm Post subject:

I also like MN alot, though it is interesting that I suggested it to one of my collegues who liked TCTC, and she couldn't make it all the way (I think she stopped partway into book 2). She felt it was too much like a romance for her tastes. Oh well, to each their own...
_________________
- Woody -
Linden Lover and proud of it...
But I love my wife more!

shadowbinding shoe · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:35 am Post subject: The Informal group read is back!

I talked with Jenn and we (and hopefully others) are gonna forge on with this reread. Hope you'll drop in.

So, since I'm reading the books from the beginning again I'll add my own comments on the beginning chapters before posting my review of the next chapter.

Chapter One: Calling

Terisa has an unusual dream. Unusual because normally she doesn't dream at all. She doesn't start having vivid dreams even later. What does this say about her? That she's not a very imaginative girl I think. She is too ground in reality (and usually its depressing sides at this point.) But at the same time she feels unreal to herself. She is a passive reflection of her surrounding. This could tie in well with the talents she develops later in the books.

The change occurs when she hears the sound of horns. What do they signify? Here's a description of them:

Cameraman Jenn · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:44 pm Post subject:

I like your chapter assessment although I must confess I thought you would pick up where we left off. Cool

As soon as I get more settled I'll jump in the fray again.
_________________
Now if I could just find a way to wear live bees as jewelry all the time.....

www.fantasybedtimehour.com

shadowbinding shoe · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject:

Well I'm not going to rehash the whole chapters here. Just add some general impressions and points I hadn't seen mentioned before. Sorry if my post on the first chapter was so long. As you said yourself there's just a lot to say about it. Wink

I'll reach the new chapter sometime next week.

I haven't been able to resist the lure of the book so I already gulped the next chapter...

Chapter Two: The Sound of Horns

I haven't got much to say about this chapter (except that I liked it of course.)

For Terisa the sound of horns is embodied by Geraden. Big Grin

You can tell she's drawn to Geraden on an emotional level. She likes him but isn't sure why. Her logic tries to reassert itself in her but Geraden gives it a run for its money and it has to flee with its tail between its legs. Razz

I wonder if his 'strongest feelings' here ('are you happy? necessary? loved?) are the regular inexplicable insights or just reading Terisa's expressions / behavior?

Were you as nervous when he says "I'm not supposed to be here at all. I'm looking for someone-" before he goes on to complete his sentence ("-completely different.")? It sounded like he was saying she's not someone. That she was right all along and she was no-one. She must have been walking on daggers when she heard him say that.

In the end Terisa takes a leap into the unknown Very Happy

I'll read the next chapter tomorrow.

Mortice Root · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:41 pm Post subject:

Hi shadowbinding shoe, and welcome to the watch!

And thanks for resuscitating this thread. Very Happy

You've made some great points already. Glad to have you aboard.
_________________
"The plural of antecdotes is not evidence."
-------------
Driving down the razor's edge between the past and the future
Turn up the music and smile
Get carried away on the songs and stories of vanished times

shadowbinding shoe · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:53 am Post subject:

Thanks Mortice Root.

Chapter Three: Translation

Terisa takes Geraden and they fall into Mordant. I hadn't remembered that the translations are not instantaneous. Terisa has time to: "She studied the sudden darkness intimately despite the fact that it was so brief that she could hardly have noticed it." So there's an in-between place you go to during the translations. Or am I wrong?

The Imagers of the Congery has as their sigil of office yellow satin chasubles. Does this mean they should remind us of a priest-class? They certainly hold a monopoly on the supernatural business in Mordant's world.

How do these chasubles look like? The way it's described it can't be too long. It is wrapped around their necks. Like a scarf. Terisa can see that one of the Imagers has a jerkin beneath his chasuble. So it must be shorter than a jerkin but has long tail that Master Eremis can play with.

Here we meet for the first time Master Eremis, Barsonage, Gilbur and a pipsqueak of Master Quillon. They want their champion but they're too chauvinistic to believe Terisa is anything of the sort despite Geraden's loud protests.

Master Eremis sounds the voice of reason here but looking back at his suggestion I'm left scratching my head. They have just witnessed something they can't understand and Eremis suggests they mull it over. How is that going to help? Even Master Barsonage says it would be an exercise in futility. They can't understand it and no amount of mulling would help them out. What they should do is learn more about their new candidate champion. What they should do is study Geraden's mirror. What they should do is study Geraden while he tries to make another mirror. Or ask him (and Master Gilbur) what he did when he created this mirror. Thinking about it is totally useless. Evil or Very Mad

In fact Eremis did intend to take Terisa with him and have a talk with her. Maybe he was going to do these things when he had her to himself. But would he explore anything more than her body?

SoulBiter · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject:

I finished them all and will add some as I go. I also got my daughter to start reading these and she devoured them. I couldnt get her to read the Covenant books but she loved Mordants Need.
_________________
"He torments himself sufficiently."

My 5 year old nephew Eli
Eli: Dammit!
His mom: Eli, that is not a nice word. We need to find another word to use.
Eli: I am a bad guy mom. I use bad words and fight with my lasers. Dammit!

"All of the above is my opinion and thus shouldnt need to be supported by anything other than more of my opinions. twocents

"

We miss you Tracie but your Spirit will always shine brightly on the Watch

shadowbinding shoe · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:13 pm Post subject:

Chapter Four: The Old Dodderer

Geraden is told by everyone to shut up, poor chap and we get to meet King Joyce and Adept Havelock.

Geraden says:

shadowbinding shoe · Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:57 pm Post subject:

Chapter Five: Wardrobes Full of Clothes

What an opening scene! The previous chapter's imagery of the throne room was good. This is even better. Terrisa the dumb, Havelock the blind (stares at a blank board) and Joyce the deaf (ignores everybody in order to collect hi checkers from the floor.) You quail thinking about where Terisa is at this moment.

When Terisa meets with Angus and Ribuld again we get an interesting comparison with Thomas Covenant on the dream theme. While T.C. repeatedly said he doesn't believe in the reality of the Land and tries to ignore his responsibility to it he never thinks everything is going to vanish the next moment. It may not be 'the real world' but he takes for granted its inner consistency. Terisa on the other hand REALLY believes in the unreality of the situation. For all she knows Geraden, king Joyce and Adept Havelock have evaporated while her back was turned to her. The discovery that the sun has set (proving the passing of time) gives her a shock of relief. Because she doesn't believe in herself, all her beliefs are much more flimsy and insubstantial.

Terisa reverting to the status of a little girl pawing through her mother's clothing and cosmetics was cute.

Closets are really important places in Terisa's life. On the one hand they're the (unexplored) portal to reaching womanhood and on the other hand they're the dark punishment place where her father locked her up. Her father made the road to womanhood too scary for her. All she has before Geraden appears in her life are the lifeless clothes her father chose for her.

Here Terisa dares once more to try attractive clothes given to her by Saddith / Myste / Joyce. And here once more the darkness of the closet opens up through the agency of Havelock to devour her.