_Prize in the Game_, Walton: Review, Wibblings (long)
Kate Nepveu
the one the writer intended, the one the reader expected, and the one
that casts its shadow when the first two meet by moonlight." ("Rules
of Engagement," in _From the End of the Twentieth Century_.)
Using that metaphor, the first time I read Jo Walton's _The Prize in
the Game_, the cast shadow was even stranger than Deformed Rabbit
(everyone's favorite).
The reason, I realized, was that I had one of the stranger possible
sets of expectations going into the book. So I re-read it with a
clearer head, and I'm happy to say that it's very good. However, in
hopes of avoiding messing up _other_ people's expectations, I'm going
to put a semi-objective review first, which should be suitable for
people who haven't read the book yet. The wibbling about my
expectations will be second and spoiler-protected (and yes, that will
include what question I asked).
_Prize_ is set in the same world as Walton's first two novels, _The
King's Peace_ and _The King's Name_. It tells the backstory of the
Isarnagan (Irish-equivalent) characters appearing in those books, as
well as that of some who hadn't appeared on-stage before. It ought to
be possible to read _Prize_ first, but my general rule is to read
things in publication order. In this case, I think _Prize_ would end
rather abruptly to someone who didn't know the eventual fates of the
characters (there will be a sequel to _Prize_, called _Breaking the
Ward_). It would certainly be a very different experience, anyway--a
good analogy is reading _A Deepness in the Sky_ before _A Fire Upon
the Deep_. If anyone tries it, please report back to us.
_Prize_ is told from four alternating points of view. Conal is one of
the King of Oriel's nephews. Elenn and Emer are the daughters of
Connat's rulers; Elenn is one of the most beautiful women in the
world, and Emer aspires to be a charioteer. Ferdia is the heir to
Lagin, third of the five kingdoms of Tir Isarnagiri; he is also close
friends with Darag, Conal's cousin and rival.
As the book opens, Elenn, Emer, and Ferdia are all fostering at Oriel
for a year. The plot is grounded in Irish myth, and stems from the
contention over the heirship to Oriel, the ambitions of the King of
Connat, and a deity's curse--you know, standard stuff. I find myself
unable to come up with a more useful summary that doesn't spoil the
book, for which I apologize. In a way, this is a compliment to the
book, which is very effectively and efficiently constructed: the story
flows very smoothly, with every event leading toward the climax,
either directly or through foreshadowing (which is used frequently
and, I thought, to quite good effect).
The characterization and world-building are also portrayed thoroughly
_and_ economically, which I think is a pretty good trick. I doubt
there's a wasted word in the novel, though I wouldn't call it an
obscure or difficult book; it simply rewards careful reading. (There
are one or two things that I'm not entirely clear on, which will
appear in the spoiler section at the end of this post. However, they
aren't central to the book.) Obviously, a lot of thought has gone into
building the world, but the book never stops and says, for instance,
"Here now is an explication of different kinds of trees and the
knowledge associated with them." Instead, the third-person viewpoints
mention the information that would naturally cross the minds of those
characters--thus combining two of my favorite things, depth of
world-building and internally consistent narrative voice.
Thanks to the quality of the narration and the characterization, I
certainly did not lack for emotional involvement with the characters.
This was almost a problem; as Dennis Leary said in _No Cure for
Cancer_, "From the beginning of time all the way up to U2--there has
never been a happy Irish song," and I rather suspect that applies to
Irish myth, too. You've been warned. I found also it interesting to
meet the younger versions of Conal, Emer, and Elenn, since I could see
pretty easily how they became the people we first met in _The King's
Peace_, and to see Darag and Ferdia, who are mentioned in _Peace_ and
_Name_ but do not appear.
In summary: excellent book. Go read it. Then come back and read the
rest of this post. First, I don't want to mess up your expectations,
and second, there are spoilers, really big ones.
SPOILERS
for all of _Prize_, and _Peace_ and _Name_ to some degree.
Really. SPOILERS.
So, my weird expectations. There were really two. First: in a way,
this book is my fault: I asked Jo a question that got her thinking
about the story (which she already knew) from a different angle. I was
rather chuffed at the idea when I heard this, and later when I saw the
dedication. However, it was really weird reading the book the first
time, knowing what question I'd asked, and trying to see how that fit
in with what was on the page in front of me.
