Kevin's Watch

By now, a lot of us have read and reread the Chronicles to the point where we are looking at nuance and near over-analysis.

But, think back to the first time you read the Chronicles, and if you can remember, share what surprised you the most.

Either trilogy, but first impression! And please, mask your spoilers!

Spoiler

For me, I remember getting a nasty shock in WGW when Hollian died, and her baby with her. I was angry and disappointed. I know that it turned out in the end, but that made me so mad that I almost put down the book at that point. Almost!

Of course, my first read was 19 yrs ago, so my memory may not be fresh! Anyone else have a first impression to share, especially first-time readers or those who first read more recently than I?

DukkhaWaynhim
[Weird, warped, and Wookie-wise!]

The most surprising thing in the whole of the chrons would have to be the Land in TWL. "There is only one way to hurt a man who has lost everything..."
I never expected that the Land (and it's people) could be so dramatically changed.

OH, it has been so long. But I remember just being in complete awe of it all. And when I was done with the first chrons, I re-read them again. I was in love with the Land and it's people.

Then, The Wounded Land assailed me. And I do mean "assailed". I remember being so angry at SRD for ravaging the Land the way he did.

I've read them I don't know how many times, too many to keep count now, and each time I gain more insight. These are truly masterpieces and their author is by far one of the best there is!

Yep, definitely TWL. Pretty much for the same reasons that have already been mentioned, too. At the time I wanted to stab SRD multiple times, but for the most part I think I've gotten over it...

I don't think anything surprised me, really. I expected a great fantasy writer like SRD to spice the Second Chronicles up and throw in a new dimension like he did in TWL. I was impressed in the way a writer is impressed by another writer's work.

One word:

Spoiler

"Nom"

I read that and thought "Holy S--t!!"

I think one of the first things that really surprised me about the First Chronicles was just how much of a detestable bar steward TC was proving to be

dlbpharmd wrote:One word:

Spoiler

"Nom"

I read that and thought "Holy S--t!!"

EXACTLY!

Twice!

This totally hurt! :

Spoiler

The genocide of the Giants.

To me it have has to be in LFB. The Lords, initially, completely blew me away: they seemed so etheral, detached, mighty and mystical

Spoiler

only to, almost instantly, become so human, selfeffacing and fragile...amazing!

For me the first surprise was the

Spoiler

ancientness of the Haruchai.

The second one was

Spoiler

the reappearence of Foamfollower.

My first and most shocking suprise came very early in the first book.

Spoiler

Lena's rape

I didn't want to believe the main character would do something like that.

When I first stared reading the first book of the first set, I actually found it a little slow and put it down for a few days... for some reason I found myself picking it back up and readinging (at this point of the book he was walking around town in his sturdy jeans... anyway I finished the first book and ran to my schools library the next day to get the second book. The attention to detail and this ability to pull you into the story was just beyond me... which is what hooked me in.... and I haven't been the same since... I have never found anyone else who can 'spin a yarn' like SRD. The only other auther that can capture my attention like he can is Piers Anthony...

In the first chrons it was Elena's calling of dead Kevin and in the second chrons it was the first calling of

Spoiler

Nom

. Two awesome moments!

_____
kast

In the first chrons it was Elena's calling of dead Kevin and in the second chrons it was the first calling of

Spoiler

Nom

. Two awesome moments!

_____
kast

I agree about the calling. The first time I read it, I was stunned frozen.

But my biggest surprises overall come from the way he expresses emotional imagery. Open any random page.

WGW

All the anger had gone out of him during the night; and he ascended toward the gaping mouth of Revelstone like a husk for burning.

Awestricken,

For, it was Atiaran's decision not to punish Covenant. I was stunned the people of the Land could be so devoted to their beliefs as to let him get away with rape.

Two things. Firstly, the rape itself. Until then, my experiences of the fantasy genre were limited to Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Nobody in Middle Earth or Narnia got raped, or at least not that we the readers ever learned of.

Secondly, the way SRD managed to get me so caught up in what was happening that my own emotional responses were almost dictated by the emotional responses of the characters themselves.

Sum sui generis
Vs

For me it was that Hile Troy was there at all. It had seemed so personal and to add others made it less so.

I didn't care about what happened to Lena. That was an event. I'm so often surprised that people focus on this so much. How about the other terrible things that happened? !

Spoiler

How about the bloodguard? How about the condition of the ranyhyn? How about the land itself in the 2nd chronicles? How about the people that died? Murdered!

I think we end up looking at this thing that happened because it is so politically correct to say it was evil. But if you think about it, which would you rather have happen to someone you love, to have them be raped or murdered? I think that we all too often focus on sexual deviation but accept all sorts of other violence including murder.

One of my favorite scenes in recent movies was Agatha in Minority Report. When she is screaming in that hotel room as John is committing violence near her, well man that just tore me up. For once hollywood didn't glamorize the violence, but rather showed how terrible it would be just to witness it let alone be the recipient of it.

Personally I find rape disgusting, but I definately don't think we should shirk from writing about it or discussing it. Neither do I think it is the worst thing that happened in the whole six TCTC books, nor is it the worst thing that TC did, in my opinion. It's just that it shocked me deeply the first time I read it.

Sum sui generis
Vs