Golden Queen - Chapter 10
Jan. 15th, 2023 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo, at least our lead female character is no longer in very sexualized distress. Hopefully that makes things a little more tolerable in this book. We'll have to see.
So we rejoin our characters just after the cliffhanger, where someone is demanding that they put up their hands. It sounds like a cop, or whatever this world's equivalent is, and it's probably worth remembering that Maggie's predicament, while horrible, was apparently perfectly legal on this planet.
But actually, the voice isn't talking to Maggie or Gallen, as our heroes realize. They're talking to Veriasse, who is playing innocent, claiming to be out for some exercise. He tells the cop that he saw a "magcar" go by with two people in it: a woman and a driver of indeterminate gender. When the cop leaves, he leans down to ask after Maggie and Gallen.
They don't have long to talk, but to be fair to Veriasse, he doesn't pretend he's here for strictly heroic reasons. He outright says the gate was guarded and they were forced to retreat. He advises them to stay low since he's probably still being watched. He explains that he gave them false identification, so if they are captured, they should feign innocence. Gallen releases that Veriasse was the one who put credits on his chip, and thus was his hidden ally.
They make it to camp to rest, and Veriasse eventually wakes them up with a whistle. Veriasse explains that he found them under the bridge, because he'd been watching the rescue from a distance. Gallen gets some praise, of course, for having closed the window as he leapt out (how he managed that, with Maggie in his arms, is probably not worth thinking hard about. He's the over-shilled lead, of course) as that probably confused the guards and bought them down.
Veriasse does temper the praise by noting that their "lack of education" was their undoing, since Gallen didn't know about the capabilities of modern pursuit vehicles. And honestly, I'm calling shenanigans here. It's clear that this is put in to kind of temper the sudden info dump quality of the vidc/mantle/guide education. See, it's not cheap and easy, there are holes in their education!
But this is the sort of thing Gallen is smart enough to ask about. We heard about how thorough his research was.
Honestly, I still say, if Wolverton really wanted to make the mantle/guides into a double edged sword, what he SHOULD have done was had the mantle tell Gallen about the evil, manipulative, seductive nature of the Tharrin. There's no reason a dronon controlled device should praise the adversaries that they overthrew anyway. And it would add an interesting tension if Gallen had to rationalize what he "learned" with his own experience with Everynne and Veriasse.
It's a missed opportunity.
Gallen asks why Veriasse didn't rescue Maggie himself, but I kind of love this:
“And expose myself to unnecessary hazards? As long as you were willing to take the major risk, it seemed reasonable to let you. Besides, if you had failed, you would have needed me to rescue you both.”
Okay, while I think Veriasse is a patronizing asshole with Everynne, otherwise, I think he might be my favorite character. Though he spoils it with his next bit of dialogue:
Gallen stared at the ground, annoyed. Veriasse’s argument made sense, but an hour ago Gallen had felt like a hero. Now he felt like a child who had been caught doing something stupid. The older man must have guessed what he was thinking. “You are a talented and courageous young man. I’d like to imagine that I was as good when I was your age, but I was not. I have trained many guardians in my time. Would you like to be one of them?”
Bleh. I mean, I do like that we have a dynamic here between an older and more experienced man with a younger hotshot with talent, and there isn't any jealousy or alpha posturing. And I'll even give Wolverton credit that, despite his obvious shilling of Gallen, he doesn't seem to mind allowing Veriasse to be the clear senior person in this dynamic.
But Gallen is clearly Wolverton's pet character and unlike say Janny Wurts's Arithon or even R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt, I don't find him entertaining or mockworthy enough to balance out the narrative favoritism. This is, I think, one of those books/series where the enjoyment level depends on how much you like the favorite character. And Gallen doesn't do it for me.
(Oddly, I did like Isolder in the Courtship of Princess Leia, but I think that's because we always knew that Isolder was doomed to fail. The narrative shilling was just dramatic irony, because Leia and Han were always going to be endgame, both based on the movies, and the fact that the Thrawn Trilogy took place later and had them married and pregnant.)
Anyway, Veriasse comes with gifts: a black cloak with boots, gloves, and a lavender mask. Gallen realizes that this was the same outfit he saw the "Sidhe" wear on Tihrglas. He asks about the colors, and Veriasse gives him some backstory:
“I wore these colors when I was young,” Veriasse said. “They were my colors as Lord Protector. Lord Oboforron purchased them from me a few years back, but he was executed by the dronon recently, so I bought the title back last night. I told you I had issued you a new identity. You will need clothes to match the part. Put on the robe.”
So Veriasse was the Sidhe he'd met that night? Or Oboforron? I'm not sure. Either way, these are cool technologically advanced clothes that are lighter and comfortable than they look, and change themselves to fit Gallen's size. There's another thing:
With the outfit was a personal intelligence, a fine net with many triangles of silver. Gallen hesitated to put it on, for he had never worn a mantle. He was becoming familiar enough with personal intelligences that he did not know if he wanted to trust this one, but Veriasse urged, "Go ahead. It will whisper the intricacies of the protector's art for you, and it can teach you much that will be of value."
This is probably hypocritical of me, but I don't mind THIS use of the mantle compared to what we saw before. And I think the difference is that, this use of the mantle just provides skills rather than world-building knowledge. We're basically just skipping the training montage. Heroes always learn their fighting skills faster than real people do.
The stuff before though was world-building, the kind of thing that Gallen (and Maggie) could and should have learned through exploration and interaction. The short cut robbed both characters of the chance to respond organically and emotionally to what they've discovered. It's a shame.
So we get some technical knowledge of how it works:
Gallen put on the silver mantle, felt the now familiar thrumming in his head as the intelligence established communication. Yet his mind did not flood with images like it had at the pidc. Instead, his muscles seemed to tighten involuntarily, as if he were preparing to leap into action, yet there was no tension. He felt almost relaxed, and his senses became heightened. Gallen almost felt as if ... he listened, and in the distance to the south, perhaps twenty miles away, he heard a flier approaching. The vanquisher pilot was giving a report over the radio, telling his supervisors that he had found nothing in his search of the area.
"What?" Gallen said. "What is this thing doing to me?"
"This mantle has many sensors built into it," Veriasse said. "It hears, sees, smells. It detects motions and weaponry better than any mere human ever could. If you want to see something in the distance, close your eyes and think of the thing you want to see. As long as the object is within your line of sight, its image will appear in your mind, in expanded form. Over time you will learn to access the mantle's higher awareness without conscious thought."
Apparently, the actual teaching will happen when they're safe, and away from harm. The one notable part though is that Veriasse mentions that in the early DECADES of Gallen's training, he should let himself go and follow his instincts when in danger. Wisdom will come in his time of need.
Maggie gets presents too:
For Maggie, Veriasse had a yellow-ocher robe with a pale green mask. Her mantle was large indeed, with dozens of round silver icons that flowed down her back to her waist. "I have decided to dress you as a Lady of Technicians," he said. "You will find that this intelligence knows far more than your little Guide did, but it is a gentle servant, not a cruel master. You can remove it any time you wish."
So does Maggie get to actually express any hesitation, reluctance or trauma from her experience?
"I don't understand," Maggie said, pulling the yellow robe over her thin nightgown. "These mantles must be expensive."
Nah. Gallen got to express more hesitation. Hmph.
We do learn more about Veriasse himself though, when he mentions that he himself is very wealthy, and Gallen asks if he was Semarrite (the Tharrin Queen)'s husband.
"Husband?" Veriasse said. "An odd word, and a very old one, and I was not her husband in the way that you think, though I husbanded her. I nurtured her and protected her as much as any man could, and I made a career of it. Indeed, Gallen, I once thought of myself as being very much like you—a bodyguard, a protector. But I think the dronon have a clearer view of what I am.
"I played the part of Semarritte's Lord Escort, the Waymaker. Among the dronon, the escorts battle for the right to become the Golden Queen's personal honor guard. The winner takes the title of Lord Escort. The Lord Escorts from different hives then engage in ritual combat, and the winner's Golden Queen takes the high throne, making her Lord of the Swarm. Thus her Lord Escort is also called the 'Waymaker,' he who secures the path to the throne.
"It was my job to fight Semarritte's battles when needed, to protect her from other powerful lords. But I could never have been Semarritte's husband in the sense that you mean. Only her caretaker. Now, I am the Waymaker to her daughter, Everynne."
So this is where things get confusing. The backstory Gallen got (one created by the dronon no less), presented the Tharrin as the inventors/masters of the technology, until being overthrown by the dronon. But what Veriasse describes here sounds like the Tharrin were already living in accordance with dronon societal rules. What was Tharrin society like before the dronon? Or were the dronon always there?
Maggie, possibly because of her recent experience working with geneticists, though we wouldn't know because it's not mentioned, is the one who picks up on Veriasse's language. Everynne isn't HIS daughter?
"Not my biological daughter," Veriasse answered. "She is a Tharrin, from a race born to rule. I am from less elegant stock. She sometimes calls me father from affection, and I call her daughter perhaps because I raised her as my own. She is, in fact, a duplicate of Semarritte, cloned from her cells."
The Veriasse/Everynne dynamic was touched on before, but I'm glad to hear Veriasse talk about it here. I think it does make it a bit more palatable. I still want Everynne to get to show more autonomy and self-governance. But a patronizing attitude is more forgivable when we realize that it comes from her actual father. (And I do consider him her father, based on what he says, even if there isn't a biological relationship.)
