TSK discussion | Beguilement, ch 1-3
July 2nd, 2012 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shimotsukiAs promised, today's post covers the first three chapters of the first book, so no spoilers beyond that point, if you please. :)
Summary
Chapter 1: We meet Fawn, on the road to Glassforge. She stops at a well-house for a loaf of bread and some water, and there she encounters a Lakewalker patrol -- only the second time in her life she has ever even seen Lakewalkers. We also get a very brief glimpse of Dag, just long enough to see the gulf between farmers and Lakewalkers from his perspective. There are ominous hints about bandits near Glassforge, and about the malice that the patrollers are hunting, and we hear about groundsense for the first time.
Chapter 2: The Lakewalker patrollers attack the bandits' camp. We learn more about groundsense, and about Dag's long experience as a patroller and the compensations he makes for having lost a hand. Dag's patroller partner, Saun, is badly injured, and Dag heals him enough to keep him alive before setting off in pursuit of a bandit and a mud-man who have fled from the attack. The next morning, Fawn is nabbed by the bandit and the mud-man, but Dag turns up before things get too bad.
Chapter 3: Dag frightens Fawn by letting slip that he can tell she is pregnant, but he also explains that this is surely why the mud-man went after her. He takes her to a farmhouse, only to find the place deserted and ransacked -- the bandits had been there first. Still, Dag needs a safe place to leave Fawn so he can go after the malice again, and why would the bandits come back to a place they'd already plundered? So Fawn finds some food to eat, and starts to clean up the destruction, which gives her time to think. Mostly, about Lakewalkers. Eventually, she settles down for a nap...until she is awakened by heavy footsteps on the porch. Three mud-men come bursting in. (Cliffhanger! Heh -- didn't plan that stopping point on purpose.)
Comments? Squees or rants? What do you think about the story, the characters, the writing?
I was thinking we could do the next discussion in about a week. Let's actually say Tuesday, because Monday I'll be flying back from my conference, bookless and jetlagged. ;) I've been seeing comments around my f-list suggesting that people have been reading quickly once they start, so I was wondering if for next week's discussion we might cover up through Ch 11. If anyone thinks that's too much, please raise a squawk in the comments and we can slow down. But that's about half of the rest of Beguilement...and Ch 11 is, um, a very nice chapter. :)
Also, if anyone would like a Sharing Knife icon, help yourself!
.
Summary
Chapter 1: We meet Fawn, on the road to Glassforge. She stops at a well-house for a loaf of bread and some water, and there she encounters a Lakewalker patrol -- only the second time in her life she has ever even seen Lakewalkers. We also get a very brief glimpse of Dag, just long enough to see the gulf between farmers and Lakewalkers from his perspective. There are ominous hints about bandits near Glassforge, and about the malice that the patrollers are hunting, and we hear about groundsense for the first time.
Chapter 2: The Lakewalker patrollers attack the bandits' camp. We learn more about groundsense, and about Dag's long experience as a patroller and the compensations he makes for having lost a hand. Dag's patroller partner, Saun, is badly injured, and Dag heals him enough to keep him alive before setting off in pursuit of a bandit and a mud-man who have fled from the attack. The next morning, Fawn is nabbed by the bandit and the mud-man, but Dag turns up before things get too bad.
Chapter 3: Dag frightens Fawn by letting slip that he can tell she is pregnant, but he also explains that this is surely why the mud-man went after her. He takes her to a farmhouse, only to find the place deserted and ransacked -- the bandits had been there first. Still, Dag needs a safe place to leave Fawn so he can go after the malice again, and why would the bandits come back to a place they'd already plundered? So Fawn finds some food to eat, and starts to clean up the destruction, which gives her time to think. Mostly, about Lakewalkers. Eventually, she settles down for a nap...until she is awakened by heavy footsteps on the porch. Three mud-men come bursting in. (Cliffhanger! Heh -- didn't plan that stopping point on purpose.)
Comments? Squees or rants? What do you think about the story, the characters, the writing?
I was thinking we could do the next discussion in about a week. Let's actually say Tuesday, because Monday I'll be flying back from my conference, bookless and jetlagged. ;) I've been seeing comments around my f-list suggesting that people have been reading quickly once they start, so I was wondering if for next week's discussion we might cover up through Ch 11. If anyone thinks that's too much, please raise a squawk in the comments and we can slow down. But that's about half of the rest of Beguilement...and Ch 11 is, um, a very nice chapter. :)
Also, if anyone would like a Sharing Knife icon, help yourself!
