No, drug rooms don’t encourage drug use

A drug room is intended to be a safe place for drug user to take illegal substances.

 

No, drug rooms don’t encourage drug use. An addict doesn’t need encouragement to use drugs because, as an addict, they’re guaranteed to use. A non-drug user isn’t going to see a drug room and think oh, let’s give that a try.

 

No, drug rooms don’t condone drug use. If a paramedic, doctor or nurse treats a drug user on the street or in A&E, they aren’t condoning drug use as an acceptable practice. They’re treating a person in need of help. Why would health care professionals in drug rooms be any different? Why should a designated location have a different mindset?

 

By providing clean needles, the risks involved with dirty/used needles are eliminated (often the only types available to drug users). By having medics right there, care can be administered immediately rather than waiting for an ambulance. Drug rooms would not only keep people safer but, ultimately, alive. This also takes pressure from the ambulance service.

 

Preventative measures save a lot of time and money so there are practical reasons to do this, not solely reasons of compassion.

Why Devolution Cannot be Breached

Some people claim that a sovereign legislature that legislates (passes laws) within a devolved legislature’s competencies is breaching devolution.

 

Devolution is when the nation sovereign legislature gives (devolves) legislative functions to a more localised body.

Most countries have this in the form of local councils. Some countries have devolved bodies with far broader powers, such as the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments in the UK.

These devolved bodies don’t have powers in their own right. They only have power because they were given power by the sovereign legislature. Power that could be taken away at any moment. Devolved legislatures aren’t the final arbiters of power.

In devolution, the power and authority is still vested in the original, central sovereign legislature. Its law is supreme, meaning it can pass laws that supersede the devolved legislature.

So, national legislatures legislating on devolved matters doesn’t go against devolution. It actually demonstrates devolution because it shows both legislatures can legislate in the same areas.

 

But just because the sovereign legislature can doesn’t mean it should.

What’s the point of devolved administrations if the national administration makes laws on devolved matters? This would make devolved bodies inconsequential and hence a waste of money.

Devolution is useful because, by taking responsibilities away from the national legislature, the national legislature can put more energy into the remaining responsibilities. A lot of focus on a few issues is better than a little focus on every issue!

 

Other political structures, such as federations, have a different balance of power.

A federation is formed by component states. Each has its own legislature, as does the united federation as a whole. The USA and Germany are the instant examples.

Federal and state legislatures have authority in their own right. The powers are split between them and they, ordinarily, can’t supersede the other. For example, education is controlled at the state level and defence and foreign policy at federal state level.

Critique: Zemindar (Valerie Fitzgerald)

 Laura, an English woman, is accompanying her newly-married cousin Emily to colonial India. Oliver, a relative of Emily’s husband Charles, is a zemindar (one of the many Indian feudal titles) and Charles wants to convince Oliver to make him his heir. During their trip they get caught up in the war.

 

******SPOILERS*****

 

There were many positive points.

Punctuation is essentially perfect. Considering this book is over 800 pages long, there should statistically be far more mistakes than the average-sized novel. Yet, somehow, there are far less. The only one that was glaringly obvious is writing ‘Out-ram’ instead of ‘Outram’ on a single occasion.

Laura saves the son of Wajid Khan from a stampede. In return, Khan gives Laura a rakhri, a beautiful jewelled token. If she returns it with a request to Khan, he is obligated to respond. Having this detail is nice foreshadowing for something important. This gave the plot some direction (other than the romance) whilst the scene was still being set.

Laura hears Charles raping Emily. This was hard to read but only because it was written so well that it felt like I was hearing it happen in real life.

Twice we had specific plot points that made me smile. Moti helps Emily give birth so Emily names her daughter Pearl (which is what Moti means). Emily, Laura and Charles wear a burqha to hide that they are white whilst escaping to the Residency.

Oliver tells Laura that if she loved him she’d stay on India. Yet he doesn’t consider the reverse, that if he loved her he’d leave for England. This accurately portrays how these ultimatums are thought out in real life.

 

Often, the behaviour of the characters felt off. Either their actions/thoughts made no sense whatsoever or their thoughts/actions were simply out of character.

Laura appreciates that Oliver is frank. Then, whilst comparing Oliver and Charles, she complains that Oliver isn’t as frank like Charles. So that’s a bit iffy. But then later on, Laura goes on about Oliver being frank again! If Oliver’s behaviour changed then this flip-flopping would be justifiable, but it didn’t so it isn’t.

Laura loves Charles, even after he rapes Emily. Emily, who is much more than a cousin to Laura. How can you love someone who does something so horrible to someone you love even more?

Emily married Charles just so that Laura wouldn’t get married first. Really? I don’t believe anyone from any time period would do that.

I wasn’t ready for Mr Robert’s suicide. The author didn’t convince me that he felt romantic love for another character. A strong platonic bond, sure, but not romance. His declaration for love was entirely out of place. It seemed like the author just had no further use for the character. Also, it’s as if the author wanted to redeem Emily, showing she’s not stupid because she spotted Robert’s feelings whilst Laura did not.

 

Once at the Residency, Laura goes on this massive rant about how she’s ‘shallow, self-contained, selfish girl’.

I don’t see how. She always cares for others first and puts their desires above her own. Nothing in Laura’s behaviour can be twisted into her being selfish etc. Even if people have a bad opinion about themselves, they’d have reasons for it (most of the time, these ‘reasons’ would be wrong/misinterpreted/misconstrued). Laura lacks any such reasons.

There’s no hint of Laura having a negative opinion about herself before this point. Considering the book’s written in first person, there’s no excuse for this.

