Kevin's Watch

I am re-reading Mordants need for the 9th time I've worked out today and I am amazed how,even now,i see things I never noticed before!Like when Terisa asks Artagel to call her Terisa and he says that if were to do that he might just forget that Geraden is his brother.....I always thought Artagel was fond of Terisa but didn't look at her "that way" but that implies he could be attracted to her.....can't believe I missed that!Has anyone else suddenly had a revelation that they missed before!........Oh and "Hi" I am new although been looking at the forum for ages and first read MN 16 years ago....ooooo I feel old!

9 times, wow! I'm currently rereading it. I thought it was only my 2nd time, but it's so damn familiar (after 20 years), that I think it must be at least the 3rd. I'm having fun with it, even though I got side-tracked with the Guardians of the Flame reread.

The second book isn't as good as the first. While the first 100 or so pages of the 2nd book at great, once Linden goes through the mirror, it drops in quality drastically. The trip through Mordant feels either too fast, or too long. Either Donaldson should have put more effort into it and expanded it, or he should have left it out and just let it happen off-stage. The further away from Terisa the narrative gets, the more the narrative suffers, in my opinion. Once she and Geraden get together, it feels like their story is done and there is nothing left for them to do, as characters. There is no more growing needed to be done. Their story feels like it's over. I know there's still a battle to fight, and we finally get to see their talents in action. But as far as character development, they're done.

I could be wrong. I'm only halfway through the 2nd book. I hope I'm wrong.

Malik23 wrote:...While the first 100 or so pages of the 2nd book at great, once Linden goes through the mirror...

Wow! I never even noticed that Linden was in Mordant's Need...

Seriously, though, I don't think Terisa and Linden are that similar. I love them each for their own reasons.

But I definitely noticed the Artegel thing the first time through...

Ha, ha. My bad.

I don't think Linden and Terisa are all that similar. Sure, they have both suffer from "paralysis," a couple times. But other than that, they are very different. I like Linden. Terisa seems like a little girl.

I agree about the trip through Mordant...would have liked to have more detail. A lot of things I would have liked more detail on in fact. The world seems a little roughly sketched in compared to the Land.

But I think I prefer the 2nd book to the first.

--A

Sorry to be like this again, in a different MN thread, but I skipped right over the other posts because I don't want any spoilers. You will understand why in a moment.

I have read MN at LEAST two times before, and I am 95% sure that I have read it at least three times before this reading. That being said, I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT!!!

This has never, ever happened to me before with any book that I have re-read. Now, I am not saying that there are a lot of details I don't remember. I am saying that I have NO CLUE what is happening next. Pretty much the only thing I know for sure is what happens at the end between Terisa and Eremis

Spoiler

(who I am pretty sure is *****, but I am not even 100% about THAT)

.

This has never happened to me with a book that I have read only ONCE before, let alone three times. I am confused and shocked and bewildered and weirded out.

And, believe me, this is not because of lack of interest or enjoyment or anything like that from previous reads. I have loved these books every time I have read them.

I have no idea why I have no recollection of the story line. This is absolute insanity.

The only reasoning I can come up with is this: the last time I read MN I was 19, and I read it all in one day, and it was about one week before I tried meth for the first time.

I distinctly remember feeling like my mind was completely, almost instantly, re-wired during that first use. Fundamentally re-wired. It is an impression that I had while high on the drug that first time, an impression I had during short-term recollection of the use, and even now looking back. Of course, it was about 6 or 9 months later that I had a serious addiction problem. I fought with the addiction hard, so it was an on again off again thing for a couple of years or so.

Anyway, the point is that meth changes people. Changes the way they see things, the way they think about things, and even the basic ways in which the brain works. At least that is true of me, anyway.

So, like I said, ten years ago I read the whole damn thing in one day, which is almost unheard of for me. And a week later fried my brain with meth.

There is that, which is probably enough in itself to screw up my memory of the story.

The other thing is that I remember having a dream about being in that universe once. I don't remember any specifics of the dream, but thinking back, I get the feeling that I had recurring dreams about the MN universe. I think I have spent a lot of time walking the secret passages of Orison looking for something.

Okay, yeah, I am certifiably insane. But my brain is totally screwed up where MN is concerned for some reason.

Final thoughts: I love this book. Pretty sure it has shot straight to the very top of the list. I can't put the book down. I feel so extremely blessed to experience MN all over again almost as if it never happened to me before.

p.s.-I have not used meth for about 7 years or so. I hate it so bad, that I never have to worry about using it again. Most recovering meth heads can't resist if it is put in front of them. Not me. Put it in front of me, and I will start raging like an insane Castellan. I can't quit drinking alcohol permanently. I can refrain from marajuana use for years at a time, but if it is in front of me, sometimes I cave. Caffeine hahahahah I will never ever give up caffeine but I can make myself do without for a few weeks at a time. But I will never ever use meth again. It may be the only thing in the world that I truly truly deep in my heart hate. But that is another story...if anyone cares to hear about my meth experience, feel free to point me in the right direction toward the meth thread.