Orick, Maggie and Gallen get to have their own reunion and we finally get some acknowledgement of what Maggie's going through...albeit with more Gallen-aggrandizement
Yet as he watched Maggie and Gallen, Orick realized that this adventure was not over. It had only begun, yet by Maggie's pale features, the lines in her haunted face, he could tell that they had already suffered casualties. Gallen, in his mask of lavender starlight, looked as if he were fast becoming a sidhe. Maggie and Gallen would never recover from this trip. And Orick felt cast off, alone. Of them all, only he had had the strength to refuse to accept this world, preferring to suffer the consequences of that decision.
...it really isn't fair that Gallen has had a wondrous, mostly neutral-positive experience so far, and Maggie's was horrific and violating. It'd be one thing if I thought Wolverton would do something with it. I can think of some examples where this juxtaposition of horrific vs. positive experiences have worked really well (see, e.g. Ginn Hale's Rifter series). But seeing Orick basically equate the two experiences isn't a great sign.
Even Orick gets a gift:
From his last bundle, Veriasse brought out a cloak in colors of forest brown, then began fastening it around Orick's neck. But the fastener would not let Veriasse stretch the cloak around Orick's neck completely. Orick was forced to stand for several minutes, and he grumbled at being compelled into an uncomfortable position for so long. Veriasse did not hurry.
Orick looked into Veriasse's deep blue eyes as the old man worked at the fastener, and saw in them an intensity, a deliberateness that few men carried. Here was a man, Orick decided, who had become a fanatic, a man who could be driven beyond mortal efforts.
There is something poetic here. Gallen and Maggie are given knowledge, via their mantles. But Orick is the one who gets true understanding.
And it's probably notable that Orick becomes the viewpoint character, since he's the one who had no infodump and can react organically. See:
It was only as Veriasse descended toward the city that Orick began to realize how large it must be. He drove for five minutes, and though the buildings loomed larger, they were still very far away.
Just as Orick began to get used to the idea of those enormous buildings, the winged people scattered away from one quadrant of the city, then one round building lifted into the air, defying gravity, and continued climbing straight up into the morning until it vanished behind a layer of clouds.
"By Saint Jermaine's wagging beard, you'll not get me in one of those buildings!" Orick shouted.
"That isn't a building," Maggie said. "It's a starship. All of the domes are starships." Orick looked over at Maggie. She wore a strange expression, one of both profound awe and conquest. He had never seen her so happy, so transformed by wonder. "And I know how they work."
I mean, I'm glad Maggie gets something positive out of her experience. But I'd honestly rather have seen all of our heroes react to the newness, while Veriasse or Everynne gets the explanation parts.
So they get by the Vanquishers with the false identification, and they make their way into the city. Their destination is pretty swanky:
Far from the gates of the city, Veriasse halted the car in front of a building whose strange facade attracted Orick. The building displayed no markings to explain its purpose to passersby. Lampposts in front had glow globes attached, but the muted lights gave the place a somber appearance. To heighten the solemn atmosphere, Orick saw that there were no businesses nearby for hundreds of yards. The building was silent. A few people hurried in, some away, but all of them kept their heads low,as if to hide their identities. The building's facade showed in bas relief an image of a woman standing with arms outstretched. Behind her glittered a field of gold stars. The handiwork was astonishing, beautiful, but something more attracted Orick: the woman herself.
"Hey, that's a picture of Everynne," Orick said.
"Shhh," Veriasse muttered. "It's not Everynne. That is an image of Semarritte, Everynne's mother, who was once our great judge. This is her tomb."
I feel like this is probably not the wisest place to go when your adversary knows you're here. But okay. We're told that the dronon would happily close the tombs, so that Semarritte's memory dies with her, but they don't dare. She's still remembered and revered. The dronons find this confusing: they don't understand reverence for the vanquished.
It's nice explanation for why Gallen got a pro-Tharrin education. The dronons apparently think it's enough that Semarritte was defeated. Okay, fair enough.
Pious Orick doubts anyone would revere a "mere woman" as much as the "old man" said. He compares Veriasse's awe to what Orick reserves for God and his servants. Well, you did note that he was a fanatic...
I am still a bit annoyed that they keep calling him an old man, when we've heard him described as looking like he's in his forties.
This is interesting:
They got out of the car. Both Everynne and Veriasse refused to slouch and scurry to the entrance as others had. Instead, they walked tall and proud up the broad steps, toward a large ornate door. The green-skinned ogres stood silently, but when they saw Gallen, one of them reached out a hand to Gallen's shoulder, stopping him. The guardian said, "There was a time when I served one who wore those colors."
Gallen turned, looked up from beneath his black hood, and his lavender mask of starlight twisted in rage at being stopped, as if the ogre were some gnat that Gallen would squash. "Many things are changing," Gallen said. "I hope you served him as well as you do your new lord."
...what's with the rage? All the Ogre said was he used to serve someone in those colors. Presumably Veriasse himself. If he's at the tomb, he might well be mourning Semarritte himself. The anger seems like it'd be more appropriate from Veriasse himself, than from Gallen.
