Renegade's Magic > Part 1: Ch 1-5

[Hanne]

... and it's June 1st... time to start the last book in this particular trilogy. and the last Robin Hobb book currently on sale for that matter.


ch1 - I got a bit confused with the first paragraph, convinced as i was that Nevare had gotten away with the whole tree-roots grand escape, and here we are back at his trial. but no worries - just a flashback, nothing wrong with my memories :)

btw, 1000 lashes? overkill much?


ch2 - all recap, so nothing new to comment on

[Hanne]

ch3 - i hadn't realized how much the Gernians were changing the forest to build their road. i had always imagined a straight, but small concrete road through the forest. reading about the rivers derailed, the swamps dried, the whole ground levelled (what? gernians can't ride up- and downhill?) i kind of got a better feel about the devastation happening here.

at least Nevare has made up his mind now and he's got Lisana to thank for it. i guess he could always take a page from lisana's play book and make roots grow through the prison to break up the concrete?
(makes me wonder why none of the specks have thought of that?)

[Hanne]

Alex wrote: "Chapter 1 — we start in the shits again. Nevare recounting his trial and saying goodbye to all his things.

Hanne, I think the 1000 lashes were overkill on purpose. To send a grotesque message. No..."


I think hardly any flesh or muscle will remain indeed. Plus i think you will go unconscious after a few dozen (at the latest) so the last 900+ lashes are just for the public's 'enjoyment'.

[Hanne]

Alex wrote: "That part about the value of land being its usefulness to men was well-said. Also how the life that supports animal life is seen as inferior.

yes i agree with that. and it's ridiculous how long it took us to realize that de-foresting to get more farming land only gives you desert (where as nevare remarks: no-one can live on).

[Hanne]

yes, i meant the real-life humans in general, not the fantasy version nor 'us' as readers :)

[Hanne]

ch4 - ok that's close to what i was thinking but not entirely (i'm thinking my way would have been a bit more repeatable too). nevare is doing exactly what he wants to: stitching the wound by having trees fall down criss-cross over it. i was thinking more of having the roots just lift and tear the concrete.
whatever it is, i'm sure it'll hold them back for a little while, but you can't have the same tree fall down twice.

[Hanne]

Alex wrote: "I love the comparison between questing roots and expanding civilization. "

agreed, that was a nice one.

[David Sven]

Hanne wrote: "btw, 1000 lashes? overkill much?"

Most people would be dead by 50 lashes


Gotta be careful of those Kaembra trees. They get hungry.

[David Sven]

Alex wrote: "Not the happiest that we'll be experiencing the new Speck location with a protagonist who won't protag, but it works in this story. "

Ha Ha! Yes. At last Nevarre stops being passive - except he doesn't.

[Ctgt]

I guess it's just me but Nevare continues to be a bit of a dolt. He's been warned about using all his magic and still has no pouch with food on him. For someone who was training to be an officer and was a pretty good engineer he seems to go off half cocked too often.

[Hanne]

agree. that's why the officer's assessment of him as good engineer or scout always sounded so impossible to me. he never thinks about what will happen after this move right now. and aye, he doesn't really seem to learn either.

he's one of those characters i just want to shake until some life comes into him. that's probably the one thing me and his father agree on. (even though i didn't particularly like his methods)

[David Sven]

Ctgt wrote: "I guess it's just me but Nevare continues to be a bit of a dolt. He's been warned about using all his magic and still has no pouch with food on him. For someone who was training to be an officer an..."

It's not just you :) - It's you and me and the whole Speck nation.

[David Sven]

I'm finding the second half of this book somewhat better than the first half

[Jeremy]

The first few recap chapters were a bit more exposition than I'm used to from Hobb (that I can remember), and I had some difficulty getting back into it. But with Soldier Son at the wheel, we're back on a steady path forward!

Alex wrote: "That part about the value of land being its usefulness to men was well-said. Also how the life that supports animal life is seen as inferior.

[...]

Keep in mind the perspective shift. Last time we saw the road it was through the eyes of a Gernian engineer (Nevare). Now it's by a Forest Mage who feels the deep anguish of the road, calling it a virulent infection. Same thing, but viewed wildly different, depending on what side you're on.

I have to say, that as a nature lover, this series is hitting some good spots for me. The imagery and the rhetoric in particular."

Agree with Alex here - this is really resonating with me. I loved the whole passage detailing the delicate, almost accidentally perfect ecosystem of the forest against man's need to dominate land and force it to be useful to them. What is "just a road" for now will become the questing roots of an alien civilization boring into their forest. The road will become paths and driveways to houses and inns. The trees will be cut down into something "useful", until there is nothing left of a once perfect ecosystem.

It may not be immediate but, unlike Nevare, the Specks are looking at the endgame here.

And now Soldier's Boy is driving and Nevare is taking backseat. To think this is what Soldier's Boy had done through the entire last book! How frustrated he must have been with Nevare's flippant use of the magic and slow spiral into a death sentence.