http://www.ferretbrain.com/comments.html Ferretbrain.com is an easy-going, irregular e-zine about stuff. So if you're excitably eclectic, curiously cantankerous, articulately adventurous (although not necessarily adverbially alliterative) and unduly attracted to shiny things this could be the place for you. This is the recent comments feed, containing the 25 most recent comments published on the site. en-gb Tue, 10 Jun 2003 04:00:00 GMT Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:33:28 FerretBrain.com Copyright (C) 2008 FerretBrain.com. All rights reserved. editor at ferretbrain dot com webmaster at ferretbrain dot com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.ferretbrain.com/images/logo.png http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-295/comments.html I'm glad you liked it! Kvothe's total awesomeness made even me, gushy and enthusiastic as I tend to be, think twice -- but I really can't wait for the next one... in a few months' time, anyway... Rami Chowdhury Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:30:24 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-295/comments.html#fbCommentName-936 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-294/comments.html What Rami said. As I point out in the review, the good thing about Dragon is that it seems to be an entirely optional episode in the series. I'm still, after all, going to read the ninth book when I can pick it up, simply because the first seven books were so good I'm holding out hope that Dragon was merely a mid-series hiccup instead of an actual sign of the way things are going.

Also, there's a big reveal at the end of book seven, so if you read the first seven books (the ones that got put out in the nice compilations) and then stop it's as reasonable an end point as any. Arthur B Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:50:33 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-294/comments.html#fbCommentName-935 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-294/comments.html Just because a series starts getting wobbly around the 8th book doesn't mean you can't enjoy the first seven, surely? I think the Vlad Taltos books are well worth reading even if you have advance warning from the Canary about when they're going to sink into mediocrity. Rami Chowdhury Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:07:30 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-294/comments.html#fbCommentName-934 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html I minded what happened to Jezel a lot less than you. Yes he got shit all over by Bayaz, but that scene for me was less 'Jezel can suck it' and more 'what would happen if Gandalf was a total prick'.

I don't mind that Jezel is a coward (understandably so in the face of a magical compulsion, and someone who can turn him into bloody chunks with a thought). It was enough for me that he had become someone who wanted to be a good man even if he lacked the courage to follow through; it would have been out of tone with the rest of the series for him to be heroic. Besides that I quite liked the idea of him and Glokta, quietly scheming behind Bayaz's back to do good deeds. A conspiracy of fluffiness. Joe W Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:56:26 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html#fbCommentName-933 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-294/comments.html I mourn. This is really sad, especially since your positive reviews meant that I was, at some point in the future, going to start reading these. I was quite interested in how Brust's 'hard-boiled fantasy' would compare to Scott Lynch who is currently making the fantasy heist genre his bitch. What are your thoughts - if you have any. I guess from your reviews it just struck me - perhaps entirely unjustifiably - that were doing something, on some levels, quite similar.

By the way, this made me laugh: rendering me a small child sat in the back of the Brustmobile kicking the back of Steve's seat and whining "Are we nearly there yet?". Kyra Smith Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:44:56 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-294/comments.html#fbCommentName-932 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-293/comments.html Oh. Ouch.

Actually I kind of love anglo-saxon fatalism. I mean, possibly it's something we've invented because there's so little writing still extant - I mean, here we are fretting over The Wanderer and The Seafarer and The Wife's Lament (in which an anglo-saxon mourns their crappy lot and points that all lots are crappy, actually, beacuse we're, like, all gonna die and where the fuck has the horse gone?) but perhaps the bulk of their poetry was about really parties and balloons and cute fluffy rabbits.

To be fair, I think there are some riddles still about. You know, that "cunning" litle poem that recurrs in all historical periods in which you THINK the poet is describing a penis but ACTUALLY he's describing a key. D'ya see.
Kyra Smith Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:40:10 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-293/comments.html#fbCommentName-931 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-293/comments.html The Anglo Saxons, by contrast, were a thoroughly miserable lot. Life was short, fate was cruel and arbitrary, and nothing you did mattered because everybody and everything dies and turns to dust.

sir are you sure you have your germanic tribes straight because it sounds like you are talking about the GOTHS!!!!!

ba-dum-TISH Arthur B Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:08:32 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-293/comments.html#fbCommentName-930 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html Yes, I think you're absolutely right, it's possible to take a sort of detached intellectual satisfaction in the conclusion but it doesn't exactly feel like you've had a pleasurable experience. I think for this very reason I'd feel hesitant about recommending; Dan, I'm sure, would lose all patience with it.