This is also interesting:
Ahead was a great stone pulpit with what looked to be an image of the stricken Christ carved upon it. Upon the stone pulpit stood a ghostly apparition of Semarritte, speaking softly to the crowd. Her clear voice seemed to issue from her lips, saying, "The rightful duty of one who would be your leader is to become the Servant of All. We Tharrin believe that those who serve must do so in both thought and deed, subjugating all selfish desires. Any leader who does less is not worthy of either position or honor. . . ."
Orick listened enrapt, for the Lady Semarritte's teachings were not like those he had ever heard from any puffed-up mayor or clan chieftain back in County Morgan. These words recalled to Orick's mind the teachings of Christ to his disciples when they argued about who would become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven: "Let him who would be greatest among you, become the servant of all." The hair began rising on the back of Orick's neck, for here among the sidhe, this was indeed their church, and the Lady Semarritte had been their god.
See, this is what I like about this kind of story. When we have "primitive" characters learning new things and relating them to their own experiences. It's okay that Orick is a bit judgmental here. He's learning. And in the next paragraph, he realizes that the image isn't Christ, but "a blackened skeleton fused against the stone. Here were the remains of Everynne's mother. The flesh had burned from her bones and turned into a black, oily substance, but the whole skeleton was intact, hands clawed out protectively as if the dead woman had raised them to ward off a blow, legs tilted askew. Bits of dark hair and the chainmail netting of her mantle were fused into the stone, along with a necklace and other metal items."
...eww.
Orick realizes that this is what happens after someone is shot with an incendiary rifle. While he saw Father Heany go down, he didn't see the aftermath and it's chilling.
Veriasse kneels while Everynne weeps softly over her mother's body. There's a message saying that Semarritte's speech would repeated in five minutes, which is a lovely theme park kind of exhibit note that almost ruins the emotion. But doesn't.
Veriasse tells Everynne that it's time, calling her "my daughter, my lord". And then Everynne goes up to speak. She basically gives Semarritte's oration, but it's more dramatic because she's right there.
Orick's hair bristled, and he wondered that Everynne would dare to speak so with the vanquishers out at the gates of the cathedral, but Everynne did not shrink from her duty. Instead, as she spoke she seemed to grow in size and power and majesty. She pulled off her outer robe, and beneath it she wore a pale blue gown. The light that had been shining upon the skeletal remains of Everynne's dead mother now shone fully on her, and Everynne stood in the darkness, shining like a bolt of lightning.
So the speech continues, blah blah, Tharrin are great and serve everybody. Meh. I appreciate the need to overthrow the dronon. Wolverton did a good job in establishing that with Maggie's horrific experience. But I'm cynical of this whole perfect race of people kind of idea.
Anyway, she does finish with her own words:
At this point she cut the oration short, and said, "I stand before you, offering to become the leader you have sought. I am Everynne, the daughter to Semarritte, and I was born Tharrin. I seek to cast the dronon from the midst of our realm, but I cannot do it alone. Who among you will come to my aid?"
Of course, everyone is on board. Even Orick:
And somehow, Orick the bear, who had always believed that he would become a servant of God, found himself rushing forward into the small crowd. He sat down and raised his paw, and Everynne smiled at him in surprise, tears filling her pale blue eyes. "Orick!" She laughed. "Even you?"
"I will aid you, lady, though I be the humblest of your servants," he said firmly.
"No doubt you shall be among the most valiant," Everynne said as she knelt to kiss his paw. And even though she had not asked it, Orick felt as if he ought to take his priestly vows of poverty and chastity.
...I don't know how I feel about this. I feel like it's not...right. There's something uncomfortable about Orick essentially equating his own religion to this Tharrin nonsense. I feel like there should be more of an emotional reaction to this.
Maybe there will be. We're at the end of the chapter, though, so we won't know until next time.
So we rejoin our characters just after the cliffhanger, where someone is demanding that they put up their hands. It sounds like a cop, or whatever this world's equivalent is, and it's probably worth remembering that Maggie's predicament, while horrible, was apparently perfectly legal on this planet.
But actually, the voice isn't talking to Maggie or Gallen, as our heroes realize. They're talking to Veriasse, who is playing innocent, claiming to be out for some exercise. He tells the cop that he saw a "magcar" go by with two people in it: a woman and a driver of indeterminate gender. When the cop leaves, he leans down to ask after Maggie and Gallen.
They don't have long to talk, but to be fair to Veriasse, he doesn't pretend he's here for strictly heroic reasons. He outright says the gate was guarded and they were forced to retreat. He advises them to stay low since he's probably still being watched. He explains that he gave them false identification, so if they are captured, they should feign innocence. Gallen releases that Veriasse was the one who put credits on his chip, and thus was his hidden ally.
They make it to camp to rest, and Veriasse eventually wakes them up with a whistle. Veriasse explains that he found them under the bridge, because he'd been watching the rescue from a distance. Gallen gets some praise, of course, for having closed the window as he leapt out (how he managed that, with Maggie in his arms, is probably not worth thinking hard about. He's the over-shilled lead, of course) as that probably confused the guards and bought them down.