 

The siege at Lucknow went on FOREVER. It got a bit dull, to be honest. There was a lot of repetition that did nothing for the plot. It became more like a shopping list than a story.

Whilst in the Residency, they complain that the rains have gone on for two and a half months. Yet a little later they say they’ve been besieged for three weeks. Two and a half months is far longer than three weeks, making this a glaring inconsistency.

One could argue it could have been raining since before the siege began. But if this were the case, the rains would have been mentioned as Laura and co travelled to the Residency. Was this the case? No. Hence the glaring inconsistency remains.

The blurb says nothing about the siege. Now, I think important plot points should be kept off the blurb: an author spends time trying to shock/surprise their readers so blurbs ruining it is disrespectful.

However, the siege lasted more than half the total pages of this book. That’s at least four hundred pages (which is larger than most novels!) This means the blurb doesn’t give an accurate account or summary of the novel. There are many ways the blurb could have mentioned getting caught in the unrest without revealing the siege directly.

 

This was a good book. It was sprinkled with Indian culture here and there which made it interesting. The negatives, whilst plentiful, weren’t a threat to the plot’s integrity.

This book shows great insight into how British people perceived India during the colonial era. It provides insight into how and why history unfolded as it did. This is a necessity if the mistakes of the past aren’t to be repeated.

Whilst the siege was a struggle to read, the first half of the book (where Laura explores Indian culture) were so easy and enjoyable. I feel like someone could read up to the siege and end it there. Except important, interesting things do happen during the siege and after it too. If the siege had been shorter, it would have been far more bearable.

Unfortunately, as it is, I wouldn’t want to read this book again. Once is enough to enjoy the plentiful positivity and best punctuation ever seen in literature. 

Critique: Law of the Broken Earth (The Griffin Mage Trilogy) (Rachel Neumeier)

This book is focused on Mienthe and Tan, a noblewoman and a spy respectively. Bertaud and Kairaithin (from the first two stories) also make an appearance.

The plot follows their interactions with a magical book that can rewrite the laws of nature. It takes place in the Delta, a place in Feierbriand that’s been taken over by Linularinum a few times.

Lord Beroad of the Delta, Mienthe’s father, dies early on. Her uncle Talenes gets control over Mienthe and hence control over Lord Beroad’s inheritance. Talenes brags about his plans for the inheritance once Mienthe marries his son.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Plot

Magic was discussed in previous books but in this one it’s the very foundation of the plot.

The wall separating griffins from humans is breaking so Kairaithin warns Bertaud. It’s due to magic becoming disturbed, explaining why human mages have struggled with their magic recently.

            When Mienthe walks in spirals, she can tangle and trap the magic of others. When Tan is kidnapped, she knows exactly where to find him. When Gereint looks at Mienthe, sometimes she looks like a mage and other times she does not. Mienthe’s a magical mystery.

            They recover from the Linularinum spymaster a legist book (books that contain written law which is impossible to break). Capturing a Linularinum agent, they discover that it’s a book of natural law: it bound into place earth magic’s dominance over fire.

The Linularinum spymaster wants to ensure that earth is kept superior to fire.  Mienthe puts Tan in the centre of a spiral with the book then she and Kes walk the spiral. This balances earth and fire (Mienthe goes down into the earth and Kes up into the sky, matching the location of their elements). Then Tan writes, ‘Amity’ as the new law.

With all this information, we can surmise: magic was going skew-wiff; Linularinum wanted to fix magic by making it what they wanted (AGAIN); and Mienthe and co ensured magic became fairer. Also, as it’s ‘amity’, the abhorrence earth and fire mages have for each other would most likely vanish. So whilst griffins barely had a presence in this book, the plot leads to a monumental rebalancing of nature, having major ramifications in how humans and griffins interact in the future.

 

 

Negatives

There were far fewer problems in this book compared to the other two. (A good position to be in when they had few problems.) Yet most of the problems here are major problems.

Uncle Talenes kept on telling everyone what he’d do with Mienthe’s dad’s estate once she married his son. As Mienthe was the only child of the previous lord and being a daughter, this would follow the custom of a female heir’s husband taking control of the estate (because a wife’s property is legally her husband’s). Yet Bertaud is the new Lord of the Delta (in some systems, women can’t inherit so it goes to the closes male relative). If he’s the lord, the estate would be his, not Mienthe’s, so Talenes wouldn’t be able to control it.

How can what a legist writes be impossible to break? That’s a lot of power. Any legist could write anything and that would be chaos. Would it be a first-come-first-served so someone can’t change a law once it’s been written down? Or could a stronger legist essentially repeal previous legist laws?

 

The smaller problems are largely inconsequential because they might not even be problems. Yet they were still questionable enough for me to raise an eyebrow.

Mienthe calls herself ‘Lady Mienthe’ despite claiming she doesn’t care for titles. This could be her keeping to the rules of high society rather than a character flaw but it does read more as a character flaw.

Earth magic was made dominant to fire magic. Someone writing it down seems a bit flimsy, but writing down a mechanism to explain why would have a stronger foundation. Maybe earth and wild magic was allied so that they were stronger together and that’s what makes fire subordinate?

Mienthe’s abilities are never identified. A little mystery is fine but what was so special about Mienthe that allowed her to do the spirals? Her abilities are central to the plot so they should have been explained. Or at the very least hinted at. Although, scholars are still working to understand normal magic, so maybe not understanding Mienthe’s magic is sensible?

 

 

Positives

This book was brimming with positives.

Walking past the kitchens, she notices Erichstaben and ‘of course he had been in the kitchens.’ That made me laugh.

