Post by Seek on Oct 23, 2020 1:04:07 GMT 10
I'm currently doing a AtFA re-read because of a crack fic I'm working on in my spare time, and I thought I'd just like to throw out some of the things I've noticed for the fun of it, and see if there's anything worth discussing. And if anyone wants to hop on in, this could be fun!
-Thom talks about wanting to slay demons and walk with the gods, which makes you wonder about what he's been reading. It's interesting how his ambition becomes more general over time - there's a certain kind of heroism involved in slaying demons. I wonder if the Mithran cloisters just ended up being very bad for his personal development. Also, this is our first mention of demons!
-It's mentioned that Maude can only heal, and that people who try to use magic in ways the gods have not given them often die in ugly ways. Maude prays when she tries to scry in the fire using the vervain ritual, and successfully does so. First time it's suggested that the Gift can be very specific.
-Coram was infantry in the king's army, rather than any Trebond muster. This is why I should not make assumptions. He served with Duke Gareth twenty years prior, which occurred prior to King Jasson's abdication. (Incidentally, I really think Jasson's abdication might have caused Roald authority problems early on - can't see Jasson sitting by as his son makes all the 'wrong' decisions. I had a sense that there are parallels between Jasson and King Taejong in terms of personality, though he definitely isn't anywhere near as controversial...)
-Alanna sees slaves in Corus. This is interesting - I assume they are being traded, or passing through, or with foreign merchants. There's no more mention of slaves ever again, and we know this flies in the face of King Roger II's reforms.
-I cannot believe I missed that we have temple guards for the Goddess with labrys axes.
-Sir Myles is supposed to teach the Bazhir Wars to the pages for one of their lessons. Suggests to me that Tortall has broken out into multiple wars with the Bazhir previously, unless some clashes with Barzun have been anachronistically subsumed. But that in itself is curious - how close together must the wars be, if Jasson took Barzun four years after he became king? (We know he reclaimed the Drell while still a Crown Prince.) I assume the current detente is more or less what we know: some treaties were signed with some tribes, and Ali Mukhtab got to stay in charge of Persopolis.
-Alanna is specifically stated to be the daughter of a border lord, and the Grimhold Mountains a natural barrier between Scanra and Tortall. Sometimes, Scanra tries to invade. ...This is where the fun with the magical shifting geography and location of Fief Trebond begins.
-Alex needed an extra hour of ethics. I wonder what happened.
-George's magic is called the Gift. This changes later, of course, but he just says his Gift helps him see more clearly than most. I think we're seeing early on that Pierce's ideas of how magic works are still in flux.
-Having the Gift is supposed to shield Alanna from the 'magic vision' of someone else with the Gift. I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean, because Thom scries Alanna later and clearly expects to succeed.
And my re-read has stopped there for the moment.
-Thom talks about wanting to slay demons and walk with the gods, which makes you wonder about what he's been reading. It's interesting how his ambition becomes more general over time - there's a certain kind of heroism involved in slaying demons. I wonder if the Mithran cloisters just ended up being very bad for his personal development. Also, this is our first mention of demons!
-It's mentioned that Maude can only heal, and that people who try to use magic in ways the gods have not given them often die in ugly ways. Maude prays when she tries to scry in the fire using the vervain ritual, and successfully does so. First time it's suggested that the Gift can be very specific.
-Coram was infantry in the king's army, rather than any Trebond muster. This is why I should not make assumptions. He served with Duke Gareth twenty years prior, which occurred prior to King Jasson's abdication. (Incidentally, I really think Jasson's abdication might have caused Roald authority problems early on - can't see Jasson sitting by as his son makes all the 'wrong' decisions. I had a sense that there are parallels between Jasson and King Taejong in terms of personality, though he definitely isn't anywhere near as controversial...)
-Alanna sees slaves in Corus. This is interesting - I assume they are being traded, or passing through, or with foreign merchants. There's no more mention of slaves ever again, and we know this flies in the face of King Roger II's reforms.
-I cannot believe I missed that we have temple guards for the Goddess with labrys axes.
-Sir Myles is supposed to teach the Bazhir Wars to the pages for one of their lessons. Suggests to me that Tortall has broken out into multiple wars with the Bazhir previously, unless some clashes with Barzun have been anachronistically subsumed. But that in itself is curious - how close together must the wars be, if Jasson took Barzun four years after he became king? (We know he reclaimed the Drell while still a Crown Prince.) I assume the current detente is more or less what we know: some treaties were signed with some tribes, and Ali Mukhtab got to stay in charge of Persopolis.
-Alanna is specifically stated to be the daughter of a border lord, and the Grimhold Mountains a natural barrier between Scanra and Tortall. Sometimes, Scanra tries to invade. ...This is where the fun with the magical shifting geography and location of Fief Trebond begins.
-Alex needed an extra hour of ethics. I wonder what happened.
-George's magic is called the Gift. This changes later, of course, but he just says his Gift helps him see more clearly than most. I think we're seeing early on that Pierce's ideas of how magic works are still in flux.
-Having the Gift is supposed to shield Alanna from the 'magic vision' of someone else with the Gift. I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean, because Thom scries Alanna later and clearly expects to succeed.
And my re-read has stopped there for the moment.