(no subject)

[skygiants]

I got sidetracked from my quest to read all the way through the Cadfael series for a while, but now I am back on the bandwagon! Last week I read Dead Man's Ransom and The Pilgrim of Hate, which puts me ten books through the series and I think almost halfway done.

Dead Man's Ransom is the one where there's a very dramatic love square focusing on three Welsh kids and the daughter of the sheriff who's being traded for one of the Welsh kids for ransom, but, MORE IMPORTANTLY, it is the one where Sister Avice/Magdalena reappears, who is AWESOME. Avice used to be a wealthy man's mistress, and when that was over she was like "okay, better find a new career! I'm going to go be awesome in a convent now." Examples of particular awesome include:

CADFAEL: "Magdalena?" That sounds . . . weirdly penitent for you.
AVICE/MAGDALENA: Oh, well, all the other nuns were so excited about getting to reform a sinner, I just didn't have the heart to contradict them.

HUGH BERINGAR: I will ride home with you just to make sure you get there all right!
AVICE/MAGDALENA: WHY THANK YOU, Hot Sheriff. >:D I might be a holy sister now, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy looking.

AVICE/MAGDALENA: Well, I'm coming to see you because we had some problems with a band of raiders. . .
CADFAEL AND HUGH BERINGAR: Oh my gosh are you and your nuns okay???
AVICE/MAGDALENA: Oh, it was fine, I organized the nuns and foresters to make booby traps and sent them packing. Uh, the reason I'm here is because we actually captured a prisoner and we figured we should pass him along? :D?

In short: Avice is awesome and I hope she shows up more in later books!

Pilgrim of Hate, meanwhile, is The One With Continuity, where Cadfael is like "hey remember all that stuff that happened in the first book in the series? Yeah, I remember it too! Also remember that [spoiler] of mine? YEAH I REMEMBER HIM TOO. - oh I guess here is some plot. And also, a miracle. Enjoy!" I like continuity, so I have no objection to this.

Anyway, as I read through, the main thing that I have been noticing is how ridiculously dedicated to matchmaking Cadfael is. Half the time he solves the mystery pretty much solely because he is invested in Those Crazy Kids Getting Together! Which is great and all, and certainly fun to read about, but it makes me kind of glad I don't know him in real life.

(BECCA: *has mildly friendly interaction with young man of appropriate age*
CADFAEL: OH HO, I SMELL ROMANCE IN THE OFFING!
BECCA: But - I'm not really sure that -
CADFAEL: Oh I see, you're worried about the fact that he's under suspicion of murder! Don't worry, I will fix that for you.
BECCA: No, in fact my actual objection is that I met him four days ago.)

I mean, can you imagine Cadfael let loose in, say, Revolutionary Girl Utena? He'd witness one scene of Touga hitting on Utena, and he'd have Utena/Touga, Anthy/Miki, Juri/Ruka, and Nanami/Saionji all married off before anyone even had time to say "Wait, I'm a lesbian!"

Comments

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

If you don't feel like making any, sorceresses has some good ones.

[skygiants]

Oh, thank you for the rec! (Part of me wants to make some, but the problem is that I know there is a remastered version out in Japan that I do not have access to, which means I know that if I ever load the screencaps I have into Photoshop I will just spend the whole time weeping for what-might-have-been.)

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, the remasters -- while really pretty -- don't fix the terrible animation (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OffModel) in some of the later episodes. Shrunk down (and maybe brightened a bit, in the older version's case) there's really not much difference.