I'm confused by some of the wild speculations I've
read on this thread. Are we all supposed to pretend that we
have not read the book before? Many of the issues raised are
clarified later.
>
> We actually get hit with a lot of information in a short time here. We
> find out that clones are born in the winter, and do not have a father
> (which I guess is obvious.) Vars are born in the summer, and are rarer
> than clones. Boys meanwhile seem to be almost part of a separate caste of
> somekind. There will almost certainly be more on this later.
>
> The climate in Port Sanger is apparently very cold. Reference is made to
> "glacier wind", the aurora borealis, and a "frost-decked sea." There is
> also a curious passage where the walls are referred to as "icy panes." Is
> Maia in an "ice cave" (ala Superman)? There is also apparently a hearth
> in the room, which makes the "icy panes" all the more peculiar. Any
> ideas? Am I just being tripped up by an artistic reference to a picture
> window?
Winter/Summer children are determined by date of conception.
The adults know, and label the children appropriately. Maia is responding
to the labels.
My house has "icy panes" in the winter. All it takes is single-
pane windows, and cold air outside.
>
> Speaking of the hearth, that is just one hint that Maia's society may not
> be the most technologically advanced.
As pointed out later, with reference to the "agone leech", they
ARE technologically advanced, but just seldom use it.
> Additionally, parents seem to be non-existant. They certainly don't appear
> anywhere in this passage, other than the fact that an adult is presumably
> the tutor of the two boys. Certainly, if parents played any sort of role
> in these children's lives, Maia would have long since figure out that she
> in Leie are twins.
OF COURSE parents don't play a large role in the raising of the
clones! In the typical situation, EVERY adult is genetically in the same
relationship to EVERY non-var child. So there is no biological reason
for individual parents to have a large role. As for the Vars, little
effort is spent on raising them. From a biological standpoint, they
act like germ cells for the "organisms" which are the clone-groups.
So they wind up being cheaply scattered in all directions, like pollen.
(This viewpoint is explored in more detail later, as well.)
This is one of my favorite things about this book. The social
situation is a very carefully thought out effect of the underlying
biology. To me, _Glory Season_ sets a very high standard for
biological authenticity in a science fiction book. I have seen no
other book do better.
> women who join the Army are expected to wear their hair short. Long hair
> is just simply an impediment to being a good soldier.
I don't buy this at all. If you have long hair, you tie it
back securely. Then it is out of the way while you fight, and makes
no difference. Note that Viking warriors typically had long hair, for
example. You are merely reflecting a bias of your own culture.
> -Maia is "twenty-six months before her second birthday." This suggests
> that a year on this planet is at least 26+ Earth months.
> -The name of the sun is "Wengel." Anyone know if this correlates to a
> known star?
Again, these are answered later. The region around Wengel is
described, and it becomes obvious that the star must be relatively
far away from here...
---David
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
