Ryan, Debi, and Toren Cragun's Blog

Title:
Lackey, Mercedes, and James Mallory. 2007. When Darkness Falls: The Obsidian Trilogy, Book 3. Tor Fantasy.

Rating:
8/10

Summary:
(Warning: Spoilers!)

The third and final book in this series not surprisingly picks up where the second left off – Knight-Mage Kellen Tavadon, the elves, and the few allies they have been able to muster are locked deep in the heavy winter snows resulting from interrupted weather patterns (Book 1) and are recovering from their battles with the shadow elves and their attempt to discern how The Endarkened are gaining control of Armetheliah (Book 2). The allied forces are weak following these events and spend the first part of the book recovering and developing plans for what to do next. Vestakia is tasked with communicating with the crystal spiders found in the cave just cleared of shadow elves that seem to know the location of the final enclave. Cilarnen, with the help of a collection of High Magick books provided by the elves, has begun developing his abilities as a High Mage and is tasked with various responsibilities, including keeping an eye on Armetheliah through scrying. It’s during his scrying that he figures out the details of Queen Savilla’s plan with Anigrel to remove the magical wards on the walls of Armetheliah to allow her into the city. Anigrel is, meanwhile, trying to convince Lycaelon, Head Mage of Armatheliah and Kellen and Idalia’s father, to form an alliance with The Endarkened, something that would have once been blasphemy to the human High Mages, but with Anigrel’s recent machinations framing the Wild Mages as the enemy, is becoming more appealing.

Due to a lack of communication with Sentarshadeen, the elven capitol city, the leader of the allied armies, Redhelwar, eventually decides to send Kellen with a large portion of the army to Sentarshadeen to find out what is happening and to determine what the army’s next move should be. Along the way Kellen is to clear out and prepare a cave for refugees fleeing the advance of The Endarkened.

Jermayan, meanwhile, is tasked with transporting the elven women with child to the Fortress of the Crowned Horns with Ancaladar, his bonded dragon. In the process of accomplishing this task they arrive in one elven city to find it under siege by the forces of The Endarkened. With Jermayan and Ancaladar’s help the elves abandon the city and flee to the next elven city for protection, losing many elves and supplies in the process, but suffering fewer losses than they would have had they stayed.

Eventually Vestakia is able to discern the location of the last enclave of shadow elves, and it turns out to be the very cave where Kellen is headed, Halacira. Unfortunately her discovery is too late to warn Kellen, but his growing war experience and Knight-Mage insights make him wary enough entering the cave that he doesn’t suffer major losses as he and his forces clear the cave of shadow elves.

From the cave, Kellen continues on to Sentarshadeen to find that Andoreneil, king of the elves, has been stricken with the latest weapon of The Endarkened – plague. Andoreneil is near death, which is why there had been no directions given to the army. Jermayan, relaying all of the events to each division of the army, helps Kellen realize that the goal of The Endarkened is to divide the army, thus weakening it and keeping the allies from seeing the true goal of their enemy – Armethaliah. Once Kellen realizes this and realizes that the real goal of The Endarkened is to take Armethaliah, dividing the two strongest elements of their enemies – humans and elves – Kellen realizes he needs to reunify the army and march on Armetheliah. The problem is that the bulk of the army is over a massive mountain range and it is still deep winter, meaning it will take months to transport the army to Sentashadeen and weeks from there to Armetheliah, which will be too late. Jermayan and Ancaladar offer a solution, but it will cost them deeply – they can cast a spell that will allow the army to teleport to Kellen’s location but Jermayan and Ancaladar will likely die as a result. Recognizing the urgency, all agree that they must do this and only through the intervention of a mysterious force, The Great Hunt, are Jermayan and Ancaladar spared, though their supply of magic is forever exhausted.

With the army united and under Kellen’s direction, they march on Armetheliah. On the way they detect the army of The Endarkened, also marching on Armetheliah. Just before they reach Armetheliah, they observe a small convoy leaving the city – it is Lycaelon and Anigrel. They are headed out of the city to meet with their new allies, The Endarkened (who are demons). The Endarkened, meanwhile, have cast spells that make them look like they are humans, which is not their true form. Realizing what Queen Savilla intends, to capture Lycaelon and sacrifice him in order to bring a demon god into the world making her unstoppable, Kellen sends his forces after The Endarkened, but fails to save his father from the clutches of Queen Savilla.

The initial skirmish ends rather quickly, but it is just the beginning of the battle to come. Cilarnen, with the help of the unicorns, devises a spell that will bring down the wards protecting Armetheliah, a gamble that will allow the allies into the city to hopefully convince the human High Mages to join the allied army and fight The Endarkened. Cilarnen’s spell works and the city wards are removed, allowing Kellen’s forces access to the city. Cilarnen, Jermayan, and Idalia all enter the city and hold a meeting with the remaining members of the High Council who are now leaderless and unable to make decisions without Lycaelon and Anigrel. Luckily, Cilarnen’s father, who was banished from the Council when Cilarnen was banished from the city, steps in and pushes the Council to action, giving aid to both Kellen’s forces outside the city and to Idalia and Cilarnen, who both have tasks to perform if the allies are to win.