Avatar wrote:A lot of things I would have liked more detail on in fact. The world seems a little roughly sketched in compared to the Land.

What's the place called in Domne where Geraden used to go? I think he hides out there at some point during he story... is it called the Fist? Check this picture out... pretend the small town at the bottom is Domne.

Mordant is actually in Colorado

OOOH, you are close but there is only one tiny cabin set away from the landscape of the closed fist.

Let us all use spoiler tags so that SG doesn't get spoilers.

Spoiler

My most recent re-read of MN, one thing that stood out more so than before was the genuine love that Ribuld had for Argus. I felt it and loved him for it when seeing his love for the Tor, but with Argus it just seemed so much more poignant this last time.

Yea, I know the "town" of Domne isn't located there... just happened on this picture the other day

SG: Good to hear you have beaten the meth. It´s a nasty substance!

Even though I have never done drugs I can still relate to your experience with the book. When I first got it I read it 2 times right after another and then put it down for a couple of years. Still remembering a few specifics from the book I felt the erge to read it again. And emagine my suprise when it wasn´t at all how I remembered it... I was confused and bevildered, becourse it just didn´t seem right. But I fell in love with the story all over again becourse of it.

You said you had a dream... When I was a young, young girl at about 12 years of age I had a dream, where a man came through a mansized mirror and took me to other realms through that mirror and others. It was so vivid that it never really left my conciousness and I always thought that it would be perfect for a story, if you could write it. (witch I can´t... )

App. 10 years later I was prowling a bookstore for something worth wile reading. I found SRD´s book MN as a combined work. The length of the book, an the few lines at the back, that didn´t say much, was all I had to go on. So when I started reading more and more, I couldn´t believe it. This was the book! This was the book, that I had dreamt...

I have had other vivid dreams - but never one that has been tranferred into a book before...

When I read the books I didn't know all of the words in it. Problem was I made assumptions and when I opened a dictionary and checked what they meant it really clashed with my picture of these worsd.

I'm talking about the descriptions of the clothings the Congery's Imagers wear. They have Cloaks and Robes and Cassocks and Jerkins and their symbol of office: the yellow Chasubles.

Chasuble I assumed was a kind of scarf, because Eremis kept twirling it. But apparently these are all clothings of clergy. I never considered the Imagers to be priests or the congery to be the state Church. They seemed more like scholars in a middle-ages University. They were never very concerned with the souls of the populace or their beliefs.

I'm actually going through my second reading of it now. I read it when it originally came out (well, originally came out in paperback, that is - I wasn't buying the hardbacks then). I was strongly comparing it with Covenant and was very disappointed through the first book, and started to really enjoy it by the end. I'd have to say that the Gap series is about the only series by him that didn't start out disappointing me at the beginning only to get me especially excited by the end.
Now in my only reread of this series, it is much more well put together than I initially thought, as I had expected. About the only thing I remembered about the books is mirrors as a portal, the goofy bumbly guy who is something of a hero, the main character lady, and the sneering villian who keeps trying to rape the main character lady. So yeah, I'm glad I reread it. I still have about 150 pages to go. Then I can start the new Covenant book.

I think the place Geraden goes to in Domne is called the Closed Fist. (edit: oh dam Jenn just said that, but she didn't capitalize it--that's why I missed it ) have to disagree with Zarathustra, I thought the writing quality got much better in the second book, the Chapter "A Place of Death" is one of the best passages I've ever read--but I can see how the quick trip that G & T take could throw you off a bit--it's hard to get a map of Mordant straight in your head, but the map I developed (though still inadequate) has helped me visualize things much better.- it is kinda hard to read...I swear I'll re-do it one of these days---Map of Mordant

There's a thread here somewhere were we discuss who the hottest women are in SRD'd works.
And I THINK the question was asked to the Man himself who replied that he considers Terisa the hottest.
Linden second I think.

I'm fond of the Lady Alif myself....

Well, ol' Morn was pretty hot in her own way--as is Ginny Fastouli--but every one knows it was the 'Woman Who Loved Pigs' (if you don't know the last two you need to read 'The Man Who...' books and Reave the Just-actually I'm pretty sweet on The First-guess I like big women )

Well, as much as i love this book, i will have to agree with people here. Certain parts were frustrating, like the travelling through the cares and how soon Geraden and Terisa came into themselves. More could have been done there in my opinion, things happened too suddenly. But all in all..... damn good book.

And about SRD's hottest female characters..... i've always had a soft spot for the Mahdoubt

Or maybe Myste. Girl next door type. In my mind anyway

Also love them. But there could have been an extra book in the middle there. Would have liked more detail on the various Cares, and especially on Alend and Caldwell. (And Gart of course.)

--A

shadowbinding shoe wrote:Chasuble I assumed was a kind of scarf, because Eremis kept twirling it.

This is one of the few places SRD's penchant for large words failed him. Though it is a misunderstanding shared by a lot of people. There is a scarf-like garment, that has ends which could be suitible for twirling, but it is simply called a Stole (like a mink).

The Chasuble is the large (torso-sized) outer covering used during ceremonies. Since I actually already knew that, I always found it a little jarring whenever I read it.