Second: I didn't know the story of the Tain Bo Cuailnge, a.k.a. the
Cattle Raid of Cooley, which is what the plot is based on, or inspired
by, or something. (I've only looked at a paragraph summary, so I don't
know how closely or loosely they connect.) I knew bits and pieces of
what the plot _might_ be from references in the Sulien books--but for
some reason I wasn't really putting them together properly in my head.
Collectively, these were very distracting.
The question. Jo did a review of a non-existent Shakesperian play a
while back [1], which included Emma Thompson as Guinevere saying, "The
two best men in all the world have loved me." I think I would have
noticed it anyway, but Andrea Leistra mentioned that she found it
startling when she read it in _The King's Peace_ [2], so it definitely
caught my eye. It's in the epigraph to Chapter 18, part of an
excerpted poem called "The Three Great Queens of the Island of Tir
Tanagiri." We first met Elenn in that chapter, but I wasn't entirely
sure the line was referring to her, since there were three verses, and
the title referred to three queens. (This is the verse that appears at
the front of _Prize_.) So I asked Jo (paraphrased) if we were going to
be able to guess who the two best men were, or if it was referring to
Sirs Not Appearing In These Novels. A couple months later, I saw on
Usenet that this had resulted in a book, much to my surprise and
delight. [3]
[1]
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=969477318snz%40bluejo.demon.co.uk
[2]
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=8rb0cn%24f8b%241%40news.ccit.arizona.edu
[3]
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=983778593snz%40bluejo.demon.co.uk
So, knowing that the question was, "who were the two best men?", you
can see how I had weird expectations going into _Prize_. One of them
was Urdo, who was undoubtedly one of the best men of his age. I was
expecting someone comparable--and instead I got _Ferdia_.
Now, before I read _Prize_, I flipped through the Sulien books to
refresh my memory about the characters. So I sort of expected that
Ferdia was the other man; Emer calls him "too honorable to live," and
Elenn says she could have trusted him, at the end of _Name_. (My copy
of which calls him "Fendia," though I read it as "Ferdia" until just
now.) But when I got to Ferdia's viewpoint, I was horribly
disoriented: surely _this_ can't be the person they were talking
about? Maybe it was actually Darag (who comes off considerably better
in person than as an off-stage figure who kills Sulien's friends and
takes their heads). How does everyone end up thinking he's honorable
and loves Elenn and stuff? Etcetera.
I was also very upset on Elenn's behalf after finishing the book the
first time. Elenn thinks she could have trusted both her father and
Ferdia if they were around, and we're shown in _Prize_ that she was
wrong. I suppose it could be better for her that she never had to
learn that she was wrong--but she also goes her whole life thinking
that Ferdia died because he loved her, which is a burden she needn't
have borne. I don't know which is preferable, but gosh, it's not as
though her life didn't suck enough as it was.
Anyway, I _do_ like it now that I've read it more calmly, which is
good because for a while I was afraid I hated it, I was so upset by
the various characters. That would have been a rather unfortunate
outcome. =>
(Two asides: First, I'm curious who Elenn's father was, though if that
requires a book to answer, never mind, because I think a whole book of
Maga would cause me to gouge my eyes out.
(Second, I found Elenn a somewhat frustrating viewpoint character,
though ultimately sympathetic. And goodness, they're all so *young*!)
I see from prior discussion that people were debating what the prize
of the title is. I think the prize in the _verse_ is definitely Elenn,
given the above context. However, I like the way the prize of the
_title_ could either be Elenn, or Connat, or possibly even friendship
or adulthood.
Like others, I'm not entirely sure what Darag saw in Ferdia; I can see
a few things, like his loneliness, and Ferdia's devotion--but it
doesn't quite gel for me.
Finally, I'm also not sure what the second killing is for purposes of
the curse. I suppose it could be the swan, but I feel like it ought to
be another horse. *shrug* Again, this might be answered in the myth.
--
Kate Nepveu
E-mail: kne...@steelypips.org
Home: http://www.steelypips.org/
Book log: http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/
Jo Walton
> It ought to
> be possible to read _Prize_ first, but my general rule is to read
> things in publication order. In this case, I think _Prize_ would end
> rather abruptly to someone who didn't know the eventual fates of the
> characters (there will be a sequel to _Prize_, called _Breaking the
> Ward_). It would certainly be a very different experience, anyway--a
> good analogy is reading _A Deepness in the Sky_ before _A Fire Upon
> the Deep_. If anyone tries it, please report back to us.
