Bought Mirror, Threw it away!

[Baradakas]

Sorry, folks. The premise was cool, the characters (except the main one) interesting, the mystery great. I just couldn't get into this BOOK!!!
I think my central problem was I just despised Terisa. Empty character, blank slate, etc. etc. Getting into the other characters became difficult as a result. (they all had to interact with the simpering moron) I tried, but this was the first (and last) novel by SRD I had to put down. Anyone else dislike this book?


Otherwise, I LOVE the works of SRD. I mean it.


-B

[duchess of malfi]

Its too bad you didn't stick with it...because everything blows wide open and gets exciting in the second book...the first book is the set-up book where you get to know the background of the characters and of Mordant --and then Donaldson goes to town in the second book of the series...

[Ryzel]

I agree with you there duchess. The second book is one of the most easily read books Donaldson has written. A lot of things happening and action.

I also think that the first book was a little slow at times, but it was worth it.

[Revan]

I was told that the books are kind of crap... That SRD is not in his element while writing these.

[dANdeLION]

While I may listen to the opinions of others, I still will at least try to read anything by an author I know I love. As it so happens, I probably enjoy the Mordant books more than TCOTC, and definitely prefer them over the Gap stuff. But, I read them all and formed my own opinions.

[danlo]

I do suggest that you do not listen to hearsay-that you read, or at least attempt to, read the books 1st and then offer your own informed opinion.

[duchess of malfi]

Indeed. And if anyone does get discouraged by the sometimes slow pace of Mirror of her Dreams, please be aware that the second book is VERY hard to put down.

[dANdeLION]

Slow pace? Almost anything is faster than walking with Covenant to pay his electric bill; especially when you know what's coming!

[Grimm]

Didn't care for this series myself. Too hard to get inside the character's heads. I remember thinking these books were rushed. The concept was good, but could have been refined more. Also, I had a hard time sympathizing with Terisa. Maby if she lived in a trailer in the New Mexican desert, or was driven half mad from her past and living in a shopping cart, but not living in a "luxury condominium building over on Madison, just a few blocks from the park."

[danlo]

Hey! I resemble that remark! I was driven half-mad by my past and lived in a trailer in the NM desert Then I got better!

[Skyweir]

Didn't care for this series myself. Too hard to get inside the character's heads. I remember thinking these books were rushed. The concept was good, but could have been refined more. Also, I had a hard time sympathizing with Terisa. Maby if she lived in a trailer in the New Mexican desert, or was driven half mad from her past and living in a shopping cart, but not living in a "luxury condominium building over on Madison, just a few blocks from the park."

LOL .. that is a novel idea .. but sadly where would the melodrama and invisibility issues emerge from??

the whole point of Teresa's sense of meaninglessness comes from parental neglect and being bought off .. placed in a barbie palace and contained therein

Ok .. being able to escape its total seclusion on outings to "work" ..

The condiminium thing works imo .. cos she is housed like a marble princess in a palace of glass and mirror ..

She is shallow cos she hasnt been granted any opportunity for depth .. and growth ..

its all a bit melodramatic i know .. I actually liked the fairy taleness of MN .. the first book I too concede was much slower and rigid than the 2nd ..

nevetheless .. imo .. it is true to Donaldson

[duchess of malfi]

I would also like to point out that child abuse knows no socioeconomic boundaries. It is not only people who are poor that abuse their children.

The wealth and power belonged to Mr. Morgan, certainly not to Terisa.

[Grimm]

Uh-oh. Before I get a label I don't deserve, I would like to state for the record that in no way did I intend to trivialize the plight of abused and\or poor and\or homeless persons, adult or children. I was just making a light-hearted statement in the tradition of the likes of Howard Stern. Anybody who did get offended by my statement, please piss-off.

Thank-you.

Grimm.

[Grimm]

Back to the point, though, I do remember being pleased with the second book. I know I didn't outright dislike it. Been 15 years or so, maby I should give it another chance now that "I'm all grown up". Making it through Atlas Shurgged taught me patients to continue reading even though I may not like a book at first.

(Sorry, Danlo. Didn't notice you are in NM untill a few minutes ago.)

Grimm.

[danlo]

(newbies! ) Read it again.

[Revan]

Read the books! They're great!

I'll not lie to you... In sheer scope, they cannot match the Chronicles... Or the Gap for that matter... But that doesn't stop them from being excellent books.

[matrixman]

BOUGHT MIRROR, KEPT IT.

I read the books when they first came out all those years ago: what a magical time, still bathing in the afterglow of the conclusion of The Second Chronicles. The Mordant books were pure Donaldson magic to me. The great discussions here have rekindled the fires, and I'm now fully back into the trials and tribulations of Terisa Morgan.

The apathetic and dismissive comments about the books that I see in this thread were just the kinds of things that made it difficult for me to maintain interest over the years. Hard to talk about the books when no one around me gave a damn.

("Hey, lighten up, Matrixman," says annoying off-stage voice, whose owner is about to be lightened up all right...)

[duchess of malfi]

To me, these are the books that are the most "human" in scale that Donaldson has written. They do not deal with galaxy wide issues like the Gap, or the fate of an entire world like the Covenant books. They deal with three small countries...who will not be totally destroyed if the heros fail, though life in them will be very unpleasant...
They deal with rather common life issues like surviving an unhappy childhood, sibling rivalry, misuse of power, learning how to deal with your sexuality...things many people must face in their lives...
I find them very enjoyable as a result. Perhaps they are a fairy tale for adults, as I have often heard them called -- but there is a lot of deepness and truth in them as well.

[Revan]

I agree with you duchess. I loved them also... And plus, Terisa was hot

[duchess of malfi]

Not only that, but I like how good/evil are treated in Mordant. In a lot of fantasy books, the usual state of things is "good". There have been years of peace, then the dark lord rises and the heros have to fight, etc. etc. etc.

In Mordant (and also the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant), Donaldson turns that cliche on its head. In Mordant, until the current generation, history shows the control of the bad guys. Constant war, jockeying for power, magic mirrors filled with horrors unleashed on the peasants, etc. It is only within one lifetime that peace and positive uses for power have begun to be discovered. The heros are fighting for this newly found vision of what the world can be -- and the bad guys are fighting for the return of business as it has been for hundreds of years...