Cilarnen’s task is to recast the ward spells on the walls of Armetheliah to prevent The Endarkened from entering the city. Idalia, meanwhile, must figure out a way to save her father from Queen Savilla. Queen Savilla’s magic relies upon sacrifices, and the spell she plans to cast requires the sacrifice of a king or leader, thus only Lycaelon will be sufficient for her sacrifice. Idalia works with the Council to develop a plan to save Lycaelon.

Meanwhile, outside the gates, Savilla’s son, Prince Zyperis, has decided to engage Kellen’s forces in a full-on assault, believing he has them trapped against the walls of Armetheliah. And knowing that the wards are down, he believes his forces can then take Armetheliah. A massive battle ensues. The allies are woefully outnumbered, but thanks to Kellen’s insight from his Knight Magery, the allies not only repel the initial assault but hold their own and eventually seem to be gaining the upper hand. The battle rages for hours, giving Cilarnen sufficient time to raise the city wards, though he nearly dies as a result of the energy expenditure. Once the wards are raised, Prince Zyperis realizes that he has failed his mother and she will likely execute him. Believing he has one chance to redeem himself, he goes for Kellen, believing that the capture of the leader of the enemy forces may appease his mother’s anger. The battle between Kellen and Zyperis, quickly joined by Kellen’s closest friend, Shalkan, is the climactic component of the larger battle as they are basically locked in a stalemate given each other’s abilities and powers.

Meanwhile, Idalia’s plan for saving her father finally comes to fruition. She tells everyone that she knows a spell that will transport Lycaelon inside Armetheliah, but doesn’t tell them that the spell requires a specific price – someone must take his place. That someone is herself. Just as Queen Savilla is about to sacrifice Lycaelon (after she tore Anigrel’s heart out – he thought he was going to be rewarded by becoming her lover), Idalia casts the spell, swapping herself for Lycaelon. Savilla stabs her, not realizing the switch until it is too late. The gods of the Wild Magic use Idalia’s sacrifice to send out a cleansing spell that wipes Endarkened taint from the earth, destroying most of the demons in the process (though it isn’t entirely clear if Savilla and Zyperis are killed, but it seems like they are). Idalia’s sacrifice ends the battle and is the climax of the book. The cleansing magic immediately stops the spread of the plague and begins to restore life to the many areas that The Endarkened had tainted with their evil presence.

Jermayan, Idalia’s lover, realizes her intentions, but too late. And Kellen feels the sacrifice and realizes what has happened. Kellen rushes to the altar where she was sacrificed only to find Jermayan has already arrived and taken her body away in despair.

With The Endarkened defeated, their forces retreat and run, trying to escape the allies. Inside Armetheliah, Lycaelon suffers a nervous breakdown, realizing he has been saved by the very children he disowned and was betrayed by the child he adopted as his own. He resigns from the Council, leaving it leaderless. Cilarnen’s father lobbies hard for Cilarnen to replace Lycaelon as the head of the Council, and after some negotiation, it is agreed. Cilarnen is then able to begin making reforms, which are sorely needed in Armetheliah, to prevent them from falling prey to the wiles of someone like Anigrel again.

Kellen, meanwhile, turns control over the armies back to Redelhwar. Redelhwar gives him one more assignment – take whatever soldiers are willing and track down the remaining elements of The Endarkened’s forces and destroy them. When he is done, he should report to Sentarshadeen. Kellen does, spending the next couple of months tracking down the remnants of The Endarkened’s forces and destroying them.

Once complete, he returns to Sentarshadeen for Idalia’s funeral. He is then tasked with one final assignment, to return to the Fortress of the Crowned Horns and escort the women and children back to their homes. Upon arriving at the Fortress he finds Ancaladar sunning himself outside the fortress, suggesting Jermayan is inside. Upon entering Jermayan reveals the final twist of the book – the Wild Magic returned Idalia’s sacrifice with a gift, she is reincarnated as the child of Andoreneil. As she was betrothed to Jermayan, he was destined to live the remainder of his long elven life (about 1,000 years) alone, but with Idalia reborn (they know because of her distinct birth mark, which the new child has), he need only wait another 20 years or so before she is old enough for them to actually marry.

