"What luck you have."

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Hello all! Newbie around here. Finished all four books lately, loved them, and am overjoyed there's a community for fellow fans. I'm finally daring to post, but only with the most inconsequential of questions.

I was thinking of the remark "What luck you have" at the time of a certain stolen kiss, and wanted to ask your opinions on its meaning.

When I read it, I assumed it meant, "Well, aren't you lucky, having an army come unexpectedly to rescue you," which it certainly could mean. But lately it occurred to me that it could mean, "I'll take whatever luck a stolen kiss from you could give me, thanks," in the manner of a knight getting a kiss or a flower or such from his lady before going off to combat. Either way, of course our speaker meant it with some irony. :)

But which do you suppose it was?

Comments

[sgwordy.livejournal.com]

Hello! Aren't these just the most wonderful books? And I agree, it's just another part of the wonderful to have a great community to discuss with.

I've always read the scene like your first description. In fact, I hear the line in a slightly despairing (or perhaps disgusted?) voice in which I can just as easily imagine him saying "what vile luck I have."

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That reading does seem likelier. And perfectly warranted, since the gods were kind of playing a mean trick on him at that point. (Well, all for the greater good, but right then he could be forgiven for not thinking so!) :)

Looking forward to re-reading them and catching all kinds of nuances next time.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Welcome! I like the idea that Gen takes the time to run into her tent for a kiss hoping for some of her luck.

I love that part in QoA--Gen is so frustrated and afraid that he might get everyone on his side killed. I've wondered if he was thinking, "What luck she has...it HAS to be luck because if it's not luck, then the gods are on her side and I am soooo screwed!" And then he kisses her because if he is going to die, he might as well die with her kiss on his lips.

I can't wait until this new book comes out because that also means I get to reread the other books. Again.

So, lemonlye, which book is your favorite?

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

The gods were really being mean to him in that volume, weren't they? I don't blame him for demanding answers until all the expensive window glass got shattered. :D

But yes--whichever way he meant the line, I do love that he didn't want to get killed without having at least kissed her first. Aww.

For now my favorite is a tie between QoA and KoA, because their romance is so messed up and beautiful. :) But I love that MWT keeps giving us a different POV perspective in each book, and I look forward to the new eyes through which we might get to view this world next!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I read QoA first--silly me! (Thief was checked out and Queen sounded really good.) And I've said, since then, that QoA is my favorite. But every time I read KoA I waver a little. And with each reread of Conspiracy I'm more and more attached to dear Sophos.

Want to. Reread. Now.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Ha, I've wondered whether (or how) it might work if someone read them in a different order! Aside from being slightly geographically lost, reading QoA before Thief would probably be all right, though. I did love Sophos' POV. He's such a sweetheart compared to Gen, which makes his moments of bad-ass-ness all the more interesting.

Ooh, and I see someone wonderfully talented at Deviantart has drawn the stolen kiss (http://manderelee.deviantart.com/art/Stolen-Kiss-300483958). Squee!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I think the chop-chop scene was easier for me, since I wasn't really attached to Gen, having met him only a couple of dozen pages before. But I was still shocked as can be--who maims their main character??? :)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

That made my jaw drop. I figured that couldn't *really* have just happened...but it did, and it sure did make things more interesting in the long run!

[godofthieves.livejournal.com]

Who indeed, unless it be Megan Whalen Turner…??

[godofthieves.livejournal.com]

I agree with you checkers, I have always seen him saying it rather frustrated and rueful. But if he HAS to die, then he is going to get a kiss first. *giggle* SO Gen, right? I love the possibility that he is just trying to get some of her luck though. Never thought of that. In my opinion she really isn't very lucky though. Neither of them are… they both draw the short end of the stick frequently. Except when they end up together… Everybody wins when that happens. :)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Heheh. I mean, having gone to the trouble of invading the country and kidnapping her, he at least should get a kiss out of it before getting killed. In thief logic. :D

This is true; she really isn't very lucky either by that point. She makes a smart choice indeed by putting on those earrings a short time later! (Another detail I totally love.)

[shelver506.livejournal.com]

Aw! I don't know what the true answers is, but in my head-canon, I've decided it's both. He's aggrieved that his luck is failing yet again and shoring up his courage to go into battle.