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Post by Xaa on Sept 2, 2005 17:35:14 GMT -5
 Coming soon from DiskUs Publishing  |
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Post by Liantedan on Sept 20, 2005 4:33:21 GMT -5
Must... purchase... book...
Must... feed on... water and breadcrumbs... to be able to... purchase...
Must... purchase... book...
(Now where a drooling smiley when you need one ?)
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Post by Liantedan on Apr 12, 2006 9:13:50 GMT -5
Finally made it back to my beloved Belgium, away from the vile city of Dundee, Scotland. (I appologise to the Scots, but being born in Belgium, my body starts detoriating when it has to survive on Scottish food alone. And the people I've met in Dundee only caused me to be sleep-deprived, in a bad way.) This also means I can finally open my Christmas-present, which was waiting for me in Belgium: 5 Xaa-books. ;D I decided to start with the Wench of Woe, so I could read the Oerth Cycle a bit later when I can listen to the music while reading. Now, the first few chapters didn't grip me as much as the other books had done, but once past the first hour of reading, there was nearly nothing that could make me stop. Yet, as still being sleep-deprived, it was a bit too hard for me to continue reading past 4am, so I had to put the book down to sleep. The next evening (had to travel quite a bit during the day) I finished the book, somewhere around 3am. Xaa, congratulations !  This book was at least as attention-consumings as the previous Mage-books and Apotheosis (I have only read those, for now), and you made it even harder for me to not awaken everyone else in the house in the middle of the night by laughing. ***Those who haven't read the book, the following might be a spoiler, be warned.*** But you also left me a bit confused... The Raven is Eddas, the Mountain would be Joy, the Rabbit Kyrie, the Ocean Sasha and the Spider Brionnach. Goodman Bones, being the body of the barbarian from Shnee'Vurste but not its soul. The "soul" inhabiting the body is that of UnLife energy, and to be more specific, a spirit of Love drawn by UnLife. I would think that this would mean that the goddess of the Shnee'Vurste has no longer anything to do with this "lifeform", but still she appears to him and guides him. As being an UnLife spirit ressurected in contact with the ground, it draws its strenght from it, and refferring to him as "the Sand" might seem logic in that view, but it excludes the goddess of the Shnee'Vurste completely, as I would think she'd rather be "the Ice, the Snow, the Cold, ...". Also, the desertgod made the contraption that imprisons Marilith, so it would be logical he'd try to thwart her escape. Desert is something I would link to Sand. And I think coming up with a dragon to fight Eddas as being the only thing the Desertgod can come up with (excluding the Spider, because she had actually nothing to do with her goddess, as far as I can tell, but rather used her free will solely) would be rather weak, for a god that managed to build such a tower to make him only grow more powerfull. I hope you can shed some light on this, because I feel like having entered Mageworlds RiddleDungeon without any light now.  ***End of spoiler*** In short, I loved the book. When will the next two parts be availiable in print ? (edit for spelling) |
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Post by Xaa on Apr 12, 2006 17:16:59 GMT -5
Goodman Bones, being the body of the barbarian from Shnee'Vurste but not its soul. Doesn't change anything, as far as the Gods are concerned. He's still the Snow Queen's pawn. Indeed, if you read the story again, you'll see that he ended up precisely how the Snow Queen wanted him to end up - she mentions forging her pawn against that of her enemy. This idea of forging pawns is mentioned throughout the series, and appears in the game of "Chatto", once played by the Hyperboreans. See the posted excerpt for the game, which comes from book 6 in the series (to be released soon). Yes, in the sense that everything is supported by something. His companions eat food to survive. He draws his strength from the earth as a revenaunt. Same thing. Has nothing to do with her at all, anymore than what food the other characters eat has to do with their gods. It's just how he survives. It answers the question "if he walks and talks and eats, where does the energy to do it come from?" There WAS a dragon, you know - and that dragon was under the control of a Mysantian wizard. I don't know what more you want, in that regard. It makes more sense if you've read the first three books. Eddas isn't phased by dragons - he actually can kill them, he's a Great Mage (like Math of Irish Legend). Other people simply die to them. He DOES mention massive destruction, fires... The only reason you don't get to see it is because Goodman Bones doesn't go along for that trip. He wouldn't have wanted to anyway, he didn't give a damn about anything except making it to the Temple of the Sun. [edit] I should mention that I *did* originally write the book where we come up with a decent excuse for him to go along so we can see the fight, but really, it turned out anti-climactic. I mean, we're