Veriasse does temper the praise by noting that their "lack of education" was their undoing, since Gallen didn't know about the capabilities of modern pursuit vehicles. And honestly, I'm calling shenanigans here. It's clear that this is put in to kind of temper the sudden info dump quality of the vidc/mantle/guide education. See, it's not cheap and easy, there are holes in their education!
But this is the sort of thing Gallen is smart enough to ask about. We heard about how thorough his research was.
Honestly, I still say, if Wolverton really wanted to make the mantle/guides into a double edged sword, what he SHOULD have done was had the mantle tell Gallen about the evil, manipulative, seductive nature of the Tharrin. There's no reason a dronon controlled device should praise the adversaries that they overthrew anyway. And it would add an interesting tension if Gallen had to rationalize what he "learned" with his own experience with Everynne and Veriasse.
It's a missed opportunity.
Gallen asks why Veriasse didn't rescue Maggie himself, but I kind of love this:
“And expose myself to unnecessary hazards? As long as you were willing to take the major risk, it seemed reasonable to let you. Besides, if you had failed, you would have needed me to rescue you both.”
Okay, while I think Veriasse is a patronizing asshole with Everynne, otherwise, I think he might be my favorite character. Though he spoils it with his next bit of dialogue:
Gallen stared at the ground, annoyed. Veriasse’s argument made sense, but an hour ago Gallen had felt like a hero. Now he felt like a child who had been caught doing something stupid. The older man must have guessed what he was thinking. “You are a talented and courageous young man. I’d like to imagine that I was as good when I was your age, but I was not. I have trained many guardians in my time. Would you like to be one of them?”
Bleh. I mean, I do like that we have a dynamic here between an older and more experienced man with a younger hotshot with talent, and there isn't any jealousy or alpha posturing. And I'll even give Wolverton credit that, despite his obvious shilling of Gallen, he doesn't seem to mind allowing Veriasse to be the clear senior person in this dynamic.
But Gallen is clearly Wolverton's pet character and unlike say Janny Wurts's Arithon or even R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt, I don't find him entertaining or mockworthy enough to balance out the narrative favoritism. This is, I think, one of those books/series where the enjoyment level depends on how much you like the favorite character. And Gallen doesn't do it for me.
(Oddly, I did like Isolder in the Courtship of Princess Leia, but I think that's because we always knew that Isolder was doomed to fail. The narrative shilling was just dramatic irony, because Leia and Han were always going to be endgame, both based on the movies, and the fact that the Thrawn Trilogy took place later and had them married and pregnant.)
Anyway, Veriasse comes with gifts: a black cloak with boots, gloves, and a lavender mask. Gallen realizes that this was the same outfit he saw the "Sidhe" wear on Tihrglas. He asks about the colors, and Veriasse gives him some backstory:
“I wore these colors when I was young,” Veriasse said. “They were my colors as Lord Protector. Lord Oboforron purchased them from me a few years back, but he was executed by the dronon recently, so I bought the title back last night. I told you I had issued you a new identity. You will need clothes to match the part. Put on the robe.”
So Veriasse was the Sidhe he'd met that night? Or Oboforron? I'm not sure. Either way, these are cool technologically advanced clothes that are lighter and comfortable than they look, and change themselves to fit Gallen's size. There's another thing:
With the outfit was a personal intelligence, a fine net with many triangles of silver. Gallen hesitated to put it on, for he had never worn a mantle. He was becoming familiar enough with personal intelligences that he did not know if he wanted to trust this one, but Veriasse urged, "Go ahead. It will whisper the intricacies of the protector's art for you, and it can teach you much that will be of value."
This is probably hypocritical of me, but I don't mind THIS use of the mantle compared to what we saw before. And I think the difference is that, this use of the mantle just provides skills rather than world-building knowledge. We're basically just skipping the training montage. Heroes always learn their fighting skills faster than real people do.
The stuff before though was world-building, the kind of thing that Gallen (and Maggie) could and should have learned through exploration and interaction. The short cut robbed both characters of the chance to respond organically and emotionally to what they've discovered. It's a shame.
So we get some technical knowledge of how it works:
Gallen put on the silver mantle, felt the now familiar thrumming in his head as the intelligence established communication. Yet his mind did not flood with images like it had at the pidc. Instead, his muscles seemed to tighten involuntarily, as if he were preparing to leap into action, yet there was no tension. He felt almost relaxed, and his senses became heightened. Gallen almost felt as if ... he listened, and in the distance to the south, perhaps twenty miles away, he heard a flier approaching. The vanquisher pilot was giving a report over the radio, telling his supervisors that he had found nothing in his search of the area.
"What?" Gallen said. "What is this thing doing to me?"
"This mantle has many sensors built into it," Veriasse said. "It hears, sees, smells. It detects motions and weaponry better than any mere human ever could. If you want to see something in the distance, close your eyes and think of the thing you want to see. As long as the object is within your line of sight, its image will appear in your mind, in expanded form. Over time you will learn to access the mantle's higher awareness without conscious thought."
