""'...we can't do anything about it. Can we?'"
-CHAPTER FOURTEEN, p. 346.
"He drew a long breath. 'Come aside with me and let us talk,' he said."
-CHAPTER FIFTEEN, p. 347.
That was unusual: a question asked at the end of one chapter and answered at the beginning of the next. Usually, a chapter change is a change of scene although sometimes the end of one chapter prepares for the beginning of the next. Thus, in CHAPTER THREE, Targovi quizzes Diana about Olaf Magnusson. What does the public know? What does she know? How does she know it? Targovi has suspicions but wants to check them against the public image. It may be that that image has somehow been manufactured. Magnusson is a hero because he defeated the Merseians but what if the Merseians themselves had contrived to generate the impression of their defeat? Targovi does not voice any of this to Diana but he had been gathering the relevant evidence in CHAPTER TWO. In any case, after all this analysis of Magnusson, CHAPTER FOUR opens:
"The home of Admiral Sir Olaf Magnusson lay in the desirable tract a hundred kilometers north of Aurea."
-CHAPTER FOUR, p. 249.
In other words, having heard several other characters, not just Targovi and Diana, discussing this public figure, Magnusson, we are now about to share the point of view of the guy himself - although it will be a while before Targovi's suspicions are confirmed.
See also Chapter Change.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I also recall how Targovi secretly questioned a high ranking Merseian POW who was angry and disgusted at the uncharacteristic and nearly unprecedented incompetence which allowed Magnusson to win. An incompetence Targovi thought so odd as to be suspicious!
Ad astra! Sean
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