Re-reading Mordant's Need *Spoilers*

[Cameraman Jenn]

Finished it up tonight. Would have finished it sooner but I was reading on the bus yesterday and reached a point where I had to stop or I would be sobbing and I hate sobbing in public on the bus. It makes me feel so naked. So today I sobbed for about ten pages from 165 of the paperback on, I exalted, I yelled, "Take that you creepy FREAK!" out loud, I loved, I laughed, I took each triumph, each emotion, each act of kindness into me and reveled in the true beauty and poignancy of this story. I was reading part of it at the cafe that Lucimay and I hang out in and I was leaking serious tears and one of the regulars asked me if I was ok and offered me napkins for the tears and to talk if I needed it. It was super sweet. You guys brought up SK, well, his endings are crap. Compared to SRD, SK's endings are grammar school. I may be remembering this wrong but I think SRD once told me that he first imagines part of the journey and then the ending in his ideas and then when he writes the journey unfolds and he eventually goes back to the beginning when he writes. Whatever his method It's worth it. I left the story feeling so fulfilled emotionally and intellectually it was amazing. SRD may be wordy and hard to get into but once you do he gets emotion across like so many writers wish they could.

[Avatar]

You finished? Go answer the trivia question then.

--A

[matrixman]

Geez, CMJ, you are such a MN geek I wanna hug you.

I was thinking about peter's "setup fatigue" thread in the AATE forum, about whether or not readers were suffering that problem with the Last Chronicles.

Well, I like SRD's story setups. The whole of Book One of Mordant's Need is a gigantic setup, but with wonderful things to read about along the way. And the payoff in Book Two? It remains one of the most satisfying reads I've ever had. Pure storytelling mastery. There's nothing mysterious or esoteric about the writing: it's just unbelievably well-constructed. It's swashbuckling heroism, Donaldson-style.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I am a MN geek. I think I might say honestly that it's my very favorite book series ever written. It's one of the few series where EVERY character is flawed which is reality, and so real so vivid and understandable and tangible in my mind. It's so many dichotomies. So much distrust in self, in each other, in the situation in general and yet so much trust in self, each other and the situation, so much at stake and it plays out. Yes the good guys win but the journey there, the people who make sacrifices along the way, the way the characters learn, all of them, the way the ending is so JUST for the bad guys, it makes my heart soar. And in the end it comes down to, no matter what the main character has learned about herself and her unique and amazing power, she still has humility and dignity. I also think it is one of the few fantasy series written by a man that actually inspires me with his ability to write women without objectifying them, Myste, Torrent, Madin, Elega and yes, after the first book Terisa.

[StevieG]

That's funny, I've just come from that thread in the AATE forum!

And I totally agree. I understand that some people find the setup too much and get bored with it, but arent't they missing out! The 2nd book of Mordant's Need holds a special place in my heart!

[Rigel]

Spoiler

Actually, she was surprised at herself. Without warning, she was filled with a sense of how strange her circumstances were. Wasn't she Terisa Morgan, the passive girl who had typed sad letters for Reverend Thatcher until she had lost faith in him and his mission? Wasn't she the lonely woman who had decorated her apartment in mirrors because she didn't know any other way to prove she existed? So what was she doing here? -surrounded, as Geraden observed, by enemies; struggling across country on horseback in a nearly crazy effort to warn King Joyse that his wife had been abducted; so angry at Master Eremis that she couldn't think about it without trembling. What was she doing?

Man, I love Donaldson's characters!

[IrrationalSanity]

Amazing - I haven't even been here in months, and I actually re-read Mordant's Need at about the same time everyone else here did!

Synchronicity is real! Don't let anyone tell you different.

[Rigel]

Amazing - I haven't even been here in months, and I actually re-read Mordant's Need at about the same time everyone else here did!

Synchronicity is real! Don't let anyone tell you different.

So, when do we start the Chrons re-read?

[Avatar]

Soon, methinks.

--A

[Zarathustra]

So, I'm about 150 pages in and I'm finding Teresa more insipid than ever. I get that it's the opposite of the Chrons, with a character who believes in the fantasy world, but not in her own existence, rather than the reverse, but sheesh...he has a knack for writing characters you just don't like.

--A

I did my reread last year. My thoughts are mostly posted in the dissection forum. Regarding this issue, I felt something similar at first, but then changed my mind. Here's what I said then:

Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:12 pm Post subject: General Thoughts (Spoilers Abound!)

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The setup is a little ridiculous. A woman who doesn't think she's real? And mirrors actually help? On the surface, it's pathetic as a character trait (rich, privileged girl who has no greater worry than a conceptual problem that wouldn't bother a philosophy 101 student) and unrealistic (does anyone actually worry about being unreal?). However, Donaldson works some magic in the first couples chapters that redeems this implausible setup. He takes it from a conceptual curiosity to a full-fledged existential crisis.

The problem isn't really that she doubts her existence. She isn't dealing with solipsism. Her actual situation is closer to the 2nd Chronicles dilemma facing Covenant and Linden: how to make their lives meaningful, rather than figuring out if the Land exists. Her impression that she doesn't exist comes from her own passivity and her inability to find meaning in her life. The horns she hears in her dream are a symbol of her capacity to discover value in the world . . . if only she would look at the world in the right way. The world doesn't change when she "hears" echoes of these horns, it is only her perception of the world which changes (becoming more real, more valuable). It's like the difference between seeing natural Beauty with Healthsense, and mere "scenery." What changes is the perceiver.

This is a classic existential problem: feeling insignificant, alienated, worthless, and pointless. And the solution is taking responsibility for your life, acting, deciding, valuing.

The twist that makes her personal dilemma dramatic--something that can carry a story--is the fact that her existence and worth is actually debated by the characters she meets. So her internal dilemma is mirrored (heh) in her situation once she is translated to Mordant: Joyse and Geradan think she was real prior to translation, while Eremis (and Gilbur?) think she was not. Thus, how the characters treat her follows directly from the issue of her reality. Suddenly, the question is no longer academic. Donaldson is the master of turning theoretical issues into plot issues--which makes them plausible and worthy of a story. At this point, I'm hooked.

He continues with this dramatic device in a convincing manner. Eremis treats her as a plaything to possess, while Geradan treats her with respect. This tension dominates the plot twists for most of the first book (before it diverges into "political" intrigue and siege).

[Avatar]

Hmmm, good way of looking at it. Wish I'd seen that when I was starting my reread.

I did get over my dislike, but it took most of the first book to do so.

(And funny, I don't recall disliking her so much in previous reads.)

--A