Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: tired
  • Music: Pippin, "Simple Joys."

HALF-OFF RAGNAROK open thread!

To celebrate the release of Half-Off Ragnarok, here. Have an open thread to discuss the book. Judging by the comments I'm seeing, some of you've have had time, while others received review copies.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Seriously. If anyone comments here at all, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. So please don't read and then yell at me because you encountered spoilers. You were warned. (I will not reply to every comment; I call partial comment amnesty. But I may well join some of the discussion, or answer questions or whatnot.) I will be DELETING all comments containing spoilers which have been left on other posts. No one gets to spoil people here without a label.

You can also start a discussion at my website forums, with less need to be concerned that I will see everything you say! In case you wanted, you know, discussion free of authorial influence, since I always wind up getting involved in these things.

Have fun, and try not to bleed on the carpet.
Tags: halfoff ragnarok, open thread
  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 111 comments

vettecat

March 10 2014, 02:48:04 UTC 3 years ago

I'm probably missing something obvious, but... if Lloyd is a gorgon, why did he need a cockatrice to turn people to stone? Wouldn't it be easier to just take off his glasses than to hope that a featherbrained animal would get the right target? (Given that it did get the wrong person more than once...)

tiferet

March 11 2014, 18:17:11 UTC 3 years ago

A gorgon attack is not going to be mistaken for an accident.

vettecat

March 12 2014, 02:43:58 UTC 3 years ago

By whom? Who did he think would know the difference?

tiferet

March 12 2014, 04:41:01 UTC 3 years ago

His sister, for one.

vettecat

March 12 2014, 04:49:01 UTC 3 years ago

It seemed like she was already suspicious, and a cockatrice randomly appearing in the zoo isn't exactly normal either.

tiferet

March 12 2014, 06:37:43 UTC 3 years ago

Yeah, but a cockatrice randomly appearing is a thing that can happen...a Gorgon randomly appearing, close to a Gorgon colony...not so much.

jenk

March 19 2014, 23:15:49 UTC 3 years ago

Pliny's gorgons turn people to stone through their bite. If Lloyd needed to bite (and he did bite the neighbor) that would mean it was definitely done by a Pliny's gorgon.

If he could turn to stone with his sight, I think he probably would've done it himself.

vettecat

March 20 2014, 02:10:37 UTC 3 years ago

That's what's confusing me. At the end, when he has Shelby captive in the barn, he's trying to force her to look at him so she'll turn to stone and stay with him forever. And since he then turns part-snake, it's pretty clear he's not just a Pliny's gorgon.

seanan_mcguire

March 20 2014, 05:21:33 UTC 3 years ago

When Lloyd is in his normal, mostly human form, he cannot perform glance-petrifaction.

When he transforms into his fully hybrid form, he can perform glance-petrifaction.

He cannot transform in public, because he's pretty damn noticeable. Also, the process is painful and resource-intensive; it's not a thing he can just do casually.

vettecat

March 21 2014, 01:53:36 UTC 3 years ago

Ah! Thanks very much for the explanation. Now it makes sense. Sorry I wasn't understanding that from the text.