Linkage

[dh684.livejournal.com]

Some more links:


http://tinyurl.com/qzevq

Interesting, I read the books out of order but based on my reading of the Thief, I probably would have gone with Eddis as a potential love interest for Gen.


http://www.gailgauthier.com/2006/08/lord-peter-with-hook_14.htm

(Moved up from below)


DH

Comments

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I think most of it depends on whether you want to blame the author for what you don't understand, or whether you want to blame yourself. Maybe 'blame' isn't the right word, because I usually think it's a good thing if there are things in a book that you don't understand at all. If there weren't, people would say, oh, that book is too obvious.

In Queen of Attolia, I was surprised when it came out that Gen was in love with Irene. But just like the plot twist in The Thief, if you go back and read it again, you pick up all sorts of clues and hints, and it seems perfectly plausible.

And as for the 'maiming', I think it adds an interesting layer to their relationship. First of all, Irene didn't maim Gen herself, she had someone else do it, so while the guilt still falls on her, she didn't actually hold him down and cut his hand off. Secondly, she did do it for a reason. She didn't cut his hand off because she's an evil person who enjoys hurting people. She did it as a punishment, because he was sneaking through her palace, and who knows what sort of trouble he could have caused? She couldn't take that risk. Nor could she know that Gen was in love with her, and at that time, she couldn't know that she would be in love with him, so it wasn't cruel in that way. The punishment was excessive, but that was how she had had to govern her kingdom. Dare I say she didn't know better?

I think if Irene had cut Gen's hand off because she was a sadistic person and she wanted to cause him pain, then the fact that he still loved her might have been disturbing. But that's not why she did it, and then the very fact that she did it tortures her. She can't even sleep. Obviously she regrets her actions. That's something that both Irene and Gen are going to have to live with, and that adds a lot of depth to the relationship. I don't like reading about relationships that are perfect. That's part of the reason I love these books so much!

And, wow, this was a really long comment. ^_^' I'm off to do my school work.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Well, I've always thought that Attolia had to cut off Gen's hand in order to find the capacity to feel anything, including love (just as in KoA she had to forgive Relius to prevent herself from "breaking," as Gen put it -- something he understood very well, obviously). Perhaps all of this was preordained by the gods, but I prefer to think that these events and their consequences were the result of human frailty and,, ultimately great self-awareness, sacrifice and understanding.

And yes, this is why I love these books beyond reason.

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

Wow! I think that sums it up really well ^^

[empmai.livejournal.com]

*Nod* wow, I love the books even more now

[empmai.livejournal.com]

Was Att being mean by cutting off his hand? Technically she should have killed him

She couldn't let Gen get away with it - even though she sort of didn't mind; there's the comment about her in bed awake looking at the shadwos and whether she wanted them to be empty or not. Because she didn't think Gen loved her (even though she loved him) if her Barons found out that she would go easy on someone just because she loved that person, the Barons could use Gen (if he didn't love the Queen) to take over the crown.

Standing outside the prison cell she seemed like an extreme form of motherism - a mom standing outside the door of the a child's time out room, upset that the kids upset but still has to carry out the punishment - though this scenario doesn't work wxactly cause no matter what you did cutting off your kid's hand would be child abuse to the gross extreme...... Wait unless the hand had flesh eating disease and it needed to be cut off and the cell was a hospital room.....

Dare I say she didn't know better?

I think she didn't have a choice - I'f she didn't want her Barons to eat her and her country alive she had to be harsh and Just, rather than kind. Remmeber, to be Queen in the first place she had to posion her husband on their wedding night.

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

I will never understand the people who claim there wasn't enough foreshadowing for a relationship. (I'm sure they'd also say that Howl and Sophie were too obvious. Hmph.) The better a book is, the less I'm figuring out ahead of time (Ron/Hermione, Darcy/Elizabeth, and Howl/Sophie do not count), really - when a book is boring, I spend the whole time telling people, "It's so obvious that he's going to die. And she keeps talking about how she can't lose the ring, so she's going to."

"Lord Peter with a hook" is a perfect description, though. And this person has read Sirius/Arabella Figg, which nobody's written in ages.