Tan doesn’t know his father and Mienthe notes, ‘His father must have been careless.’ It’s refreshing to see a man get blamed for an accidental pregnancy instead of the woman. Yes, I could say, ‘It takes two to tango’ but no-one says this when the woman’s being blamed!

The healer Iriene says putting Tan on a horse could have broken his other leg, saying, ‘or neck, which would save me the bother.’ So brutal, I love it!

‘”I can’t believe it, but I believe you.”’ Nice. Sometimes events happen that make no sense but you know the person to be reliable. So you know the event to be true despite it being unbelievable. It’s a state of contradictory ambiguity.

When Kairaithin teleports to Bertaud, it’s described as ‘whispering out of the air’. Beautiful.

 

Mienthe was a fascinating character. Her intelligence was always belittled by her family yet she proves herself to be sharp.

She recognises the subtle skills that make Tan a good spy. She recognises that Kairaithin is afraid of Bertaud when no-one else does.

She even singlehandedly persuades the Casmantium army to march through Feierbriand in order to help kick Linularinum out of the Delta. This is significant because this goes against the Casmantium- Feierbiand treaty, one where compliance ensured by the Casmantium’s first-born being a hostage. To convince someone to do something that could result in your son dying is pretty impressive.

What’s most fascinating is that her intelligence is presented in a completely different way to Tehre, another mighty thinker in the series. Mienthe has a single focus on an issue whereas Tehre has several lines of inquiry in her head open at a time. This leads Tehre to distraction (like admiring cloth in the middle of the king’s council). Mienthe thinks about ‘what is’ whereas Tehre thinks about ‘what if’.

 

 

Conclusion

I love griffins (no surprise there, given the name of my blog!)

So, to see them as an essential part of a trilogy was really exciting for me. Even better, it was done well so I wasn’t disappointed. The author also handles intelligent concepts well, explaining them in simple terms without simplifying the material into inaccuracy.

The story is written from the perspective of humans and how the griffins are affecting their lives. So, whilst griffins sort of get side-lined as the series progresses, the impact and influence of the griffins does not. Special bonus: they spelt ‘griffin’ the way I like best!

To say I want another series to explore the new world order would be an understatement.

 

Critique: Land of Burning Sands (The Griffin Mage Trilogy) (Rachel Neumeier)

This book is set in Casmantium. Following the country’s disastrous attempted invasion of Feierbiand, griffins are now being problematic in Casmantium. Gereint, Tehre and Beguchren attempt to set things right.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

A few plot points need to be mentioned.

            A geas from Perech forces Gereint (a maker) to do as he’s told. Only murderers get geas-bound, though Gereint maintains his was a miscarriage of justice.

Scholars debate how geas can be broken. Gereint proves the distance theory right by escaping his master Perech. Only to be bound again by Eben (who later frees him).

Gereint goes to Tehre. After an altercation with Perech (one which Tehre resolves in the most unexpected way), the cold mage Beguchren geas-binds Gereint and takes him north to the griffin.

 

 

Positives

 

There was much to enjoy. Such as how Gereint being forced to do (or not do) due to the geas and how he thinks and feels about it.

Eventually, Gereint tells Eben that he killed his friend and wife having an affair. This was a shock to me: at no point did I doubt Gereint’s claims of innocence. At no point did he seem like he was deceiving anyone, or that he was withholding information. So this was an unexpected twist!

Eben heals psychological damage. It’s so refreshing to see a medieval setting dealing with the health of the mind.

When Begchuren freezes brigands, he made cold light rise out of the earth and water. This is in direct comparison to griffins using sunlight which is from the air and fire above.

Beguchren saying to Gereint “You know, you used to be afraid of me” had me laughing.

Beguchren thinks makers (like Gereint) can remake themselves into a mage. This was an interesting twist. It proves true but even if it didn’t it was fascinating.

 

Tehre is a fantastic character. Despite her constant state of distraction, she’s detail orientated and very observant.

Tehre meets Bertaud from book one at the palace. She compares language to making, with words being bricks, punctuation being style and syntax being mortar. Tehre, being a maker, uses this to translate her words (and those of other’s) into a different language. I found this very creative.

Bertaud wants to talk and Tehre says, “please, over tea.” So funny!

 

Gereint has a flash of jealousy over Tehre and Bertaud’s friendship.

The mundane explanation is: well, he’s already killed two people due to romantic jealousy. So, being jealous over Tehre and Bertaud fits with his character.

The magical explanation: fascinating. Considering Bertaud has an affinity for griffins and Gerent is a cold mage, the fire-earth antipathy could be strengthening Gereint’s dislike for Bertaud. This isn’t even suggested in the book but a sotry being thought-provoking is always positive.

 

 

Negatives

 

There were a few issues that I wished were ironed out.

The first chapter is forty-two pages long! Not only is this just too long in a general sense but no other chapter in this story (or the series, in fact) matches this length. This shows a lack of consistency.

It took six days to reach Dachsichten. But the same distance on the map between other destinations was one and a half days. If there’s going to be such disparity, then an explanation is required. It could be due to the terrain or weather, or maybe illness or bandits stuck. Whatever. But there was no explanation, which was faulty.

Gereint wants to test if crossing into Feierbiand will break his geas even though Eben broke the geas.

For some reason, Beguchren has Gereint strip before taking a drink that spreads coldness. Either this was required for Gereint to become a cold mage (although no explanation is given) or it was hazing (which is outside Beguchren’s character).

When Tehre’s with Bertaud, she compares language to making. Comparing grammar to mortar would have been a more apt description than to syntax. Also, some bits of punctuation can be style but most of it is hard and fast rules. Punctuation is fore providing clarity, after all.

Despite Gereint being under a geas, Beguchren says Gereint can’t be compelled to remake himself into a mage. What are the mechanisms behind this? Or is this just how it works in order to fit in with the plot? But then Beguchren tries to guilt Gereint into becoming a mage by threatening lives. This is coercion. Coercion is a kind of compelling. If people can’t be compelled into becoming mages, Beguchren compelling Gereint will guilt shouldn’t work.

 

The next three things were at first problems. However, with a little bit of wriggle, they’re okay. Ish.

There’s a discussion of how and why cold magecraft doesn’t work west of Casmantium. Yet we know from book one that cold magecraft does work west of Casmantium. It was mainly scholars pondering the question, clearly happening before this story (because their views were written in books.) But it’s been years since Casmantium’s defeat in Feierbiand, where all cold mages but Beguchren were killed. Surely Gereint had heard of this, so wouldn’t he know already that cold mages could work their cold magecraft across the border?

Gereint walks away from Beguchren and the mage moves the ground to bring Gereint next to the carriage. Gereint wonders why not into the carriage (clearly this is Beguchren giving a Gereint a chance to choose). I just wonder why they didn’t do this teleporting all the way north. But then the king did want Beguchren to deal with brigands if he came across any.

The process of Gereint becoming a mage was unconvincing: touching Beguchren’s blood which then strips away Gereint’s previous magical identity. This isn’t so much a maker remaking himself but a mage imposing himself onto another human. A better explanation with the blood could be Gereint remaking himself in the blood’s image.

 

Grammar and punctuation had a few hiccoughs.

We get ‘that that’. This was unnecessary repetition because the second ‘that’ isn’t performing a different function from the first. If it were, the double ‘that’ would be appropriate.

Gereint and Beguchren go to Eben’s house. Eben says, ‘Emre hates waiting supper.’ Surely that should be ‘waiting for supper?’

Starts sentence with “… true” Capital, please!

 

 

Conclusion

 

There’s a lot less exposition than in book one. This made this book flow much better. Following Tehre’s mind was highly interesting and engaging. The author did a lot of research into topics such as architecture to fully bring Tehre’s intelligence to life. The author did a truly fantastic piece of work.

Critique: Wheel of Time (Series Two)

In this series, the friends are split up after Rand’s (supposed) death. They all do their own thing but invaders come which throws all their tasks out the window.

 

*****SPOILERS***** 

Egwaine is at the Tower learning magic with the Aes Sidai. Nynaeve is there but she won’t channel because she thinks no-one should have access to that kind of power. Perrin is hunting for the Horn that summons dead heroes to fight for the summoner. He doesn’t want it in the hands of the Dark.

Rand is the Dragon, the person who can fight the Dark. As all male channellers go mad, Rand is trying to get the False Dragon to teach him some control. He doesn’t want to hurt is friends which is why he’s gone far away from them.

 

 

Good Things

 

These were things easy to appreciate.

There’s a really lovely analogy about cooperation and togetherness. When you’re by yourself, the shield doesn’t protect all of you. when you’re together, nothing can penetrate the shield wall to hurt any of you.

Rand isn’t in the first episode. Considering he’s the main character, this would ordinarily be problematic. However, all his friends were struggling with the misery his supposed death brought them. The empathy of the audience would have severely curtailed if we saw Rand glaringly alive.

When Rand says he doesn’t know how much time he has left, Selene says something quite profound. “Same as everyone else: not enough.”

Moraine tells Lan he’s not her equal so, as Aes Sidai are unable to lie, Lan sulks. Later, Moraine tells him, “The only reason I could say we were not equals was because you are my better half.”

Moraine casts a fiery, eastern-looking dragon as a banner to announce Rand as the Dragon. Considering there had so far been nothing dragony about the Dragon for two series, this was a good addition. (Though eastern dragons are associated with water and air so a fiery one either showed a lack of knowledge or creative flare. Pun intended.)

 

 

Funny Things

 

This series didn’t disappoint on the funnies!

An Aes Sidai asks a guy to move aside, putting Lan in her line of sight. This made her say, “That’s better.” If this wasn’t chuckle-worthy enough, she asked Lan if wearing trousers whilst training was too hot! The subtle-est unsubtle way I’ve ever heard someone ask to get undressed.

Giving the novices dirty dish water, an Aes Sidai is teachin them how to purify it and says they can’t leave until they drink it. Nynaeve, refusing to channel, just drinks the disgusting water. So stubborn.

Moraine is distancing herself from Lan. This annoys him so when she says she’ll take dinner in her room, Lan tells her to make it herself. Hilarious.

 

 

Invaders

 

The invaders from the west were interesting. They are conquering the world so that the world can stand together in the Final Battle against the Dark.

Their leaders were silent, wore elaborate headdresses, used sharp gestures and had extremely long nails. Egwaine is collared by the invaders and her captor can control Egwaine’s power.

The captor cuts off Egwaine’s hair. Considering hair is the signifier of womanhood in the Two Rivers, this action was especially brutal.

The invaders are from the west, just like America is west of Europe. The landmass the invaders come from stretches from the top of the world to the bottom, just like the Americas do. So the fact that the invaders have American accents to top this off? Great decision making.

 

 

Problems

 

These were disappointing, to say the least.

Perrin is on the hunt for the Horn. But it feels like we’ve been dropped in the middle of the hunt with no real explanation as to why they’re hunting it or why it’s important. The explanation comes later than it should, leaving unnecessary confusion.

