If I was condescending...well...tough. [heh...now that IS condescending
![Big Grin :biggrin:](./images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
Seriously, though, it's difficult. A majority of things people don't like are just the things a did. A few I agree with...didn't work so well. A few things:
I think the Masters are marvelous and well-done, and all because Stave's character shows exactly what they are by becoming what they are not.
I don't think the themes/concepts are sent crashing down on the characters heads, I think they act as people act in extremis [however that's spelled].
For me, this book works in its place just like a painting I saw once: It shows a town from above, with a beautiful orange--y red sunset coloring roofs and environment, just gorgeous...but, in fact there is no orange or red anywhere in the painting except the small sun itself. If you cover up the sun with your thumb, the whole scene becomes a dull, flat, boring, mud-puddle place.
I thought letting the Ranhyn decide was great, and unexpected.
In fact, I liked the whole situation...Imagine it: we have to save the freaking world, and we have NO IDEA what's best to do next!
I thought the building of the cairn was the Giants to perfection.
I thought the assorted deaths were earned, well done, and surprising in the moment, but foreshadowed in hindsight...and a couple give rise [depending on which talking about] both to an immediate "everything's lost, nothing makes sense" as well as of justice/completion/severing right now, and hope/terror/confusion for the future.
It thought the "SHE" chase a little longer than necessary...yet the mood of it nicely done. Has "SHE" EVER hurried? Has "SHE" ever NEEDED too? Who the hell would she expect to be able to get away?
And for Atrium? I think it was?...I did roughly [heh..conceptually?
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)