only halfway through the book, it's Eddas and a Dragon working together, you KNOW how this is going to turn out, it's extremely anti-climactic. I tried writing the initial encounter where Eddas fights the dragon (not like Bones can do anything), but that was anti-climactic, too. Eddas is powerful enough to squib dragons (it'll be messy, but he can do it). Again, he's like Math of Irish Legend - some mythographers count Math as being one of the Irish Gods. Matching him power for power is a losing contest. You have to play to his weaknesses, and a dragon just can't do it. It takes a woman to beat him, playing to his sense of honor (which you will see in book 5). [/edit] Buzz! Wrong answer - she only ditches her god at the end. So what was the Spider Goddess going to get out of it? Well, think about it: Highly experienced necromancer with a demon at her back returns home and takes over - this is explained by Goodman Bones when he talks to her the final time. If you remember, the Queen of the Dark Elves didn't do to well in book 3, her Goddess apparently decided a change of government might be a good idea. Unless your pawn DIED building the damn thing, which is also mentioned in the story. Dunno yet, my publisher has them, she says she likes them, but she's also a busy person. [edit] Just got the official thumbs-up. The print versions will be available as soon as I finish the cover art. The e-book versions will probably be available within a few days after that. [/edit] |
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Post by Liantedan on Apr 16, 2006 7:48:31 GMT -5
So far I've only read the first three books ten times...  I know Eddas can kill a dragon, but I also know he can even easier deal with a dragon. Especially if the dragon is the sister of a befriended dragon and both the dragon and Eddas have heard many tales about each other from Karg. Supposing the Gods are Gods, limited, but still increadibly powerfull, I was only assuming that the Desertgod would come up with a better plan than to try stopping Eddas with a Dragon... If not, I'd say Kargato managed somehow to punish the Desertgod. |
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Post by Xaa on Apr 16, 2006 10:05:22 GMT -5
Supposing the Gods are Gods, limited, but still increadibly powerfull, I was only assuming that the Desertgod would come up with a better plan than to try stopping Eddas with a Dragon... You take the field with the army you have, as they say. Consider that in the end, Eddas couldn't possibly have freed Marilith by himself, so the Temple of the Sun was a lot more effective at keeping him out than you think. Consider also that Eddas couldn't even get in, thanks to the Spider's servant - that took everyone, in the end. In the first three books, when the conflict was between Morgar and Yorindar, we see that the two of them were willing to destroy an entire civilization, completely anihilating an entire race of people and blasting vast swaths of land to nothing, all to set up the board for the coming conflict. It was, in essence, a test of whether or not Morgar could remove the notion of Free Will from his king, and win by manipulating things through him directly. And, he failed. It all boiled down to Eddas telling him to just break his staff. The larger part of the God's conflicts aren't physical, but are rather conflicts of spirit and emotion. No matter what the God of the Deserts had chosen to do in that situation, he couldn't have overcome Eddas with physical force. As is mentioned in the first series by "Lord Caladis" (twice, in fact), by the beginning of the 19th century NCC, Eddas is more a force of nature than a man. Defeating him physically in a straight, face-to-face fight just isn't going to work. Ah, but I'd better stop, after mentioning the "Caladis" affair, I've already given away too many hints to what will happen in books 7 through 9, and you haven't even read 5 & 6 yet. [edit]Incidentally, the links to get the print versions of books 5&6 are in the new thread I posted. [/edit] |
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Post by Liantedan on Apr 16, 2006 12:47:22 GMT -5
Argh, a Tripple Trilogy... Now what do I have to do ? Curse or thank you ? Maybe I'll just do a bit of both, and thanking a little more than cursing. Curse you because you make it very hard for me to catch up on your books, considering I've only read 4 books of the Mage (trilogy) and Apotheosis. The Oerth Cycle is still awaiting me, but will have to wait untill the weekend (soundtrack). Thank you because you make it nigh impossible for me to have cypherwulfe's problem of ending up with nothing new to read after having obtained all Xaa-books. I have seen, and I have added them to the memo inside my head of adding to the next batch of Xaa-books. But that won't be before june, I guess. So if you fail to publish books 7 and up of Mage before then, I might be forced to order either Muse of Pandora's Box along parts 5 and 6... Well, congratulations with your impressive output. Your fans love you all the more for it. Thank you for all those hours (allright, "days" would be more accurate in my case) of enjoying the marvels of your stories. ;D |
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