Author Topic: Let's try something new with Alcatraz!!! (May include SPOILERS) (Read 43559 times)

Shasta · « **Reply #45 on:** March 07, 2009, 04:36:01 PM »

i think her mother was jelous of how fast she assended the ranks and her mother was alittle angry when she made it for more the a year protecting the Smedrys.
Also i think that Shasta will walk in just as alcatraz picks up the lenses and everyone is surprised to see her.

One other think Basille i personaly think that Black Burn and Shasta are siblings and that fight in the first book was very much like a sibling fight. Also didn't granpa smedry say that both of alkatrazes parents where imported maybe Shasta is in charge of that fourth group.

Bastille · « **Reply #46 on:** March 08, 2009, 02:07:08 PM »

Hiya!! Glad to see you are on Shasta!! I can't really comment because you know what I'm going to say but I will anyway. I like the idea of Blackburn and Shasta being sibling.Here's another thing, Blackburn, I think was the only Librarian who knew about the Smedrys and Alcatraz. He talked about why the Smedrys gave up Alcatraz and Shasta said something about his parentage. Just ideas though.

Bastille

Shasta · « **Reply #47 on:** March 09, 2009, 07:57:22 PM »

the part about Blackburns parentage and how Shasta mentioned is a good point i completely forgot that part

Eleaneth · « **Reply #48 on:** March 09, 2009, 09:01:36 PM »

I think the most exciting thing is the "Identity" and "Possibility" on the Smedry Talent chart in the second book... when you think about it, that's a huge theme in the book. The Librarians are totally devoted to Identity--to keeping things exactly the way they are, predictable, unchanging, the way they "should" be. Like Preservation gone wrong. Possibility is what the free kingdoms are devoted to.

Bastille · « **Reply #49 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:23:57 AM »

Wow. Never thought about it like that. But just out of curiosity why would it be on the Talent wheel? I like that though, it makes sense.

Peter Ahlstrom · « **Reply #50 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:47:03 AM »

It could be that Brandon is working off a similar theme without putting it in the same universe. Basically, with the way the Shards universe cosmology works, it doesn't make sense to me to have Alcatraz set in the same universe because Alcatraz is basically our world tweaked a bit. Scribbler is also a tweaked version of Earth. I don't think Brandon would put a version (or two) of Earth in his Shards universe.

Miyabi · « **Reply #51 on:** March 11, 2009, 05:57:28 PM »

You're 12?! Wow, you are very intelligent for a 12 year old.

I think one of the bigger themes will be combining the two sides of the wheel. <,< Like how there is the "possibility" of what the one gibberish cousin said, then the "identity" of what he actually meant. But it was only while thinking about them both that Al figured it out.

Bastille · « **Reply #52 on:** March 12, 2009, 12:16:27 AM »

Yes I am 12 and thanks for the compliment. (I'm almost 13 though, I turn 13 on 1st of April!!!)

That is a VERY cool way to look at that. It could be for any Talent because any Talent has possibility and a identity of what it really is.

Bastille

melbatoast · « **Reply #53 on:** March 12, 2009, 03:15:54 AM »

My library finally got the 2nd Alcatraz so now I can read this thread! Most of my ideas about the next book have been covered. The only thing I'm wondering about is the translator lenses. Obviously they are a big plot point, so there has to be something interesting to be read running around somewhere. What is it? I am guessing maybe more about Alcatraz's talent or the whole Identity/Possibility thing. Ookla says we will know more of the overall plot of the series after this book so I'm sure that the next book will answer/raise a lot of questions. Does anyone know how many books are planned in the series?

Qarlin · « **Reply #54 on:** March 12, 2009, 03:33:29 AM »

Five are planned, I believe, though last I heard he was only contracted for four. Meaning there'll prolly be five.

The thing about the incarnate wheel is that it's described, but we don't get to see it. Which side is possibility? Which side is identity? Where on the circle are Time, Space, Matter, and Knowledge?

Miyabi · « **Reply #55 on:** March 12, 2009, 09:05:18 AM »

There are five planned, but there are also quite a few other books that may become additional sequels. I don't remember where it was stated or I'd quote it for you.

ryos · « **Reply #56 on:** March 12, 2009, 10:54:20 AM »

So yeah, I just read this book in one sitting. Instead of finishing the big project I'm supposed to have done tomorrow. In my defense, I've been working on it practically every waking moment for the past five or six days, and I needed a break, even if it meant me not making the deadline.

I loved how downright benign the Curators turned out to be. The Library of Alexandria was built up as this horrible place, but really, it's probably the safest library they could have chosen to infiltrate. Besides, you know, the drastic consequences of accidentally disturbing a book. I have this mental image of them looking like Xykon (google it if you don't already know), only without all the nastiness.

The cover is, sadly, atrocious. Yeah, I went there. Sure, the glass dragon is beautifully rendered, but the proportions of the people are off just enough to give me a tingling feeling of wrongness whenever I look at it (rather like Alcatraz sensing a blood-lens being used). Alcatraz is way too big - if he were inside the dragon, he'd scarcely be able to stand. Bastille is, comparatively, too small. I know he's supposed to be the focus of the cover, but as rendered it's just too disturbing.

I love the possibilities of Alcatraz's gift. When focused and controlled, it becomes more than just breaking things - it's the power to change things, in whatever way you wish. Could Alcatraz use it to fix things that are already broken? I don't see why not. After all, you could make a case that fixing something is really just breaking its brokenness.

Then again, there are all the dire warnings about it twisting things and being an unstoppable force of destruction and all that. Kind of like Sauron in Lord of the Rings: poor guy couldn't create, only twist and break.

Edit: I also love all the poking fun at other books. Like the dig at Harry Potter at the end of the first. The Scrivener's hybrid fighter plane seems like another subtle jab at Harry Potter - one thing that left me unsatisfied about those books was the largely unfulfilled crossover potential between wizard's magic and Muggle technology. You think Voldemort is evil when you hand him a wand? What do you think he'd do if he ever found out about the atomic bomb?

Bastille · « **Reply #57 on:** March 12, 2009, 10:56:02 AM »

Quote from: miyabi on March 12, 2009, 09:05:18 AM

There are five planned, but there are also quite a few other books that may become additional sequels. I don't remember where it was stated or I'd quote it for you.

Really? That's cool.

Bastille

Bastille · « **Reply #58 on:** March 12, 2009, 10:59:43 AM »

ryos that is just brilliant with the breaking somethings brokeness. It makes allot of sense to!!! Hopw did you come up with that.

Bastille

Peter Ahlstrom · « **Reply #59 on:** March 12, 2009, 06:00:20 PM »

Quote from: miyabi on March 12, 2009, 09:05:18 AM

There are five planned, but there are also quite a few other books that may become additional sequels. I don't remember where it was stated or I'd quote it for you.

Well, there are a couple more middle-grade series that Brandon is thinking of that he may put in the same universe as the Alcatraz books. That doesn't exactly mean they'd be sequels.

Timewaster's Guide Archive

News: