Coldfire re-read: looking back at Where Power Abides

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Since our last retrospective post just before the Crusaders left for the Forest and Damien and Tarrant headed for Mount Shaitan, a lot has been going on.


Links

Chapters 28 and 29
Chapters 30 and 31
Chapters 32 and 33
Chapters 34 and 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapters 39 and 40




Thoughts

• One of the big surprises of this re-read is that I actually dislike Andrys a little bit less than I thought. He starts out as definitely not hero material, but in the final few chapters there's been a good bit of character growth. He's still not a character I consider likable, but he has more potential than I've been crediting him with.



• Gerald. Just keeping track of his state at any one time is tricky. Undead. Immortal. Undead with an expiration date. Dying. Alive. Dead. Towards the end, it feels like Friedman tried to kill him off and he just wouldn't let her.



• What I love about the section we've been reading here is the development of the relationship between Damien and Gerald. They're on a far more equal level now than before, and they're at a point where they trust each other without limitations.



• How much of a threat did you feel Calesta was? It's been too long since my first read to remember whether I really took him seriously as a villain. Neither the Master of Lema nor the Undying Prince are convincing to me, and Calesta... he makes strange mistakes, especially in where he focuses his attention and how he times his plans. What do you think of him?



• alice_montrose has long been saying that the Patriarch and Tarrant are a lot more similar than either of them would like to admit. I have to agree with her, especially now that the Patriarch has taken that first step onto that slippery slope of using whatever tool available. But does the Patriarch still come across as a character who's staying true to himself?



• What did you think of the Iezu plotline and the whole concept of that alien race? I'm still not sure about it after all this time - any thoughts?




We're on the home stretch now - there are only three posts left, the next one being for chapter 43 and 44, where we begin to wrap things up.