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queensthiefI've read a lot of books lately in which the main character is tortured, is threatened with torture, or undergoes some sort of horrific physical pain. It's made me realize that, handled less than perfectly, this can leave you with a rather unclean feeling after reading a book -- as if you have, in fact, been participating in the torture by reading so breathlessly about the details.
It made me really appreciate the way MWT handles Gen's losing his hand. We feel his pain (largely psychological) without getting drawn into any details that could remotely be considered titillating. It's even suggested in KoA that Gen was tortured after the loss of the hand, and we can feel the horror of that without knowing any details at all. More interestingly, we can feel that Gen himself finds that part of his experience relatively unimportant.
I respect that authorial choice very much.
It made me really appreciate the way MWT handles Gen's losing his hand. We feel his pain (largely psychological) without getting drawn into any details that could remotely be considered titillating. It's even suggested in KoA that Gen was tortured after the loss of the hand, and we can feel the horror of that without knowing any details at all. More interestingly, we can feel that Gen himself finds that part of his experience relatively unimportant.
I respect that authorial choice very much.
