Tag Archives: Tomat Meltz

Prodigal Son

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In which Scout Commander yos’Phelium returns to the scene of the crime.

I haven’t read this story since a while before the first time I read Ghost Ship, and there’s quite a bit more to it than I remembered. I remembered the mirrored scenes with Miri at the beginning and end, and I remembered everything that happened at the Explorers Club, but the entire middle section I’d completely forgotten about. It’s a much better story with the middle in.

(I recognised the bits with Nelirikk that were included in Ghost Ship, of course, because I’ve just finished reading that, but I remember thinking both times I read Ghost Ship that those must have been new additions to the course of events.)

Speaking of the mirrored sections at the beginning and end, I noticed on this re-read that the opening scene is also reflected in the middle, with Hakan and Kem taking the places of Val Con and Miri, and the place of the rocking chair being taken by a different rocking chair.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 67

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Winterfair

In which Zamir Meltz has something to say.

For someone who appears so little, and particularly as one whose appearances have consisted mainly of telling Hakan off when his enthusiasms run away with him, Hakan’s father has turned out quite well-rounded.

Agent sig’Alda remarks again on the luck that has preserved his life so far. It occurs to me that it may not be his luck — after all, Val Con needs him to stay alive too. And we’ve heard a lot about how Line yos’Phelium rides the Luck, but I don’t recall having heard anything similar said about Line sig’Alda.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 39

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Hellin’s Surcease

In which Val Con is not the only one who can sense danger and come to the rescue.

It’s not just the Loop, then, or if it is, it’s using Val Con’s own insecurities against him. The mission he let the genie out of the bottle for is to ensure Miri’s safety, and on some level he still believes that she’ll never be safe as long as she’s around him. Though Miri’s working on that, and has made significant progress by the end of the chapter.

Val Con’s hope that Miri would not be able to hear him the way he hears her is, it seems, to be disappointed, except in the narrow sense that she, being more visually-oriented, doesn’t hear music but sees a pattern. Which may be why he missed it when she alluded to the fact; he doesn’t have the right metaphor in place to immediately catch what she was talking about. Or it may well just have been that he had other things on his mind at that precise moment.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 37

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Hellin’s Surcease

In which Val Con and Hakan discuss heroism.

Zhena Trelu, Zhena Brigsbee and Miri stuck in a house together for three days? One shudders to think what the outcome might be. If Zhena Brigsbee has taken Zhena Trelu and Miri in while the farm’s being sorted out, does that mean that they are actually friends, despite all the complaining Zhena Trelu does, or was there some other motivation involved?

Val Con’s having trouble: he’s stuck in the agent of change headspace, and his attempts to get out of it are running up against the same emergency response, the “if you continue on this path you’re doomed” message from the Loop, that hit him when he first got out of it back on Edger’s ship. Miri’s presence helped then, but he seems to be avoiding Miri — is that the Loop’s doing too, because it’s learned that she could help him?

I wonder who Hellin was.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 33

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Springbreeze Farm

In which there is danger and Miri is home alone.

Things are heating up, with two hazardous situations developing in parallel. Although I don’t think they’re actually occurring simultaneously; I have a feeling the Edger subplot might be getting stretched out through the book instead of occurring at a consistent pace.

The radio news report Miri doesn’t listen to is presumably connected to the Bassilan rebels that were mentioned in passing the first time Zhena Trelu took Val Con and Miri in to Gylles.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 22

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Gylles

In which Val Con and Miri make some new friends.

Hakan may be physically short-sighted, but he sees better than some: he’s one of very few people in this novel or the last not to mistake Miri’s lack of stature for a lack of years. (He also gets her name right, even though he’s presumably grown up with the same phonemes as Zhena Trelu, which may be a testament to a musician’s ear and understanding of the importance that can be attached to almost-inaudible differences.)

This chapter includes some descriptions of what Terran sounds like to speakers of Benish, “a weird, chopping language” that “jarred on the ears”. Which implies something about what Benish itself sounds like. (I wonder what Hakan and Kem would make of Liaden, which is generally described as being smoother and more flowing.)