Kevin's Watch

Absolutely, the Land is rich enough. For example, there's a whole book to be written on the ramen / ranyhyn relationship and I'd love a book on the ur-viles / waynhim wurd, weird. Vain's my hero and vitrim rocks

I do too. but SRD wont do it. FanFic it is.

Exellent HC! I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling this way.

I think, in the future, someone will return to the Land. One of SRD's adult children, someone empowered by his estate, someone who buys the rights.

It's too rich of a world to just lay fallow forever.

Two cautionary words: Brian Herbert.

That is all.

Horrim Carabal wrote: <snip>
Most of the criticisms people are putting forth in regards to TLD are problems of being "too short" or "too rushed". I agree, I would have liked to see the sort of pacing that would have enabled SRD to...

1) Describe the Worm's action in greater detail. Describe how it was moving across the plains, moving toward Skyweir, destroying the mountain. Near the end, when Jeremiah had the sight power from Foul, the scenes of devastation he could have described would have made fantastic reading.

2) Explain in greater detail Mahrtiir's transformation into a Forestal.

3) Provide more of the journey toward Mt. Thunder and into and under the mountain. Their arrival at Kiril Threndor should have been as majestic as it was in the Second Chronicles. But it wasn't, because it was shorter.

4) Write the scene we all wanted to read: The main characters rebuilding the world and the Elohim putting the Worm back to sleep.

5) Provide a longer epilogue, detailing the "new" Land and its features.

It really should have been 5 books.

Like you HC, I loved TLD, but interestingly I didn't quite crave as much for the above -- personally I seek out the dialogue and the character choices, rather than the more descriptive/world-building parts. Of course, people have different preferences as to the balance between them.

Savor Dam wrote:Two cautionary words: Brian Herbert.

That is all.

Yikes!

Savor Dam wrote:Two cautionary words: Brian Herbert.

That is all.

Don't even JOKE about that!

The "Dune" prequels/sequels he and Kevin Anderson wrote are the worst things I've ever paid money to read, without question.

starkllr wrote:

Savor Dam wrote:Two cautionary words: Brian Herbert.

That is all.

Don't even JOKE about that!

The "Dune" prequels/sequels he and Kevin Anderson wrote are the worst things I've ever paid money to read, without question.

I've never read a Brian Herbert book (only read the original Dune novel), but Kevin J. Anderson is the epitome of a hack writer. He's awful.

Bad follow up novels are written for the same reason bad sequels to films are made - cash in on the original by making a cheap 3rd [or whatever] sequel - it won't make as much, but it will be cheap to make. It's the same principle as mopping up the gravy on your plate with a piece of bread after a fine dinner.

Savor Dam wrote:Two cautionary words: Brian Herbert.

That is all.

Two more cautionary words: David Lynch.

As far as we know SRD hasn't done a Tolkien and created an unfinished oeuvre comparable to the Silmarillion and the Unfinished Tales and The Lost Tales and...

An important question, of course, is whether we want all the blank spaces on the canvas authoritatively filled in, either by the Master or by his heirs and successors, or whether we want these spaces to remain free for our imaginations to roam. Would we really be better off, for example, knowing whether or not there was a port city in the vicinity of Seareach in Berek's time rather than being able to have pleasant arguments about this possibility amongst ourselves?[/b]

Fair comment.

I'm a little unhappy that I cannot buy the book for Kindle. Why would you (or your publisher) choose to not release this at the same time as the print like you did for AATE?

cvquesty, where do you live? In the US, it was out on Kindle the same day as the print release.

Savor Dam wrote:Two cautionary words: Brian Herbert.

That is all.

Sisterhood of Dune!

so many questions, I'll reel off 10 :

1. what was the story you hoped to tell ?

2. why the decision to have all 'real world' characters who entered the Land die in the prologue ?

3. how did time-travel help to tell the story ?

4. was it a conscious decision to make the Land feel so empty of inhabitants, and if so is it tied in with your seemingly deliberate decision to minimize the Lands once-inherent beauty ?

5. I enjoyed the character Esmer, can you explain why death was the only good answer for someone as conflicted as he ? It reminded me somewhat of Triock's simple explanation of Elena's madness, "she was flawed from birth."

6. why do the Insequent as a race opt to aid Linden and company via their proxy, the Ardent, but withhold from offering any further assistance in the final fight for the Land's fate ?

7. did you have a special affinity for the character of Stave, who seemed to get a lot of the juicy, philosophical monologues .. ?

8. What do you speculate as to the implications of Covenant 'absorbing' Foul ?

9. The culmination of the Ur-Vile/Waynhim weird struck me as pretty odd, how was this plot resolution decided upon, how do you feel about it, and beyond the metaphor of the idea, how in practice would the combined souls of once-devoured women and 'made' creatures work in the one corporeal vessel ??

10. what's next ?

Orlion wrote:In my best Esmer impression, I will not let this stand! :^P

3. How is it that the Elohim didnt know how to put the worm back to sleep, and the, all of the sudden, they did?

It's the difference between the Worm being ravenous and devouring Elohim and the Worm being sated with Earthblood. That'd be like turkey legs trying to get Grandpa to go to sleep before Thanksgiving dinner: it's just not going to happen before they get devoured.

Where did this "sated" retcon come from? From everything in the entire 3Cs, the earthblood wouldn't "sate" the worm, quite the opposite, it would supercharge it. Who came up with this?

According to the narrative, this wasn't grampa getting stuffed and sleepy from turkey. It was grampa doing speed and cocaine at the same time.

I would ask if he ever regretted not having an additional middle name that started with R.

I'd ask if it was fear of the critical response of TLD and being asked many, many difficult questions that prompted him to close the GI.