Are Teckla nasty and brutish? They seem meek and self-effacing. And the cycles are of various lengths? It's been so long since I read the more modern ones. I forget they mythology.

As I recall, it usually starts out as some sort of peasant commonwealth created by a revolt against the despotic Orca, and ends up getting bought out by the Jhegaala. Yes, the individual cycles do vary, but there are minimum and maximum lengths. Not sure what they are, but I think the shortest length is 289 years and the longest is 4913 years. Multiples of 17 and all that.

I get the impression that Teckla reigns are on the short side.

Oh, so the transitions are determined by the nature of the houses too. So much I have forgotten. I'm reading Lord Of Castle Black right now, and it seems a little naïve of Kana to think he can force the cycle to turn by having a Phoenix say "tag! you're it!" Does that represent a lack of knowledge on his part, on the society's part on how they turn?

I wouldn't be surprised. Actually, though, I'm not sure how much most Draegareans know about how the cycle actually operates. Hell, the gods don't seem real clear on it, themselves.

I finished Connie Willis' Doomsday Book last night and while I found the plot to be pretty engrossing and I enjoyed the details of 14th century life mostly it just

annoyed the crap out of me. I was distracted by all the difficulties Dunworthy had communicating in the present day. I know the book was written before cell phones were in wide use but the fact that she chose video phones as the communication device Of the Future irked me. And the callousness of the characters who got in Dunworthy's way did not ring true to me. I kept thinking there was something behind Gilcrest's snotty reluctance to go back and save Kivrin. But there wasn't and then he died. And Dunworthy's efforts to communicate with Badri were infuriating. Badri drops one hint! Now he's unconcious! Badri drops one other hint! Now the nurse comes in and makes Dunworthy leave.

Also, while I liked Kivrin's fortitude, even after the end of however many hundreds of pages I didn't feel like I knew her at all. Her only reflections on life in present day had to do with her professor and Oxford. Not one word about her family or friends she'd left behind.

And what about Basingame, the head guy mysteriously incommunicado in Scotland??? Nothing ever came of that.

Do her other books have similar problems?

Huh. None of those things that annoyed you about Doomsday Book annoyed me. I did find Kivrin's character to be pretty much a blank, and actually was much more amused by the "present" story than the past. Which is why I liked To Say Nothing Of The Dog so much.

Well, I do think Willis tends to rely on communication difficulties to make her plots move -- in Passage the entire last 1/3 of the novel has to happen because X person didn't tell Y person the Important Information. Then again, in that case, it was perfectly reasonable that X and Y person did not get the chance to exchange information, and the whole point was each individual journey, with major sidetracks and garden paths, towards the lightbulb moment.

Then again again, that whole novel suffered from geographic and interpersonal adventures in avoidance -- I got really tired of "you have to go up to 12, take the walkway over to 11.5, and then take the service elevator down to..." Oy.

A lot of Willis's farces rely on faulty information exchange, too, with comedic frustration as the chief result (see "At the Rialto"). A key point in To Say Nothing of the Dog works on the basis of faulty information, but it was the sort of point that even the narrator had forgotten was at issue, till it became at issue again.

faulty information exchange

I think this is something that makes me so crazy in Real Life that it's hard for me to find it bearable in a book. At least when it is overused to the extent I think it was in Doomsday Book. I don't think I would have minded if a communication problem caused difficulties for the protagonists a few times but it happened over and over and over and over. And I felt like there were so many more interesting ideas for her to explore while telling this story.

Also I wanted Colin to go back with Dunworthy and get the plague and DIE DIE DIE horribly.

lisah, if the plot element of faulty communication annoys you, under no circumstances should you rerad Passage. At least not soon.

I found the issue believable and realistic, especially given the voice-mail hell I'm currently experiencing in dealing with my credit card company and bank. But that's my issue.