After the excitement of this realization, Kellen exits the Fortress to find Shalkan and Vestakia. Shalkan tells Kellen that his mage price, to remain celibate for a year, has now been paid (it’s been over a year since he was forced from Armetheliah and it was Shalkan who helped him escape; see Book 1). He is now free to express his romantic interest. A subplot running throughout the book is Kellen’s repressed desire to be with Vestakia, which he could not act upon without being killed by Shalkan for violating the mage price. Free, he embraces Vestakia and they ride off together. The End.

Review:
In the second book, the tedious aspect was the incessant brewing of tea. While brewing tea doesn’t end in the third book, it’s not as prominent, which is nice. But a different component takes it’s place, adding a bit of tedium to the book – the time and efforts involved in passing information back and forth between elements of the army. This probably takes up about 1/5th of the book. While it also adds a bit of realism, it does slow the book a bit.

Another component of the book that was a bit problematic was the whole notion of The Great Hunt. It seemed to be introduced as an aside, but was primarily used as a deus ex machina to ensure that Jermayan and Ancaladar didn’t die after casting their teleportation spell. What The Great Hunt was and why it was needed just wasn’t very well-developed.

Aside from these minor criticisms, I really liked the book. It’s engaging, well thought-out, and compelling. In fact, when Idalia died, I was really kind of distraught. It’s made clear in Book 1 that this will ultimately be a mage price she has to pay, but when it happened I felt it. And while it was clearly cheesy that she was reincarnated – making it so none of the main characters perished – it actually choked me up. While none of the main characters die, many secondary characters do, which also adds a bit of realism to the book. Though it does almost start to become predictable who is going to die – whoever becomes Kellen’s second in command will die (kind of like the red shirts in Star Trek). But the deaths are never dismissed and Kellen suffers each of them greatly.

Overall, the series was engaging. After reading Books 1 and 2 I found myself wondering how the story ends. I read Book 2 a year after Book 1 and was planning on waiting a year to read Book 3, but my flight to England offered a prime opportunity to do a little pleasure reading, so I only waited 6 months. Having finished the trilogy, I’m glad I happened upon it. It’s a well-developed universe with compelling characters and a generally logical (with some exceptions) plot. I highly recommend the series for fans of fantasy writing.

I noted on here that we bought a new dishwasher back in November of 2008.  It’s a great dishwasher; it has a built in food grinder so you can put all sorts of stuff in there and it makes quick work of it.  It worked fine for about 10 months, but about 2 months ago it started having problems cleaning dishes on the top rack.  It got so bad that Thursday I tore the thing apart to see if I could figure out what the problem was.  I literally removed all of the internal parts and some of the external parts, took it out back, and sprayed it down with our hose, blowing all of the crap out of it.  I was hoping that the hard water deposits (of which there were plenty) were the problem.  But when I started it back up and try to clean some dishes on the top shelf, no luck.  The hours of work I spent on it made no difference!

Out of options for what to tear apart and clean, I turned to the internet.  A couple sites recommended using specific types of detergents.  That’s when it dawned on me that a couple of months ago is when we switched from a name brand gel detergent to a no-name brand detergent.  Wondering if that may be the problem, I put another load in and dropped in some name brand detergent that we had sitting around, Electrasol gel pouches (we were using up the no name brand stuff we bought for cheap).  I also read that if you have really hard water you should use twice as much detergent as the detergent, if it is good detergent, will actually help keep hard water deposits from forming.  So, I dropped two pouches of the Electrasol in and hoped that it was the answer.  Turns out, it probably was. That very first load came out a lot cleaner.  Each subsequent load has also improved.

I’m hoping the knock-off detergent hasn’t permanently damaged our dishwasher, but using the name brand detergent seems to have substantially improved the cleaning ability of the dishwasher.  It’s not back to where it was when we first bought it, but I’m hoping it continues to improve.

The lesson here – if you spend $600+ on a nice dishwasher, spend the extra few bucks for the good detergent.  Not all dishwasher detergent is created equal.

We’ve been a bit swamped here lately with school starting for both of us.  Ergo, no posts for a bit.  So, here’s the skinny.

Toren started daycare on the 12th and hated it.  He cried all day, every day for the first week.  Debi didn’t take it very well and I, of course, was in Fort Lauderdale, so I was no help.

Everyone we talked to said that you have to give him at least two or three weeks to settle in.  The second week started out as bad as the first, but by the end of the week he was finally settling in.  He still doesn’t like it when we drop him off or leave, but he doesn’t cry all day now and actually plays quite happily there.

Our big concern during the first week was that he would only get attention when he cried, thus leading him to get positive reinforcement for negative behaviors.  Turns out our fears were unwarranted.  While the daycare is expensive, it’s also a very good daycare and they are aware of things like this.  He gets attention at various times, but not just when he cries.  Ergo, he’s still very smiley and happy.

On a different front, he’s still not crawling, though he does roll over from his back to his stomach.  He doesn’t, however, use rolling repeatedly to move around. He has become an expert in his walker – he’s all over the place in it.

