{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4789", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 4789, "subject": "The ending of 'Soldier of Sidon' (spoilers)", "messages": 3, "voices": 3, "first": "2007-02-15T09:02:32+00:00", "last": "2007-02-27T15:54:29+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "<007801c750e0$0adbecb0$29991152@tomdeeeed553bf>", "from": { "name": "Tom Foster", "address": "tbfoster at ntlworld.com" }, "date": "2007-02-15T09:02:32+00:00", "subject": "(urth) The ending of 'Soldier of Sidon' (spoilers)", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Following on from my previous post concerning the ending of 'Soldier of \nArete' (thanks to those who replied), I have now finished reading 'Sidon' \nand once again have a question about the book's conclusion: why do Qanju and \nthe rest seem to go off and abandon Latro so readily, especially given that \nWolfe has just spent two pages giving us the various principle characters' \npromises of aid to Latro (pp292-3)? Obviously, Sahuset has got what he \nwanted from Latro (the scroll - what exactly was on it?) but all seem to owe \nLatro rather a lot and it seems unlikely that they would be happy to leave \nhim behind without even looking around for him a bit... I was pleased that \nMyt-ser'eu came back for him though!\n\nOverall I thought that it was an enjoyable (and less confusing/demanding) \nread, but not as satisfying as the two Greek novels.\n\n\nTom " } ] }, { "message_id": "<20070218124231.91770DA853@mailserver8.hushmail.com>", "from": { "name": "thalassocrat at nym.hush.com", "address": "thalassocrat at nym.hush.com" }, "date": "2007-02-18T12:42:30+00:00", "subject": "(urth) The ending of 'Soldier of Sidon' (spoilers)", "in_reply_to": "<007801c750e0$0adbecb0$29991152@tomdeeeed553bf>", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:02:32 +1100 Tom Foster \n wrote:\nFollowing on from my previous post concerning the ending of \n'Soldier of \nArete' (thanks to those who replied), I have now finished reading \n'Sidon' \nand once again have a question about the book's conclusion: why do " }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Qanju and \nthe rest seem to go off and abandon Latro so readily, especially \ngiven that \nWolfe has just spent two pages giving us the various principle \ncharacters' \npromises of aid to Latro (pp292-3)? Obviously, Sahuset has got \nwhat he \nwanted from Latro (the scroll - what exactly was on it?) but all \nseem to owe \nLatro rather a lot and it seems unlikely that they would be happy \nto leave \nhim behind without even looking around for him a bit... I was \npleased that \nMyt-ser'eu came back for him though!\n\nOverall I thought that it was an enjoyable (and less \nconfusing/demanding) \nread, but not as satisfying as the two Greek novels." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I don't think we have enough info about why Latro was left behind; \nanyway, I couldn't come up with anything. \n\nI found some things about Sidon a little disappointing. Eg:\n\n- What happened to the memory palace? One of the things I never \nunderstood about Arete was Latro leaving his scrolls behind. Why \nwould he do that? I could only guess that he had the memory palace \nthing working well enough to make them unnecessary. Perhaps the \nscrolls would in some way be available to him in the jar in the \npalace, just as they were deposited in the real version of the jar \nawarded to the Amazon queen. But not according to Sidon - Latro has \nabandoned the memory palace itself. It really demands some \nexplanation, and we don't get one.\n\n- Similarly, why would he leave behind the new scroll at the end of \nSidon? And the whole device of the discovered scrolls is getting \nlame. If there is a Latro IV, I hope it gets replaced by something \nelse.\n\n- I don't like Wolfe's little childish whore-with-a-golden-heart \nthing. Myt-ser'eu is annoying. Why can't Latro have a Pharetra who \ndoesn't get killed off almost immediately? \n\n- The quest-y parts of the story don't add up to anything. He gets \nthe shield-of-something-or-other and the scroll-of-something-or-\nother and Falcatta is now the sword-of-something-or-other, but as \nfar as I can see there's nothing in this book which motivates why \nanybody should care about them. Too much is left blank for it to \nfeel like a whole novel.\n\n- Some of the interactions with gods seemed quite perfunctory. I \nwant more from an epiphany of Isis than the couple of sentences we \nget. It all seems too much like some kind of adventure game - meet \na god, get a blessing, move on - without any real signicance to \nanything. \n\n- There are some little writing glitches which I found quite \njarring, given the beautifully polished prose Wolfe normally \ndelivers.\n\nHopefully there is a Latro IV & a lot of the blanks do get filled \nin.\n\n " } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "James Wynn", "address": "crushtv at gmail.com" }, "date": "2007-02-27T15:54:29+00:00", "subject": "(urth) The ending of 'Soldier of Sidon' (spoilers)", "in_reply_to": "<20070218124231.91770DA853@mailserver8.hushmail.com>", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "why do Qanju and the rest seem to go off and abandon Latro so\nreadily, especially given that Wolfe has just spent two pages giving\nus the various principle characters' promises of aid to Latro\n(pp292-3)?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I understood (based on Myt-ser'eu's statement in the last\nparagraph that Sahuset had bewitched the party to believe that Latro\nwas aboard with them. I understood from Sabra's advice\nthat Sahuset had Falcata and would never help Latro regain it despite\nhis promises. That was the meaning of the god's claim that he already\nhad the sword\n\nJ." } ] } ] }