Taltos: Athyra
Jan. 20th, 2009 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackAthyra
Athyra is the first book after Vlad walks out of Adrilankha. Thus, apart from what happens in it, you realise Vlad's previous antagonistic run-ins with organised-crime and empire higher-ups are not just repeating a pattern in an unchanging episodic world, but building up to a culmination where Vlad's antagonism and dissatisfaction mean he finally walks out.
The book itself is very enjoyable. It describes a situation of a knowledgeable outsider (Vlad), meeting a unworldly village boy. However, it convincingly portrays it from both sides. From Vlad's side, you feel how he's seen lots of villages, and hence isn't being deliberately difficult or cryptic, it's that he's bored of explaining things, so makes comments whenever he feels like, but doesn't care if they don't make any sense.
It actually feels realistic that at first Vlad sees the boy as just another background character, but then is intrigued as he gets to know him better, and starts to take him seriously. And then is shocked when he realises just how morally ambiguous some of his actions seem to a normal person. In some ways, it's like reading a well-characterised Gandalf-figure!
From the boy's side, he starts off with a simple picture of "healing like this is normal magic", "eastern witchcraft is bad", "my liege-lord is good". Vlad initially can't be bothered to argue all this, but eventually does. Many books show the small-villager easily throwing off his shackles behind the scenes at this point, but here it spends effort showing how really difficult it is for the boy to throw off those beliefs.
And there is much fascinating discussion of philosophy between them, based on the boys ignorance, and Vlad's recollections of what Athyra have said.
The books feels like it told a too-short narrative really well. I wanted more events. However, everything that was there was really good.
Athyra is the first book after Vlad walks out of Adrilankha. Thus, apart from what happens in it, you realise Vlad's previous antagonistic run-ins with organised-crime and empire higher-ups are not just repeating a pattern in an unchanging episodic world, but building up to a culmination where Vlad's antagonism and dissatisfaction mean he finally walks out.
The book itself is very enjoyable. It describes a situation of a knowledgeable outsider (Vlad), meeting a unworldly village boy. However, it convincingly portrays it from both sides. From Vlad's side, you feel how he's seen lots of villages, and hence isn't being deliberately difficult or cryptic, it's that he's bored of explaining things, so makes comments whenever he feels like, but doesn't care if they don't make any sense.
It actually feels realistic that at first Vlad sees the boy as just another background character, but then is intrigued as he gets to know him better, and starts to take him seriously. And then is shocked when he realises just how morally ambiguous some of his actions seem to a normal person. In some ways, it's like reading a well-characterised Gandalf-figure!
From the boy's side, he starts off with a simple picture of "healing like this is normal magic", "eastern witchcraft is bad", "my liege-lord is good". Vlad initially can't be bothered to argue all this, but eventually does. Many books show the small-villager easily throwing off his shackles behind the scenes at this point, but here it spends effort showing how really difficult it is for the boy to throw off those beliefs.
And there is much fascinating discussion of philosophy between them, based on the boys ignorance, and Vlad's recollections of what Athyra have said.
The books feels like it told a too-short narrative really well. I wanted more events. However, everything that was there was really good.