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| Opening Atlantis; some early thoughts | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 8 2007, 11:32 AM (1,096 Views) | |
| TR1 | Dec 8 2007, 11:32 AM Post #1 |
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Heir Presumptive
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I suspect many here have the book by now, but I'll keep spoilers minimal: *spoilers* I'm about 100 pages in, and I am enjoying it quite a bit. By and large HT has avoided tweedom and overdoing the parallels (as I'm not familiar with New Zealand history, I might be missing things; HT did model Atlantis' fauna on NZ's). The story thus far: The War of the Roses is on the horizon. An English fisherman meets a Breton colleague, who shows him an undiscovered land in the Atlantic Ocean. The Englishman, seeing a chance to get away from lords and wars, takes a large number of his family and friends to this new land with him. Slowly, other Englishmen follow, as do Bretons, Basques, Gallecians. As the War of the Roses progresses, more people flee, or are exiled to Atlantis. Fifteen years after humans settle in Atlantis, another land is discovered further west. |
| "Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman | |
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| Derfasciti | Dec 8 2007, 02:14 PM Post #2 |
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Yeoman
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I have yet to get this book but am strongly considering asking for it for Christmas. It looks interesting but I just dunno... |
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| Custer | Dec 8 2007, 03:59 PM Post #3 |
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Resident Kamikaze Warrior
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I saw it at the bookstores. Didn't buy it, but I can't afford to, anyway, and I'm trying to close the books for the end of the year, not open new ones. (I love accounting). |
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| Makkabee | Dec 8 2007, 11:24 PM Post #4 |
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Count
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I'm about as far along as TR -- maybe 20 pages short of that, though based on the map I knew the discovery of that other land mass was coming soon. It's pretty good so far. No annoying repetitions that I've spotted yet, no sex scenes that seem shoehorned in... so far HT seems like a more disciplined writer with this book than he's been in a long time. |
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| TR1 | Dec 9 2007, 11:40 AM Post #5 |
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Heir Presumptive
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In the first part , hearing about the ease with which honkers are killed grew a little bit tiresome. That's reduced quite a bit in the second part. Also, this is probably inevitable, but HT made a noticeable alteration in the events of the War of the Roses, and he didn't really follow up on the consequences of that. But the book is about Atlantis, not England, so we'll probably never know. But those are minor points. I am still enjoying it. HT's having fun in this world, and that's obvious in the writing. |
| "Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman | |
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| TR1 | Dec 11 2007, 05:01 PM Post #6 |
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Heir Presumptive
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Just a quick follow up, since I finished it yesterday. Pretty good book, all in all. I look forward to more in this TL. |
| "Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman | |
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| Makkabee | Dec 11 2007, 07:12 PM Post #7 |
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Count
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He used my Videssos sequel idea in OA. The cousins on opposite sides of a struggle idea, though I won't go into more detail than that. He did get into truly Turtledovian redundancy with the mentions of how they spelled their surnames differently. Also, I wish they'd included a more detailed map. I had some guesses as to where some of the settlements were, but I'd have liked something to confirm them. |
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| TR1 | Dec 12 2007, 12:32 AM Post #8 |
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Heir Presumptive
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He did, although since it was a part of the family feud, it was a more "useful" redundancy, relatively speaking.
The Analog issue which published the first story, "Audubon in Atlantis" actually had a pretty good map. The DPL carries back issues--I could drop a few dimes, see about scanning it in if you like. |
| "Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman | |
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| Makkabee | Dec 12 2007, 11:12 AM Post #9 |
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Count
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That would be appreciated. My public library used to carry Analog, but dropped it quite a while ago. |
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| The Guy from Fiji | Dec 15 2007, 09:15 PM Post #10 |
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Bullshitter
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I would also love to see the map TR. I'm in the same boat as Makk, I think I know where the settlements are, but I'm not sure. Am I correct in guessing that the Basques have settled on Manhattan? |
| Sic Temper Molemannis! | |
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| TR1 | Dec 15 2007, 09:48 PM Post #11 |
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Heir Presumptive
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The impression I had was that the Basques were much further south. Since southern Atlantis was Spanish, I thought that they were on one of the Carribean islands. Now, I should hasten to point out that the map that went with the short story wasn't that detailed, just better than the one on the cover. |
| "Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman | |
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| The Guy from Fiji | Dec 15 2007, 10:47 PM Post #12 |
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Bullshitter
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I could be wrong on the locale. The description of a great harbor behind a big island just struck me as being the NYC/Long Island area. If my guesses are off, where abouts is New Hastings located? |
| Sic Temper Molemannis! | |
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| TR1 | Dec 15 2007, 11:00 PM Post #13 |
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Heir Presumptive
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Way-the-hell north. New Hastings wasn't even mentioned in the two short stories, so I'm in the same boat with you two. Given HT's ability to be twee--Plymouth, MA? |
| "Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman | |
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| The Guy from Fiji | Dec 16 2007, 04:54 AM Post #14 |
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Bullshitter
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That's what I was thinking, and based on the impression of the first part of OA, it struck me that the Basque port was not more than a day's (or two) sail south (putting it about where NYC would be) |
| Sic Temper Molemannis! | |
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| Makkabee | Dec 16 2007, 11:55 AM Post #15 |
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Count
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My first instinct was to say that Gernika is OTL New York, but the river with the islands at the mouth description could also fit Charleston or Savannah. Was Stuart/Hannover on Atlantis or the mainland? I can't remember any more. |
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9:16 AM Jul 11