Hi Steve, what have we got?
Marty! What are you doing here? - this is small time stuff.
It's on the way home, and I saw that you had the lights on.
[more ]Against my better judgment, I picked up Fool's Fate to read this week. The reviews had warned me that I would ultimately be disappointed.
And they were right. The story is compelling (I stayed up until much too early in the morning to finish it in one sitting), but taken as a whole it contradicts the fiction that had already been established in this world.
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But he had earned a name, from the king and from the people, and legends do not walk as men.
"Almost clever, human. Almost."
"Such a pretty solution to your puzzle. You need their strength, freely given, to face the challenge you share. But they have no vision, no generosity, no hive. They cannot go where you lead."
"Ah, but so delicious to twist their self interest against them. To feign disinterest in the road they must take. To discourage them so gently, watering distrust by denying your own desperate needs."
"The room, it is empty. Your allies are not within."
"It was a human trap, Captain, for human prey. You must do better, henceforth, or none of us will be available to forgive your failure. It is not enough to see with their eyes, you must see with their minds, else you will be blind to their strengths and weaknesses."
"Awake, Captain, you must wake to learn. Think of the ground you must cover, to regain their trust when they see through your betrayal. How can you win them back? Sing to them, I suppose, in the tongue of your honored ancestors. Have you songs of those twice betrayed? Then you had best learn another, and quickly, for they are what allies you have at hand."
"Come, I have gathered them for you. This time, remember that they are dumber than rock."