The Shadowspawn are so literally evil that it is a relief when some of them are killed at the end of A Taint In The Blood. The action is so fast that I became a bit unsure as to who was shooting at whom but I expect that everything will be clear in Volume II which has been ordered.
Aetheric bodies need oxygen and dissolve into entropy when killed. Might consciousness, originating in physical bodies, be able to exercise "Power" over other forms of energy? It would be tragic if such Power were to be possessed by individuals who used it for nothing but sadistic power over other human beings. But a Power that had evolved in prehistory probably would be used only for selfish gratification. Someone had to imagine the worst and SM Stirling has done. (I feared a really nasty ending this time but that did not happen, fortunately.)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Practically all of the Shadowspawn we see in Stirling's A TAINT IN THE BLOOD and its two sequels were evil because they were raised to be monsters thru their parents, "normal" humans, being members of secret organizations, like the Order of the Black Dawn, believing themselves to be Satanists and choosing to be BAD. But it's not inevitable for a Shadowspawn to turn out like that, as the case of Adrian Breze shows. Harvey Ledbetter, one of the top agents of the Brotherhood, was tasked with killing the young Adrian, but he had a hunch and took him prisoner instead. Adrian was 13 at the time and was not yet too old to come to different ideas and beliefs.
Which leads me to conclude that if Shadowspawn children were raised by decent people, they have a chance of turning out not too badly. After age 13, however, it might be too late and they will become mass murdering monsters who can only be executed.
Sean
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