To become a full Aes Sidai, Nynaeve has to go through the Arches. These act as a portal and reappear only once. When the Arch reappears for Nynaeve, she takes a long time to talk to her daughter and then casually stroll through the Arch. If they only reappear once and you don’t know how long it stays available, why wouldn’t you make a run for it? Yes, she knows her daughter isn’t ‘real’ so won’t pass through the Arch, but Nynaeve had clearly made the decision to leave.

One time when Ran and Selene shag, the One Power wraps around Rand and she tells him not to be afraid. So he knows that she knows he can channel. Yet later, Rand uses magic to save Selene and she starts a whole drama, acting afraid and asking why he didn’t tell her. But it’s already established that he knows she know!

Rand and Moraine escape from Lanfeer, riding horses down a road. They hide, Lanfeer continues along the road, and they then walk in the opposite direction. Lanfeer gets to where Rand and Moraine’s horses are and she carries on in the same direction. But why would Rand and Moraine get off the horses to then walk in the same direction when that would be slower?

Once Egwaine is collared, she can’t touch anything she considers a weapon and, as such, can’t touch the water jug. Eventually her captor beats her for not being able to pour her water. If Egwaine wanted to attack you before, how is attacking her going to make her want to attack you less?

When Egwaine’s hair is cut short, we then see her with braided her. Yet her braided hair is longer than the length of her hair: considering braids are shorter than free flowing hair, this was problematic.

The leaders of the invaders, to begin with, never spoke in public. As the show progressed, they did start to talk in public. Other than for script and acting reasons, there was no internal reason for the leaders to change behaviour.

At the end, the invaders could see the attack coming for them and yet they stood there and did nothing. When they had many channellers on board that could have at least attempted to save them.

When Rand stabs Ishmael, Ishmael doesn’t defend himself or even run away. He just stood there. Yes, he spent the whole series not being keen on life because of the pain it causes. But because of this he wanted the Wheel destroyed so that no-one would be reborn to suffer again. Letting himself get killed guarantees he’ll suffer more and hence goes against his personality. (Not to mention he’ll be a baby and thus unable to get the Wheel broken any time soon.)

 

 

Questions

 

These four things started out as problems. But then my brain quickly found reasons to justify what happened. The questions (clearly) remained unanswered. Maybe they’ll be discussed in-show at a later date but, for now, I’m left to wonder.

Rand is in love with Egwaine, yet he’s sleeping with his landlady Selene. This seems wildly out of character, yet there are several things to consider. One: Selene says he’s behind with rent so maybe sex is the payment? Two: Rand wouldn’t want to piss off his landlady and risk being made homeless so he might feel obligated to comply. Three: Egwaine can’t be an option if she thinks he’s dead and he probably doesn’t want to be celibate.

If Ishmael wants Rand to break the Wheel, why not put one of the invader’s collars on Rand and then force him to break the Wheel? Although considering male and female magic is different, perhaps the collars can’t work on men? Still, it seemed like the easiest and most obvious solution so it should have been discussed.

Egwaine put a collar on her captor and could control her. Why didn’t the captor control Egwaine, like force Egwaine to stop controlling her? Maybe the pain was too much. Maybe Egwaine was controlling her captor not to control Egwaine. Maybe the more recent collar takes precedence. I’m intrigued as to the reasons why.

The Amalyn looked betrayed when Moraine followed Rand and Lanfeer into the Ways. But surely it’s better for a good Aes Sidai to be with Rand and a Forsaken than to leave Rand alone with a servant of the Dark? Or maybe from the Amalyn’s perspective, it looked like Moraine was in league with Lanfeer. That would be worth feeling betrayed about.

 

 

This series was definitely enjoyable. With all the characters off doing their own things, the plot could have felt disjointed, unconnected. But the invaders coming funnelled the storylines into the same direction. This allowed the lines to stay relevant to each other even though they didn’t actually intersect until the very end.

Critique: Lord of the Changing Wind (The Griffin Mage Trilogy #1) (Rachel Neumeier)

In this book, griffins from Casmantium’s deserts have invaded the Feierbiand town of Minas Ford. Kes, a girl, joins the griffins. Meanwhile Bertaud, advisor to the king, is tasked with fixing the problems the griffins have caused.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

There were so many clever, beautiful descriptions, showing the author has clear talent.

Chiad is as ‘[d]ark as the earth he worked.’ A brilliant description for dark skin without relying on the go-to food comparison.

Referring to griffins, it describes ‘sunlight striking harshly off beaks and talons.’ The sun, beaks and talons can all be described as harsh individually so the metaphor associating them together was a great decision.

Sunlight is described as ‘thick like honey’. A vivid description with instant comprehension. It shows that, for Kes and the griffins, sunlight is a substance which gives the readers an insight into griffins themselves.

Kes summons fire and likens it to a kitten ‘that might scratch but not seriously’. This is a fun, playful image yet shows a serious point that nothing in the griffin’s world is harmless.

 

There were so many clever details.

            My favourite one is a joint prize. The first: Kes draws with charcoal, something made from, and used for, fire. The second: the world ‘rearranging itself’ is the novel’s novel idea for teleportation.

            The king was hearing an appealed case. A Linularinum merchant struck Enned and Enned killed someone in retaliation. The punishment for murder is execution, i.e. taking someone’s life away from them. Linularinum, where the victim is from, likes creative interpretations of the law, so Bertaud suggests taking Enned’s life away from him by forcing his to serve in the army.

Kes and Tesme work with horses. This detail could be a reference to horses being the main food source of griffins in mythology.

It turns out that Jor is a Casmantium spy. In the beginning, he was described in the same way as a Casmantium person. Being a border town, it didn’t strike me as odd that Minas Ford would have physical characteristics of Casmantium, so it would never had occurred to me for Jor to be a Casmantium spy.

