"God Stalk" by P.C. Hodgell (BR)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Anyone still up for this with me? I have it queued!

[CBRetriever]

I've read it already, but I'll try to remember to comment. I've read the whole series.

[Christopher]

I have too much going on right now in my TBR, but I'm curious to know what people think of this one, I know that File770 has a recurring joke related to it (which I never got as I hadn't read).

[Soo]

I'm still planning to read it. It's not long. Currently running away on a long webserial but I'm almost done with that.

[Ky]

Oh yes, I'm definitely still up for this one!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I am listening on audiobook and am not yet 10% in, but my non-spoiler first impression is I'm enjoying that atmosphere! It's very epic-goth and that is a vibe I can hang with!

[Beth]

I've read through Part I, and while I'm enjoying the revisit, I'm also finding that a little of that "very '80s" writing goes a long way! I'm also in this very strange space with it, that I'm remembering all the bits and pieces as I come across them while reading, but not before then.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I'm finding it so nostalgic! It's definitely got a style to it and that makes me chuckle so far.

[Jonathan]

I'm only starting now 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ I'll catch up though!

[Ky]

I've read only Chapters 1 and 2 so far but will get a few more in in the next couple of days. Contentwise, what can I discuss in this thread? Are spoilers okay if I hide them?

In general, I didn't care for Chapter 1 very much but Chapter 2 was much better for me.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

sorry, I'll update the top post, I should have said. yes! post what chapter you're up to so folks know when they can look, and use tags, but then say whatever you'd like!

[Ky]

So I decided to just re-read Chapters 1 and 2, and then continued through Chapter 5. There is a crazy amount of worldbuilding going on. I think Tai-tastigon is a character in its own right since there's so much color and activity throughout the city, especially because of (view spoiler)[all the untempled gods running amuck. I don't think Jame and Tai-tastigon go that well together because each is fighting to be the main character of the story. With all that is going on in Tai-tastigon, I think it would work better with a similarly strong but more straightforward character. Jame herself has so much mystery about her that she should be in a less eventful setting. And since the story is about Jame, I think another city that has a temple to the Three Gods would have been a better setting. (hide spoiler)].

For me, Jame's story unfolds better in Chapters 3 through 5, enough that I became more invested in her as a character. Especially when she makes an effort to (view spoiler)[ get to the bottom of why she hates knives so much she'd rather just fight with her claws, and then we get a tantalizing, if dim, glimpse of her past where she's wearing a legendary cape and walking up to the room with the red ribbons. (hide spoiler)]

[Jonathan]

Just started chapter 3, and agreed it's better so far. I like Jame so far, but feel like I still don't know much about her personality.

I took a little break after finding myself a bit bored midway through chapter 2. I like the book and even the world building, but I find i have to be in the mood for that kind of writing, otherwise it feels like a slog and I start daydreaming instead of staying engaged (which I try to avoid when reading for fun).

I'm going to read a couple more chapters to see if I like things better, otherwise I might give up.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

There is A LOT going on in this book. I think I too have to go back because I think the audio was somewhat out of order? And that really confused me. Or maybe I'm just confused. But I did enjoy it. It's very much "of its era" but it's an era I feel kinship with.

[Jonathan]

Whoa, just finished chapter 6 ending with (view spoiler)[dancing that seduces the enemy (hide spoiler)] - such a confusing twist...

[Soo]

Started! Late but here. =D

I ended up reading all of the stuff available for Wandering Inn and now I'm free from it's thousands of pages! Woo! Haha~

Am I alone or does anyone else want to either pencil in an 'i' in Jame to be Jamie? Are you calling her Jam, Jam-E, Jom or Gem?

Am I alone?!?! Hehehe

I'm in the beginning and lots of things are thrown around.

Currently on haunts, sharp nails and backpack of stuff.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Haha I listened to it and the name was pronounced like Jane but with an M so I kept calling her Jane until we learn her full name.

[Ky]

I rhyme "Jame" with "Fame" and I keep wanting to spell it "Jaime."

[CBRetriever]

being that her full name is Jamethiel, I always pronounced Jame as two syllables.

[Ky]

There is another character who starts calling Jame "Jamie" at some point so I believe "Jame" is intended to rhyme with "Fame." Anyway, I finished this up yesterday. Part 3 galloped towards its conclusion and was jam-packed (Jame-packed?) with action. (view spoiler)[All the Thief Guild stuff got pretty much wrapped up and Jame finally remembers enough to learn that she's Ganth Gray Lord's daughter and that her full name is Jamethiel. Wonder why she's named after Gerridon's consort, hmm? (hide spoiler)]

For me, it's a novel that's full of action and yet somehow plods. I think the Thief Guild subplots don't mesh well. That part of it kind of goes into Mary Sue territory for me. I think I would have been happy if she had explored the city on her own, maybe some run-ins with thieves and thugs in general would have done very well to establish her physical abilities and fighting prowess, without her (view spoiler)[getting to be the apprentice of master thief Penari (hide spoiler)].

Because of her run-ins with the gods of the city, I would have better liked to see her have more clashes with more priests and temple guards. Maybe some of the priests have an organization and she could run afoul of that. However, I enjoyed the parts involving the (view spoiler)[conflict between the Res a'Btyrr and the Skyrrman and how the Skyrrman's owner was finally judged to be the loser by the City Council's leader. That was a satisfying result of Jame's superb, and clearly magical, dancing skill. (hide spoiler)]

It's an entertaining novel, if you put work into reading it closely, and sets up the world of Rathillien. My e-book is actually Dark of the Gods, and there are some appendices after the end of God Stalk that describe what the Kencyr are doing in a little more detail. I don't know if they were in the original edition of God Stalk I read 30 years ago.

[Beth]

CBRetriever wrote: "being that her full name is Jamethiel, I always pronounced Jame as two syllables."

My (belated) take on this is that it's like Nathaniel/Nate, the full name having a short a (or schwa, I guess?) and the nickname a long one.