DZOEY@UMD2.UMD.EDU (12/24/85)
From: Joseph I. Herman (Joe) <DZOEY@UMD2.UMD.EDU>
Yes, Brokedown Palace is indeed out! It's reasonably good also!
This book seems to be SKZB's first attempt at more serious science fiction.
He handles his characters well, giving most of them the emotions that really
make them come alive.
****SPOILER STUFF FOLLOWS....YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED (Insert flashing red light)**
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The following are questions for people who've read the book, I"m not going
to summarize the book since people should read it themselves and I'm very
bad at summarizing.
It seemed to me that the story was really about revolution. I'm not quite
sure about what the characters represented though. Please let me know your
thoughts about this. My guesses are:
The King represents Royalty (The King)
Vilkos represents the Army (Strength)
Miklos represents the Intellectuals
And the other brother (Andre? I can't remember) represents Religion
Does the girl represent the peasants?
Did the Kings wife represent foreign powers/advisors?
And what (if anything) did the sorcerer represent?
Its times like this that I wish I'd taken a few more history classes.
Another thing I was wondering about. I'm sure you all noticed that
the animals were the same as in Yendi/Jhereg. And the fact that the
kingdom is *east* of Faerie kingdom. Could this be pre-history to
Yendi/Jhereg? There was the reference to a link to a central source
to use Faerie power which could be exactly like the link to the
emper(or|ess). There was also a brief mention of witches and how
weak their power was compared to the sorcerors. This would be
similar to the situation in Yendi/Jhereg.
On the otherhand, maybe this is just my imagination and it's all
just a Hungarian folk tale. I could be reading things into it.
Happy <generic pseudo-religious holiday>
Joe
DZOEY@UMD2.UMD.EDU : ARPA
HERMAN@UMDD : BITNETnt11777@scgvaxd.UUCP (03/11/86)
In article <829@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> DZOEY@UMD2.UMD.EDU writes: >From: Joseph I. Herman (Joe) <DZOEY@UMD2.UMD.EDU> > >Yes, Brokedown Palace is indeed out! It's reasonably good also! ... > >****SPOILER STUFF FOLLOWS....YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED (Insert flashing red light)** > >It seemed to me that the story was really about revolution. ... revolution, hmmmmm. i hadnt thought of it that way but your examples do seem to fit well. i think the main theme involved was how people try their dam**st to look the other way and refuse to acknowledge their problems. i think brust was saying we need not fear change and should embrace it. i also liked Brokedown Palace but havent read any other brust (i picked up BP only because someone else on the net said they'd enjoyed it). you imply BP is a little different that previous brust, would you also recommend the others (jhereg and yendi, i believe)? neal