 

These are world-building information that are of note. Such as how fire and earth creatures have a strong aversion to one another.

            Griffin society is fascinating. Kairaithin as the lead griffin mage is the Lord of the Changing Wind. The king, who shares his mate with another griffin, is the Lord of Fire and Air.

            Whilst griffins in this series are linked to fire and air, in mythology it’s earth and air. Sand and gems have an earthiness to them, but the fire nature of this series’ griffins accounts for these: sand burns and gems are formed in magma. So tradition is satisfied in a creative manner. Plus, their blood turning into gems means that griffins mimic the process of the planet.

The town Minas Ford is a day’s travel from either Bered or Riamne. Looking at where these are on the map, this means that the countries of Feierbiand, Casmantium and Linularinum are tiny.

Each country has their own set of gifts. Feierbiand has animal affinities, being able to control animals. Makers, who give objects properties such as being stronger, are predominant in Casmantium. Finally, Linularinum has legists, whose contracts are impossible to break. Not everyone can be gifted, though anyone in any country can have any gift. This provides both identity and unity.

Bertaud son of Boudan, Lord of the Delta, has his nature briefly turned to fire in order to heal him. This awoke his griffin affinity. His affinity for fire animals was hidden whilst his nature was of earth.

 

 

Kes

 

Between her actions and her thoughts, I think Kes might be autistic.

            She likes people that don’t talk a lot and who don’t expect her to talk back. Talking isn’t a problem for all autistic people but enough find it difficult enough for it to be used as an indication for autism.

Everyone bar Kes understood ‘without even trying, unspoken codes and rules that only baffled her.’ Indeed, she finds this ‘exhausting and confusing’ which leads to fright. Autistic people often struggle to understand societal rules.

Kes doesn’t ask Tesme how she is because it didn’t occur to Kes to do so. Many would think Kes is uncaring. But Tesme’s wellbeing wasn’t relevant to the conversation/situation. It’s an autistic way of thinking.

True, the problem with talking is also a behaviour exhibited by those with anxiety disorders. But Kes doesn’t strike me as anxious, nor is she described as such. So the talking issues paired with the other two examples points towards autism.

 

There seem to be a few hints that suggest Kes was always griffin-y/fire affinity.

            Being with fire helps Kes feel complete. So she’s been unfulfilled in the land of earth. Due to the fire-earth antagonism, it suggests Kes being griffin-y/fire affinity has always been present.

Someone sees a griffin then draws it. Kes does a better rendition, the ‘eyes filled with fire and beauty’. When Kes has never seen a griffin up close, the general life-like drawing is astounding, let alone the specific details for the eyes. Then when a stranger walks into town, only she sees his griffin-shaped shadow. Kes being griffin-y/fire affinity seems to be the only reasonable explanation how Kes alone could do these.

 

 

Negatives

 

There were some clear mistakes.

Jasand decides to attack the griffins in the afternoon so that the sun is at the humans’ backs. But he also wants to create a killing field between their two companies, meaning one company has to face the sun. So waiting for a specific time of day doesn’t eliminate anyone getting sun in their eyes.

The villagers watch the soldiers leave and then ‘for the first time’ villagers watch them pass. Um, what?

Griffins make sure all the human soldiers are dead, because it would offend the soldier’s courage for them to live after the sand tasted their blood. Yet the griffins don’t make sure their own soldiers are killed once the sand tastes their blood. In fact, they came all the way to Kes in order to get a healer.

Bertaud thinks Kes is a woman, then corrects himself to thinking she’s a girl. After this, he describes her as having a ‘waiflike attractiveness’. He described her as attractive after he acknowledged she was a girl. Now, Bertaud’s so ethical that, not only did he find it abhorrent that he could control griffins against their will, but he was willing to die to protect the griffins. For someone so ethical, finding a child attractive is completely out of character.

The theory to understanding the teleporting is understanding how fire moves through the air. That’s a great description. Yet it goes against the earlier description of rearranging the world.

A mage traps Kairaithin, surprising the griffin. Kairaithin is surprised again when Bertaud frees him. On this second time, Kairaithin notes that he’s ‘for once, been taken by surprise’.

The griffin king follows the direction of the wind. The griffin mages can change that direction (hence Kairaithin is Lord of the Changing Wind). One griffin says he’ll follow Kes’ changed wind and yet on the next page this same griffin says that Kes opposes his plan. If his plan is to follow her, how can there be a disagreement?

Instead of ‘His Majesty’, it was written as ‘his majesty’. Another lack of capitals happened with a sentence that began ‘king of Casmantium’.

A mistake is made when Bertaud says ‘General Jasand is far more experience than I.’ Jasand is the sentence’s subject and Bertaud (represented with ‘I’) is the sentence’s object: the object version of I is ‘me’.

 

 

Questions

 

I have questions. For example, Kes’ memories of her earth-self were fading. It isn’t explained how, but maybe fire is burning the earth from her?

            None of the griffin mages can heal yet Kairaithin knows the theory. This suggests either that some born griffin mages could heal or that the griffins have turned a human into a fire mage before. The book presents Kes as being the first fire human mage, especially considering Kairaithin didn’t know if he could turn Kes to fire. Yet the book also makes out like the griffins haven’t had a healer before. So what’s going on?

Bertaud asks the griffins to stop hunting cattle as a show of good will. Kairaithin says not hunting humans is their sign of good will. Yet when Kes is made of fire, it’s noted that she no longer has hunger of thirst. Then why do griffins hunt? Is it some sort of instinct or hobby?

