Chapter 1 (***yes, there will be spoilers!!!***)

[Blackhawk]

Thanks everyone, I cant stay (my sig says it all) but the green Veins are supposed to be Veins/deposits of Malachite running through obsidian Rock on the floor of the cave. I wasnt told much about it because the spoiler issue but I am looking forward to finding out as much as the rest of you I removed the artwork from my page until the trailer was released..I will be putting it back up as soon as i get the OK from TPTB

[dlbpharmd]

WTF is Malachite?

OK, so Linden is kneeling, looking over into the darkness, with her hands on either side of her head. The Staff of Law is behind her on the stone of the bridge. What is she looking at? Is she calling out to someone? Has she dropped something? Has she dropped the ring? Is she crying? Does her ass really look that good in jeans?

[Vraith]

Ok, I saw the heading for this, read the first post and skipped to the end cuz I haven't read chapter yet...CUZ...what I really want is to try and get a chapter for dissection when actual book comes out...anyone direct me to where? or is it already decided?

[rdhopeca]

WTF is Malachite?

OK, so Linden is kneeling, looking over into the darkness, with her hands on either side of her head. The Staff of Law is behind her on the stone of the bridge. What is she looking at? Is she calling out to someone? Has she dropped something? Has she dropped the ring? Is she crying? Does her ass really look that good in jeans?

Malachite is a green or blue mineral used as an ore of copper and for making ornamental objects.

[Seareach]

Vraith, if my memory serves me correctly it'll be a while after AATE is released that dlb and danlo will start organizing a dissection. They like to give it some time for a lot of people to read it so, in theory, we get lots of people participating in the dissection.

[Seareach]

Oh and here you go, dlb



Pretty eh!

[Vraith]

Thanks, Seareach.

Oh, and I got my wife an entire necklace of malachite...a string of kinda obelisk-carved ones...it's gorgeous stone.

[Warmark]

Its not from Lindens POV, therefore its the best chapter since TOT.

Cool flashback from TC, Kevin seems like a little bitch though. Berek is going to put him in his place.

Infelice is still poor, only surpassed by Linden who is as annoying as ever.

Its also a great chapter name and has some excellent prose.......

''full of the heavens and time.''

AWESOME.

PS typo?

—hold it, Covenant thought. Holed them all.

[/quote]

[Seareach]

PS typo?

—hold it, Covenant thought. Holed them all.

Not a typo. It's a "slip" in Covenant's mind: the word "holed" refers to the Giant's vessels being sunk which is discussed in that paragraph.

[matrixman]

I was gonna say it was a typo. Glad you stepped in, Sea, to spare me utter humiliation!

Oh, and I got my wife an entire necklace of malachite...a string of kinda obelisk-carved ones...it's gorgeous stone.

Okay, that's either just a freaky coincidence or you're really SRD.

So, in talking to Linden, Covenant says:

“That old man. The beggar. The Creator. He abandoned you before you ever came here. I didn’t want you to think I’d abandoned you too.”

Well, well, straight from the...Timewarden's mouth.
The question remains: why has he abandoned Linden, and by extension his creation?
(Not that he did much before, besides giving cryptic speeches.)

Covenant tried to focus on Galt. But the krill plucked at his attention, luring him with images which had once been as familiar as Time. In shards and slivers, flaws, he caught glimpses of Loric’s prolonged, arduous search for a stone which could be shaped into the gem that formed the nexus of the dagger: a search which had taken him deep under Melenkurion Skyweir, following the Black River inward from Garroting Deep until he found a fragment of crystal made perfect by eons of contact with the Blood of the Earth. Like peering through cracked glass, Covenant saw Loric forge the metal of the krill, striving to emulate white gold. He lacked the raw materials to fashion white gold itself. But from his inherited and acquired lore, he had gleaned a comprehension of alloys: he worked with ores that could be transmuted and commingled until they became strong enough to sustain the pristine possibilities of the gem. If Covenant allowed himself to drift, he would be able to watch as though he stood at Loric’s side while the dour High Lord sweated over his incantations and fires—

Loric was the High Lord I most wanted to know more about, so this golden nugget of information floors me. But he roamed the depths of Melenkurion Skyweir alone? And no assistants helped him forge the krill? All this just reaffirms to me what a badass Loric was.

[Seareach]

I was gonna say it was a typo. Glad you stepped in, Sea, to spare me utter humiliation!

Well, I'm assuming that's what it is (that's how I read it). I could be wrong (believe it or not, I've been known to be wrong before! )

[lucimay]

WTF is Malachite?

OK, so Linden is kneeling, looking over into the darkness, with her hands on either side of her head. The Staff of Law is behind her on the stone of the bridge. What is she looking at? Is she calling out to someone? Has she dropped something? Has she dropped the ring? Is she crying? Does her ass really look that good in jeans?

dude! did you just say that?? and did everybody just ignore it and start talkin about MALachite????

(tennesee that was SUCH an iQuestor comment! )

[Thorhammerhand]

Loved the chapter, looked forward to it since i finished FR the first time, but now regret reading, still 9 months to go and can't get enough.

[Cagliostro]

Well, well, straight from the...Timewarden's mouth.
The question remains: why has he abandoned Linden,

Maybe the damn Creator is a THOOLAH member as well.

[Vader]

[BRAGGING]

This new chapter proves me right.

Moments or lifetimes ago, he had said, Oh, Linden. What have you done?—but not in horror. Rather she had filled him with awe.

kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17104&start=20

"Oh Linden.” His first words to her were a hoarse gasp. “What have you done!”

To me that doesn't sound accusing but rather full of pitifulness. If Covenant really accused her of having messed it all up he wouldn't have started with "Oh Linden" but rather with a "hellfire". Thus to me it looks as if he isn't so much concerned about the consequences Linden's action have on the world's fate but rather is worried about what she has done to herself.

So I conclude from this that she has done the right thing but will have to pay a high price fo it.

[/BRAGGING]

[Vraith]

Grats on the foresight, Vader!
I loved this chapter...I haven't been as disappointed as some with the previous 2 books, but here we see some of the near-poetry language, and the
wrenching of hearts when choices must be made when every option seems disastrous.
And I, too, have always wanted more of Loric.
And I'm sooooo happy that the elohim will be first to fall [assuming that's a true prophecy]
And the Harrow suddenly became a much more interesting character, I think.

Vraith wrote:
Oh, and I got my wife an entire necklace of malachite...a string of kinda obelisk-carved ones...it's gorgeous stone.

Okay, that's either just a freaky coincidence or you're really SRD.

hmmm...I did get it after reading 2nd book...and wedding rings were white gold...but if I am him, where are all my royalty checks going?

[matrixman]

I don't know, Vraith. Have you checked your secret Swiss bank account lately?

And the Harrow suddenly became a much more interesting character, I think.

He's a guy I love to hate. Tried to steal Linden's mind. Then the Mahdoubt lost hers on account of him.
Frankly, I hope the Harrow suffers a thoroughly painful end.


On the last page:

"He can’t hold on. Something inside him is collapsing. I brought him back, but I didn’t do it right. He isn’t whole.
“And he has leprosy.”
To that, Covenant had no answer.

So after millenia of being the most powerful being (next to the Creator), all he gets to come back to is another leprosy-ridden body.
Sometimes it just sucks to be Thomas Covenant.

[amapa]

Hello, folks! New to the watch.
Amused by the contention around Linden. I had been saddened by her loss of self-confidence between WGW and RotE; interesting that TC seems to be proud of her for her reviving him, as I had read it as a form of abdication. But I still root for her, and see the parallel with TC's saving the child at the start of PtP.
I like how SRD left us hanging about Infelice's assertion that TC wanted LA to find another means to contact him than reviving him. But I doubt it, as it would amount to "free" information, which he's been avoiding at all costs. (Not quite free, perhaps, as Infelice says "earn." But I still think it stands.)
Nonetheless, TC's judgement of LA's choice still reads as ambiguous; he's not condemning her, he obviously saw it as a possible and redeemable choice, but as he guilt-trips over having said too much, there seem to be hints that it might not have been the _best_ possible choice. Some of it could just be agonizing about the unavoidable costs, to her and the Earth, but there seems to be more than that.
Oh well, time will tell, if the Timewarden won't.
<bow> to all

[matrixman]

Welcome, amapa! And good post!

I think your assessment of Covenant's attitude toward Linden's choice (to bring him back) is very sound.

[Orlion]

You know, Amapa, I thought we were in some other forum, but we're not...whew! Glad I caught that misconception before talking about being careful with spoilers....that would have been embarrassing.

Welcome to the Watch, and great first post! I believe SRD said in the GI that Covenant wasn't angry when he asked Linden what she did, so that viewpoint has some strong support!

I like how you make the connection between Linden's reviving Covenant and Covenant saving the little girl... very interesting! Everything Linden is doing is for the purpose of saving Jeremiah... sometimes I'm frustrated by this, but maybe this thinking is not necesarily the doom of the Land like Covenant's saving the little girl. As Mhoram side (paraphrasing) " The Land will not be undone by such actions."

Of course, this seems to fly in the face of that