Dragon and Orca
Jan. 20th, 2009 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackDragon
I've not quite finished Dragon, but it's mainly a how-the-empire-works essay. It's very important for the background of how the empire works, and how Vlad comes to see it, but it didn't interest me as much as the others as a book. (Which is a shame, as I love reading about dragonlords in general. But there you go.)
It fills in several incidents referred to in other books, but none feel exceptionally interesting at the time. (Not that I criticise -- Brust tries something lovely with the way all the different books interweave, the fact that it's not always perfect is not a criticism :))
It initially felt implausible to me that Vlad would let himself get caught up with a bunch of footsoldiers, even elite dragon foot soldiers. It felt more like an excuse for Vlad to have the experience of what it was like for a foot soldier, than something he would do.
I felt that if he was as important to the campaign as one of the wizards, he would have hung around in the command tend with Morrolan, and if he wasn't, he wouldn't have bothered going, however nettled he was. And that surely Sethra being Sethra could just kill a small army without needing any army at all. (Although the discussion of sorcery-in-war was very interesting and had lots of good thoughts and descriptions.)
On the other hand, at some point in history, going to war was what minor nobility were FOR, and having 200 elite soldiers who don't run away is indeed central to success, and Vlad has less social standing than a any dragon-lord (except for being pally with Morrolan, etc), so from that perspective, it's exactly right.
ETA: The second half picked up quite a bit for me, and also had some interesting analysis of the different sorts of units used in war at the time.
Orca
This was very enjoyable, though about half of this is narrative, and the other half another how-the-empire-works essay, which is interesting, but would be more fulfilling if either I or Brust were an economist so it really made sense.
The big revelation is at the end, when it's revealed that X and Y are the same person. That was very interesting because I'd seen it in some internet commentary, then forgotten it, then remembered it towards the end of the book.
When I was looking for connections, I suddenly remembered lots of them. Whenever X appears, there's often some moment which makes sense, but makes lots and lots more sense when you know Y chose it for a reason. So this was a multi-book revelation which was done really well.
I've not quite finished Dragon, but it's mainly a how-the-empire-works essay. It's very important for the background of how the empire works, and how Vlad comes to see it, but it didn't interest me as much as the others as a book. (Which is a shame, as I love reading about dragonlords in general. But there you go.)
It fills in several incidents referred to in other books, but none feel exceptionally interesting at the time. (Not that I criticise -- Brust tries something lovely with the way all the different books interweave, the fact that it's not always perfect is not a criticism :))
It initially felt implausible to me that Vlad would let himself get caught up with a bunch of footsoldiers, even elite dragon foot soldiers. It felt more like an excuse for Vlad to have the experience of what it was like for a foot soldier, than something he would do.
I felt that if he was as important to the campaign as one of the wizards, he would have hung around in the command tend with Morrolan, and if he wasn't, he wouldn't have bothered going, however nettled he was. And that surely Sethra being Sethra could just kill a small army without needing any army at all. (Although the discussion of sorcery-in-war was very interesting and had lots of good thoughts and descriptions.)
On the other hand, at some point in history, going to war was what minor nobility were FOR, and having 200 elite soldiers who don't run away is indeed central to success, and Vlad has less social standing than a any dragon-lord (except for being pally with Morrolan, etc), so from that perspective, it's exactly right.
ETA: The second half picked up quite a bit for me, and also had some interesting analysis of the different sorts of units used in war at the time.
Orca
This was very enjoyable, though about half of this is narrative, and the other half another how-the-empire-works essay, which is interesting, but would be more fulfilling if either I or Brust were an economist so it really made sense.
The big revelation is at the end, when it's revealed that X and Y are the same person. That was very interesting because I'd seen it in some internet commentary, then forgotten it, then remembered it towards the end of the book.
When I was looking for connections, I suddenly remembered lots of them. Whenever X appears, there's often some moment which makes sense, but makes lots and lots more sense when you know Y chose it for a reason. So this was a multi-book revelation which was done really well.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-20 04:40 pm (UTC)