Okay - I'm chiming in. Not because I feel like I have to defend the book, but because I'm one of the (silent?) ones who really liked it. "Warts and all."
I don't understand the whole controversy about She. The character has been around since the beginning of Runes. We just didn't know that She was the thing powering Kevin's Dirt. And She had her beginnings with Minnie Mouserdinnderin (lazy - dont' want to look up the right spelling *grin*). Bringing Minnie back as a pissed-off god-like thing isn't that different than bringing back the Sandgorgons as bad guys. Or, let me put this more delicately, putting the Haruchai on the side of good that's not. He needs things to move along in a specific direction and set the stage for The End. And he doesn't have the pages to spare to present anything that's not important to the story he's trying to tell. Couldn't he just have Kastenessen drawing the power for Kevin's Dirt from somewhere else? No. I'm not sure WHY the answer is "no," but I am sure that She will have some vital part to play in The Last Dark. Elena wasn't eaten for nothing. Covenant wanted a distraction while he tried to convince Esmer to let them escape. The Dead answered, assessed the situation, and chose to do what they did. It wasn't like they just chose the nearest spirit that wasn't them and tossed it in.
The name ... is just a name. What else would you call her? Nameless One? She HAS a name. The point is that She can't hear it, or realize what it is, or something along those lines. I see this more like Jasmine from Angel. She had them pick a name for her because speaking her real name aloud broke her glamour. Hey - he needed a ring for the story, so he took it. He needed a title for a bad guy, so he took it (and, no, I don't think he had read any of the Harry Potter books before creating She - I'd bet he cursed a bit when he learned Voldemort's title, but HE needed that title, too, so he kept it). But the similarities stop there. Everyone loves Kevin so much, but they don't mind that there's someone called "Kevin" in the Land? (although I'm sure there's a whole thread dedicated to just that somewhere on the board *grin*) And until Linden came along, the only other "real Earth" character is "Hile Troy?" I had a childhood friend with the *first* name Troy, and knew family with the *last* name Hile, but the other way around sounds more Land-like than real-Earth-like. Hey - my favorite character of all is Bloodguard Bob, and it ain't because of the name. That dude has the 'tude!
Linden IS super whiney this book. But do you think that wasn't planned? The Staff's fire has turned black. That isn't becuase she's winning any personality contests.
This, too, is going somewhere. I personally much prefer the chapters that are in Covenant's perspective. But remember how whiney HE started out? My God - he raped a 16 year-old girl! What an @$$hole! Who would want to read past that paragraph?! But I think when this is thrown on the table by someone who is reading the book for the first time, most (damn close to ALL?) of us here would be quick to - not defend - but to explain why that act took place and why it was so important to the rest of the story. SRD's been beating on Linden pretty badly for quite a while now. I see it as her being forged. And although she has help, she doesn't have the support from Covenant that she's been craving all along. She *should* be whining more - she's getting beat on more, and all of her decisions have come to rot, and it's just getting worse. When she was a doctor, it was more in her nature to let things roll of her back so she could focus on the job at hand. That person is long gone.
Battlestar Galactica spoiler:
Who here didn't like Ellen better when she died and came back as a cylon? *grin*
What else? Oh, yeah. Fist - READ THE DAMN BOOK ALREADY!
And then the ravens pecked out his eyes.
