I'd wondered what it might be like for Tarrant once they shut down access to the fae. He said adepts could still See, but they couldn't touch anymore, and given Ciani's description about what "seeing" really means for adepts, I wonder how extensive that severing is for them. But I hadn't given any thought to what it might be like for them to leave the planet. Tarrant, at least, seems to have an interesting perspective on it. He's built devices and founds ways to bar the fae from reaching them. So when he stands in that warding circle around his telescope, he's cutting himself off. I always wished he'd seen fit to talk about that a little.
In hindsight, I see a lot of infodumping going on, but while I'm reading, it seems so interesting. World-building like this--inventing creative new settings and giving thought to the details and what they must imply--are kind of a thing for me. And since it's the characters who are sharing the information, what they know and what they focus on gives you some insights into them as well as the world they're discussing. I think that helps make it feel like less an encyclopedia entry.
I love this chapter for showing Damien's scholarly side. It also brings to attention the Church's service as an academic body. Note that Senzei, who has dedicated himself to understanding the fae with a zealot's passion, is sorely lacking in this particular area of research, which Damien has obviously studied extensively (this chapter also does a good job of juxtaposing the mindset of an earth-human to the gymnatics of reasoning required to make sense of Erna).
Damien's perspective is that of an observer when it comes to the fae. Whether he judges or not, he looks on it as an outsider--and this, you begin to gather, is due to the nature of his faith. On Erna, faith is not only a matter of belief, because belief-as-reality becomes a scientific fact. It becomes a matter of living in a way that allows you to recognize and even use that fact to your (well, humanity's) advantage. The Church is as much a technological endeavor (in the sense of 'technology' as any tool that is bent to human use) as a religion; this 'faith' is in the end a faith in Erna's form of physics.
It's so very, very Tarrant--elegant, brilliant, and featuring a coldly logical harnessing of emotion.
But it makes me fascinated with the clergy of the One Church, too. Damien demonstrates that the priesthood, at least, is well aware of the nature of their religion. These are men and women who study, live, and expand upon the Prophet's work. On the surface, the Church bears so much similarity to Catholicism and other easily recognizable Earth religions...but strip off the trappings, and you find very distinct motivations and thought processes. Again, the way Friedman uses this world-building to shape and inform her characters is one of the things that I love about these books.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-09-29 04:40 pm (UTC)In hindsight, I see a lot of infodumping going on, but while I'm reading, it seems so interesting. World-building like this--inventing creative new settings and giving thought to the details and what they must imply--are kind of a thing for me. And since it's the characters who are sharing the information, what they know and what they focus on gives you some insights into them as well as the world they're discussing. I think that helps make it feel like less an encyclopedia entry.
I love this chapter for showing Damien's scholarly side. It also brings to attention the Church's service as an academic body. Note that Senzei, who has dedicated himself to understanding the fae with a zealot's passion, is sorely lacking in this particular area of research, which Damien has obviously studied extensively (this chapter also does a good job of juxtaposing the mindset of an earth-human to the gymnatics of reasoning required to make sense of Erna).
Damien's perspective is that of an observer when it comes to the fae. Whether he judges or not, he looks on it as an outsider--and this, you begin to gather, is due to the nature of his faith. On Erna, faith is not only a matter of belief, because belief-as-reality becomes a scientific fact. It becomes a matter of living in a way that allows you to recognize and even use that fact to your (well, humanity's) advantage. The Church is as much a technological endeavor (in the sense of 'technology' as any tool that is bent to human use) as a religion; this 'faith' is in the end a faith in Erna's form of physics.
It's so very, very Tarrant--elegant, brilliant, and featuring a coldly logical harnessing of emotion.
But it makes me fascinated with the clergy of the One Church, too. Damien demonstrates that the priesthood, at least, is well aware of the nature of their religion. These are men and women who study, live, and expand upon the Prophet's work. On the surface, the Church bears so much similarity to Catholicism and other easily recognizable Earth religions...but strip off the trappings, and you find very distinct motivations and thought processes. Again, the way Friedman uses this world-building to shape and inform her characters is one of the things that I love about these books.