Lord of Mountains and Emberverse Thoughts

[Malta]

How good is that series? I've never come across any of the books.

 

[Meatshield]

Honestly, in cold-blooded hindsight, Rudi might not have been quite as utterly plot/tension-breaking as he was....had Stirling paired him with another, equally as potent, character (on the Good Guys team) who was not part of the Getalong Gang.

As it is, he simply carries all before him and everyone is either browbeaten into submission or too entranced by Rudi's awesome manhood to resist.

 

[EnglishCanuck]

Honestly, in cold-blooded hindsight, Rudi might not have been quite as utterly plot/tension-breaking as he was....had Stirling paired him with another, equally as potent, character (on the Good Guys team) who was not part of the Getalong Gang.

As it is, he simply carries all before him and everyone is either browbeaten into submission or too entranced by Rudi's awesome manhood to resist.

Even a fairly competent villain to contrast him against would have been nice. The fact that none of the villains in the series shows even a glimmer of overall general competence or guile just out and out brutality/menacing veneer means he never really struggles to obtain his goals. That and concentrating so much on Rudi vs. other characters cheapened so many of the deaths that did happen.

Some I felt, others I seriously had to look up who they were since they hadn't been mentioned in so long.

The other problem with Rudi's massive marysue mystique is that despite all the facts the author gives us about why everyone else likes him (and how despite he'd normally be someone you hate he is totally different ) simply makes the reader hate him, or at least that has been the consensus between myself and friends whom I know who have read the book. His 'can do no wrong' aura just grated on my nerves all the time as any conflict he might have is resolved through authorial fiat leading to zero suspense or conflict.

Rudi really just needed to die.

 

[EnglishCanuck]

His track record of having reasonable muslim characters is just as solid. The corsairs from Senegal were horrified to have been duped by the Evil Powers agent. Not to mention the muslim characters in Peshawar Lancers (including one of the heroes). This goes all the way back to the Raj Whitehall series, where, despite the Islamic country being the Big Bads....a lot of them were quite decent people (including the guy who took over at the end).

They aren't exactly cast in a favorable light either. I honestly get the vibe that they are either barbarous or inferior. It doesn't strike me as out and out bigotry, but it smacks of a condescending attitude towards the creed and adherents as a whole.

Yes they have some decently portrayed characters, but they always seem to act more...European than the others.

I give him points on actually studying more about regional Muslim ideas and attitudes in later books, but I just can't say he is completely fair to them either.