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queensthiefSection notes - from "The Queen of Eddis protested" to "He couldn't offend the gods with a pointed stick."
Following my format from last time, I'm posing two questions about all four chapters, and then a unique question per chapter. Then I give my own answers!
The questions were a bit harder to come up with this time - not because there's nothing to think about, but because I keep wanting to ask questions about The King of Attolia - like "How does this status quo of Teleus and the Royal Guard match with the end of The King of Attolia?" or "What's Aris doing being chummy with the king?" or "What is the deal with Gen's health?" or so many more.
Chapter 13:
1) This chapter, as my unique question indicates my own analysis, as a shift in tone. It not only moves the point of view from first person to third after the prologue, it also gives us some of our first real dramatized scenes of connection between any two characters with Sophos and Helen. There's a sense of joy as well as sorrow that it's so quickly ripped away by the responsibilities. This time through, I'm really getting a sense of the symbol of prison that the narrative sets up around Sophos/Sounis - first to his father, then to his kidnappers, then as a slave, and finally as King in exlie. It's interesting that he's happy only twice - here and as a slave. Here, it's the eye of the storm, where he's able to catch his breath with the woman he loves and is friends with. As a slave, he's free to not worry about the future. Both times, it's freedom, but also abdication, indicating that to achieve his happy ending, Sounis must find a way to become his own kind of king - and in this chapter, we begin to see how, in his ability to think through his own circumstances.
2) The Queen of Eddis Laughs - a bit on the nose, but it really captures my sense of the tonal shift.
3) I think the narrative has sowed enough emotional notes that are still unresolved, even apart from the whole King in exile thing - Sophos's hostage mother and sisters, and the fate of Berrone, that the respite here doesn't lose too much narrative steam. It's also a chance to do radical change to the structure of the book in POV without also raising the stakes in a way that might be emotionally difficult for the reader.
Chapter 14:
1) There so much in this chapter - Sounis's attempts to plan his ascension through diplomacy, his first tangling with the Medean ambassador to Attolia (after his tangling with the arson-happy Medean ambassador to Sounis), lots of excellent stuff about my fave Irene and her governing Attolia (A Conspiracy of Kings unfortunately puts her on the back burner a lot, understandably, but this time through, I'm really pleased to see her getting such great moments and status quo establishment), and, of course, Gen using duels in an unorthodox way to measure and manipulate his opponents. It's not quite as powerful as the end of King of Attolia, but then again, it's not a climax.
2) King in Exlie - I've already mentioned this phrase a lot, but I think it's broad enough to capture most of what Sounis is going through here.
3) The wolf, like the prison, I think indicates the ambiguity of being royalty for the main characters. It's terrifying, but if you respect the office/wolf, and make sure you never trust it with your life blindly, you may be able to survive and make the world a better place (as Attolia, the main character here who is identified with the wolf, attempts to do).
Chapter 15:
1) Here, we have a reconnection between Gen and Sophos - but as we discover in the next chapter, though Gen truly does love Sophos (as the beautiful turn of phrase about Sounis holding Attolis's heart in his hands), there's still a distance between Gen's secret intentions and Sophos. It also reminds us of Gen's skills as a thief, as well as his love for the queen (his comment about Dite really hits home how complicated the emotions are in the book - I love Dite for being loyal to and in love with Irene, but I don't really ship them. But it still seems hard on him to be exiled for being a decent person, even if he is much happier.) It functions sort of like the first half of The King of Attolia in microcosm, showing us Gen with a mask, then dropping it for someone who comes close to his heart.
2) A Drink in Attolia - I should think this one is obvious. :)
3) I think there definitely is a point to it beyond an expert tugging on the heartstrings. The loyalty to duty and country has no weight if what they have to sacrifice or minimize has no intensity in our hearts. Seeing how much Gen and Helen love Irene and Sophos makes the choices they powerful.
Chapter 16:
1) This chapter signals to us that the middle section in Attolia is concluding, wrapping up some intermediary threads like the King's attendants (a nicely handled emotional development carried over from The King of Attolia), and launches us directly into Gen's wider plan - and lets us dull elves who weren't paying attention for the last three books that there is indeed such a plan, and Helen and Irene are in on it.
2) The King Leaves - I'm emphasizing roles here, as the overall title is A Conspiracy of Kings, so I think it nicely ties into that.
3) I was recently listening to a podcast on another book series, and the hosts complained that they didn't like the main character because she was born to a wealthy family and had many advantages. This greatly bothered me, because as another wise person on the internet has said, everyone's pain is real relative to themselves, and attempting to make comparisons between people's suffering generally ends up dismissing someone's pain as illegitimate. Even though Gen and Irene and Sophos have had immense resources and luxury compared to those around them, each of them has suffered intensely, and their response to suffering - to take control of their situations and attempt to make the world a better place - is why we love them (or at least, I love them. Some people don't love Irene ;). Now, one can think about whether the king or queen of a country should really be the focus of a story, because of the injustice of the strucutre of the monarchy - but I think that the narrative is very careful to point out that even kings and queens with relatively absolute authority legally do not have practical absolute power, given their reliance on their nobles and other states.
Look forward to discussing this week, concluding next week, and then... :)
Following my format from last time, I'm posing two questions about all four chapters, and then a unique question per chapter. Then I give my own answers!
Questions for all four chapters:
1) What is accomplished in this chapter? (Could also be phrased, "Why does this chapter exist?")
2) If the chapters had titles, what would you call this chapter?