Kes thinks of Kairaithin’s full name and he tells her not to challenge him. But this doesn’t make sense. Griffins always use their full names (unless they’re close) so full names couldn’t be a challenge in griffin society. Also, Kes needs to know a griffin’s full name in order to heal them (something Kairaithin knows) and healing has the opposite intention to challenging.

Kes talks a lot with Bertaud. This seems completely out of character. But maybe she’s glad to see a human after spending time with the griffins? The difference in thought processes between the two species is clearly apparent and maybe Kes was glad that she could have, to her, a ‘normal’ conversation? With the way it’s written, I’m on the fence between ‘out of character’ and ‘glad to see a human’.

Quite a few of the names are many syllables long and can have long strings of vowels. The author is clearly inspired by her own last name. But as long names or vowel strings aren’t common in English, it can make following these characters/places more difficult.

 

 

Conclusion

 

This was a fascinating read. To have griffins, my favourite mythical being, as the focus of a whole book was simply delightful. The author did a great job into presenting the griffins as having a different culture. At no point was I bored because the plot or world-building kept it a satisfying read.

Why Equating Fiction with ‘Lies’ is Illogical

A lie is when something that isn’t true is claimed to be true. Presenting something as the whole truth whilst knowing it’s not so (as in a white lie) can be included in this definition.

 

Fiction doesn’t claim truth: it’s a celebration of the unreal. Fiction inherently and outwardly knows it’s not true. It acknowledges this with the very label of ‘fiction’, something reinforced by the declaration before the story that any resemblance to reality is coincidental. Fiction goes out of its way to deny it’s truthful.

 

If fiction distances itself from being truth, and lies are an attempt to be seen as truth, fiction and lies are opposites and thus cannot be equated as the same thing.

Critique: The Witcher (Series Three)

Considering how long we had to wait between series one and two, I was glad the wait between two and three was shorter. Only by six months, but half a year is a lot of time.

Yes, I know he’s called Jaskier in the show but I have to call him Dandelion like he is in the book. He’s a dandy after all and I can’t resist a good pun!

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

 

Positives

 

As always, there were loads of goods things in this series. (The funnies get their own section). A fair few of these were wow moments.

            A naked mole rat-armadillo thing charged Ciri. She jumped to grab a pole then turned in the air as she lands. Stunning to watch.

A messenger was riding a horse and his neck was slit with an arrow, only going as deep into the flesh as it needed to, before the arrow flew into the woods. That precision would usually require a close-range dagger. Impressive skills.

Ciri’s voice broke whilst she sang. Either they planned for her voice to break or it happened and they decided to keep it. Either way, it shows authenticity because people’s voices do suffer when they’re stressed or dehydrated like Ciri was.

The fight scene between the ‘bounty hunters’ (I guess) and ‘the Rats’ in the final episode was epic. They synchronised well despite doing their own thing, even when this was squabbling amongst themselves!

 

The animation didn’t disappoint. I particularly liked that the title during the intro slides were textured like bark.

In the intros, The Witcher’s under the episode’s unique symbol. In the final episode, the symbol broke apart like a swarm of beetles, disappeared, and then ‘The Witcher’ was emblazoned on the screen in a large font. That added some flair and drama to the finale.

The blood from the very first fight scene was animated so well. It didn’t do the typical squirting motion but rather poured out; the slomo helped us see the whirls and waves of the blood.

 

The aesthetics were transcendent.

Phillipa, the mage of Redania, had a staggering variety and complexity and hairstyles throughout. It was her hair for the funeral that was most impression. Ingenius, actually: her hair was braided in front of her face like a veil.

Vilgefortz’s staff was brilliant. The way he teleported it as he fought to be a surprise defence of attack was really creative. The structure of it, being angled instead of curved like staffs usually are and having that twist at the top, was aesthetically pleasing.

The dryad’s foreheads upturned to look like peals of bark, with twigs and leaves growing with the air. Considering dryads are the nymphs of oak trees, having a tree-aesthetic was a smart choice.

 

 

Negatives

 

With some things, I wonder how the survived editing.

Geralt breaks the wrists of the fire mage as he runs back through the portal. He could have killed the fire mage on the run past by holding out his sword. We know Geralt’s precision and aim are excellent so it was well within his capabilities. Considering the fire mage is out hunting Ciri, surely Geralt would get rid of the threat once and for all? He’s killed for things he cares far less about than he cares for Ciri.

Geralt uses magic to get rid of the Wild Hunt. Ciri sees a piece of the Wild Hunt’s armour and whispers, “They were real?” How could Geralt have saved Ciri from the Wild Hunt if the Wild Hunt weren’t real? Unless battle magic (what Geralt clearly used) can banish illusions? This isn’t outside the realms of possibility but it doesn’t quit fit the pattern of magic The Witcher has demonstrated before.

When Geralt refuses to hand over Ciri to the Redania spymaster, the spymaster calls Geralt a, “Fucking prick.” Geralt wasn’t rude and the spymaster knew how important Ciri was to Geralt. So calling Geralt a fucking prick was bizarre.

Vilgefortz should have killed Geralt. Due to his intellect, he’d know Geralt would cause trouble for his plans and come after his for payback. So leaving Geralt alive, however barely, was stupid. Far too stupid for a clever character. He even says they’ll meet again so he wants Geralt to survive. It’s arrogance that will lead to his fall and he should see that.

Cahir, on foot, went to stop some horse riders from getting to Ciri. The horses could have easily galloped around Cahir: between their speed and the available space, Cahir wasn’t any sort of obstacle.

 

Yen said there was no time to argue but then insisted in burying the novices.

Even with portals, the transport and then burial would take much more time than an argument. So this didn’t give the best impression of her intelligence.

