I read your review and whilst some point were valid, I felt overall you oversimplfued things to fit your views rather than actually analyse things properly.
First of all this idea of pacifism and how this runs against the very nature of coercing. Elspeth herself has spelt out the rules that all coercers live by. They will only use their powers against people in an uncertain situation and when lives are at stake. Pacificsm isn't about being all sweet and kind to everyone and not using your powers to their advantage. The Misfits see pacifism as using that power to stop blood-shed wherever necessary. The Misfits have chosen to actively stop blood-shed using their powers. Is it contractadictory to their ethical values? In a way yes, because they shouldn't invade privacy etc. etc. but at the same time when balancing those ethical responsibilites against the saving of lives then maybe it's not. No character in the book has said coercing is completely right but coercing has always been a source of contention at Obernewtyn. And yes IC has a tendency to make Misfits completely free of sin and that has bugged me a bit and that is a bit too ideal for my taste so I agree with that.
Concerning the election and the idea of democracy and the bigots. The Misfits all understand that there is a huge danger things will swing against them. But at the same time the perception of Misfits have changed somewhat - they managed to help win the rebellion with minimum bloodshed, they have become more incorporated into society with the healing centre etc. Many of the people were bigots because they had no reason to think otherwise. But when confronted with evidence that the monsters you hated are not the monsters you think they are then that's where change happens.
Concerning the Herder, you skipped the part where it is explored why they were so easy to dismantle. It is because of the way the faction has been structured and the obsessive need for control that top tier of the Herders have. Nobody belived the Herders could be defeated so nobody tried and the Herders grew to believe their own power. This was a weakness that the Misfits managed to exploit to their advantage.
Also the pairing thing - uhhh... everyone's getting paired of? Who? Rushton/Elspeth (that's being on-going for the whole series), Dardelan/Bruna (on-going since ashling), Kella/Darius (no idea where this going but okay, valid for this potential coupling). Any other couplings I've missed? Blyss/Merret, Jak/whatevaheranemis - sure they got together but it was more like "note of interest" not really overtaking the plot.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 07:50 am (UTC)First of all this idea of pacifism and how this runs against the very nature of coercing. Elspeth herself has spelt out the rules that all coercers live by. They will only use their powers against people in an uncertain situation and when lives are at stake.
Pacificsm isn't about being all sweet and kind to everyone and not using your powers to their advantage. The Misfits see pacifism as using that power to stop blood-shed wherever necessary. The Misfits have chosen to actively stop blood-shed using their powers.
Is it contractadictory to their ethical values? In a way yes, because they shouldn't invade privacy etc. etc. but at the same time when balancing those ethical responsibilites against the saving of lives then maybe it's not. No character in the book has said coercing is completely right but coercing has always been a source of contention at Obernewtyn.
And yes IC has a tendency to make Misfits completely free of sin and that has bugged me a bit and that is a bit too ideal for my taste so I agree with that.
Concerning the election and the idea of democracy and the bigots. The Misfits all understand that there is a huge danger things will swing against them. But at the same time the perception of Misfits have changed somewhat - they managed to help win the rebellion with minimum bloodshed, they have become more incorporated into society with the healing centre etc.
Many of the people were bigots because they had no reason to think otherwise. But when confronted with evidence that the monsters you hated are not the monsters you think they are then that's where change happens.
Concerning the Herder, you skipped the part where it is explored why they were so easy to dismantle. It is because of the way the faction has been structured and the obsessive need for control that top tier of the Herders have. Nobody belived the Herders could be defeated so nobody tried and the Herders grew to believe their own power. This was a weakness that the Misfits managed to exploit to their advantage.
Also the pairing thing - uhhh... everyone's getting paired of? Who? Rushton/Elspeth (that's being on-going for the whole series), Dardelan/Bruna (on-going since ashling), Kella/Darius (no idea where this going but okay, valid for this potential coupling). Any other couplings I've missed? Blyss/Merret, Jak/whatevaheranemis - sure they got together but it was more like "note of interest" not really overtaking the plot.
So yeah... big essay but I think that's it.