Individual chapter questions:
13: How does this chapter maintain the stakes, while still being a significant change in tone with the humor and romance between Eddis and Sounis?
14: What are some of the ways the image/symbol of the wolf works for you as you read this story?
15: This story works with a lot of repeated patterns - do you think there is significance to hearing of Gen's realized love for Irene, as we later see Helen realizing her love for Sophos?
16: We see a lot of the function of Irene and Gen's Attolia and Attolis identities leading up to this revelation that something more is going on, and Helen is involved. What effect does the reality of royalty have on your emotional reaction to and engagement with these characters?
The questions were a bit harder to come up with this time - not because there's nothing to think about, but because I keep wanting to ask questions about The King of Attolia - like "How does this status quo of Teleus and the Royal Guard match with the end of The King of Attolia?" or "What's Aris doing being chummy with the king?" or "What is the deal with Gen's health?" or so many more.
Chapter 13:
1) This chapter, as my unique question indicates my own analysis, as a shift in tone. It not only moves the point of view from first person to third after the prologue, it also gives us some of our first real dramatized scenes of connection between any two characters with Sophos and Helen. There's a sense of joy as well as sorrow that it's so quickly ripped away by the responsibilities. This time through, I'm really getting a sense of the symbol of prison that the narrative sets up around Sophos/Sounis - first to his father, then to his kidnappers, then as a slave, and finally as King in exlie. It's interesting that he's happy only twice - here and as a slave. Here, it's the eye of the storm, where he's able to catch his breath with the woman he loves and is friends with. As a slave, he's free to not worry about the future. Both times, it's freedom, but also abdication, indicating that to achieve his happy ending, Sounis must find a way to become his own kind of king - and in this chapter, we begin to see how, in his ability to think through his own circumstances.
2) The Queen of Eddis Laughs - a bit on the nose, but it really captures my sense of the tonal shift.
3) I think the narrative has sowed enough emotional notes that are still unresolved, even apart from the whole King in exile thing - Sophos's hostage mother and sisters, and the fate of Berrone, that the respite here doesn't lose too much narrative steam. It's also a chance to do radical change to the structure of the book in POV without also raising the stakes in a way that might be emotionally difficult for the reader.
Chapter 14:
1) There so much in this chapter - Sounis's attempts to plan his ascension through diplomacy, his first tangling with the Medean ambassador to Attolia (after his tangling with the arson-happy Medean ambassador to Sounis), lots of excellent stuff about my fave Irene and her governing Attolia (A Conspiracy of Kings unfortunately puts her on the back burner a lot, understandably, but this time through, I'm really pleased to see her getting such great moments and status quo establishment), and, of course, Gen using duels in an unorthodox way to measure and manipulate his opponents. It's not quite as powerful as the end of King of Attolia, but then again, it's not a climax.
2) King in Exlie - I've already mentioned this phrase a lot, but I think it's broad enough to capture most of what Sounis is going through here.
3) The wolf, like the prison, I think indicates the ambiguity of being royalty for the main characters. It's terrifying, but if you respect the office/wolf, and make sure you never trust it with your life blindly, you may be able to survive and make the world a better place (as Attolia, the main character here who is identified with the wolf, attempts to do).
Chapter 15:
1) Here, we have a reconnection between Gen and Sophos - but as we discover in the next chapter, though Gen truly does love Sophos (as the beautiful turn of phrase about Sounis holding Attolis's heart in his hands), there's still a distance between Gen's secret intentions and Sophos. It also reminds us of Gen's skills as a thief, as well as his love for the queen (his comment about Dite really hits home how complicated the emotions are in the book - I love Dite for being loyal to and in love with Irene, but I don't really ship them. But it still seems hard on him to be exiled for being a decent person, even if he is much happier.) It functions sort of like the first half of The King of Attolia in microcosm, showing us Gen with a mask, then dropping it for someone who comes close to his heart.
2) A Drink in Attolia - I should think this one is obvious. :)
3) I think there definitely is a point to it beyond an expert tugging on the heartstrings. The loyalty to duty and country has no weight if what they have to sacrifice or minimize has no intensity in our hearts. Seeing how much Gen and Helen love Irene and Sophos makes the choices they powerful.
Chapter 16:
1) This chapter signals to us that the middle section in Attolia is concluding, wrapping up some intermediary threads like the King's attendants (a nicely handled emotional development carried over from The King of Attolia), and launches us directly into Gen's wider plan - and lets us dull elves who weren't paying attention for the last three books that there is indeed such a plan, and Helen and Irene are in on it.
2) The King Leaves - I'm emphasizing roles here, as the overall title is A Conspiracy of Kings, so I think it nicely ties into that.
3) I was recently listening to a podcast on another book series, and the hosts complained that they didn't like the main character because she was born to a wealthy family and had many advantages. This greatly bothered me, because as another wise person on the internet has said, everyone's pain is real relative to themselves, and attempting to make comparisons between people's suffering generally ends up dismissing someone's pain as illegitimate. Even though Gen and Irene and Sophos have had immense resources and luxury compared to those around them, each of them has suffered intensely, and their response to suffering - to take control of their situations and attempt to make the world a better place - is why we love them (or at least, I love them. Some people don't love Irene ;). Now, one can think about whether the king or queen of a country should really be the focus of a story, because of the injustice of the strucutre of the monarchy - but I think that the narrative is very careful to point out that even kings and queens with relatively absolute authority legally do not have practical absolute power, given their reliance on their nobles and other states.
Look forward to discussing this week, concluding next week, and then... :)
