Soldier if Sidon questions and spoilers

Transentient · 14 Jan 2007, 23:27 · from 2007-January.txt.gz

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From: transentient at gmail.com (Transentient)
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:27:26 -0500
Subject: (urth) Soldier if Sidon questions and spoilers
In-Reply-To: <d716a1c40611301417o1c9fd9c1gb60fe2db38936e4f at mail.gmail.com>
References: <d716a1c40611301417o1c9fd9c1gb60fe2db38936e4f at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <2D0D4BD3-C7A6-4F4A-A44F-C633588B3750 at gmail.com>

In case you didn't read Soldier of Sidon and are reading this, well,  
hey, what's taking you so long? It was good. Superbly done, in fact.  
But please delete this mail or put it away and come back to it  
because I don't want to spoil it for you.

One of the things that really stood out about the book was the  
overall narative structure. The part of the book dealing with the  
voyage down the river was smooth and sequential. Then there is the  
scene with the council discussing whether they should look for Kames  
and the mines, and it is really a discussion of whether or not the  
narrative structure should be changed. I've always loved how Wolfe  
can play games with your head by changing your expectations of the  
story. Sure enough, chaos ensues after Latro leaves the boat. The end  
of the book basically "perks up" as he starts returning north.

I've got a couple of questions that I'm wondering if anybody caught  
answers to in their readings so far.

1) Does anybody know what the Hellenes actually call the last page?  
(page 302)

2) Was the bulls-head amulet of Myt-ser'eu's the one that Sehuset  
made for her to seal her from Sabra? Or was it the one that he told  
Latro would ensure her loyalty to him?

3) Anybody know what it was about Thotmaktef that Latro, upon first  
meeting him, thought "Perhaps I should not write of it at all/" Was  
it just that he first noticed Thoth, the baboon at this point? (page 48)

4) What the heck is in that scroll that he recovered from the temple  
beyond the last temple? I'm wondering if that is actually mentioned  
and I just missed it.

5) Is it too obvious, given the lion symbolism, that Mehit is the  
very goddess who wounded his memory in the beginning? One thing that  
works against this is the passage where he helps Arensnuphis hunt  
her, and Latro thinks he sees astonishment in her eyes in being seen  
by him.

6) The glossary entry on Falcata indicates that she is, in fact, a  
Falcata. I seem to remember a passage in the first book where it is  
said that Falcata was actually a kopis. I wonder if there is anything  
to this.

Thanks for your thoughts.

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