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This Thread Spoils Peacemaker; you know you want to click it
Topic Started: Apr 1 2014, 01:07 PM (3,432 Views)
Neco the Nightwraith
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This book has given me so many warm fuzzies!

Of note, it was mentioned that Tabini's mother was from Taiben. I dunno if anyone noticed that. I remember wondering about it a while back.

Poor Bren and Banichi! But the injuries don't seem to be slowing them down much (loved Banichi's protestation about having to drink while lying flat on his back. :P )

I am glad to be seeing all these different sides of the characters, and a deeper look into atevi lifestyle, culture, family unit, etc.

Dare I suggest that Banichi could have been the midwife if it came to that? :innocent

:wub: Peacemaker
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Neco the Nightwraith
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Another topical observation: In all the other books, there was never a mention of atevi wearing hats, until Peacemaker, with the mention that the kabiuteri were wearing square, white hats.

Also, bully mode doesn't look all that good on Bren. I felt a little awkward when he kept brandishing his fist at the Guild people. I dunno if it was the way the scene was written, or if I just have a hard time fitting Bren into the "bully" category. Still, remarkably few people died, so I guess he did all right. :P
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bmills
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The domineering front Bren put on was not an aspect of his personality. He was being deliberately bombastic so as to bluff their way as far into the Guild as they could, and to draw attention away from the other teams that were simultaneously inflitrating through other avenues.
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Neco the Nightwraith
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Did I mention this before? That in the earlier books, Bren's aishid were practically untouchable when it came to fire fights or other operations, but as the books progress, they are getting more and more of the hell beaten out of them? They've gone from being "graven gods" to real, mortal people. Which is, of course, correct, but it's interesting to see Bren's perception of them shift throughout the books, from tall, impassive, black aliens to expressive, kind, gentle, funny people with great skill and good humor and shy smiles, countered with the stubbornness, ruthlessness and stoicism required to do their jobs.

I love it. It's a yummy feeling.
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Xheralt
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Catching a round happens to anyone on a battlefield, raw recruit and canny veteran alike. :cherryh: is just showing that our heros don't necessarily have Plot Armor.
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magicdomino

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Having a brave lord with odd instincts makes things more difficult.

"Fool," Tabini said . . . "Fool. You shielded your own bodyguard last night. I have every suspicion of it."

"I truthfully cannot remember what I did, aiji-ma. We just sat against the wall, and there was a great deal of racket."

:inlove:
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Neco the Nightwraith
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A thought on Bren's head wound:

A persistent headache is not always a sign of lasting damage. A concussion can sometimes have a prolonged headache.

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A variety of signs accompany concussion including somatic (such as headache), cognitive (such as feeling in a fog), emotional (such as emotional changeability), physical signs (such as loss of consciousness or amnesia), behavioral changes (such as irritability), cognitive impairment (such as slowed reaction times), and/or sleep disturbances.


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Health care providers examine head trauma recipients to ensure that the injury is not a more severe emergency such as an intracranial hemorrhage. Assessment includes the "ABCs" (airway, breathing, circulation) and stabilization of the cervical spine which is assumed to be injured in any athlete who is found to be unconscious after head or neck injury. Indications that screening for more serious injury is needed include worsening of symptoms such as headache, persistent vomiting,[56] increasing disorientation or a deteriorating level of consciousness,[57] seizures, and unequal pupil size.[58] Those with such symptoms, or those who are at higher risk for a more serious brain injury, may undergo brain imaging to detect lesions and are frequently observed for 24 – 48 hours.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concussion

So he may not have a health scare, just a headache that will gradually fade away. :)
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Neco the Nightwraith
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I also enjoyed the reference to parid-ji being relatives to atevi.

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"Are parid'ji relatives to atevi?" Artur asked, which was a question that upset some people, mani said, but Cenedi had said probably, and his tutor had said...

"Maybe," he said. "There were bigger. There still could be in the mountains on the Southern island, maybe even this far north. The parid'ji used to live as far south as Shejidan, but all that forest went away. There used to be forest all the way across the Atageini ridge and clear on to the mountains, a long, long time ago. And there was forest all over the Southern island, except the coast. But that was before the three islands blew up."


Other than mentions early on of some atevi doing archeological studies in the Padi Valley, there haven't been any references to evolution, or what atevi thought when they considered their origins. Apart from the astronomers and their mathematicians, and the few mentions of medical knowledge as nand' Siegi patches people up, atevi sciences are fairly unknown to us as readers. This is a refreshing new view on my favorite alien species. ;)
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Spaceshiprat
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Reading speculation in this thread about future Paidhi roles for the children, it seems to me now very meaningful that Irene's gift to C. is a little vocabulary of human words, complete with pronunciation guides.

As for dissatisfaction with the series (but never disaffection!), I also feel the last two, maybe three trilogies dragged on a bit...
It makes me think about what Cherryh said in a note somewhere in the Chanur series - about how she was glad her editor gave her the freedom to split two books at an unresolved point instead of having to compromise the plot for the sake of pacing. - It seems to me she's still being very unconventional with the pacing of her stories, with the last example being the big fight in Peacemaker being in the first half of the book.
But, and here I try to get to my point, she's maintaining this very strict trilogy structure, and I wonder if that's causing the excess of fluff.

Not to say I don't like the fluff, every moment with these characters is precious and enjoyable. I think Peacemaker is the least plagued by downtime in the series, a lot of summing-up, yes, but it's actually helpful to have it all laid out straight for once, as Damiri-Daja said!
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