jvj

LostInPlace, Firstly welcome to the forums.

I don't know to be honest. I don't think they will meet as enemies, since it is the same army of undead they have to go off and kill. I like to think that they will be allies, but I don't think they were meant to be lovers.

If I think back to Book of Words, the predictable storyline would have been Mellie and Jack fall in love, after all they are with each other from the beginning. But they don't, and the story takes a completely different turn and thank goodness (or JV) for that

Dear Witchary... why are you so anti the idea of Raif and Ash? I have not read the Book of Words and perhaps am at a disadvantage having not experienced JV's writing in another story but from what i've gathered from your references it seems the two main characters do not end up together...? If i'm correct then i suppose JV went ahead and produced another of her famous unpredictable twists on us, right?

But don't you see that now everyone will predict that she will follow the same trend, like you have done? But is she not 'unpredictable' and will that not lead her to break the trend she set in her last series?

I do not claim to know what she will inflict upon our beloved heroes, but likely it will have its equal measures of joy and pain. I think JV has a knack for writing realistic characters and realistic reactions in unrealistic settings. And what we need to remember is, although she may like to tip the balance in favour of pain, i do not think the outcome will be entirely joyless, as this is unrealistic. Remember also that there are more main characters than just the two, and while some are available for unhappy endings, she probably will not murder all of them...

ANYWAAAAAAY...

I agree with the first few posts here about the change in Ash's character. It is confusing, but remember back at Mask Fortress she was still a girl, a child. Sure she was in her teens but how many men do you think she was allowed to have casual conversations with? Instincts kick in pretty quickly when things begin to happen to a teenage girl , of course she's going to be attracted to men, probably any young man that comes her way. The difference with Raif is: yes, she is in the presence of a young man, she is a young woman... But remember the stresses of their time together? She was frequently blacking out, being eaten from the inside out by the intensity of the power inside her. Worried about losing her life, in trauma after finding out that her father never really cared about. Her world was tilting off its axis. Was she really in a fit state to flirt or think of the possiblities of travelling alone with a young man, when her life is at stake?

Then... Free of the immediate danger of being consumed by her reach power, her time with Raif after that is desperately short. Her trip with the two Sull Far riders who become her two fathers, is hardly going to spark any sexual excitement in her. Finally in need of comfort, lost, alone, she meets Lan. He is young, he is good looking, he is confident and doesn't seem to be wrapped up in a painful history, he is Sull and full of mystery. How can she not feel attracted to him, now that she is not in imminent danger? Also there was that very valid point about his hot-cold, superior nature being similar to Iss, the man she had always wanted to please.

Consider this. How much was she taught as a child regarding flirting and correct courtship? I can hardly believe Iss thought it an important topic as he planned to lock her up and make use of her Reach power.

Ash is far from home... what is home to her? Who are her friends? Who are her enemies? What is the extent of her power? She is still reeling from Ark's death. She must be intensely confused. And on top of this her instincts of desire have to go and make things worse. When Lan arrives on the scene, Ash latches onto him, hoping he will be able to provide the same sort of anchor that Mal and Ark did, and she is in desperate need of anhoring. Her change of character is confusing, but she is herself deeply confused. Ash acted foolishly, but do you blame her?

- The Dying Fish

Firstly, The Dying Fish, welcome to the forums.

Why am I "so anti the idea of Raif and Ash?"

Let's start by saying I am not "so anti...", I just don't think they were meant to be together that way. But if the awesome JVJ lets the story play out that way then fair enough.

Okay I see what you're saying, I think i misinterpreted some of your comments. Actually I believe we are agreement.

There's as much possibility of Raif and Ash not ending up together as there is possibility that they do. So in other words, we really do not know.

If I can weave the thread back to Ash's parentage for a mo...just started reading Cavern again and I'm convinced (or rather I've convinced myself) that Angus either knows something, or is directly involved in Ash's parentage. When he decides to come to her aid at the gate, after holding Raif back with the excuse that they dont want to bring unwanted attention to themselves by interfering, he changes his mind after simply seeing her fully for the first time. Then later, when he takes Ash and Raif back to the farmhouse, his wife Darra has a negative reaction to seeing her (though we can only interpret it through the eyes of Ash..."She was shaking in a strange way...Darra's eyes were filled with so much emotion...Darra Lok looked distraught. Her welcome seemed almost to hurt her...") and later when they are in the kitchen together and Ash comments on it, Darra goes to say something to her and changes her mind ""I offered a poor welcome. I...you...," She struggled for words. "It's not oftern Angus brings visitors to the house." She had meant to say something else, Ash was sure of it..." What does all this mean? Of course, it could just be that Darra realises that she has something to do with the message that Angus received and the mission he is on. But somehow I don't think so.

I still want to believe that Tarissa from the BoW series is Tarissa from Cavern, so how she could have anything to do with Angus is beyond me...but one can hope, right?

PS...don't think i've got there yet, but aren't there subtle aspersions cast on Raif's parentage somewhere throughout the known series?

....just playing devil's advocate here....but is there any way that Angus and/or Darra could be characters from the Book of Words?

Ok, hear me out...its been over 10 years since I read the Book of Words series, but just finished re-reading the Sword of Shadows series (all three books back to back in a month)...i'm sharp on the latter, but have many holes in my memories of the "Words" series.

When I first the first book (Cavern), i wondered if Angus Lok was actually Jack. He could have traveled to the North, married, and become a member of the Phage. He would never have known that Tarissa was pregnant, and meeting Ash at Vaingate, he realized that this was his daughter who was the spitting image of Tarissa. {No matter what i believe wholeheartedly that Tarissa and Jack are Ash's parents, despite any doubts to do with hair colour}

However, I began wondering instead if Melly and Tawl are actually Angus and Darra, Knight turned Phage was not far a leap for a carreer move. But I was again thwarted when i re-read the part when Angus said that he had known his wife for the added years of his daughters, making him married to Darra well before Ash or Raif were conceived.

For all you people brushed up on both series....is there any young couple that you can think of in the Words series that could have known Tarissa or Jack, enough to recognize their features in her?

The only other explanations for their sudden "knowing" of Ash upon sight for the both of them could be:

1) Ash's colouring (silver hair and grey eyes), are the "sign" of a Reach. Angus and Darra are both fairly knowledgeable people, and would probably know all the prophesies and signs of someone so powerful. It would probably be common knowledge (for those concerned with such things) that another Reach was going to be born in this lifetime.

2) One or both had had a dream/premonition of someone with her likeness, and perhaps told the other.

I kinda like the person's theory that Melly and Tawl parented Raif. It has always bugged me the "mixed up birthday" reference that JV throws out there randomly.

Nothing is random with this series.

That's interesting Larla. I haven't reread Book of Words for ages, so I wouldn't know, but it sounds like a good theory at any rate - no doubt some Book of Words fan is about to weigh in with some impossibilities.

I think we talked in another thread about Raif's parentage (a really early one) and we ran out of ideas and steam. I think the problem is that we just don't have enough clues! (JV, hope you throw us some bones in WOTD).

i think Raif isn't the son of Tem and his clan mother and Angus found him and gave him to his sister. I think Angus can feel magic though and maybe he can sense it rolling off Ash, which is how he knows she is a reach. But i think that there's some prophecy about Raif that Angus knows that links Raif to the Reach and he knows that once Raif starts using his power that Ash will show up, and he recognises her in some way. I don't know though. just some random thoughts.

Is Rand's heritage important at all? Or even interesting?