Lamentation — Chapters 1 to 24

[Stephan]

Discuss chapters one to twenty four of Lamentation here!

[brando17c]

I just wanted to post a quick example of how I think the author's writing style could be improved.

I'm at the section (not sure...chapter 19? 20?) where Rudolfo and Jin Li Tam have escaped from the Papal north hideout/resort & spa, and they've taken a private walk together. Rudolfo has just flashed back to his attempts to procreate, but unfortunately, his soldiers have no swords, even though they've passed through many a gate. Actually, that's a pretty funny analogy. Anyway, the section ends as he tells this to Jin Li, and he's expected her to have one type of reaction, whereas, to his surprise, she has another.

Instead of having Jin Li go through her message from her father in a previous section/chapter, what if Scholes (it took me 4 retypes to type that correctly) left that section out until after this specific point, where she flashes back to reading that message from her father? At least this way, both Rudolfo and the reader might be intrigued at her response (at least for half a chapter), instead of just being TOLD that Rudolfo is intrigued, though the reader already knows the answer.

Just want to point out that yes, I am still enjoying this book, but it's definitely not the best I've read.

[brando17c]

Okay, one more comment here...and then the rest of my thoughts for this section (I've now finished the book).

In one of these chapters, Neb's thought-stream uses the word "glossolalia." I mean, seriously? Okay, so it's really a word (I looked it up, as I hadn't actually come across the word EVER before), but from whose @$$ (that's acceptable in this forum, right?!?) did Neb pull this word? Okay, so the kid is smart, being brought up in the information capitol of the world. Still, his normal speech and thought process consists of relatively basic vocabulary. Was he one of those kids that looked through the dictionary and chose a word each day to learn and use? Seemed very out of context for the flow here.

At the end of this grouping of chapters, it definitely started to get more interesting for me. The main characters still hadn't really changed much for me, and thus they've been very predictable, but it's the other players (and Vlad Li Tam in particular) that offer a change-up.

Not much else to say on this section, so I'll finish my thoughts in the entire book section.

[Aldric]

I don't have a problem with that word. I'm quite familiar with it, because of those crazy pentecostal religious people. It's the only single word for 'speaking in tongues' I know of. Do you know of another?

[brando17c]

Negative, Aldric, I don't know of another single word for "speaking in tongues," but I still think that word doesn't fit well with Neb's general vocabulary. I'm pretty sure I've never come across the word in my life, but maybe I'm just sheltered. I'm sure I've never come across plenty of English words in my life, though, so I guess that doesn't mean much.

[brando17c]

My god, I just realized that I'm a peasant's daughter...no wonder I didn't know the word!!!

[Caitrin]

Hahaha, I didn't know it either! Then again I"m a ""

To continue my thoughts on Neb, I wish that his disability with speaking would have lasted much longer. It would have been way more interesting that way imo.

I thought the twist with Winter as the Marsh King was clever and unexpected. For a bit I thought Scholes had inserted something else as a twist, mainly I misread when Vlad was talking about his 50th son and thought he was referring to Neb, since Neb found the ring, not realizing he meant another person who crafted the ring.

I'm not sure what I think about the dreams/prophecies yet, how they all seem real. I like that the Androfrancine's would be wrong about them but so far they are kind of meh to me.

Also, why do the good guys like Neb or Petronus never question Rudulpho's decision and desire to take the mecho's and make the library anew up in his country? I mean it's not like they were in on the plan with Vlad.

And when will we learn more about Sethbert? :headdesk

Overall though I enjoyed these last 8 chapters much more than the previous 16 and read them relatively quickly.

[Stephan]

Honestly, the insertion of dreams and prophesies was the last straw to turn me off of this book for good. I mean, it just comes out of the blue, and it's all so darn convenient. The only way I will respect those dreams and prophesies is if the final reveal shows that Li Tam is the bad guy and has been controlling people's dreams. But then, that would be quite Sword of Truth.

Talking about that, Vlad Li Tam does seem like a great character. He's the only morally ambiguous person in the entire book, it seems. I sure hope there's more to this story than meets the eye. There's definitely a lot of potential for some mastermind behind the scenes. Vlad seems to be the mastermind for good, but he needs an evil counterpart, someone who is out for the destruction of the Light. That would certainly redeem this book.

Winters the Marsh King is pretty awesome, too, btw. She's sorta hot, and I'm rooting for Neb now.

Brando, your example makes a lot of sense. I encountered a bunch more scenes just like that, where the writing just seemed slightly off to me.

And as a last note, I really dislike how, in this batch of chapters, the chronological order of viewpoints has been abandoned. It happened only in some occasions, but I definitely liked the fact that they were so perfectly chronological, and I think the change to that was unnecessary.

[Stephan]

Btw, I also didn't know the word, but considering Neb was raised in sort of a huge religious sect, I'm not bothered by his use of the word.

[Stephan]

At the end of this grouping of chapters, it definitely started to get more interesting for me. The main characters still hadn't really changed much for me, and thus they've been very predictable, but it's the other players (and Vlad Li Tam in particular) that offer a change-up.

Overall though I enjoyed these last 8 chapters much more than the previous 16 and read them relatively quickly.

In concur. Things seem to be moving more quickly now, and it's easier to get through. I really had to force myself to read those first sixteen chapters, but it's more interesting now.