When this book first came out, there were long, in-depth discussions about it on usenet at rec.arts.sf.written. You might be able to still dig some of them up.
I recall Jo Walton making a very convincing case that Dominic was the Devil, and he was building a time machine in order to go back to Heaven and not rebel against God - to reverse his own Fall. It was a very well-constructed argument and may well have been Dean's intent, but apart from Dominic being the Devil, I don't think there was anything actually in the text to support it. It would have been purely by implication.
The novel began as a short story which does make it explicit that Dominic is the Devil.
I don't understand Gentian's parents' actions (or lack thereof) either. That is, they seemed spectacularly negligent, but that seemed strange since previously they had seemed to be perfectly good parents. And yes, the spell seemed to be a protection against sexual assault and other forms of overt violence, but not against timey-wimey enchantments. Perhaps the point was that often men victimize women in subtle ways?
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Date: 2014-04-26 09:34 pm (UTC)I recall Jo Walton making a very convincing case that Dominic was the Devil, and he was building a time machine in order to go back to Heaven and not rebel against God - to reverse his own Fall. It was a very well-constructed argument and may well have been Dean's intent, but apart from Dominic being the Devil, I don't think there was anything actually in the text to support it. It would have been purely by implication.
The novel began as a short story which does make it explicit that Dominic is the Devil.
I don't understand Gentian's parents' actions (or lack thereof) either. That is, they seemed spectacularly negligent, but that seemed strange since previously they had seemed to be perfectly good parents. And yes, the spell seemed to be a protection against sexual assault and other forms of overt violence, but not against timey-wimey enchantments. Perhaps the point was that often men victimize women in subtle ways?