.
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 05:07 pm (UTC)This time around, I've enjoyed it far more (so I'm really glad you did this :)), though I still have a couple of hmm thoughts that occur later on. The big attraction for me with Lois is that her world-building skills are up there with the best: there always seem to be elements I can recognize, and others that I want to know more of, and gradually, along with the characters, I find out more about both. Being something of a Western film fan, I kept thinking of The Magnificent Seven, where the villagers rely on and need the outlaws when under threat, but neither side quite trusts each other or wants to mingle afterwards. So enter (an apparently unlikely) Juliet and Romeo stage left, lol.
Dag presses a lot of the same Caz/Lois hero buttons by being emotionally damaged, physically damaged, very good at his job and arriving on my page complete with essential dry humour, care for others and raspy voice. *Remus Lupin!* Fawn was more of a slow-grower for me: she's practical and sensible and I like the way that in typical Lois fashion you get a hint or two at the surprise in store before the reveal. But I did feel there was a lot of emphasis on how young she was in thought and mannerism, and as if I knew exactly what was lurking up the road for Fawn. This was where the two points-of-view, which I liked a lot, was another plus as I certainly didn't know what was going to happen to Dag.
It's definitely a quick read. I sat down to read the first three to comment here and had to make myself stop at number eight!
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 09:09 pm (UTC)Will definitely be interested to hear what they are. I don't think this series is as strong overall as the first two Chalion books (though I do think it beats Hallowed Hunt). I'm still finding it a fast and fun read, though -- perfect for summer -- and as you say too, I especially like the world-building.
That's a very interesting comparison with The Magnificent Seven (which I've never seen, but I have seen Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, which I understand was supposed to have been the inspiration, so I get the point you're making).
Dag is indeed a bit, um, recycled in some ways, I would have to agree. But I knew this going in, and those are definitely some of my own buttons...
If I can say this without being spoilery: I think one of the more interesting things about Fawn is the disconnect between how capable and sensible she is, and how she sees herself and is seen by certain people. I think Bujold has another recurring theme, which is the need that certain characters have to prove themselves -- but I think she does this with Fawn in an interestingly different way from, say, Miles Vorkosigan, by reversing Miles's situation (extremely supportive family but problems from outsiders).
Glad you had time to join in the discussion, and glad you're enjoying the book more this time around! (But please don't feel you have to keep slogging through if that stops being the case!)
no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 09:41 pm (UTC)I have seen that and enjoyed it as well. TMS is almost a straight-forward remake, certainly in the main themes.
Dag is indeed a bit, um, recycled in some ways, I would have to agree. But I knew this going in, and those are definitely some of my own buttons...
I very much like recycled when it's some of my favourite things in there! Which is why I took to Dag right away (of course he also has a way with horses. One would almost think somebody got hold of my list of preferred characteristics;)). But I'm sure we've had this particular conversation about fictional charcaters before, lol.
I think Bujold has another recurring theme, which is the need that certain characters have to prove themselves
That's a good point, and if I can avoid getting too spoilery as well, arguably the advantage of Fawn being so young and untried is that no one, including her, knows quite what she's capable of.
Let's see if I can use the right icon this time...
no subject
Date: 2012-07-09 01:06 pm (UTC)Dag presses a lot of the same Caz/Lois hero buttons by being emotionally damaged, physically damaged, very good at his job and arriving on my page complete with essential dry humour, care for others and raspy voice. *Remus Lupin!*
I’m definitely with you there! (Not to mention the Aragorn-ish tall, dark and brooding aspects.) Although actually, at the same, there is one particular aspect of him that I love precisely because it isn’t like Remus or Caz, but I can’t talk about that until we discuss the next section…
no subject
Date: 2012-07-09 09:37 pm (UTC)I'll save the hmm moments for their proper time, to see if we're having a I-see-what-you-mean-there meeting of minds or not. ;)
(Not to mention the Aragorn-ish tall, dark and brooding aspects.)
LOL, it does make me laugh how every woman around appreciates how tall he is - and how every man does as well, usually for very different reasons!