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The Chronicles of Tornor Trilogy
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Series: Chronicles of Tornor by Elizabeth A. Lynn ("Watchtower")
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Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator
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Jan 04, 2021 12:45PM
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I plan on joining in but I need to finish When Fox 🦊 first; but I’m already about halfway through so maybe in the next couple of days I’ll start it.
Thanks Ryan! I think our posts crossed in the ether! Glad this is up. We'll start with Watchtower from January 8, 2020.
The Dancers of Arun are up after that (say from February 2020).
Then The Northern Girl from March 2020.
When commenting please always note the book and chapter and/or hide spoilers behind tags. This is not a must, you can also simply use a visual cue such as:
WT: Chapter 8
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That way people who are using the app can still read the spoilers and those who don't want to read them can scroll past them quickly without reading.
Just starting Watchtower today. Will comment later
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The Prince /jester isn't allowed on the wall but goes there anyway. He and Ryke aren't allowed to talk to one another but they do with some frequency. The messengers are neutral entities in the world that will skin you and/or kill you for asking them to do something that'll move them from that position, but Ryke just did that and they agreed in seconds.
Being introduced to rules and almost immediately having them broken without consequence makes me disregard everything. Who am I meant to take seriously? I'd call this bad world building.
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Ryke went from being a somewhat likeable asshole to just being an asshole but I'm finally interested in what's going to happen next.
Van's village in the mountains is intriguing but seeing it from the perspective of Ryke is irritating. The prospect of returning to the Watchtower is interesting if only because its something that will excite Ryke.
Finished. It's a very short read and the last bit feels rushed. With a real slow part in the middle. I'd give it a three out of five stars. I've since finished the second book in the series which I liked better and am on to the third, but I'll withhold comments until the BR for those start
I also gave it 3 stars. I did enjoy it enough to continue series and it was a fast and interesting read but with that being said . . . S
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I just couldn’t with the whole “rape is part of war, oh well”
End of book:
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I mean his sister was raped to death and Ryke’s response was like oh well that’s war for you.
I agree about Ryke and not sure we need everything from his perspective - I haven’t started the second book yet, does it continue from his perspective?
no it does not and it takes place quite a few years after the time of the first book
and the third book takes place even longer after the first book. It's also the longest book of the trilogy. I liked book 3 quite a lot
I was t going to reread this first one, because it was a 3/5 stars read, but I’m finding I have so little recollection that I may have to skim it, or find a good detailed description of events before I carry on. I was hoping comments here would jog my memory, but no. Oh well. So does anyone know, are we supposed to continue with the series here in this thread or start a separate series thread for the rest?
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I can give you more of a breakdown of the book if you want, but from what little I've read of the second in the series it shouldn't matter much. It seems to be set generations afterwards.
yes, there are references to the first book, but it's not necessary to know everything that went on in it.
So I went through the the first third of Dancers thinking Kel was Errel from the first book and being so confused! 😂😂😂 I kept saying to myself, wait now they have a third sibling? And what happened to the sister? Why did my brain think that when I read the first book less than a month ago, who knows! Now I’m halfway through and I’m just kind of grossed out. But I’ll wait to elaborate on that once I’m done.
I'm seriously considering giving up on this series after finishing the second book. Has anyone read the third book and think it is worth it? I was going to use this as series as new to you author square but maybe I should start Steerswoman instead?
the third book is longer if that makes a difference. The main character is female but she bears the name of a character in the first book so don't be confused by that. It seems more fleshed out than the two earlier books.
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then don't worry about it - I was doing it for one of the contests myself.
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Ok, I’m just starting book 2 now. I’m going to suffer through the rest of the series, even though I’m fairly sure I won’t love it, because I actually own these and have done for over 20 years. I read the first one so long ago and only remember that it was a bit boring. Wish me luck.
So, I just finished The Dancers of Arun. S
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First the good:
It was a fast read. I enjoyed Lynn's style of writing. I liked the development of Kerris' feelings of self-consciousness to a sort of self acceptance through the acceptance and support of the chearas. How Sefer helped him through the trauma he suffered as a baby seemed also very true. The "witch" town of Elath seemed to be an incredible place of acceptance and love and honor for his talent (as a scribe) . I loved the school of "witchcraft" and the variety of "gifts" that were explored there. I would've loved to learn more about the other gifts, especially patterning and healing.
What didn't work for me:
I get that Lynn was making a point that people in this world, at least among the people of Elath, were free to love whomever they pleased without judgement. Homosexuality, bisexuality and polyamory were handled as they should be; as something normal and not worth other commentary. I agree with the sentiment, but I think she took it too far to include incestuous relationships. I think the book would've been so much better without that aspect and would've been just as clear on that point.
That is the main reason for my 3 stars rather than 4.
I actually liked this book much more than I thought I would, but man, that one thing pretty much overshadowed any enjoyment I had. It was hard to ignore that.
DivaDiane wrote: "That is the main reason for my 3 stars rather than 4..."I once read a Star Trek novel where the people of some planet engaged in such relationships. It worked for their biology. For them it was a way of strengthening the species and an ordinary thing. If the people in this book have the same sort of biology then it's not something to worry about. Only if they have the same sort of taboos we do would it be something to get upset about.
Marc wrote: "DivaDiane wrote: "That is the main reason for my 3 stars rather than 4..."I once read a Star Trek novel where the people of some planet engaged in such relationships. It worked for their biology...."
Yeah, well, there is no indication that incestuous relationships are a good or a bad thing, genetically. They clearly don't have the same taboos, at least the small group that witnessed it didn't, but those taboos are in place for a good reason in our own society. The Star Trek novel probably wouldn't have bothered me at all, if they had explained it as you did, that it had something to do with their biology/genetics. This was not the case in this novel.
DivaDiane wrote: "This was not the case in this novel..."That was unwise. If you're going to put something in a book that is guaranteed to offend people, you should make sure there's some kind of explanation for why it works in this case. Otherwise people will bring their default opinions to the text. Of course, if you don't have such a reason, why even bring it up?
Marc wrote: "DivaDiane wrote: "This was not the case in this novel..."That was unwise. If you're going to put something in a book that is guaranteed to offend people, you should make sure there's some kind of..."
That is a very good question indeed.
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Dancers of Arun (other topics)Watchtower (other topics)
The Dancers of Arun (other topics)
The Northern Girl (other topics)
The Chronicles of Tornor Trilogy: Watchtower, The Dancers of Arun, and The Northern Girl (other topics)
