MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 1897 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) Re: Character Driven and Least Favorite by Obsidian 2) Road work/gryphons/least fav... by "Sharry Adams" 3) Re: Road work/gryphons/least fav... by "Lady Sunhawk" 4) Oath books by Greg Wooledge 5) Re: Road work/gryphons/least fav... by "C. Killingsworth" 6) Re: Road work/gryphons/least fav... by "Winterstar K'Canada" 7) Re: Road work/gryphons/least fav... by "Christine " 8) Re: least fav... by Kenneth Allen Hyde ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 00:23:45 -0800 From: Obsidian To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Character Driven and Least Favorite Message-ID: <36E23791.CADEDFD1-+AT+-softhome.net> --------------4435473D6F279032E6084858 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Heyla list-subs, <> I agree that character driven books are more effective than plot driven books. Think of it; if you can't feel for a character how is the book going to come off? One of my first experiences with fantasy (tolkien aside) was Terry Brooks. I read all the Shannara books. And I'd have to say his are mostly plot dri Yes, I agree, TB has mostly plot driven books. The only character I know of in his books that have a flaw in his/her character is probably Walker. That's part of the reason why Misty hooks me so much. Her characters are amusing and believeable. Very easy to like because of their realness. (But then Misty's my favorite author, I could be excused for being biased:) Somebody wrote about Misty's less liked books and characters(sorry, can't remember who wrote this one) My least favorite Misty book is probably Tiger Burning Bright. Maybe it was because of the other characters in the book. You know MZB character the queen, which let me tell you was a totally boring character. As for the least favorite character(in the Valdemar series) I agree with everyone else, it's probably Charliss. He's so.... boring.... or the right word would be annoying. Real annoying. Oh, and I just finished Owlsight. It was a good book, not her best of course, and I didn't find it as juvenile as everyone said it was. But it was okay. I really expected Darian to act like a snob and I expected a rivalry between the Healer, Keisha and the mage, Darian. But it didn't turn out that way. I was quite surprised. Obsidian --------------4435473D6F279032E6084858 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Heyla list-subs,

<<Character driven vs. plot
driven in the showdown of the century! No, seriously, what do y'all
think
on that subject -- which you prefer, whether they're differentiable,
where
the works of Misty fall?>>
I agree that character driven books are more effective than plot driven books. Think
of it; if you can't feel for a character how is the book going to come off?

One of my first experiences with fantasy (tolkien aside) was Terry Brooks. I
read all the Shannara books. And I'd have to say his are mostly plot dri
Yes, I agree, TB has mostly plot driven books. The only character I know of in
his books that have a flaw in his/her character is probably Walker.
That's part of the reason why Misty hooks me so much. Her characters are amusing
and believeable. Very easy to like because of their realness.
(But then Misty's my favorite author, I could be excused for being biased:)

Somebody wrote about Misty's less liked books and characters(sorry, can't
remember who wrote this one)
My least favorite Misty book is probably Tiger Burning Bright. Maybe it was
because of the other characters in the book. You know MZB character the queen,
which let me tell you was a totally boring character.
As for the least favorite character(in the Valdemar series)
I agree with everyone else, it's probably Charliss. He's so.... boring.... or the right
word would be annoying. Real annoying.

Oh, and I just finished Owlsight. It was a good book, not her best of course, and
I didn't find it as juvenile as everyone said it was. But it was okay. I really expected
Darian to act like a snob and I expected a rivalry between the Healer, Keisha and
the mage, Darian. But it didn't turn out that way. I was quite surprised.