Just out of curiosity, what did you think of Jezel? Kyra Smith Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:47:22 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html#fbCommentName-929 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html I'd agree that the book's conclusion doesn't really satisfy and I at least partially share your ambivalence. I sought of feel that I am a reluctant participant in Abercrombie's experiment in writing- one can sse what he's done, and why he's done it, but one's method of appreciating of the piece becomes that of detached analysis rather than aesthetic enjoyment. One closes the book and thinks 'Hmmm...interesting choice.' rather than just basking in the contented glow of a story completed.
Or maybe that's just me.

In any case I think I'd still recommend the series myself; it was an enjoyable read and the characterisation is different enough from generic fantasy fare to feel fresh, particularly if one blitzes through the series in one go.
Joe W Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:49:55 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html#fbCommentName-928 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html Hmmm...the problem is I'm genuinely not sure whether I'm being unfair to it. I mean it all comes together in quite a satisfying way and the fact that everything gets re-established pretty much the way it was before does make sense in the context of the book, and it has a suitably cynical conclusion to a cynical trilogy. But ... feh ... it just doesn't *feel* massively satisfying.

Thank you for reading epic post of epic :) I'm grateful! Kyra Smith Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:56:21 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html#fbCommentName-927 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-290/comments.html Just to clarify, I don't know whether Lewis was the first SF writer to suggest negative consequences of human expansion into the universe at large, but he was certainly amongst the first to do so at a time when the majority opinion was overwhelmingly positive. Arthur B Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:03:18 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-290/comments.html#fbCommentName-926 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-290/comments.html Thanks! I agree that the disturbing stuff in Perelandra is considerably less awful than the stuff in Hideous Strength... but I will still quite troubled by the description of what's-his-name being beaten and then chased and then begging for mercy and then being killed (by Ransom with his bare hands) and then killed again... I think that these scenes give the novel some power and the villain (whatever his name was) certainly deserved some of it... but it still felt pretty icky to me. Maybe it's just the brutality of the... physical stuff that's involved in actually killing someone with your hands that got to me.

I didn't know anything about the place of the Space trilogy in the history of SF when I read it, but I'm impressed that Lewis was the first to consider the possibility that there was a downside to conquering the universe... he's certainly more serious in the way he thinks about the philosophical consequences of humanity expanding out over everything in sight than just about any other sf author I've read. But I'm not an sf expert, by any means. :)

...speaking of which, no, I haven't read "A Voyage to Arcturus". It sounds like the kind of thing I would enjoy... I'll keep an eye out for it. Guy Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:37:46 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-290/comments.html#fbCommentName-925 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html I have to say that I don't much like cyclical stories either - or rather, I don't like it when they are a perfect circle rather than a spiral, if you see what I mean: I can accept "things are much the same, only a little better" or "things are much the same, only a little worse", but if you tell me "things are basically exactly the same and matters haven't really progressed or regressed at all" you've wasted my damn time.

The worst example I can think of this in SF/fantasy is Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney, which granted inspired Bowie's Diamond Dogs but is in itself an entirely pointless novel. It's set in this post-apocalyptic city where people live shallow, pointless lives because there's nothing left to do or achieve, and it does a remarkable job of evoking the crushing boredom of such a society. Which, of course, makes it a complete chore to read. Arthur B Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:21:04 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-291/comments.html#fbCommentName-924 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-290/comments.html Good review; several points:

- I think Tolkien probably was highly embarrassed by the Ransom-as-Christ syndrome you get by the end of the third book, and I suspect was also pretty mortified by the sort of things that Lewis had Ransom saying by that point. It sort-of-kind-of makes sense that Lewis would do that, since it was Tolkien who converted Lewis to Christianity; as such, it's understandable that Lewis would be massively grateful to him and consider him at least partially responsible for his salvation. I believe there's letters where JRR says to CS "dude, chill out, you're taking this whole Christ thing a bit far".

- I personally really disliked That Hideous Strength, mainly because of the misogyny but also because the plot is just plain weaker. I also get what you mean about the vindictiveness; I honestly don't think it's a problem in Perelandra, where it's focused more-or-less exclusively on a single villain, and also (I seem to remember) comes across more as the natural consequences of the man's shittiness finally catching up with him. It is a problem for me in That Hideous Strength, for all the reasons you describe.

