Re: Things that irritated you in the book - Edit 2
Before modification by RugbyPlayingAshaman at 24/11/2009 02:59:43 PM
1. Tuon - even though, honestly, if I was confronted by a man around whom a halo of darkness sprang up, I'd be inclined to refuse anything he asked of me, as well. But she just annoys me, and I really don't feel that interested in the Seanchan "culture".
2. Demandred - I just don't see what he can do of such significance in the second or third part of what was supposed to be the last book that would justify introducing him only to have him not appear. Let's keep in mind that there were characters such as Sammael, Rahvin, Ishamael, Moghedien, Graendal, Semirhage and Mesaana that actually accomplished things while on-screen AND off-screen, yet Demandred hasn't done anything that we know of, and quite frankly, we're running out of plausible ideas that could be a clue as to what he's doing. I think RJ may have made a huge mistake with this character. If anyone else has read "The Chronicles of the Black Company", there were a few major league sorcerers and sorceresses that were not seen on-screen except for the during the final confrontation, where they mostly died off-screen...yet we know of their accomplishments throughout the story and knew that they were major threats. We don't have a similar impression for Demandred. I mean, maybe he's in a mirror world bringing over new monsters such as those used by the Seanchan to replace the Shadowspawn or in the Isle of Madmen gathering allies to assault Seandar and the Westlands (a la the Easterling armies in "The Lord of the Rings"
? Whatever he is doing, I have a feeling it's going to end up being lame and not awesome. Also, he sounded like a zombie during the Forsaken tea party this time around, and not one of the intelligent zombies. "Me Kill Al'Thor. Bawwaghhh."
Semirhage - I'm really tired of supremely dangerous villains torturing or drawing out their battles against the protagonists. She should have just taken Rand and Min as prisoners, Traveled out of there and been done with it. Another waste of a golden opportunity on the Altar of Super-Villain Behavior. It would have been funnier if Min threw her knife, Semirhage grabbed it with Air and flung it right back at her, killing her instantly.
Gawyn - He must be related to Demandred. Both are boring and it seems that both are tools.
Tam - Hey bro - I don't think Cadsuane made your son insane; I think you can thank the eight plus Forsaken he's faced, the multiple battlefields he's won and the weight of expectation placed on him. So calm the hell down. That was a stiff scene to read, too.
Mesaana - Here's the thing; I started out reading Ellery Queen before I read sci-fi...I LIKE a good mystery, especially when the details are there to be found, provided you as a reader are sharp, the writer is competent and the characters are not complacent. What I DON'T like are "mysteries" that are only "mysteries", because information that would allow you to figure them out is not given. This brings me to "RAFO" - I think I may be in the minority here, but if the rules of your universe are internally consistent, the RAFO questions are the ones we need answered to figure out the "mysteries". If something is supposed to be intuitively obvious, for example, it should be easy to confirm or deny. Claiming "RAFO" is a crappy way to make readers keep paying for the books. Great example of how NOT to handle RAFO - Marvel comics has something called Illustrated Guide to the Marvel Directory...in it, biographical and informative data about each character is given in great detail. So it is interesting to note that Storm's powers are psionic in nature, and more connected to moving energy fields than merely being manipulative of the weather...what happens is that you understand why she is able to manipulate cosmic winds and energy while in space, even though those storylines occurred years before the publication of the Directory. On the other hand, asking why Cyndane is weaker than Lanfear and being given a RAFO answer is a cop out. I'm starting to think that the answers to these questions are so lame that by giving them, we would be more annoyed that we bothered speculating for so many years. This suspicion is actually beating down my ability to work up enthusiasm for theorizing because the last few answers we were given were quite lame.
2. Demandred - I just don't see what he can do of such significance in the second or third part of what was supposed to be the last book that would justify introducing him only to have him not appear. Let's keep in mind that there were characters such as Sammael, Rahvin, Ishamael, Moghedien, Graendal, Semirhage and Mesaana that actually accomplished things while on-screen AND off-screen, yet Demandred hasn't done anything that we know of, and quite frankly, we're running out of plausible ideas that could be a clue as to what he's doing. I think RJ may have made a huge mistake with this character. If anyone else has read "The Chronicles of the Black Company", there were a few major league sorcerers and sorceresses that were not seen on-screen except for the during the final confrontation, where they mostly died off-screen...yet we know of their accomplishments throughout the story and knew that they were major threats. We don't have a similar impression for Demandred. I mean, maybe he's in a mirror world bringing over new monsters such as those used by the Seanchan to replace the Shadowspawn or in the Isle of Madmen gathering allies to assault Seandar and the Westlands (a la the Easterling armies in "The Lord of the Rings"
? Whatever he is doing, I have a feeling it's going to end up being lame and not awesome. Also, he sounded like a zombie during the Forsaken tea party this time around, and not one of the intelligent zombies. "Me Kill Al'Thor. Bawwaghhh."Semirhage - I'm really tired of supremely dangerous villains torturing or drawing out their battles against the protagonists. She should have just taken Rand and Min as prisoners, Traveled out of there and been done with it. Another waste of a golden opportunity on the Altar of Super-Villain Behavior. It would have been funnier if Min threw her knife, Semirhage grabbed it with Air and flung it right back at her, killing her instantly.
Gawyn - He must be related to Demandred. Both are boring and it seems that both are tools.
Tam - Hey bro - I don't think Cadsuane made your son insane; I think you can thank the eight plus Forsaken he's faced, the multiple battlefields he's won and the weight of expectation placed on him. So calm the hell down. That was a stiff scene to read, too.
Mesaana - Here's the thing; I started out reading Ellery Queen before I read sci-fi...I LIKE a good mystery, especially when the details are there to be found, provided you as a reader are sharp, the writer is competent and the characters are not complacent. What I DON'T like are "mysteries" that are only "mysteries", because information that would allow you to figure them out is not given. This brings me to "RAFO" - I think I may be in the minority here, but if the rules of your universe are internally consistent, the RAFO questions are the ones we need answered to figure out the "mysteries". If something is supposed to be intuitively obvious, for example, it should be easy to confirm or deny. Claiming "RAFO" is a crappy way to make readers keep paying for the books. Great example of how NOT to handle RAFO - Marvel comics has something called Illustrated Guide to the Marvel Directory...in it, biographical and informative data about each character is given in great detail. So it is interesting to note that Storm's powers are psionic in nature, and more connected to moving energy fields than merely being manipulative of the weather...what happens is that you understand why she is able to manipulate cosmic winds and energy while in space, even though those storylines occurred years before the publication of the Directory. On the other hand, asking why Cyndane is weaker than Lanfear and being given a RAFO answer is a cop out. I'm starting to think that the answers to these questions are so lame that by giving them, we would be more annoyed that we bothered speculating for so many years. This suspicion is actually beating down my ability to work up enthusiasm for theorizing because the last few answers we were given were quite lame.