Obsidian --------------4435473D6F279032E6084858-- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 00:30:58 PST From: "Sharry Adams" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Road work/gryphons/least fav... Message-ID: <19990307083059.27558.qmail-+AT+-hotmail.com> David H Tiffany wrote: How come we never see anybody doing roadwork in Valdemar? Are the roads magically maintained? --------- Well, I don't think I've ever come across any road repair work in Misty's books, but there is that part in one of the Arrows books (Arrow's Flight?) when Talia & Dirk are snowed in in that way station. A crew has to come to clear the snow off the roads. Karistan wrote: In the AotQ trilogy, AFl, i believe, Talia was speaking with the healer about the north and the strange creatures that came out of the Pelagirs. The Healer, i can't remember his name, said that there were gryphons up there and that he'd seen them, but wasn't it explained that Tryvan and Hydona were the first of the gryphons to even come to East from White Gryphon? Did I miss something, or was it a oops on Misty's part? ------- There is a mention of the Northern gryphons in one of the Winds books. During the Mage Wars, before the cataclysm, Uthro started evacuating people. I think that all the gryphons were supposed to be in the north, but the ones that ended up at White Gryphon had to evacuate at the last minute, at the nearest gate. So everybody got split up. I've heard that the story of the northern gryphons is told in the Storms books, but I haven't read them yet. On the least favorite book thread: I'd have to say that my least fav Misty books are the Oath books. I like one better than the other, but I don't remember which. I really loved Tarma & Kethery....great characters!....but, I found that the plot was really choppy. They went on too many adventures for just two novels. It wasn't a consecutive story...almost like short stories spliced together. I mean, one minute they're battling one demon, and the next minute it's quite a while later, and they're off on another adventure. What I find very ironic it that The Oathbound was the very first Misty book I ever read! I guess I liked it better at the time, because I went straight into the Mage Wars when I finished the Oath books! *L* (I don't know if anyone else finds that funny, but at 2 am, I find it increadably amusing :) Least fav. non-Misty book....A Seperate Peace. I don't remember the author, and I don't really remember much about the plot. I had to read it for school in the 9th grade, and I hated it! That is the only book I've ever read that I totally hated. From what I remember, it wasn't all that bad of a book, I think it was just not the kind of book I liked to read at the time. That and the fact that I was totally sick of reading "boy becoming a man" books! We read one or two of those every year in high school, and as a female, I just couldn't relate. Well, either the male characters in those books were very dry, or I've matured quite a bit in my view of things, but I really like Misty's male characters. I LOVED Vanyel....and Darkwind. I also really liked her portrayal of Firesong. Even though he was annoyingly obnoxious most of the time, he seemed real. Ok, I think that's enough ranting for now! :) Sleepy-sheep for all the insomniacs on the list! --Lovesinger ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 04:59:36 PST From: "Lady Sunhawk" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Road work/gryphons/least fav... Message-ID: <19990307125936.814.qmail-+AT+-hotmail.com> Heyla all!! Remember me? Well, I have come out of lurking to follow this thread..... On least favorite books-- Hmmm, least favorite Misty books are probably Silver Gryphon and Storm Rising. Silver Gryphon was just......anticlimactic. It was like, oh, the wyrsa? Um, it may be a surprise to all y'all in the book but I've seen them before. And the psychological side totally left me cold. Storm Rising......just moved wayyyyy too slow. And it kept switching veiwpoints, which I didn't mind in the Winds books, because I was interested in both characters/setting but I really just didn't care about the Empire. >Least fav. non-Misty book....A Seperate Peace. I don't remember the >author, and I don't really remember much about the plot. I had to read >it for school in the 9th grade, and I hated it! Acckkkk!! Yes! I had to read that in eight grade and it was soooooo stupid! I vaugly recall that this kid was jealous of this other guy and so kept hurting him until he killed him? That, and The Chocolate War, which I'm sure was "rage against the system" but was still stupid. I always felt like saying "Um, you're a bunch of weirdos in some New England school, whether you sell chocolates or not won't matter, and if you're that revolutionary, getting yourself crushed over candy won't help anyone else (who maybe needs you more), will it?" Least-fave Misty character.....ummmmm......she hasn't ever had one I really hated.....uh, I'll get back to you on that one :) WTTW, Sunhawk ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 12:53:41 -0500 From: Greg Wooledge To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Oath books Message-ID: <19990307125341.A2984-+AT+-phoenix.local> Sharry Adams (sharry_lynn-+AT+-hotmail.com) wrote: > I'd have to say that my least fav Misty books are the Oath books. [...] > It wasn't a consecutive story...almost like short stories > spliced together. That's because they *were* short stories spliced together. ;-) The bulk of Oathbound appears in several volumes of MZB's Sword and Sorceress books (these are anthologies of unrelated short stories). I've seen a few other books written in this style as well, especially with "classics" which first appeared serially in magazines. This is often called an "episodic" style, because rather than having a single plot which holds the novel together, such books consist of a series of episodes or sub-stories. The episodic style can be used effectively to show the development of a character (or set of characters) over an extended period of time. To a certain extent, Arrows of the Queen uses this style -- Talia's development into a Herald is traced over the course of several years, and she faces a series of relatively minor conflicts, rather than a single overwhelming antagonist. The LHM books do this as well. -- Greg Wooledge | Distributed.NET http://www.distributed.net/ wooledge-+AT+-kellnet.com | because a CPU is a terrible thing to waste. http://www.kellnet.com/wooledge/ | ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 10:53:17 PST From: "C. Killingsworth" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Road work/gryphons/least fav... Message-ID: <19990307185318.4576.qmail-+AT+-hotmail.com> On the least favorite book thread: << I'd have to say that my least fav Misty books are the Oath books. I like one better than the other, but I don't remember which. I really loved Tarma & Kethery....great characters!....but, I found that the plot was really choppy. They went on too many adventures for just two novels. It wasn't a consecutive story...almost like short stories spliced together. I mean, one minute they're battling one demon, and the next minute it's quite a while later, and they're off on another adventure. --Lovesinger>> Aak! i loved the oathbound and oathbreakers. Aside from the first gryphon book though, oathblood is my least favorite. i thought the stories in there were predictible and some had trite themes. i thought those were too choppy and short. the last story wasn't as bad though, it was a continuation of oathbreakers. i wish she had developed another oathbook entirely about what happened after breakers. --rainfire ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 11:59:04 MST From: "Winterstar K'Canada" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Road work/gryphons/least fav... Message-ID: <19990307185905.27521.qmail-+AT+-hotmail.com> Sharry Adams wrote: > I've heard that the story of the northern gryphons is told in the >Storms books, but I haven't read them yet. It gets explained in the second of the Storms book, Storm Rising, I believe. It's not a bad book, IMNSHO, but not one of my favs... My Favorite of Misty's books: Umm... uhh... Er.... Help? I'd say that it came somewhere from AoQ series, or LHM series. I really could relate to Talia (AoQ), and I loved Misty's idea of the main character being shaych (LHM). I found it quite unique. Least Favorite of Misty's books: I'd have to say the Silver Gryphon. There are some excerpts that I like, but for the most part, I've read better from her... >Least fav. non-Misty book....A Seperate Peace. Pardon, I'd just like to say that I hated that book! It drove me up the wall! I don't even remember why, but then, it's interesting how the hatred lasts longer then the reason why... Enough of me! Sheep upholstry for all, and cotton candy sheep for free! Winterstar K'Canada "A canter is a cure for every evil." -- Benjamin Disraeli ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 14:46:27 -0500 From: "Christine " To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Road work/gryphons/least fav... Message-ID: <199903071942.OAA11991-+AT+-camel8.mindspring.com> *Stormdancer delurks (again) with Virr in tow* Just an FYI.. the story of the seperating of the Clans and gryphons is told by Tashiketh in Storm Breaking. It starts on page 299 (or so).Aslo, the connection with Vykandis, which explains why Karal had to be the mage/channel on the Iftel border. **Siochain Ar Talamh** Stormdancer, Guardian adept Virr, Ki-Rin mage ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 15:06:23 -0500 (EST) From: Kenneth Allen Hyde To: Misty Lackey List Subject: Re: least fav... Message-ID: > On the least favorite book thread: Oh, if we're going to talk about least faves.... *mwahahahah!* All the oldbies are probably going "oh, no, here he goes again!", but I have to say that my least fave books from Misty are her urban books. Honestly, all those books about elves in LA! I couldn't even finish the first one, and never was able to get into any of the others. And everyone knows how I feel about the Diana Tregarde books. Whichever person named "Burning Water" as their least fave, I have to agree that of the Di books, it's the worst, in my opinion. If it hadn't fallen apart due to substandard glue, I'm sure it would have fallen apart from being thrown across the room at moments of frustration. This is not to say that I think the people who liked these books are crazy or wrong, just that, as a matter of my personal taste, I didn't care for any of them. BTW, as far as Oathbound goes, it was written after a large number of T&K short stories had been written and published in S&S, and you had to have read all the short stories to really get the full effect of the novel. It mostly served as an account of what happened in between the short stories. Not the most readable style, but I have to say that Misty did as successful a job as I can imagine anyone doing. And Oathbreakers was actually pretty good, IMNHO. May the seas be your solace and the forests a refuge for your spirit, Cennydd Councilor of Mist Kenneth Allen Hyde | No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife Univ. of Delaware | between the shoulder blades will seriously Dept. of Linguistics | cramp his style -- Old Jhereg proverb kenny-+AT+-Udel.Edu | A mind is a terrible toy to waste! -- Me //www.ling.udel.edu/hyde/prof/ken.html ------------------------------ End of MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 1897 **********************************