Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series soon.
The Soldier Son trilogy continues from Shaman’s Crossing into Forest Mage. As is the case with the first volume of the trilogy, the second begins with some front matter. Said front matter again consists of a half-title page with a list of other works by the author on the reverse, a title page with copyright information (citing the novel as belonging to Robin Hobb) on its reverse, a dedication, a map, a table of contents, acknowledgments, and another half-title page.
Image is mine, severally.
There is some contrast between the current front matter and that of the preceding novel in the trilogy. For one, the dedication doesn’t strike me as being as funny this time; it is more sincere and more typical than the quip that precedes so much of Shaman’s Crossing. Too, while Shaman’s Crossing reports only 24 chapters (with an average length right around 24 pages, rounding being an issue), Forest Mage reports 34. Its main text runs to 718 pages; average chapter length, then, is just over 21 pages, or approximately 2.94% of the novel. (I make note of this because I do still want to see if there’s something going on with chapter-lengths. Since I have a set of first editions on the Soldier Son novels, I have a fair standard of comparison for them.) More important, I think, is the shift in the copyright page; the change from Lindholm to Hobb carries some meaning, a reaffirmation of writerly persona* that has seemed, from time to time, to shift a bit.
Also, as I get into the present novel, I do so with less hesitation than I started the last one. Those reading attentively here will likely note that I moved through Shaman’s Crossing relatively quickly and that I gave more, and more detailed, comment on its chapters than I had on the Realm of the Elderlings novels. Some of that is a result of being more comfortable doing the commentaries, particularly than was the case early in the Realm of the Elderlings rereading. (I might, might, go back and review / update / expand upon the earlier rereadings. Maybe.**) Some, I think, is just that I’ve been making more of an effort to add more; it’s worth doing, I think. Clearly. And, equally clearly, I find I have more to say.
So much noted, a fair amount of what I noted in addressing Shaman’s Crossing‘s front matter continues to apply to the present text. I’ve already linked the comments above, so I don’t need to repeat them here. Instead, I’ll focus on getting into the text of the novel, and I’ll see what all comes up as I continue my rereading.
* Comments about the concept are at “Some Notes about the Written Environment,” while specific references to Hobb as an authorial persona can be found in Jane Johnson’s remarks and in Fool’s Quest‘s “Farseers,” among others.
** If it is the case that I do go back and update things regarding the Realm of the Elderlings novels, I’ll be looking at percentages by chapter. Even if I don’t have a cohesive set of books among them, I can figure relative chapter-lengths; the percentages should be relatively consistent across printings, which would allow some useful standard of comparison.
As I press ahead, there’s still time to get your writing in line; fill out the form below!
Elliott RWI 