I've made no secret through the years that this is one of my favorites, if not my very favorite of Mike's fantasies.
Structurally, I love the flow of the books. Fabulous Harbors is an effective middle work, allowing you to catch your breath and mine the themes that the novels examine. Similarly, the episodes of the Corsairs (and their ultimate involvement with the resolution of the series) provide perspective and a valuable change of pace.
I also love the characters. I cannot say enough about Jack, Sam, Colendo, and the Rose. More importantly, their relationships are real--complex, sometimes tragic, and intertwined in many ways.
The idea that jugadors, playing the game of time, create realities and then see them play out is important to the larger body of Mike's fantasy, but is also intriguing on its own, particularly the manipulation of time and space as scale. I also like the inversion of what is familiar throughout all of the books. The American south is the most obvious inversion, but allusions to Mike's other characters provide even more subtle (and sometimes more rewarding) moments.
More to say, but...
I'm interested in others' thoughts...
Structurally, I love the flow of the books. Fabulous Harbors is an effective middle work, allowing you to catch your breath and mine the themes that the novels examine. Similarly, the episodes of the Corsairs (and their ultimate involvement with the resolution of the series) provide perspective and a valuable change of pace.
I also love the characters. I cannot say enough about Jack, Sam, Colendo, and the Rose. More importantly, their relationships are real--complex, sometimes tragic, and intertwined in many ways.
The idea that jugadors, playing the game of time, create realities and then see them play out is important to the larger body of Mike's fantasy, but is also intriguing on its own, particularly the manipulation of time and space as scale. I also like the inversion of what is familiar throughout all of the books. The American south is the most obvious inversion, but allusions to Mike's other characters provide even more subtle (and sometimes more rewarding) moments.
More to say, but...
I'm interested in others' thoughts...
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