TM: Part 1 - Tyen

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Section 1

Please keep all discussion to the events and speculation to Part 1 - Tyen.

No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling this for your good read friends.

Please do not discuss events from later chapters/books. Referring back to events from a previous section/book is fine.

[Ctgt]

The first thing that popped into my head when Vella was introduced was the diary from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that Malfoy slipped into Ginny's books.

[Suzanne]

Oh I didn't think of that. But I'm liking the books personality so far!

[Suzanne]

Someone asked in the opening thread about keeping vs. giving up the book. I think I'd keep it! I'd be rationalizing keeping it anyway, and when the people in the tavern talked about a wasted non-valuable artifact that'd finish the decision for me. What about the rest of you? Would you hide and keep the book?

[Orelia]

Only a couple of chapters in so far. When I read the words "sentient book" in the synopsis, I didn't think much of it. (Maybe because I've read a few books with sentient swords, grew up with Beauty and the Beast, and wrote a story about a sentient shoe back in high school) However, when the first words were "Hello, my name is" my brain automatically finished it with "Harry Potter." Guess I'm ready for our September reread.

This is my first Canavan novel, so far all I can really say is that I'm okay with her style of prose. Nothing too flashy or gimmicky, she gets down to the story. I'm not sure how much I'm going to like spending 100 pages at a time with each PoV character. I'm more familiar with books that change with each chapter, like Game of Thrones does. If memory serves, this is the same as Lord of the Rings, and it drove me NUTS there.
Me: Frodo and Sam are in danger!!!
The book: Sorry, you have to follow Merry and Pippin for 100 pages before we get back to that.

[Orelia]

Right, so would I keep the book or not? Hmmmm, I think it would depend on the personality of the book. The idea of her being able to read my mind would probably intimidate me, but I'm sure she could persuade me to keep her. However, she could just as easily scare or annoy me into handing her over. I'll have to get to know her more in the next few chapters.

[Orelia]

I'm on chapter 9 now, and I feel this book is sorely lacking in action. Nothing overly exciting has happened since they left the expedition. Why couldn't the brothel have had a bouncer they had to fight on their way out? Even a fistfight would be more interesting than Tyen getting infodumped.

This doesn't feel YA to me... but I don't have a very strict definition of YA.

I am enjoying the fact that magic is driving technology. I'm trying to think if I've seen that before... It's been hinted that the final Mistborn trilogy will do that, but I can't think of anything else.

Tyen is being too passive for me right now. "You're going to do something I don't like? Ok, I'll either run away or stand here and do nothing."

2 more chapters with Tyen, then off to a new world.

@Alex - we do know one motivation for Vella. She wants to be used so that she is conscious for the rest of her time.

I'm working the next few days, guess I'll catch up with you all on Tuesday evening.

[Suzanne]

I'm liking (and agreeing) with most of the comments so far. Gah I hate not having a computer to type on, but c'est la vacation.

[Orelia]

Halfway through chapter 9, and I have a prediction. Tyen is going to let the "rebels" steal Vella for him. Then he will use Gowel's map from the first night we met him to run away south of the mountains.
(He was holding Vella when he looked at the map, so she probably can reproduce it. )
However, he's not the point of action yet. Something is going to have to convince him that the Academy will keep Vella locked in the vault forever.

[Suzanne]

I was thinking today that I like the fact Vella doesn't spend a lot of time bemoaning her fate, and complain how awful it is to be a book. I kind of expected her to.

[Orelia]

@Alex: that particular comment might keep me up for a while when I get off work... only 5 1/2 hours to go!

[Karen]

Suzanne wrote: "I was thinking today that I like the fact Vella doesn't spend a lot of time bemoaning her fate, and complain how awful it is to be a book. I kind of expected her to."

Agreed. She made it a good read, and was surprisingly informative about the man who made her.

[Orelia]

Yeah, chapter 10 was MUCH better. On to the next section!

[Sky]

Alex wrote: " So many times in stories with magic we see them used for adventure or war...but what about engineering? Why are those magical abilities never harnesses for farming or doing mundane tasks much more efficiently?"

Probably because the adventure and war is what people want to read about.

On a less (or maybe more) cynical note, conflict pushes innovation, so I would imagine the really interesting developments in magic to be on a war front or in the face of overwhelming odds and threats to life and limb.

That said, I think I would pick up a book if it was marketed as a fantasy agricultural thriller or a magicpunk engineering murder mystery. Then again, I enjoyed the hell out of Infoquake, which is a sci-fi business thriller, so my judgement may be skewed.