And he’s developed his most unique/bizarre trait so far: he stores food in his cheeks.  It started a couple of weeks ago and he does it almost all the time now.  He basically puts as much food in his mouth as he can, pushes it into his cheeks, then continues eating, drinking, and doing whatever else he wants to do.  He slowly eats the food, but it can be in there for up to about 30 minutes after he’s done eating. I’m guessing this is some sort of recessive chipmunk gene:

Toren "Chipmunk" Cragun

He also really doesn’t like us feeding him anymore – he just wants to feed himself.  He has a very good pincer grasp and can pick up just about anything now to feed himself.  He’s not all that picky, either: mac and cheese, cooked carrots, peaches, green beans, cheerios, cheez-its, veggie burgers, hummus, pancakes, etc.  I don’t know that we’ve given him anything he doesn’t like at this point, though there was the horseradish sauce – yeah, that didn’t go over so well…

Reference:
Harris, Sam. 2005. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. W. W. Norton.

Rating:
8/10

Review:
I probably should have read this long ago considering my research interests, but I’m finally just getting around to reading it. Given the title of the book, you’d think the focus would be more along the lines of secularization and how faith/religion is declining (at least in the developed world). But the book is actually more of a diatribe against religion that is more in-line with Christopher Hitchens’s book’s title God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

The primary focus of the book is Islamic Fundamentalism and its connection to terrorism. In fact, the book begins with an account of a suicide bomber in Israel destroying a bus filled with Jewish civilians. However, the book ranges widely, from the Catholic Inquisition to the Holocaust to Buddhist spirituality. With the exception of the last topic, all of the topics covered are covered with the aim of illustrating how religion is irrational, dangerous, and generally threatening to stable social life and the future of humanity.

Knowing what I do about Sam Harris and at the risk of coming across as an elitist I can’t help but describe The End of Faith as an extremely well-written undergraduate Senior’s Thesis. As someone who does original research on religion, it seemed to me that this book does not cover any new ground; the book makes no original arguments (except maybe the Buddhist spirituality stuff I’ll come back to shortly). I’d love to have undergraduate students of Mr. Harris’s caliber, but it does seem as though the book is basically a collection of very good undergraduate papers written for various classes: philosophy, history, religious studies, and cognitive psychology. I don’t know that this is really a criticism of the book as it’s likely only a small percentage of people would criticize the book this way; there are only a few thousand people who research religion at more advanced levels. Thus, for most Americans (i.e., the 90% or so who do not have advanced degrees and the other 9.99% of those who do who don’t research religion) this book likely does push their knowledge of religion/irreligion forward. Thus, despite the fact that this book would not get Mr. Harris tenure in a philosophy or religious studies department, it is a great book for spreading awareness of these issues to a broader audience.

Another criticism I have with the book is the double-standard used for criticizing religions. Mr. Harris recognizes that there are moderate and even liberal Christians (though he condemns both of them as enablers of fundamentalism, which probably isn’t fair). But when it comes to Islam, he basically asserts that all Muslims are literalists, that all support suicide bombings and terrorism, and that none of them are even remotely ecumenical. Later in the book he provides evidence that counters his own erroneous assertion when he discusses survey results examining attitudes toward suicide bombings in predominantly Muslim countries. In most of the countries the number is below 50%. The implication: there are moderate Muslims and there are even ecumenical Muslims. Building on this, most of the experts on terrorism today agree that the best way to reduce the spread of terrorism is not to get rid of religion altogether (though that may work eventually), but rather to push religious extremists to become more moderate and tolerant (e.g., see the work of Mark Juergensmeyer). That approach seems far more realistic than simply getting rid of religion altogether. By not seeing this as a viable and more realistic alternative, Mr. Harris is painting a false dichotomy: Either you’re religious and support terrorism, or you’re not religious and don’t. This is, of course, a ridiculous over-simplification of how to deal with the problem of terrorism.

The last major problem I have with the book is one Mr. Harris notes has been a common criticism by his primary fan base, atheists: he frames Buddhist meditation as a form of empirical self-realization. While there is some evidence that meditation helps with health and stress, I fail to see how self-realization can be empirically analyzed. Additionally, it does seem as though he applies a double-standard to Buddhism, letting the rather violent past of Buddhism (e.g., Tibet, Thailand, etc.) slip by with virtually no discussion. His response to this criticism in the edition I read doesn’t really address what I believe are poignant criticisms of his Buddhist favoritism.

Overall, I think the book is compellingly written, but it doesn’t break new ground and suffers from some serious problems. However, Mr. Harris must be credited with bringing many of these arguments into the mainstream. Despite the problems, I would recommend this book for those looking for a better understanding of why some people are leaving religion.

Another Mario shot at UT:

No pressure, but I figure that will be Dr. Toren Cragun in another 20 or so years! ;)