Apparently, the actual teaching will happen when they're safe, and away from harm. The one notable part though is that Veriasse mentions that in the early DECADES of Gallen's training, he should let himself go and follow his instincts when in danger. Wisdom will come in his time of need.
Maggie gets presents too:
For Maggie, Veriasse had a yellow-ocher robe with a pale green mask. Her mantle was large indeed, with dozens of round silver icons that flowed down her back to her waist. "I have decided to dress you as a Lady of Technicians," he said. "You will find that this intelligence knows far more than your little Guide did, but it is a gentle servant, not a cruel master. You can remove it any time you wish."
So does Maggie get to actually express any hesitation, reluctance or trauma from her experience?
"I don't understand," Maggie said, pulling the yellow robe over her thin nightgown. "These mantles must be expensive."
Nah. Gallen got to express more hesitation. Hmph.
We do learn more about Veriasse himself though, when he mentions that he himself is very wealthy, and Gallen asks if he was Semarrite (the Tharrin Queen)'s husband.
"Husband?" Veriasse said. "An odd word, and a very old one, and I was not her husband in the way that you think, though I husbanded her. I nurtured her and protected her as much as any man could, and I made a career of it. Indeed, Gallen, I once thought of myself as being very much like you—a bodyguard, a protector. But I think the dronon have a clearer view of what I am.
"I played the part of Semarritte's Lord Escort, the Waymaker. Among the dronon, the escorts battle for the right to become the Golden Queen's personal honor guard. The winner takes the title of Lord Escort. The Lord Escorts from different hives then engage in ritual combat, and the winner's Golden Queen takes the high throne, making her Lord of the Swarm. Thus her Lord Escort is also called the 'Waymaker,' he who secures the path to the throne.
"It was my job to fight Semarritte's battles when needed, to protect her from other powerful lords. But I could never have been Semarritte's husband in the sense that you mean. Only her caretaker. Now, I am the Waymaker to her daughter, Everynne."
So this is where things get confusing. The backstory Gallen got (one created by the dronon no less), presented the Tharrin as the inventors/masters of the technology, until being overthrown by the dronon. But what Veriasse describes here sounds like the Tharrin were already living in accordance with dronon societal rules. What was Tharrin society like before the dronon? Or were the dronon always there?
Maggie, possibly because of her recent experience working with geneticists, though we wouldn't know because it's not mentioned, is the one who picks up on Veriasse's language. Everynne isn't HIS daughter?
"Not my biological daughter," Veriasse answered. "She is a Tharrin, from a race born to rule. I am from less elegant stock. She sometimes calls me father from affection, and I call her daughter perhaps because I raised her as my own. She is, in fact, a duplicate of Semarritte, cloned from her cells."
The Veriasse/Everynne dynamic was touched on before, but I'm glad to hear Veriasse talk about it here. I think it does make it a bit more palatable. I still want Everynne to get to show more autonomy and self-governance. But a patronizing attitude is more forgivable when we realize that it comes from her actual father. (And I do consider him her father, based on what he says, even if there isn't a biological relationship.)
Orick, Maggie and Gallen get to have their own reunion and we finally get some acknowledgement of what Maggie's going through...albeit with more Gallen-aggrandizement
Yet as he watched Maggie and Gallen, Orick realized that this adventure was not over. It had only begun, yet by Maggie's pale features, the lines in her haunted face, he could tell that they had already suffered casualties. Gallen, in his mask of lavender starlight, looked as if he were fast becoming a sidhe. Maggie and Gallen would never recover from this trip. And Orick felt cast off, alone. Of them all, only he had had the strength to refuse to accept this world, preferring to suffer the consequences of that decision.
...it really isn't fair that Gallen has had a wondrous, mostly neutral-positive experience so far, and Maggie's was horrific and violating. It'd be one thing if I thought Wolverton would do something with it. I can think of some examples where this juxtaposition of horrific vs. positive experiences have worked really well (see, e.g. Ginn Hale's Rifter series). But seeing Orick basically equate the two experiences isn't a great sign.
Even Orick gets a gift:
From his last bundle, Veriasse brought out a cloak in colors of forest brown, then began fastening it around Orick's neck. But the fastener would not let Veriasse stretch the cloak around Orick's neck completely. Orick was forced to stand for several minutes, and he grumbled at being compelled into an uncomfortable position for so long. Veriasse did not hurry.
Orick looked into Veriasse's deep blue eyes as the old man worked at the fastener, and saw in them an intensity, a deliberateness that few men carried. Here was a man, Orick decided, who had become a fanatic, a man who could be driven beyond mortal efforts.
There is something poetic here. Gallen and Maggie are given knowledge, via their mantles. But Orick is the one who gets true understanding.
