Reply below. On 9/21/2018 11:32 AM, Matt Cutter via glencook-fans wrote:
On Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 9:18 PM, Stacey Harris <stacey.harris@slu.edu> wrote:
S P O I L E R S
for Port of Shadows
S P O I L E R S
S P O I L E R S
for Port of Shadows
S P O I L E R S
Wow. FInished it a few hours ago. Wow.
Okay, I shoulda seen it coming. I was asking myself all along, who/what IS this Mysterious Rain? I can't make head or tails out of it. Shoulda twigged, but > didn't. Just as well, that made it all the more staggering when Laissa greeted her with "Koneko!" and my rudimentary Japanese kicked in to translate that as "Kitten". Wow, all making sense!
That said. Nice bilingual bonus! I never would catch that.
Since none of the back story matches up with Whisper's notes, I wonder what's true. Maybe cleared up by Pitiless Rain? The note at the beginning indicates a suspicion that the papers from the Tower had been altered; the postscript indicates that Imperial historians still don't know which Senjak sister the Lady was. That's highly amusing given how all the baddies in the Books of the South know her true name.
The back story does give me some true name indigestion, though. If Howler and several other Taken were relatives of the Senjak family, why don't they know each other's true names? I'm OK with the sisters knowing (and there's some hints here and there that the family deliberately confused their identities), mostly. Also, given the power of a true name and the relative commonality of sorcery, why in the world does any family ever use someone's true name? The mother and father could select a true name and then employ a use-name from then on; the family name, if it matters, could function likewise. One or two generations of the practice and true names would be nearly impossible to ferret out short of going to the original namers themselves. It also makes me wonder why we don't see someone using Tobo's true name in an attempt to check his worst excesses. Maybe the problem is that everyone capable of doing so is occupied while he's getting out of control--that, and that they need him. David