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Post by dastari on Feb 27, 2017 8:44:59 GMT
I really like this one. A funny thought struck me while listening to it though. We know from the stories where both Purves and Marsh are present how much Sara means to Steven, but these stories that she's narrating show how little Sara thinks of Steven. He's almost barely mentioned. Makes me feel bad for the poor guy. But yeah, I kind of like how this story makes the House Sara somewhat sinister. She lies and is manipulative. The real Sara Kingdom didn't make the best decisions, so is the House merely continuing that based on the fact that it's lonely or is it basically a failed AI that's copied Sara's mind and is going corrupt? I like how both stories are about the perception of the people around Sara to her, but that's not clear until you get to the end and it's about what Robert's willing to accept from Sara vs how the miner's perceived Sara in the past. I also like the story itself for its own sake. Sara's lost to much and she just isn't going to relent. She's going to save these people no matter what. I also like when Guerrier goes hard sci-fi, and I really love the nice touches he puts into the base and the situation there. I post a few more thoughts here. |
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Post by omega on Feb 27, 2017 9:19:11 GMT
I really like this one. A funny thought struck me while listening to it though. We know from the stories where both Purves and Marsh are present how much Sara means to Steven, but these stories that she's narrating show how little Sara thinks of Steven. He's almost barely mentioned. Makes me feel bad for the poor guy. But yeah, I kind of like how this story makes the House Sara somewhat sinister. She lies and is manipulative. The real Sara Kingdom didn't make the best decisions, so is the House merely continuing that based on the fact that it's lonely or is it basically a failed AI that's copied Sara's mind and is going corrupt? I like how both stories are about the perception of the people around Sara to her, but that's not clear until you get to the end and it's about what Robert's willing to accept from Sara vs how the miner's perceived Sara in the past. I also like the story itself for its own sake. Sara's lost to much and she just isn't going to relent. She's going to save these people no matter what. I also like when Guerrier goes hard sci-fi, and I really love the nice touches he puts into the base and the situation there. I post a few more thoughts here. He goes into hard science with the second and third stories of the Oliver Harper trilogy, in part because he was studying those subjects at the time he was writing those stories! I really love the round table interviews usually attached to the Companion Chronicles. |
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Post by dastari on Feb 27, 2017 18:24:16 GMT
Yeah, The Cold Equations is my favorite of that bunch.
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Post by omega on Feb 27, 2017 18:30:19 GMT
Yeah, The Cold Equations is my favorite of that bunch. Despite being a Doctor Who story, the science in Cold Equations makes it feel totally plausible. It helps that the main problem, the junk in the atmosphere, is actually real right now, and that the story feels grim and dark without being overly so. |
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Post by Ela on Jun 25, 2018 23:17:52 GMT
I didn't really like Sara Kingdom sinister. Yes, the original Sara Kingdom may not have made the best decisions, but that didn't make her evil.
I have very mixed feelings about the Sara Kingdom stories. They require too much contrivance to account for the fact that the real Sara Kingdom is dead.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2018 6:33:50 GMT
I like to think that the House is just using Sara's (incomplete) identity as an avatar. Swamp Thing operated on the premise that the creature initially believed itself to be a reborn Alec Holland. What actually transpired was that the creature only thought itself to be Holland. In reality, he perished in the swamp. It took part of his shape, his memories, but it wasn't Alec. Alec was dead. Same with the House: it's taken on Sara's shape and memories, but it isn't just Sara. It's something else. I really enjoy these stories. It's a really brave idea of setting up an entirely new "season" of sorts within an epic-length serial. Guerrier captures the sense of the era really well, they feel like reconstructions of wiped episodes that existed only in their original scripts. Right pacing, right characters, right situations. I always switch through after "The Feast of Stephen" to the audios when rewatching Master Plan and enjoy the ride.  |
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Post by Ela on Jun 26, 2018 16:44:48 GMT
Well, yes, the house is using Sara's identity as an avatar. I think the story makes that clear. I just don't like when it turns Sara's identity into something evil and/or manipulative.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2018 23:50:49 GMT
That's fair.
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Post by Star Platinum on Jun 26, 2018 23:59:32 GMT
Well, yes, the house is using Sara's identity as an avatar. I think the story makes that clear. I just don't like when it turns Sara's identity into something evil and/or manipulative. I never saw the house as evil, throughout the stories the idea that magic has its price is constant. As she grants wishes, small things are one thing, but major changes, like saving the girl, she must exact a toll. I don’t think the house is purely sarah, she’s a hybrid of the two. I wish this plot thread had been returned to. The cliffhanger at the end of guardian is unbearable. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2018 0:05:04 GMT
Well, yes, the house is using Sara's identity as an avatar. I think the story makes that clear. I just don't like when it turns Sara's identity into something evil and/or manipulative. I never saw the house as evil, throughout the stories the idea that magic has its price is constant. As she grants wishes, small things are one thing, but major changes, like saving the girl, she must exact a toll. I don’t think the house is purely sarah, she’s a hybrid of the two. I wish this plot thread had been returned to. The cliffhanger at the end of guardian is unbearable. She does turn up again -- after a fashion -- in The Five Companions, the version of Sara there is the one the House built (that lived in the Jack that House built). |
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Post by Star Platinum on Jun 27, 2018 0:09:02 GMT
I never saw the house as evil, throughout the stories the idea that magic has its price is constant. As she grants wishes, small things are one thing, but major changes, like saving the girl, she must exact a toll. I don’t think the house is purely sarah, she’s a hybrid of the two. I wish this plot thread had been returned to. The cliffhanger at the end of guardian is unbearable. She does turn up again -- after a fashion -- in The Five Companions, the version of Sara there is the one the House built (that lived in the Jack that House built). True enough, but it doesn’t do anything to advance her story. They could have swapped her with Vicki and it really wouldn't have changed the story. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2018 0:17:37 GMT
She does turn up again -- after a fashion -- in The Five Companions, the version of Sara there is the one the House built (that lived in the Jack that House built). True enough, but it doesn’t do anything to advance her story. They could have swapped her with Vicki and it really wouldn't have changed the story. Very true, now that you mention it. Huh. Ah, well... Maybe we'll get Sara's version of something like The Locked Room in the future? We've got The Sontarans, sure, but I can't see these stories being at a permanent end. There have got to be more at some point? |
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Post by Ela on Jul 5, 2018 15:41:41 GMT
Huh. I didn't remember The Five Companions reference clearly, but now that you mention it, I remember there was something...
The Five Companions was not a favorite for me, but maybe I need to go back and listen, now that I've finished the Sara Kingdom trilogy.
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