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queensthiefFrom a Horn Book interview with Franny Billingsley:
HB: If Chime’s Eldric has any competition at all in the hunky one-handed YA fantasy hero category, it’s Megan Whalen Turner’s Eugenides (from The Thief et al.). Tell us, if Eldric and Gen were to arm-wrestle, who would win?
FB: What a great question! I think that one of Eldric’s great gifts is that he’s pretty connected to his childhood self, which means that he doesn’t wear much of a mask. Which means that bit by bit, he’s able to tease Briony to the surface, the real Briony, the Briony who’s suffocating under her mask. Gen, however, is dead opposite to Eldric. When I think about Gen’s character in The King of Attolia, for example, I think about the way he kept Costis so unbalanced. The reader sees him mostly through Costis’s eyes and it is only toward the end that Costis sees bits of the real Gen. Most of us wear masks to make ourselves look better, but Gen is a trickster. In The King of Attolia, for his own complex reasons, he hides his skill at swordplay, taking Costis by surprise toward the end. So if Eldric, who hasn’t much of a mask, were pitted against Gen, who turns his own mask inside out — if they were to arm-wrestle, I don’t think Eldric stands a chance.
It’s funny that I never thought about the parallel between Gen’s hand and Eldric’s hand. Perhaps it’s because of the many, many drafts in which it was Briony who lost the hand. Or perhaps it’s because Gen and Eldric are so different, that hand or no, I don’t put them in the same mental box.
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I have Chime out (six starred reviews, how could I not) and am about to read it! Interestingly - and a bit off-topic - the plagiarism part is something I've been thinking about after reading Matched - if the feel is different, and the characters are different, whether elements being similar equals plagiarism.
Back on topic: I love it when authors mention that they love MWT, mostly because she seems to fly under the radar a lot. ACoK hitting the NYT bestseller list was a bit of a shock. (A wonderful one, though!)
HB: If Chime’s Eldric has any competition at all in the hunky one-handed YA fantasy hero category, it’s Megan Whalen Turner’s Eugenides (from The Thief et al.). Tell us, if Eldric and Gen were to arm-wrestle, who would win?
FB: What a great question! I think that one of Eldric’s great gifts is that he’s pretty connected to his childhood self, which means that he doesn’t wear much of a mask. Which means that bit by bit, he’s able to tease Briony to the surface, the real Briony, the Briony who’s suffocating under her mask. Gen, however, is dead opposite to Eldric. When I think about Gen’s character in The King of Attolia, for example, I think about the way he kept Costis so unbalanced. The reader sees him mostly through Costis’s eyes and it is only toward the end that Costis sees bits of the real Gen. Most of us wear masks to make ourselves look better, but Gen is a trickster. In The King of Attolia, for his own complex reasons, he hides his skill at swordplay, taking Costis by surprise toward the end. So if Eldric, who hasn’t much of a mask, were pitted against Gen, who turns his own mask inside out — if they were to arm-wrestle, I don’t think Eldric stands a chance.
It’s funny that I never thought about the parallel between Gen’s hand and Eldric’s hand. Perhaps it’s because of the many, many drafts in which it was Briony who lost the hand. Or perhaps it’s because Gen and Eldric are so different, that hand or no, I don’t put them in the same mental box.
-------
I have Chime out (six starred reviews, how could I not) and am about to read it! Interestingly - and a bit off-topic - the plagiarism part is something I've been thinking about after reading Matched - if the feel is different, and the characters are different, whether elements being similar equals plagiarism.
Back on topic: I love it when authors mention that they love MWT, mostly because she seems to fly under the radar a lot. ACoK hitting the NYT bestseller list was a bit of a shock. (A wonderful one, though!)