There's a review from someone who read it without reading the others
on a romance reviews website -- it's not Romantic Times, it's something
else. (Jo says helpfully...) I also had a test reader who hadn't read
the others. I think it works.
I haven't yet heard from anyone who has read it and then read the
others, and I'd be fascinated to hear if anyone does.
> This was almost a problem; as Dennis Leary said in _No Cure for
> Cancer_, "From the beginning of time all the way up to U2--there has
> never been a happy Irish song," and I rather suspect that applies to
> Irish myth, too.
For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.
G.K. Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse. I'd say they've had some
deeply unmerry wars since then, but it's still true about the songs.
There are some really funny Irish myths, (suppresses the urge to
consider "The Sons of Tuirean" as a fantasy novel) but they do all tend
to end badly.
That this was part of Elenn's backstory was central to my conception of
her character all along. Elenn is Guinevere, and the character this
happens to in the Tain is called Fionnbhaire, which is the same name in
Irish, and making the connection to make it the same person is something
I did ages ago, before I started writing any of it. It's the way my mind
works.
When I was writing the Sulien story with the Tain story in the
background, I was assuming that Ferdia actually was wonderful. (Though
Emer's right that he's too honourable to live, someone less honourable
would have laughed at Maga's threat, what Maga did to get him to fight
is something that only works on someone who is honourable. Poor Ferdia.)
It would be a very boring story if Ferdia was in fact wonderful.
Besides, I thought everyone *knew* that story.
Your question made me look at it from the other end, that's Elenn
speaking, Elenn isn't very good at telling that kind of thing, she
thinks men are a different species, what if she thought he was one of
the best men in all the world but... and also, the relationship between
Ferdia and Darag (Cuchulain) in the legend has always seemed to be
centrally important to both men, far more so than the girl being offered
as a prize, however it seemed to her.
So I saw a way I could write it, with all of them so terribly young,
that would be interesting to do.
And I'd just like to say that after Urdo died, Elenn became a nun at
Thansethan and eventually rose to lead the community and to have a seat
on the Council in her own right. I said this in the last chapter of _The
King's Name_ but I thought I'd say it again now.
The weird thing for me is that I started out thinking that this was a
book about Elenn, and it turned out to be so equally a book about the
four of them.
> Anyway, I _do_ like it now that I've read it more calmly, which is
> good because for a while I was afraid I hated it, I was so upset by
> the various characters. That would have been a rather unfortunate
> outcome. =>
Well I'm glad about that!
> (Two asides: First, I'm curious who Elenn's father was, though if that
> requires a book to answer, never mind, because I think a whole book of
> Maga would cause me to gouge my eyes out.
Me too. I don't even want to think about it.
I don't know who Elenn's father is, it may or may not be significant.
> (Second, I found Elenn a somewhat frustrating viewpoint character,
> though ultimately sympathetic. And goodness, they're all so *young*!)
I'd be interested to know if you look at her differently from Sulien's
POV if you re-read the other two.
> I see from prior discussion that people were debating what the prize
> of the title is. I think the prize in the _verse_ is definitely Elenn,
> given the above context. However, I like the way the prize of the
> _title_ could either be Elenn, or Connat, or possibly even friendship
> or adulthood.
Yes.
> Like others, I'm not entirely sure what Darag saw in Ferdia; I can see
> a few things, like his loneliness, and Ferdia's devotion--but it
> doesn't quite gel for me.
Mostly the same thing Conal saw in Emer, someone of the same rank from
outside the family who puts them first and takes their side, and having
someone to talk to. Darag was awfully lonely. Oh well, if it doesn't
come across it's too late to try to fix that now.
> Finally, I'm also not sure what the second killing is for purposes of
> the curse. I suppose it could be the swan, but I feel like it ought to
> be another horse. *shrug* Again, this might be answered in the myth.
It isn't the swan.
