David Falkayn's surviving brother, John, makes his single appearance as part of the patriot army storming Starfall with Adzel and Chee Lan just as their mother, Athena, had made her single appearance in conversation with David in Chapter XVI. Poul Anderson makes us feel that we know these other Falkayns despite seeing so surprisingly little of them.
A single sentence tells us something else. Not only the elder brother, Michael, but also the brother-in-law, Vicky's unnamed husband, is a casualty of the war. And this second death was not in open battle. John says:
"'...my sister's husband died under their arrest, God knows how?'" (p. 275)
Benoni Strang has even more to answer for than we might have thought.
Some Hermetians:
"...had freely served his revolutionary regime." (p. 272)
Strang's regime is rightly called "revolutionary" because its purpose was to change economic class relationships. A different kind of revolution would have been a majority of Hermetians ending aristocratic rule by force if necessary. That kind of revolution was not about to happen - yet. On the one hand, there was a lot of dissatisfaction and unrest. On the other hand, we are assured that there were many loyal Travers. And, of course, Strang's antics would have made them more loyal! But social change comes inexorably to Hermes, nevertheless.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I immediately thought of the Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, which Lenin used for slaughtering and imprisoning his enemies!
Ad astra! Sean
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