(no subject)

[skygiants]

I think I've mentioned before that I have this problem with Patricia McKillip books where they fade completely out of my head about a month after I've read them. This problem is especially pronounced for the Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy, which were the first McKillip books I ever read. I thought I had at least vague memories of them, and then I visited rymenhild last year during Yuletide Madness, and she kept trying to bounce Riddle-Master fic ideas off of me and I was like ". . . who's Deth? Who's Raederle? I'm - I'm pretty sure there were riddles in there somewhere . . ." So finally I got Riddle of Stars, the one-volume trilogy compilation, out of the library to refresh my memory. Because having a one-volume trilogy compilation means I can count it all as one book for my reading quotas. >.> (Sidenote: I love terrible 1970's fantasy-novel covers so much. *_* Look at this fabulousness! The pants! The creepy alien children! THE PANTS!)

The Riddle-Master of Hed, the first book in the trilogy, is actually my favorite of the three - it has the best blend of the dreamlike/fantastical and the mundane that is one of the things I love in McKillip. Morgon is the Prince of Hed, a tiny island known for hard-headed farmers and very little else. His duties mostly include organizing shipments of wheat and fixing the roofs of his pig-herders, which is why everyone is a bit startled to find out that he won an ancient crown in a riddle-contest with a ghost and is keeping it under his bed until he can figure out what to do with it. Morgon is eventually dragged on a journey to claim his Preordained Destiny, complaining all the way about how he really has to get back for the potato harvest and is not interested in magic harps or magic prophecies or magic swords (especially not magic swords.)

Heir of Sea and Fire I like almost as much as Riddle-Master. The premise is kind of awesome: Raederle, the princess whose hand Morgon is entitled to claim (thanks to winning the riddle-contest) is sick and tired of waiting around for him to come back from his quest. So she picks herself up and goes looking with him, along with Lyra, the warrior princess of a neighboring kingdom, and Tristan, Morgon's cranky and determined younger sister. Three princesses questing after a missing prince! How is this not awesome? Along the way, Raederle figures out she has mysterious powers heritage etc. of her own.

Harpist in the Wind, the conclusion, I actually did not like as much - not to say it is not a strong and epic conclusion, because it is, but pretty much the whole book was one epic dreamlike battle sequence/chase sequence after another without the grounding bits of sanity I liked so much from Riddle-Master. I had a hard time keeping track of what was going on some of the time, although that may partly have been because I was zonked out while I read it. The complicated multilayered secret identities did not help.

We'll see how long it takes me to forget the entire plot this time around!

Comments

[spence-reid.livejournal.com]

The pants! The creepy alien children! THE PANTS!
Those are some pants...*shudders* : )

[skygiants]

EVERY HERO NEEDS A PAIR JUST LIKE THEM.

[spence-reid.livejournal.com]

Definitely.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

My feeling is that I like the crazy dreamlike bits best... because I enjoy trying to figure out what happened.

You know, Wait, was Morgon just a tree for ten months while Raederle, offstage, combed the entire realm looking for him? Yes, yes, I think he was.

Or, even better, Ah. Silence. Of course he wasn't going to answer that question. Followed by, two pages later, What? WHAT? WHO? When did-- ... you mean the silence was the answer?

[skygiants]

I like the crazy dreamlike bits too! I just like them best when they are occasionally tempered by Morgon going "look, I know that turning into a deer would be useful, but I am not sure I can deal with my family's level of reasonable WTF." *laughing* I think the problem for me is that by book three, Morgon and Raederle (and, uh, Deth, though DETH IS A SPECIAL CASE) are all so acclimated to the crazy dreamlike nature of what's going on that they just go with it and launch straight from "now I'm a tree for ten months!" to "now I'm a crow playing dominance games!" and I am like "WAIT GIVE ME A CHANCE TO CATCH MY BREATH!

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Also, by Harpist all of the main characters are seriously overpowered. I mean, Morgon and Raederle aren't overpowered in comparison to their opponents, but they're well past the point of 'human', and human concerns don't matter to them as much as they used to.

That's, I think, a necessary part of Morgon and Raederle's narrative arc, because (ROT13 (http://edoceo.com/utilitas/rot13): gurl'er rssrpgviryl orpbzvat tbqf gb ercynpr gur Uvtu Bar), but it still cuts out a good deal of the hilarious family drama.

[skygiants]

That is exactly it. It's not a problem with the book, per se, it's just that it shifts away from my particular narrative kinks into something very different. I would probably mind it less if we hadn't gotten enough of the more grounded-stuff early on to make me miss it - I liked stubborn ordinary Prince of Hed Morgon, as a character, and I was sad to lose that character when he changed.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I've thought of playing Deth at some RPG or other, but he's actually unplayable outside of his setting. Everything he is (and this is true for most of the Riddlemaster characters) depends on the realm he lives in.

But he is exactly my type of character! Quiet, competent, mysterious and full of manpain!

[skygiants]

*cracks up* This is so true. And if anyone can play him, you could! But, uh, I see the dilemma. (The only ones I can really see being able to be played outside of that setting are Rood, Astrin precanon, and maaaaybe Lyra or Tristan.


Although whatsisface the wolf-king would be awesome.)

[jothra]

If there was actually a wolf king named 'Whatsisface', I would play him.

[skygiants]

Yes. You would. And it would, in fact, be awesome. >:D

[cursor-mundi.livejournal.com]

Pants? Those aren't pants, those are a spray-on tan! *bleaches brain*

[skygiants]

A BRIGHT PURPLE spray-on tan! *_*

[cursor-mundi.livejournal.com]

THAT IS PURPLE?! (LOL, it looks brownish to me...)

WHATEVER. EITHER WAY, IT IS HIDEOUS!