- I think the second book is far and away the best, mainly for the horror sequences, which are fabulous (not many people can make me afraid of a goat in a railway cart, but Lewis can) and because if you can see past the preaching (which really isn't too bad in this series until you get to That Hideous Strength) poses a question which s actually a legitimate poser for secular and religious authorities alike: what if human expansion and colonisation of space is a fundamentally bad thing, akin to European colonisation wrecking societies across the globe back in the day? I think part of the reason the Space Trilogy is considered so important is that up until that point next-to-all SF had an overwhelmingly optimistic view of space colonisation, so Lewis presented an interesting discordant voice at the time.

- Lastly: have you read A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay? (You can still find the Fantasy Masterworks reprint if you hunt about.) It's the book Lewis read which inspired the Space Trilogy, mainly because he found it so disturbing that he felt he had to write a response to it: it's a decidedly non-Christian allegory, lacks the preachiness that Lewis can't quite suppress, and is a million times trippier than the most out-there segments of the trilogy. I think it blows Out of the Silent Planet and sequels out of the water. Arthur B Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:57:34 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-290/comments.html#fbCommentName-923 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-289/comments.html Java Chip Frappucino
I've become quite a fan of their new Dark Mocha ones -- don't know what they're like with cream, but they're utterly sinful otherwise. Mmmm.

Amaranth
Yay, Nightwish! Amaranth is certainly the most mainstream and pop-y track from Dark Passion Play but you're right, it's got all the hallmarks -- nonsense lyrics, bizarre video, and symphonic backing :-) Rami Chowdhury Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:05:39 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-289/comments.html#fbCommentName-922 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-288/comments.html Dude ... just .... dude ...

My gast is flabbered. Kyra Smith Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:14:45 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-288/comments.html#fbCommentName-921 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-287/comments.html Nifty! I may well be too lazy and disorganized to play, but I look forward to reading future installments. Jamie Johnston Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:49:57 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-287/comments.html#fbCommentName-920 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-287/comments.html I'll play - I'll review the next cultural artefact in my vicinity when my phone makes a noise. Kyra Smith Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:43:26 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-287/comments.html#fbCommentName-919 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-285/comments.html I do actually have The Last Argument of Kings - I was so passionately in love with TBI that I rushed out and bought both sequels. I'm giving myself a break to try and get over the fact that they're not what I thought they were and enjoy them for what they actually are - but I'll certainly be embarking it upon it in the next couple of weeks. But thank you kindly for the offer.

I know what you mean about Ladisla; everything about the character, and the way he's dealt with, annoys me. Being idiotic is, as you say, a traditional perk of being royalty BUT it's like he's deliberately set up so that you want somebody (probably West) to just freak out and kill the guy. I remember thinking to myself as I was reading the bit where West literally begs him not to throw away probably the war and all of those lives, "kill him, West, just kill him now." And, of course, he doesn't. He just grits his teeth and respects the institution of the monarch as, living in a heredity monarchy, you probably would. So that's why the rape-triggered freak out irritates me particularly. But, yes, you're right - it's also just depressing to have a cardboard cutout in a world otherwise by populated by quite interestingly flawed people. Even Arch Lector Sult - who is basically hand-rubbingly evil from toes to nose - is *interesting*.

About Logen ... mmm...I'm not sure. Perhaps you're right that it's just a psychological trick he's developed to protect himself from the truth of what he really is but it seems to me that the narrative seems to hinting otherwise. I mean, there's that scene where they're all sitting round the campfire confessing their mistakes (Bayaz talks about his love his master's daughter and all that stuff) and Logen talks about the time he killed his best friend and didn't remember doing it, and gives a long list of similar incidents. Also when the narrative describes Logen in extreme beserker mode it does differentiate between Logen and this other force, The Bloody Nine. Maybe you're right and it's just a rhetorical trick and you probably know since you've read the last book but even if it is just a metaphor it nevertheless isolates Logen's violent identity as something other to who he really is... Kyra Smith Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:02:20 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-285/comments.html#fbCommentName-918 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-285/comments.html What I didn't like was how much of a caricature Ladisla was- I could have lived with him as simply being utterly crap, but the rape attempt took him straight from crap into wilfully evil.

That's usually my problem with the Obligatory Fantasy Rape Scenes. It's so often used as evidence that a particular character is zomg teh evil. See my recent article on /Age of the Five/.

