Kevin's Watch

Anyone else notice that SRD seems to pick on a few words which he uses again and again, often within a few pages of each other. I think the editor didn't do a great job in picking this up, it did come across as a bit amateurish at times

examples

"puissant"
"frangible"
"succour"
"cerements"

there are others too, but I'm too tired to list them all.

I definitely notice frequent recurrences of "puissant". However, no over-use matches "Don't touch me" in the Second Chrons

Too much puissance, definitely.

Formication. Sounds like something Adept Havelock says alot, and is repeated about a dozen times in what amounts to one scene. Something about the sensation of ants crawling all over one.

Oh aye, formication was abominably over-used.

Well, yeah...with Donaldson, repetition of some words comes with the territory.

P.S.

beneficence (things, especially the Land)
opalescent (Anele)
moonstone (Anele)
indefeasible (Stave)

One word that I picked up on more than any other was
"illimitable."

But that's OK, I still enjoyed the book!

I got tired of the use of "percipience".

Yeah, I noticed that one too.

At least in this one, SRD didn't keep repeating phrases in Linden's mind in the manner of "are you not evil," "don't touch me," "you are being forged...", etc. For instance, I rather expected the "I am content" lineto become much more annoying than it actually did.

CovenantJr wrote:I definitely notice frequent recurrences of "puissant". However, no over-use matches "Don't touch me" in the Second Chrons

Yes that was grating. A better editor is required, me thinks.

Has anyone ever seen "formication" used before this book? I'd think that a word that I'd never seen in three decades of reading wouldn't be a word that could be used twenty times in a novel. When I read the book again I'll keep track of how many times it pops up.

nuk wrote:Has anyone ever seen "formication" used before this book? I'd think that a word that I'd never seen in three decades of reading wouldn't be a word that could be used twenty times in a novel. When I read the book again I'll keep track of how many times it pops up.

I have never even heard of the word "formication" before Runes... And I read a LOT. Had to get my dictionary for THAT one...

I seem to recall "innominate" cropping up many, MANY times as well...

10k

..Its of my belief that the repitition is for effect and has cause. No, not a better editor is called for. I am sure SRD had to fite for being allowed to repeat as much as he has. As noted by all the above,,its his style in the TC Chronicles....besides,,if one is to spend the energy and time to go look a word up,,,its nice to see the word used often so the effort expended in finding out what is meant,,pays for itself more often. Whats the old saying,,use a word 5 times in a day , and its yours for the rest of your life..I know,," puissance, formication, illimitable,,plus many others,,are owned by most posters here,,because of how often they've ..made comments on them..like,,puissance,,puissance,,puissance...I would consider repitition of normal everyday words more bothersome than some obscure word no other author has been known to use. Fettered is my current favorite,,SRD used the begeezers out of its anti...Unfettered.
.....Yea,,one goes to the gym and works out. " How many reps ya doing? is the question repeated...Well,,these words are the same...builds minds stronger with each repitition........MEL

Not a word... but a phrase. Vulture wings. They are mentioned *a lot* through the first 6 books.

Threats crowd the air like vulture wings, etc.

"eldritch"

Lauralin wrote:Yeah, I noticed that one too.

At least in this one, SRD didn't keep repeating phrases in Linden's mind in the manner of "are you not evil," "don't touch me," "you are being forged...", etc. For instance, I rather expected the "I am content" lineto become much more annoying than it actually did.

How about "good can not be accomplished by evil means" or some such expression. That was repeated WAY too much!

I wouldn't mind the repetition if it wasn't so back-to-back. I don't mind seeing one rare word twenty times in a book, but not in ten pages' worth of reading. I have to say, "shaft" grated on me, the way it was used over and over at the end.

Exigency or exigencies was a word I noticed many times.

James

The one that annoys me most of all is the preposition "like a geas."

It'd be cool if it was very sparingly used, but it's kind of..overdone.