I really enjoyed this. Wonderfully written, evocative, well-parceled world building, but the end really soured me on the main character. It's realistic, but I would have preferred a defensible anti-hero instead of someone whose greatest ambition is to perpetuate the cycle of oppression and violence.
I finished this sitting at my desk with a headphone hidden in my ear.
I would have preferred a defensible anti-hero instead of someone whose greatest ambition is to perpetuate the cycle of oppression and violence.
I'm torn on that last point - while I agree that the cycle is bad, when you look at it from the POV of the oppressed, it is defensible. At least in the sense of the word that means you can make a rational defense of their position. From the POV of the revolutionary, the revolution is the "ends" - and the Grey Kings taught them the means.
Above all, I picture their bones in the plazas. Outside of their ruined city, I imagine our villages, huts made from their rib-cages and covered with stretched skin. I see their tusks used for ornaments and trade, but most of all, I dream of the day when those grey killers are fastened into the ploughs, urged on by a whip in a human hand.
In general it gave me a vibe of "I made this interesting animal sentient and hyper-violent so that I could imagine fighting them as a badass opressed underdog!! I'm so cool!!". Which just isn't something I'm personally into.
I finished this sitting at my desk with a headphone hidden in my ear.
Yeah, I was a bit late for work because I was sitting out in the parking lot listening to this. Wow.
I would have preferred a defensible anti-hero instead of someone whose greatest ambition is to perpetuate the cycle of oppression and violence.
I'm torn on that last point - while I agree that the cycle is bad, when you look at it from the POV of the oppressed, it is defensible. At least in the sense of the word that means you can make a rational defense of their position. From the POV of the revolutionary, the revolution is the "ends" - and the Grey Kings taught them the means.
If he's anything like me, I don't think it's the violence so much as the oppression that Eisenheim is concerned about. That bit at the end where Ghost says,QuoteAbove all, I picture their bones in the plazas. Outside of their ruined city, I imagine our villages, huts made from their rib-cages and covered with stretched skin. I see their tusks used for ornaments and trade, but most of all, I dream of the day when those grey killers are fastened into the ploughs, urged on by a whip in a human hand.
That's more than just the violence necessary to overthrow your oppressors; it goes right back out the other side to being the oppressor. Whether or not it's possible for revenge to be just, it's not any kind of 'justice' (or even, in my opinion, reasonable revenge, if such a thing can exist) to visit the horrors your ancestors experienced onto the descendants of those who perpetrated them.
And the fact that many elephants in the real world are treated this way makes it even more disturbing.