Friday
Friday, August 10 2007
19:51
Last entry here for a little while. Just now, picked up a bite at the store, and walking back through the parking lot, a car that just passed by me parked and, immediately, the young girl in the passenger seat opened the door and yelled, "What's your name??" at me. I looked at her but was too surprised to say anything so I just kept on walking. Weird.
Finished Destiny's Forge. Not bad. Definitely got engrossing about halfway through. Long – 650 pages? Think it probably could have done with some editing down. Also, it dawned on me about 2/3rds of the way through, how much the story mirrors that in Dune. One great house is ursurped by another, the latter using underhanded techniques and showing a generally dishonorable character, the other houses twitter but essentially do nothing; the exiled son-of-former-leader finds solace with the "savages" on the planet, who turn out to be far more organized and formidable than anyone imagined; said exiles have managed to tame the giant, quadrupedal but otherwise very worm-like creatures that inhabit the jungle where they live, and ride them into battle; it is revealed that aforementioned exile is the hoped-for blending of two genetic lines that has been in the works for thousands of years; it is revealed that one of said genetic lines is special due to a tendency for psychic abilities; I could go on. I figure this was all an intentional homage – the author setting out to re-tell what is really a fairly classic story, with a nod to Dune, within the framework of Known Space and the Man-Kzin wars. But if it wasn't, I'd like to have seen the look on his face when someone pointed it out.
19:51
Last entry here for a little while. Just now, picked up a bite at the store, and walking back through the parking lot, a car that just passed by me parked and, immediately, the young girl in the passenger seat opened the door and yelled, "What's your name??" at me. I looked at her but was too surprised to say anything so I just kept on walking. Weird.
Finished Destiny's Forge. Not bad. Definitely got engrossing about halfway through. Long – 650 pages? Think it probably could have done with some editing down. Also, it dawned on me about 2/3rds of the way through, how much the story mirrors that in Dune. One great house is ursurped by another, the latter using underhanded techniques and showing a generally dishonorable character, the other houses twitter but essentially do nothing; the exiled son-of-former-leader finds solace with the "savages" on the planet, who turn out to be far more organized and formidable than anyone imagined; said exiles have managed to tame the giant, quadrupedal but otherwise very worm-like creatures that inhabit the jungle where they live, and ride them into battle; it is revealed that aforementioned exile is the hoped-for blending of two genetic lines that has been in the works for thousands of years; it is revealed that one of said genetic lines is special due to a tendency for psychic abilities; I could go on. I figure this was all an intentional homage – the author setting out to re-tell what is really a fairly classic story, with a nod to Dune, within the framework of Known Space and the Man-Kzin wars. But if it wasn't, I'd like to have seen the look on his face when someone pointed it out.
posted by taylorsherman at 8:05 PM
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