Wow! What a program! There is a HUGE amount of history in it that is more easily related in such a form than in the story itself. And it helped a lot. I had thought early on in my reading that this reminded me enormously of both "A Tale of Two Cities" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel", and the whole undercurrent of a nation reforming itself after the overthrow of a tyrannical, abusive, powerful ruling regime has pretty much cemented itself now.
I have to admit that I laughed at several parts because it reminded me so much of Anna Russell's discussion on Wagner's Ring Cycle. And many times of her Gilbert and Sullivan formula. I kept having her last line on the Wagner part running through my head: "And after you've sat through this whole production, what do you hear? ... You're exactly where you started twenty hours ago!"
I see that parts and pieces of the Twelve Kingdoms have crept in here. And of course the Coliseum of Gates. There are many stories here, I can see. Maybe it's just that it's late, and maybe it's just me, but I think that what started as a world has grown and become a universe. I hope there's enough time to explore some more of it.
I'm so glad you think this program worked - I was a little trepidatious that it would be too much of a history dump (even though it isn't near the full amount of history - and YES, the history of the world - the current history, anyway, is tres tres important to this story and will be revealed layer by layer in each volume). But *phew* YES, I'm glad one reader found some of the context helpful and not merely painful exposition! The nice thing about this form is that I can put in notes such as this - or even pages from text books, etc. - and if someone wants to skip it...they can.
Anywho...I guess I'm wondering how much backstory you're interested in? Your questions/thoughts thus far have been ENORMOUSLY helpful! (And made me ponder some future plot points that hadn't been on the horizon before but which I like muchly!)
As for the Gates/Coliseum/Ylondas/Twelve Kingdoms - well, all my worlds are connected at some point/place, so yes, there's bleeding over from one to another (depending on WHEN the story is set). I enjoy it. Not all of the world will be explored in this book, although I imagine that by the time we get to Juste (you haven't met him yet, although I believe he is mentioned in one of Giselle's articles that she sends to Reinhold) - anywho, by the time we get to Juste's version of the story (volume III? Probably? With a LOT more of Juste in the next volume, which focuses mostly on Luce), we should branch out quite a bit into the world - the various countries (he's an explorer), and even a bit about travelling between worlds, and the True Earth (and how scandalized Lumaison's Guild of Cartographers are when Juste returns declaring that the World is Flat. But you'll have to wait for that!).
Wow! What a program! There is a HUGE amount of history in it that is more easily related in such a form than in the story itself. And it helped a lot. I had thought early on in my reading that this reminded me enormously of both "A Tale of Two Cities" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel", and the whole undercurrent of a nation reforming itself after the overthrow of a tyrannical, abusive, powerful ruling regime has pretty much cemented itself now.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I laughed at several parts because it reminded me so much of Anna Russell's discussion on Wagner's Ring Cycle. And many times of her Gilbert and Sullivan formula. I kept having her last line on the Wagner part running through my head: "And after you've sat through this whole production, what do you hear? ... You're exactly where you started twenty hours ago!"
I see that parts and pieces of the Twelve Kingdoms have crept in here. And of course the Coliseum of Gates. There are many stories here, I can see. Maybe it's just that it's late, and maybe it's just me, but I think that what started as a world has grown and become a universe. I hope there's enough time to explore some more of it.
I'm so glad you think this program worked - I was a little trepidatious that it would be too much of a history dump (even though it isn't near the full amount of history - and YES, the history of the world - the current history, anyway, is tres tres important to this story and will be revealed layer by layer in each volume). But *phew* YES, I'm glad one reader found some of the context helpful and not merely painful exposition! The nice thing about this form is that I can put in notes such as this - or even pages from text books, etc. - and if someone wants to skip it...they can.
ReplyDeleteAnywho...I guess I'm wondering how much backstory you're interested in? Your questions/thoughts thus far have been ENORMOUSLY helpful! (And made me ponder some future plot points that hadn't been on the horizon before but which I like muchly!)
As for the Gates/Coliseum/Ylondas/Twelve Kingdoms - well, all my worlds are connected at some point/place, so yes, there's bleeding over from one to another (depending on WHEN the story is set). I enjoy it. Not all of the world will be explored in this book, although I imagine that by the time we get to Juste (you haven't met him yet, although I believe he is mentioned in one of Giselle's articles that she sends to Reinhold) - anywho, by the time we get to Juste's version of the story (volume III? Probably? With a LOT more of Juste in the next volume, which focuses mostly on Luce), we should branch out quite a bit into the world - the various countries (he's an explorer), and even a bit about travelling between worlds, and the True Earth (and how scandalized Lumaison's Guild of Cartographers are when Juste returns declaring that the World is Flat. But you'll have to wait for that!).