There's a kingdom in the midlands ruled by a Queen who's attempting to secure the favor of Father Rahl, and in doing so adopts a sweeping "for the people" series of changes that see the farmers stripped of their food and land in the name of the common good.
Naturally, this leads to the aristocrats having the best of everything, and the people starving; a no-name farmer shows up and takes a stand against it. It was a scene ripped from Atlas Shrugged, but you're right, a lot of it runs counter to objectivism. But from what I've read, he *is* an Objectivist (or at least has strong leanings toward that philsophy) so he's either setting up themes to deal with later, or we're seeing him at a point where's his personal philosophy is still pretty immature. Given the level of the writing, the pacing of the story, and the over-long sidetracks into S&M territory, I'm guessing the later.
I think Rhal's an effective villain, though again we get into uncomfortable terrain with both him and his henchmen, and really, I don't like having to sandblast my brain after reading a novel.
Sat, 07/12/2008 - 4:55pm
There's a kingdom in the midlands ruled by a Queen who's attempting to secure the favor of Father Rahl, and in doing so adopts a sweeping "for the people" series of changes that see the farmers stripped of their food and land in the name of the common good.
Naturally, this leads to the aristocrats having the best of everything, and the people starving; a no-name farmer shows up and takes a stand against it. It was a scene ripped from Atlas Shrugged, but you're right, a lot of it runs counter to objectivism. But from what I've read, he *is* an Objectivist (or at least has strong leanings toward that philsophy) so he's either setting up themes to deal with later, or we're seeing him at a point where's his personal philosophy is still pretty immature. Given the level of the writing, the pacing of the story, and the over-long sidetracks into S&M territory, I'm guessing the later.
I think Rhal's an effective villain, though again we get into uncomfortable terrain with both him and his henchmen, and really, I don't like having to sandblast my brain after reading a novel.
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