As for the Bloody-Nine, I've only read the first book, and I was certainly *concerned* that there was going to be a "big reveal" to the effect that Logan was effectively controlled by an external spirit. If it remains ambiguous throughout all three books, then that's a lot better than I was expecting. Daniel Hemmens Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:52:30 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-285/comments.html#fbCommentName-917 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-285/comments.html I'm looking forward to your analysis of the last book (which I can lend you, if you want)

SPOILERS of Before They Are Hanged BELOW




I share a lot of your criticisms about this book- in particular I also disliked the resolution of the Generic Fantasy Quest Plot.

I'm in two minds about Ladisla's death. I don't mind West killing him for the rape attempt; I can quite happily see it as the straw that broke the camel's back. I can quite easily see why you'd kill a man for that, but not for willful stupidity that leads to thousands of deaths. After all getting to do the latter is one of the traditional perks of being royalty- it was idiotic but not actively malicious.
What I didn't like was how much of a caricature Ladisla was- I could have lived with him as simply being utterly crap, but the rape attempt took him straight from crap into wilfully evil. I'd expected some sort of twist to the character and then was disappointed when it panned out just as I'd expect in any other book.

I will note in reference to one of your other points. that I don't think the Bloody-Nine is a spirit external to Logen; I think that like West he goes batshit in a fight- it's just that Logen tries so hard to divorce himself from the berserker that he no longer even self-identifies in that state. Joe W Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:28:21 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-285/comments.html#fbCommentName-916 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-284/comments.html I think in the guy's head Cathy's complaints may be shrill and shrewish, but to us as the audience they seem reasonable.

Did the ex-wife sue him over it? I can't think why; it looks like it's the best assassination of his character going. Arthur B Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:32:39 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-284/comments.html#fbCommentName-915 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-284/comments.html I'm genuinely quite bewildered by it. I've recently been listening to the soundtrack in an effort to try to work out *what the fuck he thinks he's doing*. I think part of hte problem of the production that we saw was that the female lead was significantly better than the male lead which unbalanced it somewhat - when he's well sung he is *vaguely* more attractive; he comes across as genuinely quite vibrant and lively (I mean, you can see why you *might* conceivably fall for him, if you had low self esteem and no better offers), albeit still narcissistic and self-absorbed.

But I still can't find anything like regret or honesty in there - also I kind of can't help but think that if it was a melancholy rumination on how their relationship fell apart because he was a dick his ex-wife wouldn't have sued him over it. I tend to find "oh shit I fucked up because I'm fundamentally a pillock" themes quite moving becaucse I tend to fuck stuff up on account of being fundamentally a pillock as well - but his side of the musical seems to be absolutely lacking in self-awareness, self-irony or the necessary shades of self-deprecation.

I suspect he's trying to portray Cathy as unhappy and needy ... but her complaints never come across as anything other than *completely fair*. I mean, in her second song "See I'm Smiling" she's clearly met up with him to try to salvage the relationship but when it turns out that he's not willing to put the time she (understandably) gets angry and the song degenerates into an hysterical monologue in which, I suspect, we're meant to see how unreasonably and demanding she is and won't let him get a word in edgeways:

You know what makes me crazy?
I'm sorry, can I say this?
You know what makes me nuts?
The fact that we could be together
Here together
Sharing our night
Spending our time
And you are gonna choose someone else to be with
No, you are
Yes, Jamie, that's exactly what you're doing:
You could be here with me
Or be there with them
As usual, guess which you pick
No, Jamie, you do not have to go to another party
With the same twenty jerks you already know
You could stay with your wife on her fucking birthday
And you could, God forbid, even see my show
And I know in your soul it must drive you crazy
That you won't get to play with your little girlfriends
No, I'm not, no I'm not!

But for God's sake, it's her BIRTHDAY! The whole thing is full of moments like this.

I just ... don't ... understand ... Kyra Smith Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:32:06 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-284/comments.html#fbCommentName-914 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-284/comments.html Do you think the writer knows that he is (or is depicting his alter-ego as) a narcissistic fuckhead?

I considered it, but there's just so much in the play that underscores the idea that Jamie *really is* a genius and Cathy *really is* nothing without him.
Daniel Hemmens Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:56:28 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-284/comments.html#fbCommentName-913 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-283/comments.html Have you encountered the Gotrek and Felix series? They're rather cookie-cutter, which seems to be the fate of most tie-in novels, but surely cookie-cutter is better than Just Plain Crap... Rami Chowdhury Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:19:05 http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-283/comments.html#fbCommentName-912