Thanks for being patient with me as I get our first book up and going. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this book. Here are a few of mine...
Spoiler Alert!!!
I hope you all enjoyed this book as much as I did. I found it to be a delightful read. I simply couldn't put the book down. I truly enjoy this author's style of writing. I love the way she uses words. I thought that while this book encorporated a very simple format, a diary, Shannon Hale was able to bring about some deep topics.
I liked the way the book started, with the first day in the tower. It was interesting to get on the author's website and see how she originally started the book. Click here to read the excerpt. As I read the beginning I felt swept into this foreign world.
I've thought a lot about Dashti as I've prepared to write this post. In the beginning she seems quite naive. She blindly fulfills her duties and is mostly relieved to have so much food at her disposal. As time goes by in the dark tower I think her mood gets progressively darker. She begins to grumble a bit about her chores and the rats, and even Saren. She also experiences true fear in the tower. The first time is when Lord Khasar comes to visit the girls. He forces her to give him her hand and he hurts her. Then, and this part was so scary to me, I couldn't put the book down, when he throws fire into the tower and the girls have to race to put it out. She is also scared when the "knocking" men come and try to tear the tower down to get to the ladies in there.
I think that the fear and darkness make Dashti a more well-rounded character. Despite all of this, she truly rises to the challenges placed before her. She cares for Saren, recognizes their need to get out of the tower and does it, and then gets both girls to Khan Tegus' home. I love that she knew the healing songs, yet she could weave different songs together to create different effects, like no other person could do. I truly like how Shannon Hale gives her character's special powers, I think it makes the book more interesting.
Of course, I mustn't leave out the fact that Dashti conquered over Lord Khasar which was fitting. She used her wit and cunning to do it, and I thought that this particular episode was extremely exciting to read.
Dashti made the book a must-read! I truly cared for her and her fate. I liked seeing into her soul through her diary entries.
Saren's character was completely different. I don't think I every really liked her. I could understand why she was so dim. She had grown up a lady and hadn't had to do a thing for herself. She grew up without a mother, and with a father who told her that her only purpose in life was to marry. She witnessed the horror that was Lord Khasar and couldn't tell a soul about it. I can understand why she was the way she was. But, this doesn't stop me from thinking that she was very similar to a bad roommate! She couldn't do anything for herself. She relied on Dashti to take care of her. She ate all the food herself (Iloved how Dashti had to keep taking out her clothes because she gained weight), and she had major issues! Doesn't that sound just like the worst roommate you could imagine? In my mind, Saren only redeemed herself two times. Once was when she pulled Dashti away from the dump hole to stop Lord Khasar's abuse, and the second was when she claimed Dashti for a sister.
I believe that Dashti fell in love with Khan Tegus when he visited the girls in the tower. He was kind and funny to her, but did you feel that he was kind of dense? He and Saren had never met before, only written letters, yet if he had truly loved Saren, shouldn't he have been able to tell the difference between the two? I don't know. I thought that in some ways he seemed strong and was a good ruler, but Dashti was the one who saved his home. She risked her life to save everyone, and then the second they learned who she was, they all turned against her. In my opinion, it took Tegus a long time to come to her rescue!
Lord Khasar was a truly scary character! Whenever he came on the scene I could feel a knot of fear in my stomach. To me, that means he was a really good, evil character.
A few more thoughts...
The whole time the girls were in the tower it felt horrible to me. I didn't know why this bothered me so much until I realized that in some way, I share their fate. I live in a basement apartment that is pretty dark. I could totally emphathize with Dashti's situation. There is something to be said about enjoying the fresh air, the sun, the sky, the moon, the stars, and all the beautiful things in this world. I'm just glad I'm not locked up. When I start to feel a bit claustrophobic, I can just pack my kids into the car and go for a drive.
I would be willing to bet that one of Hale's next books will be based on one of the other minor characters in this book. Watch for a story about Gal or Quacha to come out soon. Just a guess!
These are just a few of my thoughts. I would love to hear what you thought about the book.
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7 comments:
I've been thinking since I wrote this post, that perhaps I was too hard on Tegus. Maybe if I had been reading his diary I would feel differently about him. What do you think?
I loved reading your thoughts about the book and your take on each character.
About Khan Tegus: I don't think he really was in love with Lady Saren before the tower, so I don't think he would have known the difference between Dashti and Saren based on love alone. At the end of the book it comes out that he went to the tower out of duty, not love. He felt obligated to try and save her after promising himself through letters. I think when he met Dashti (who he thought was Saren) through the hole in the tower, he was relieved because he found himself TRULY falling in love with the person he had promised to marry (or so he thought). So I think Dashti was the first and only person he ever fell in love with.
About Saren: I disliked her character a lot and kept hoping she would amount to something. In my opinion, her greatest act of strength was when she dumped her waste through the hole onto Khasar. It seemed like that was the only time she stood up to her fear of Khasar. Maybe she was able to do that because she felt secure in the tower where he couldn't reach her. I thought that act was a bit out of character for her at that time in the book.
I want to write more about other characters, but will have to do it later. The kiddos are all clamoring for my attention.
I think you're absolutely right about Tegus. I just reread the book and remembered a lot more about him. I still am disappointed with him when he discovers that Dashti is not Saren. He took so long to finally help her and stand up for her. I know he was in love with her then.
And, about Saren, I just reread the court part, and thought it was funny that she had to memorize her lines and couldn't get the words out right. Pretty dim!
I really enjoyed this book and I'm glad you shared it with me. The comparison of Saren to a bad room mate is perfect. I became impatient with Saren and she got on my nerves. The tower made me feel clausterphobic too. Dashti is an endearing and loyal character. I would have been really made if Tegus didn't pull it all together in the end. I really liked the way everything resolved.
I enjoy Shannon Hale's writing style. Despite some tragic storylines it was delightful to read.
It was interesting to read everyone's comments about the book. My favorite aspect of this story was not a character, it was the culture of the muckers. I wasn't at all surprised when I read in the Acknowledgements section that the author studied the history and culture of Mongolia in preparation for writing this story. I really enjoyed how she wove information about life on the steppes into the narrative. Learning that background , including khers, clans, Ancestors, and yaks, made the characters deeper and the story more believable. My only complaint was that I felt the denouement wrapped up a little too quickly. The courtroom scene happened so fast and I think it would have felt more real and a little less like an after-school special ending if it had unfolded a little at a time. Having a single presentation of all the solutions felt less satisfying and a little too neat and tidy. But I liked this book a lot and will recommend it to family and friends. Thanks for recommending it to me! :)
Rachel, I totally agree with you about the setting of the book. I loved the muckers and thought that I would rather be one of them then the gentry (however, I don't think I'd last too long in a gher). I liked how strong, hardworking, and solid they seemed. I loved that Dashti bought herself into Tegus' family when she gave him her last animal, a mucker tradition. I'd be curious to see if the Ancestor's were made completely up by the author, or how much influence she really took from Mongolian religion. I agree that the ending was a bit of a let down, even though everything worked out perfectly. But I think you're right, it just all happened too quickly to be truly satisfying.
I just answered my own question about the religion by going to Hale's website...
http://www.squeetus.com/stage/b1000_realms.html
it was really quite interesting to read how she came up with some of her ideas.
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