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Post by GrimReaper on Oct 4, 2009 12:30:18 GMT -5
I'm with DM wanting to know how the gates work and how they allow travel between worlds. Only some answers are in the RME. Not all.
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Post by GrimReaper on Oct 4, 2009 12:26:41 GMT -5
Talk about quiet. Dude where is everyone?
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Post by GrimReaper on Apr 12, 2009 15:17:52 GMT -5
Been watching Whedon's Dollhouse and in the back of my mind I keep thinking I know the story theme from somewhere, I know I do, I know I do.
Watching last Friday's episode, A Doll in the House of Love, I'm sitting there and my jaw drops about 49 minutes in. Dewitt's second's just been beaten and discovered he's smiling and Echo asks him why he's smiling. He says he's smiling because she's going to get erased and she doesn't get it and then he adds I'm smiling because one day you're going to erase them and they won't see it coming.
I'm like holy nuts that's straight from Silence at the end with Ev. Ev gets cleaned but she's not afraid. She knows the director is going get cleaned and then the rest are going to get cleaned and none of them are going to see it coming. Freaking Deja Vu!
Absolutes has a scene with Krzystof, sitting there grinning when they've doing him in because he knows what's going to happen to those who are doing him in.
The parrallels between the scenes in Silence and Absolutes are purposeful since they're in the same story collection. The scene in Dollhouse is too similar to be coincidence. Is Whedon a Stanek fan? I would have to say he is since he liked the concepts so much he created a tv series around them.
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Post by GrimReaper on Dec 15, 2008 22:25:35 GMT -5
There is a HUGE cast of both villains and heroes --- it's one thing I love about RS books. He knows how to create fantastic characters you care about whether they are good or bad you feel like you know them and there's always a lot of them.
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Post by GrimReaper on Dec 15, 2008 22:16:40 GMT -5
RS gives us enough tidbits to peak interest like. He tells about the dark land they live in, about the society through their queen and their behavior. One key question remains is why Erravane wanted a human child so badly --- there has to be something significant behind it. She also was good at manipulating she got Prince William on her side and they formed some type of alliance even though it later falls apart or appears to anyway.
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Post by GrimReaper on Dec 15, 2008 21:56:59 GMT -5
Edward was very noble in the end. I don't think Vilmos would have made it very far with a pack of hunter beasts close at his back. It seemed he barely made it away as it was. In another post, I just was talking about this --- it was his way to redeem himself. There are several mentions of this when he (edward) speaks to Xith.
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Post by GrimReaper on Dec 15, 2008 21:52:29 GMT -5
The story of Delinna and Ansh is tragic, sad and vivid. I loved how it threads across the entire series and is finally resolved in the last pages. It left me wanting to know their whole story. Vilmos's story is interesting and deep as well. In that his story is resolved over the whole of the series. He battles not only evil of the world but the evil within himself. I think it speaks to the inner struggles we all face in our everyday lives. A tragic love story but with a uplifting ending, no? Very realistic with how such a relationship would/could evolve between royalty and commoner. I like that about speaking tothe inner struggles we all face.
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Post by GrimReaper on Dec 15, 2008 21:50:23 GMT -5
I think that the most interesting stories are the ones in which the characters has to defeat the evil in his story both as a threat to his life and the life to his close people, but also as a dark side in himself. Stanek showed this in a brilliant way with Vilmos. Definitely, truly, awesome insight --- it surely is a subtheme. Vilmos battled within himself and with the world. He became both villain and hero. Delinna has the role of both hero and villain too, and then there's Edward who seeks redemption from some (what must be assumed as) dark acts through Vilmos.
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Post by GrimReaper on Dec 15, 2008 21:46:51 GMT -5
Interesting thoughts Grim. The books truly are about the great houses of the Kingdoms of Men. The Alders, the Tyr'anths, and the rest. Can't wait to learn more about the rest of the great houses. One thing I recently realized is the connections between the members of the "great families" of the kingdoms. There's a good history of the Froen d'Gas and the rest in the ruin mist encyclopedia. The story between Ansh and Delinna is a good one, very deep. By the end, you finally understand them completely. The many nuansces to their story are fascinating. Its things like that that make the books so good. Like I said, I didn't catch it the first time as I was much younger but now as I read the books I see it and it makes the books all the better. The Alder family is very interesting and I know RS has to get deeper into the other side next with the Tyr'anths. I liked also the other families from the Brodsts onward. I hope Delinna has a bigger part in the books too alongside Adrina.
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Post by GrimReaper on Dec 15, 2008 21:39:39 GMT -5
hOPe sO tOO!!!!
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Post by GrimReaper on Dec 15, 2008 21:38:08 GMT -5
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Post by GrimReaper on Nov 16, 2008 16:38:54 GMT -5
When I first read the books to be honest, I didn't care or catch on to the love stories but as I reread the books and have gotten older I see this more clearly. As with Tolkien, Stanek's romances are below the surface, rather subtle, there if you want to be carried away in them. Tolkien's Rings has one great romance at the center of it: the love between Aragorn son of Arathorn and Arwen Evenstar. This is a tragic love story of two who love each other but cannot be together due to circumstances beyond their control. There love story is told over the course of the three books.
Stanek's Kingdoms and Dragons tells the stories of the Alders. The love between King Andrew and his queen is one of several great romances, told mostly through Andrew's actions and reminisceses. Each of his children has a romance (except for Adrina who is the youngest). Valam with the elven queen. Calyin with her northern lord. Delinna with her captain. Adrina as the youngest has flirtations like with Emel but no true romance yet. Out of all these, the great romance is that of Delinna. Delinna's backstory is told across all eight books and the love story can only be understood after a careful reading of all eight books. It is tragic and perhaps one of the great love stories of all time. So like Tolkien's Rings are Stanek's books misunderstood by the masses? Seems so.
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