Part Four: The Isle of the Dead

[Bob]

At your will...

[Dee]

This is my favorite "section" of the novel. Drefel shows just how far a person will go for love. He would die for Nimue, if need be.

However, the encounter with the man in the cave was nasty. As I am a vegetarian, cannibalism especially creeps me out.

[Bob]

What would the "Isle of the Dead" be without cannibalism! :) That scene also took me off guard. I kinda jump when he attacked Derfel.

I really enjoyed this section too. The whole time I was wondering how he was going to get out of there. I was very tense!

[Anna]

I really enjoyed the cannibalism scene. It speaks to the ultimate creepy factor of characters like Hannibal Lector (sp?). They seem just like the rest of us...

[Bob]

...until they start sprinkling us with salt and pepper.

[Anna]

And firing up the grill...

[Dee]

Grosss :]

[SarahC]

Wow, Part Four -- a lot goes on. I think my favorite part was the end with the political decision "war or no war" going on. I liked how it winds up with Galahad and Derfel going as emissaries into the enemy's stronghold. I thought that was BK's best plotting yet in this novel. He really seems to be picking up the pace.

Also, maybe he is beginning to divulge who Arthur is (internally). Aillean states pretty solidly that Arthur is half ambition. We will see if that proves to be the half of him that wins in the end, right? Does anyone else feel that BK has only given us a surface description of who Arthur is? Maybe he wants it to unfold that way -- of all things, an Arthurian story in which Arthur is the mysterious character. Even the scenes of dialogue between Arthur and Derfel reveal very little (IMO anyway).

[Anna]

I agree. I was wondering when we would start to see who Arthur is in this tale. We have seen some(more than I'd like ) of the realGuin and Lance, but Cornwell seems to have been holding out on who Arthur really is. And I guess the same goes for Merlin. It's interesting really that these two central characters to the original are almost marginalized here.

[Dee]

Three book series :)

[SarahC]

Yes, he is careful with his pacing. But even a lot of series stories reveal more sooner. Not saying that is a good idea. I LIKE stories that slowly unfold also.

Some of those mystery series unfold their character stories so slowly it is unreal. But that is a comment for another group!

[Old-Barbarossa]

I'm reading this as Derfel's story with everyone else as the supporting cast.
We know that whatever Arthur and the "big" characters do will end up being changed by the bards and poets into the medieval version of events, and that this won't necessarily have anything to do with the "true" events as narrated by Derfel. Therefore it's Derfel who I think is most interesting at the minute.
Also, the whole idea of reputation and it's manipulation (Lance), or perception of an individual (Merlin)...the idea of "glamour" in it's faerie sense, the difference between perceived and actual reality.
I think Derfel is a man of power but unaware of his true strength (survived the pit, returned from the otherworld/Isle of the Dead...like Orpheus, only he kept hold of Nimue). All other characters with power seem to know it: Nimue; Merlin; Arthur; even Lance.
Now, onward to confront the dogs of war...