Maybe Yen should have something like, “We don’t have time to argue if we want to give these girls the burials they deserve.” That would eliminate the contradiction whilst also stopping the fight.

 

There was too much of Ciri wandering in the desert.

It went on and on and, yes, I know that’s the point. But even shaving a few minutes off this time would have given the impression of the forever concept whilst removing the tediousness.

A better solution would be slipping some alternate perspectives into the desert scenes. It would break up the desert scenes, making them more palatable for the audience; also, the start-to-finish of the desert scenes would be longer than them all in one piece, adding to the sensation of the forever-wandering concept. A win-win. The perfect solution would be Dandelion’s dryad scene split into three: singing to the dryads; walking through the dryad camp and seeing Dandelion look at horror at Geralt; and finally the final bit of the episode.

 

 

Funny

 

Two miscellaneous funny bits.

Between her white shirt and her brown, lumpy jerkin, Ciri is dressed like Shrek. I know it’s basic medieval attire but it was making me giggle every time I saw it.

The fire mage threatens to hurt the cat unless the owners tell him what he wants. The owners beg, “Not the cat,” clearly expecting their cooperation to keep them all safe. The next moment, the building is on fire and the mage walks out holding the unharmed cat. So he did as he was asked. Just creatively.

 

There were a few throw-away lines that caught my fancy.

For example, “You knobless dickhead” is the greatest insult of all time. Also, Wilberforce (Tissaia’s Vilgefortzriend) said, “Give Yen a few hours to piss everyone off.”

The soldiers threw (what they thought to be) a corpse into a ditch and said, “Rest in peace, motherfucker.” I want that on every gravestone!

A mage worries if the novices have hurt themselves. Tissaia’s response? “Then we need to get less clumsy novices.

In the first episode, Geralt gives people gold as, “Payment for your discretion.” The only one he doesn’t do that with is the dwarf who wanders of and says, “And I expect payment for my discretion.”

 

Yet it was Dandelion who held the glory of humour. Saying, “I’m right? Well that’s deeply worrying,” for example, was smile-worthy.

In a fight scene, we see an arrow land on Dandelion who screams in mortal agony. Only for the audience to see it was his lute that was hit.

When Dandelion’s girlfriend found out he cheated, his excuse was, “It was one time… with many different people.”

Dandelion had an analogy whereby, “When you’re a hammer, you see every problem as a nail and you’re like, fuck this nail.” This line by itself was brilliant. But then the analogy became, “when the problem is porridge, you need a spoon.” Clever. But then the analogy became too messy and seeing Dandelion’s look of despair was priceless.

Dandelion and the prince start snogging. Dandelion says he can’t bring the prince inside (i.e. ‘take’ as in bring him inside because Ciri’s there.) The prince responds by saying, “So take me here” (i.e. ‘take’ as in have sex). Clever wordplay.

One of the dryad’s asylum seekers tells Dandelion that he’s not Geralt’s friend, he’s just staying to make a song about Geralt dying. In the most serious voice I’ve ever heard him speak with, Dandelion says, “How dare you?” before cheerfully saying, “I’d milk it for, like, three songs. And an epic poem.” The switch in tone was perfection.

When a millipede’s about to be crushed for an elixir, Dandelion looks at it with puppy dog eyes and says, “Sorry buddy,” in the tine you’d use to tell your dog play time’s over

 

 

Things I’ve Noticed

 

The wyvern was correct, having two hind legs and having wings where the front legs would be. But then it has stubs over its shoulder blades (where a dragon’s wings would be attached) and they looked like featherless chicken wings. So, do wyverns have two sets of wings in the Witcher World?

 

There was a karkadann on one of the title screens.

The fact that the horn was upturned like a rhino’s horn and that the episode was in the desert were giveaways. Plus, the footprints in the sand were those of a rhino. So that was great attention to detail.

But then the unicorn showed up with regular horse hooves, making the rhino footprints pointless. The horn on the unicorn’s head, whilst upturned, was miniscule in proportion with the rest of it. Maybe this was to do with animal welfare reasons but it was ridiculously tiny.

 

There were two things that were strange. Not enough to be mistakes but off-putting nonetheless.

The elf-hating mage, ended up saving the other mages when the elves attacked Aretuza. So racism saved the day. That’s unsettling.

Let’s go back to the scene where the mages argue before Yen reminds them the girls need to be buried. All the mages seemed to be wearing the same shade of bronzer placed on the same part of the face. It was identical and a little unnerving because the mages never do anything to conform in appearance. Considering Phillipa had bronzer like this too when she wasn’t even part of Aretuza anymore was even more bizarre.

 

Major changes in major characters is always worthy of note.

Geralt’s smiling a lot more now. Admittedly he has the love of Yen and Ciri so he has plenty to smile about. It’s such a natural progression that him no longer scowling at everything isn’t an unbelievable change in character. Not to mention his hair looks grey rather than the white it started out as.

Dandelion’s clothes are really rather boring. The more serious his character has become over the series, the more serious his clothes have become. There’s not much variety and it’s not in our face like it was in series one. I miss that.

 

 

Conclusion

 

The quality of Series Three was intense. Its quality matched the time we had to wait for it.

It was about keeping Ciri safe whilst trying to maintain neutrality. By picking a side, it would make them enemies of the other side, so by picking neither side, neither side could become their enemy. Eventually they realised neutrality wouldn’t keep Ciri safe although I’m not entirely sure which side they’ve picked.

Having Tissaia kill herself was heartbreaking because she was one of my favourites. She felt like she failed everyone because Aretuza was in ruins, the number of mages was seriously depleted and they failed to stop the war.

            I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next!