This could easily have been merged into the next chapter, or even been absorbed into the previous and next chapters.
Or just left out entirely - I could live with that.
If he's so bad at lying, that's another reason he should try to sneak in instead.
Of course, we later find out he's just as terrible at sneaking. He trips over so easily I'm starting to think he might have a problem with his middle ear.
Still in the cart outside, I suppose (not that we find out what happens to it in the end).
You'd think they'd want to preserve and mount it as a trophy, considering.
And yes, some kind of explanation for the difference would be nice (and easy to give by saying the Riders provided the upper classes with higher tech... though would it have stayed that way for a hundred years?).
Unlikely, and we already know the Riders hid all that technology shit, so presumably that included the nobility. In any case technology and culture might affect each other but they aren't the same thing.
And you won't bother to describe them to us so we can guess what they are? I actually did like that a bit when Paolini did it in Eragon with a parrot and a statue of a porcupine.
How on earth would Alaglag have parrots anyway? The climate is completely wrong.
I still think that bounty's too small, since Muckmaw's been causing problems for sixty years.
Yeah, I would have been like "four bucks? Seriously? Screw you, I'm gonna go make a new Mr Fishy because clearly you tightwads deserve it."
This also sounds a bit like she's trying to censor mentions of Galbatorix.
Yeah, and that annoys me.
Hmm, I see that it can mean a soldier, but that's quite archaic as a meaning.
Because Paolini just HAS to go for the fancier or more old-fashioned term even though it doesn't fit.
Yes, you should have, but you can still do better from now on.
Surprise! He won't.
That's the part he's got some trouble following through on; he'd rather ruminate endlessly about his pasts than apply it to his present.
That's exactly it. Morontagh whines and broods endlessly over his Tragic Past, but he doesn't learn anything from it. He makes all the same mistakes and ends right back where he started from, all because he refuses to learn and grow because he'd rather just throw an endless series of pity parties. And when a character acts like that it doesn't matter a damn how much melodramatic pain and torment they have in their past - nobody's going to feel the least bit sorry for them. Because right now all the bad shit that happens to him is his own stupid fault.
In other words, he deserves it.
Also, the feeling I got from this on first read is "Colonial captain with masks from colonised culture", given the treatment of these nomads.
Yeeeeaah, just how did he acquire these things? It sounds to me like they've probably got some sort of cultural if not religious significance to the "nomads", so would they really be willing to sell them to some random guy from the cities? Or are we to take it that the masks were instead stolen or looted? Gods know there's plenty of real world examples of douchebag colonisers looting relics and even human remains from the locals and taking them home to put on display in the drawing room. As such Paolini really should have just not gone there. There's enough colonialist bullshit in his books to begin with.
They did exist at the end of Eldest, when Galbatorix hid his army in one!
And which nobody ever uses again. How convenient.
Along with the readback, which serves literally no purporse but padding.
It doesn't help at all that this bit reminds me of the hilarious "swearing in" scene from Terry Pratchett's Men At Arms where the joke is that the clueless Carrot reads out everything including "square bracket insert name of current reigning monarch square bracket" which the recruits dutifully repeat, with Detritus the troll lagging several sentences behind so he doesn't finish until later on when everyone else has started talking about other things.
I don't think that's a problem per se; he might want to lie low because he hates the idea of being in power due to his past, for example. As it is, though, the answer isn't convincing enough.
A friend has just pointed out to me that the way people in general view Riders should have changed after the war. Eragon and Saphira had to hide because Galby would have (allegedly, eventually) come after them. But Galby's gone. Riders don't have to hide any more. Also they're supposed to be "Alaglag's hope". Why not rehabilitate their nonsensically tainted reputations by going around in the open, helping people? Instead of this boring subterfuge crap?
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Date: 2025-01-17 02:41 am (UTC)Or just left out entirely - I could live with that.
Of course, we later find out he's just as terrible at sneaking. He trips over so easily I'm starting to think he might have a problem with his middle ear.
You'd think they'd want to preserve and mount it as a trophy, considering.
Unlikely, and we already know the Riders hid all that technology shit, so presumably that included the nobility. In any case technology and culture might affect each other but they aren't the same thing.
How on earth would Alaglag have parrots anyway? The climate is completely wrong.
Yeah, I would have been like "four bucks? Seriously? Screw you, I'm gonna go make a new Mr Fishy because clearly you tightwads deserve it."
Yeah, and that annoys me.
Because Paolini just HAS to go for the fancier or more old-fashioned term even though it doesn't fit.
Surprise! He won't.
That's exactly it. Morontagh whines and broods endlessly over his Tragic Past, but he doesn't learn anything from it. He makes all the same mistakes and ends right back where he started from, all because he refuses to learn and grow because he'd rather just throw an endless series of pity parties. And when a character acts like that it doesn't matter a damn how much melodramatic pain and torment they have in their past - nobody's going to feel the least bit sorry for them. Because right now all the bad shit that happens to him is his own stupid fault.
In other words, he deserves it.
Yeeeeaah, just how did he acquire these things? It sounds to me like they've probably got some sort of cultural if not religious significance to the "nomads", so would they really be willing to sell them to some random guy from the cities? Or are we to take it that the masks were instead stolen or looted? Gods know there's plenty of real world examples of douchebag colonisers looting relics and even human remains from the locals and taking them home to put on display in the drawing room. As such Paolini really should have just not gone there. There's enough colonialist bullshit in his books to begin with.
And which nobody ever uses again. How convenient.
It doesn't help at all that this bit reminds me of the hilarious "swearing in" scene from Terry Pratchett's Men At Arms where the joke is that the clueless Carrot reads out everything including "square bracket insert name of current reigning monarch square bracket" which the recruits dutifully repeat, with Detritus the troll lagging several sentences behind so he doesn't finish until later on when everyone else has started talking about other things.
A friend has just pointed out to me that the way people in general view Riders should have changed after the war. Eragon and Saphira had to hide because Galby would have (allegedly, eventually) come after them. But Galby's gone. Riders don't have to hide any more. Also they're supposed to be "Alaglag's hope". Why not rehabilitate their nonsensically tainted reputations by going around in the open, helping people? Instead of this boring subterfuge crap?