To be shot down on Dido and to lose his first command looks like a catastrophe for Dominic Flandry. However, on all but our first reading of this novel, we know that these dramatic events will give Flandry the means to defeat and expel the rebels and to eliminate Aaron Snelund, in fact to wrap up the whole plot neatly and efficiently. We also know that an expert author is orchestrating this entire sequence of events with that end in view!
A novel with an interstellar imperial setting presupposes planetary populations comprising billions of individuals whose lives indeed have their ups and downs although they are not directed towards any satisfactory outcome by the author. I would like to read an account of a Terran civil servant who, through his work, knows of events at Jihannath and in Sector Alpha Crucis but meanwhile also has personal preoccupations that occupy most of his attention - a different narrative perspective on the same historical events.
The Technic History does present alternative perspectives but more would always be welcome.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I would also argue that rereaders should not let their prior knowledge about a story get in the way of simply being "in the moment" of that story. They should forget about that prior knowledge and simply enjoy the story as tho it was being read for the first time.
Ad astra! Sean
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