--
Jo I kissed a kif at Kefk blu...@vif.com
THE KING'S PEACE and THE KING'S NAME available in paperback
THE PRIZE IN THE GAME out now!
sadly out-of-date webpage: http://www.bluejo.demon.co.uk
Konrad Gaertner
>
> Kate Nepveu wrote:
> > SPOILERS
> >
> > for all of _Prize_, and _Peace_ and _Name_ to some degree.
> >
> > Really. SPOILERS.
> >
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> >
> > (Second, I found Elenn a somewhat frustrating viewpoint character,
> > though ultimately sympathetic. And goodness, they're all so *young*!)
>
> I'd be interested to know if you look at her differently from Sulien's
> POV if you re-read the other two.
I did that, and I couldn't quite figure out why she was called a
great queen. She was a very *good* queen, skilled in diplomacy and
logistics (very important), but not the sort of things to prompt
songs about you.
And what idiot sainted Marchel?
> > I see from prior discussion that people were debating what the prize
> > of the title is. I think the prize in the _verse_ is definitely Elenn,
> > given the above context. However, I like the way the prize of the
> > _title_ could either be Elenn, or Connat, or possibly even friendship
> > or adulthood.
I noticed in _King's Name_, during a dinner before the battle, Atha
is there with her captain "a quiet, sensible man named Leary ap
Ringabur". Which was a bit of a surprise.
> > Finally, I'm also not sure what the second killing is for purposes of
> > the curse. I suppose it could be the swan, but I feel like it ought to
> > be another horse. *shrug* Again, this might be answered in the myth.
>
> It isn't the swan.
Was it the horses killed in Atha's cattle raid? That was my guess
since it fit "tool" better, but that didn't happen at Ardmachen.
--KG
David Goldfarb
Kate Nepveu <kne...@steelypips.org> wrote:
>Second: I didn't know the story of the Tain Bo Cuailnge, a.k.a. the
>Cattle Raid of Cooley, which is what the plot is based on, or inspired
>by, or something. (I've only looked at a paragraph summary, so I don't
>know how closely or loosely they connect.)
I'd say that it's based on the _Tain_ in somewhat the same way that
_The Once and Future King_ is based on Malory's _Morte D'Arthur_.
There are characters and incidents recognizably similar, but overall
the author is doing something more coherent and more modern.
Thomas Kinsella did a translation of the _Tain_ that is worth reading;
Katie was inspired by _Prize_ to seek it out, and I read it too when
she had it out of the library. It's a very interesting paired read
with _Prize_. (If nothing else you will see why Jo in her first draft
had the king of Oriel named "Daman". :-)
--
David Goldfarb <*>|"Steppe nomads are a lot less frightening since
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | tanks were invented."
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu | -- Graydon
Sharon Goetz
kgae...@worldnet.att.net says...
[spoiler left over for _TKP_ and _TKN_]
> And what idiot sainted Marchel?
This actually made sense to me, as a small sharp example of how
differently the official (Thansethan) and secret (Sulien-POV) histories
were cast. From the POV of pebble-wearers, Marchel did everything in her
power to ...rectify things, after all.
Arrgh. Despite knowing that it's futile and totally not the point, I
still can't stop mapping our-world things to Thansethan. It seems most
like St Augustine's Canterbury to me, even though "than-" is a pretty
clear echo of "llan-". Maybe an amalgam of St Augustine's and Christ
Church works better, since one needs the fingers trailing in secular
power that the latter would give.
sharon
Konrad Gaertner
>
> In article <3E238BA5...@worldnet.att.net>,
> kgae...@worldnet.att.net says...
> [spoiler left over for _TKP_ and _TKN_]
> > And what idiot sainted Marchel?
>
> This actually made sense to me, as a small sharp example of how
> differently the official (Thansethan) and secret (Sulien-POV) histories
> were cast. From the POV of pebble-wearers, Marchel did everything in her
> power to ...rectify things, after all.
But I don't remember anyone from Thansethan defending her, like
they did when her brother screwed up an entire island.
--KG
Sean O'Hara
Marchel lied about why Urdo exiled her. I suspect that her version
of events became the accepted history on the mainland and
eventually supplanted any contradictory records kept in Thansethan.
(And if I'm wrong, the authors around here somewhere to correct
me.)
--
Sean O'Hara
Donnie: Why do you wear that stupid rabbit suit?
Frank: Why do you wear that stupid man suit?
--Richard Kelly, "Donnie Darko"