"Absolution" by Zadown

[Wyvern]

Read through this recently, and I think that it's another excellent story from you Zadown. :-) I found the imagery of the drow army really captivating, and the images of the floating tree fortress and giant weaver spider are sure to stay stuck in my mind for some time to come. I really liked Lady Tanjako Awo and Festion as supporting characters, as they both had very original characteristics and personalities that stood out to me, regardless of their lack of story time. The Dreamer was a pleasure to read as always, and I thought you conveyed his emotions and impressions really well in this story through details like the color of his eyes and his facial expressions. I even felt the Dreamer's joy when he led the last of his old minions on their final suicide rampage. ;-) It was also interesting to see the Dreamer lose in battle for a change, and there was definitely a sense of sadness and loss by the end of the piece. Great job with fufilling the fates... the leader of the drow army is sure to give lesser planewalkers nightmares at the mere thought of her power. ;-)

 

In terms of nitpicking: I thought that the slanged planewalker dialogue was a bit overused in this piece. The slang has always struck me as a unique and identifiable characteristic of the Dreamer, and to hear everybody use it made things a bit distracting and confusing at times. Also, while I had a good sense of Phacyra's relation to the Dreamer, I kind of wanted to get a better sense of his physical appearence, though the daggers were a nice touch. Is there an earlier story where Phacrya is described more thoroughly?

 

Anyway, excellent stuff once again, sorry that it took me so long to get to reading it. :-) I have some catching up to do, and am looking forward to reading "Descent" and "Solitude..." as soon as I can shake that disturbing image of angels and demons with distorted/similar faces from my mind. ;-)

[Zadown]

Thanks for the review, Wyvern!

 

Just a note on the planewalker slang: every planewalker uses it, it's not the Dreamer's own thing. It can be somewhat annoying to write as well, but it's one of those things that just must be done this way. There are actual lore reasons for it, not to mention the degree any particular planewalker uses it tells something about his or her age. The very, very old ones, the ancients that are over 5000 years old, speak Old Planewalker and thus have no accent if they so choose. The very young ones who have recently ascended do not use it yet either as their speech hasn't been corrupted by the translation enchantments yet (see Lil' Valdar for example). Those in between, 3500 to 500 years of age, pretty much all have their speech corrupted - unless they concentrate fully to speak with utmost clarity, in great cold rage or perfect solemnity. You could have a planewalker that always speaks "normally", but that'd be very odd and something other planewalkers would surely comment on and perhaps make fun of.

 

Hate it or love it, the planewalker slang's not going anywhere.

 

Phacyra's described in Sleuth at least, not sure if he has been described in the other stories where he makes an appearance: Ward, Thunder and Pilgrimage.