And it's probably notable that Orick becomes the viewpoint character, since he's the one who had no infodump and can react organically. See:
It was only as Veriasse descended toward the city that Orick began to realize how large it must be. He drove for five minutes, and though the buildings loomed larger, they were still very far away.
Just as Orick began to get used to the idea of those enormous buildings, the winged people scattered away from one quadrant of the city, then one round building lifted into the air, defying gravity, and continued climbing straight up into the morning until it vanished behind a layer of clouds.
"By Saint Jermaine's wagging beard, you'll not get me in one of those buildings!" Orick shouted.
"That isn't a building," Maggie said. "It's a starship. All of the domes are starships." Orick looked over at Maggie. She wore a strange expression, one of both profound awe and conquest. He had never seen her so happy, so transformed by wonder. "And I know how they work."
I mean, I'm glad Maggie gets something positive out of her experience. But I'd honestly rather have seen all of our heroes react to the newness, while Veriasse or Everynne gets the explanation parts.
So they get by the Vanquishers with the false identification, and they make their way into the city. Their destination is pretty swanky:
Far from the gates of the city, Veriasse halted the car in front of a building whose strange facade attracted Orick. The building displayed no markings to explain its purpose to passersby. Lampposts in front had glow globes attached, but the muted lights gave the place a somber appearance. To heighten the solemn atmosphere, Orick saw that there were no businesses nearby for hundreds of yards. The building was silent. A few people hurried in, some away, but all of them kept their heads low,as if to hide their identities. The building's facade showed in bas relief an image of a woman standing with arms outstretched. Behind her glittered a field of gold stars. The handiwork was astonishing, beautiful, but something more attracted Orick: the woman herself.
"Hey, that's a picture of Everynne," Orick said.
"Shhh," Veriasse muttered. "It's not Everynne. That is an image of Semarritte, Everynne's mother, who was once our great judge. This is her tomb."
I feel like this is probably not the wisest place to go when your adversary knows you're here. But okay. We're told that the dronon would happily close the tombs, so that Semarritte's memory dies with her, but they don't dare. She's still remembered and revered. The dronons find this confusing: they don't understand reverence for the vanquished.
It's nice explanation for why Gallen got a pro-Tharrin education. The dronons apparently think it's enough that Semarritte was defeated. Okay, fair enough.
Pious Orick doubts anyone would revere a "mere woman" as much as the "old man" said. He compares Veriasse's awe to what Orick reserves for God and his servants. Well, you did note that he was a fanatic...
I am still a bit annoyed that they keep calling him an old man, when we've heard him described as looking like he's in his forties.
This is interesting:
They got out of the car. Both Everynne and Veriasse refused to slouch and scurry to the entrance as others had. Instead, they walked tall and proud up the broad steps, toward a large ornate door. The green-skinned ogres stood silently, but when they saw Gallen, one of them reached out a hand to Gallen's shoulder, stopping him. The guardian said, "There was a time when I served one who wore those colors."
Gallen turned, looked up from beneath his black hood, and his lavender mask of starlight twisted in rage at being stopped, as if the ogre were some gnat that Gallen would squash. "Many things are changing," Gallen said. "I hope you served him as well as you do your new lord."
...what's with the rage? All the Ogre said was he used to serve someone in those colors. Presumably Veriasse himself. If he's at the tomb, he might well be mourning Semarritte himself. The anger seems like it'd be more appropriate from Veriasse himself, than from Gallen.
This is also interesting:
Ahead was a great stone pulpit with what looked to be an image of the stricken Christ carved upon it. Upon the stone pulpit stood a ghostly apparition of Semarritte, speaking softly to the crowd. Her clear voice seemed to issue from her lips, saying, "The rightful duty of one who would be your leader is to become the Servant of All. We Tharrin believe that those who serve must do so in both thought and deed, subjugating all selfish desires. Any leader who does less is not worthy of either position or honor. . . ."
Orick listened enrapt, for the Lady Semarritte's teachings were not like those he had ever heard from any puffed-up mayor or clan chieftain back in County Morgan. These words recalled to Orick's mind the teachings of Christ to his disciples when they argued about who would become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven: "Let him who would be greatest among you, become the servant of all." The hair began rising on the back of Orick's neck, for here among the sidhe, this was indeed their church, and the Lady Semarritte had been their god.
See, this is what I like about this kind of story. When we have "primitive" characters learning new things and relating them to their own experiences. It's okay that Orick is a bit judgmental here. He's learning. And in the next paragraph, he realizes that the image isn't Christ, but "a blackened skeleton fused against the stone. Here were the remains of Everynne's mother. The flesh had burned from her bones and turned into a black, oily substance, but the whole skeleton was intact, hands clawed out protectively as if the dead woman had raised them to ward off a blow, legs tilted askew. Bits of dark hair and the chainmail netting of her mantle were fused into the stone, along with a necklace and other metal items."
...eww.
Orick realizes that this is what happens after someone is shot with an incendiary rifle. While he saw Father Heany go down, he didn't see the aftermath and it's chilling.
Veriasse kneels while Everynne weeps softly over her mother's body. There's a message saying that Semarritte's speech would repeated in five minutes, which is a lovely theme park kind of exhibit note that almost ruins the emotion. But doesn't.
Veriasse tells Everynne that it's time, calling her "my daughter, my lord". And then Everynne goes up to speak. She basically gives Semarritte's oration, but it's more dramatic because she's right there.
Orick's hair bristled, and he wondered that Everynne would dare to speak so with the vanquishers out at the gates of the cathedral, but Everynne did not shrink from her duty. Instead, as she spoke she seemed to grow in size and power and majesty. She pulled off her outer robe, and beneath it she wore a pale blue gown. The light that had been shining upon the skeletal remains of Everynne's dead mother now shone fully on her, and Everynne stood in the darkness, shining like a bolt of lightning.
So the speech continues, blah blah, Tharrin are great and serve everybody. Meh. I appreciate the need to overthrow the dronon. Wolverton did a good job in establishing that with Maggie's horrific experience. But I'm cynical of this whole perfect race of people kind of idea.
Anyway, she does finish with her own words:
At this point she cut the oration short, and said, "I stand before you, offering to become the leader you have sought. I am Everynne, the daughter to Semarritte, and I was born Tharrin. I seek to cast the dronon from the midst of our realm, but I cannot do it alone. Who among you will come to my aid?"
Of course, everyone is on board. Even Orick:
And somehow, Orick the bear, who had always believed that he would become a servant of God, found himself rushing forward into the small crowd. He sat down and raised his paw, and Everynne smiled at him in surprise, tears filling her pale blue eyes. "Orick!" She laughed. "Even you?"
"I will aid you, lady, though I be the humblest of your servants," he said firmly.
"No doubt you shall be among the most valiant," Everynne said as she knelt to kiss his paw. And even though she had not asked it, Orick felt as if he ought to take his priestly vows of poverty and chastity.
...I don't know how I feel about this. I feel like it's not...right. There's something uncomfortable about Orick essentially equating his own religion to this Tharrin nonsense. I feel like there should be more of an emotional reaction to this.
Maybe there will be. We're at the end of the chapter, though, so we won't know until next time.
About Isolder
Date: 2023-01-16 07:44 am (UTC)Not only that, while he wasn't as great as the narrative painted him us, he arguably ended up with someone far worse than him.
Which resulted in me having actual sympathy for him.
"That isn't a building," Maggie said. "It's a starship. All of the domes are starships." Orick looked over at Maggie. She wore a strange expression, one of both profound awe and conquest. He had never seen her so happy, so transformed by wonder. "And I know how they work."
At least it's not confused with a moon.
Re: About Isolder
Date: 2023-01-16 08:16 am (UTC)I'd definitely be willing to read a fanfic take on their relationship development after CoPL.
(I also think Isolder's likability was helped by being teamed up with Luke. You can be the fanciest prince in the world, but you're not going to win out against a Jedi. :-D And that enforced humility helped a lot.)
Re: About Isolder
Date: 2023-01-16 10:19 am (UTC)...it really isn't fair that Gallen has had a wondrous, mostly neutral-positive experience so far, and Maggie's was horrific and violating. It'd be one thing if I thought Wolverton would do something with it. I can think of some examples where this juxtaposition of horrific vs. positive experiences have worked really well (see, e.g. Ginn Hale's Rifter series). But seeing Orick basically equate the two experiences isn't a great sign.
I would not say it's about genders, but... this is the guy who wrote about mind control guns!
Re: About Isolder
Date: 2023-01-16 06:45 pm (UTC)And that's why Dathomir, as awful as it is as a society, is significant to Isolder's arc. Since the men are literally chattel, Isolder is finding himself explicitly evaluated as a product, and because of the values of the society, he is, for the first time, the lesser valued product.
But this is eye-opening to him, because in certain ways, Hapes and Dathomir are not that different. Obviously, Isolder isn't a slave. He has a luxurious life, but it's not the life he would have chosen for himself. Hapes, like Dathomir, is matriarchal, and there's a pretty significant moment where Isolder puts on airs, and Teneniel laughs in his face, pointing out that Isolder doesn't really have power in his own right, it's the woman that he marries that will sit on the Hapan throne. Not him. And while the choice is SUPPOSED to be his, it's not necessarily so simple in practice.
The book is mediocre, but Isolder's arc is actually a genuinely good one. He gets to be both humbled and empowered. As awful as Teneniel herself is, when Isolder chooses her, it's a legitimately good moment for him.
The downside, as I remember, Teneniel doesn't really get a parallel growth arc. The closest she comes is something like "Apparently some men ARE formidable after all", which doesn't really address the underlying issues.
I just had a saddening thought.
Date: 2023-01-17 05:35 pm (UTC)= Multi-Facets.
Re: I just had a saddening thought.
Date: 2023-01-17 08:07 pm (UTC)