A Land of Fantasy Addicts discussion

Imager—one of the few in the entire world of Terahnar who can visualize things and make them real.

In case anyone else is reading this, I apologize for the unprofessional nature of this group. If you fancy joining the buddy read, please feel free.

We are starting (probably) Wednesday, 5th of March and finish whenever.

Me too Ten! Oh, btw, which do you prefer - Ten or Cillian?

I think we can ignore the calendar XD Doubt anyone will join us on such a short notice.

Hi, I'm Jim. Cillian & I were discussing this book & invited me. I'm a fan of Modesitt's. I believe I have & have read all his books & most of his short stories.

I didn't like this series when I first tried it. My wife did & eventually I tried it again & then loved it. I'm a moody reader, though. Modesitt isn't typical of most fantasy writers in that he started out life as an economist in DC & all his fiction has very strict economies as does his magic. The politics are good, too. Plenty of action & adventure, although it is sometimes understated. My biggest complaint is love interests. I don't find them very believable.

Anyway, I'd love to read along.

Woohoooo! Hi Jim! And welcome to our Imager buddy read quest! Super happy to have you!

Yes, this is a very laid back group where we spend our time praising anything we fancy and ranting at everything we don't (such as bicycles).

There are no rules, except for maybe making sure to mention the chapter that you're at before commenting and hiding any spoilers if anyone else is still behind.
As Cillian mentioned above, we can strive for about 20 chapters a week, but if you're going slower or faster that's no problem.

Can't wait! :D

Thanks for the wonderful welcome. Spoiler tags, absolutely. I HATE spoilers & have been known to throw fits for book blurbs that include them.

Cillian wrote: "Oh! About this:

"My biggest complaint is love interests. I don't find them very believable."
Good thing, I guess, his stories are not too focused on the romance aspect, yes?"

It depends. Often the relationship is very important to the story. He just barely mentions sex. Hand holding, long looks, & the occasional kiss are all that goes on & the guy always seems to reevaluate based on the woman's feelings. It's hokey. I would have been off to another flower most of the time. With one exception in an SF trilogy, characters tend toward monogamy so exclusive that when one dies so does the other.

While I've never met Lee, we've exchanged emails & have a few friends in common. The way he handles romance in books seems to reflect his personal life; very low-key & deep. (His wife is a singer & teacher, the basis for his The Soprano Sorceress.) It doesn't do much for me since it's nothing like my own marriage of 35 years. We get along great, joke a lot, & tend to embarrass the kids even though they're all married & tending to middle age.

Neither of us would have a clue what to do without the other. We proved that 10 years ago when we moved out of state & wound up separated for 6 weeks on our 25th wedding anniversary. I had no clue what brands to buy at the grocery store or what size clothes I wore. She had no clue how to fix anything around the house nor any idea about the bills. Overall, the separation was a good thing - showed us just how much we took the other for granted & how much our relationship means to us both. Still, it doesn't feel anything like this soul mate thing that he describes.

LOL! Marg is always telling me I can't find anything, either. Of course, if it's her charge & not in its proper place, how can I? She just laughed at me for saying we were low on tuna since there was only 1 large can left. How am I supposed to know she bought more & just put it in a different place? Sheesh!
;)

This is just an FYI about Dates & Times to help make more sense of the story. I don't know about you, but I tend to analyze them & lose track of the story figuring them out the first time through.

There are five two-month seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Harvest, and Fall.

There are ten months, each thirty-five days long: Ianus, Fevier, Maris, Avryl, Mayas, Juyn, Agostas, Erntyn, Feuillyt, and Finitas

The week is seven days long and based on the French equivalents: Lundi, Mardi, Meredi, Jeudi, Vendrei, Samedi, Solayi.

An hour is termed a "glass", and roughly 100 minutes of our time. Each day has twenty glasses, with the tenth glass of the day being noon, and the tenth glass of night being midnight. A quint is a fifth of a glass.

It makes sense & isn't complicated to remember, just a PITA to figure out in the first book.

LOL! Who needs books when real life stories are just as fun and interesting :D

Alright, my fellow book readers, our quest commences in 2 days! Get your equipment ready and tuck all distractions away (pets and humans included)! ^.^

Jim! Thank you so much for the Dates & Times information! That would save me a lot of headaches, considering I'll be listening to the audiobook. By the way, what format is your book? E-book, hard copy or audio?

I'm so happy that I'm not the only one who gets driven crazy by the date/time thing. Marg just rolls with it (She likes this series too, BTW.) but I MUST KNOW & be able to convert/relate or I go wonkers.

I will not discuss Marg's & my housekeeping save to say it's fairly awful. With 3 dogs, a cat (or 3), 3 horses, 2 goats, the barn, & my woodshop, the house tends to get less attention than it probably should. Dust is our decor. (The cats vary since our kids have 2, but they live next door, at the end of the south field, so their cats tend to wander in through the dog door as they please.)

I'll be reading a hardback, although I do have it in audio. I thought about the latter, but circumstances are against. I'm 2/3 of the way finished with a hardback fantasy anthology (my ongoing review) that is just not working for me & want a break. It's my lunch time reading & so far I've liked less than a handful of the stories, so thought I'd read "Imager" instead.

I've been mostly listening to nonfiction books lately. I'm listening to Broadsides from the Other Orders: A Book of Bugs which is really good. I should finish it today, but next up is The Invisible Man for another group read & there's a fairly long line of others I want to listen to as well. A good thing since spring is coming & it's time to start weeding, spraying, & mowing around the farm. Those chores are much better done while listening to an audio book.

I got through the first 7 chapters at lunch today. They're short.

Pay attention to the dates in the chapter headings. You'll find that a couple of years go by between the first 2 & then 5 more for the third. After that, some are in the same year or just one year further along. He lays a good foundation for the main character in this manner. I like it.

LOL! You already started?! Well..... who am I to judge, I am already 10 chapters in and trying, seriously trying to stop and wait for Wednesday XD I am sorry Cillian, I am guilty of being weak minded and easily swayed by temptations... such as books about people who can imagine things into reality!

Can't wait to start discussing! Should I start a new thread for discussions, or just continue here?

I'd guess we could do it here with spoiler tags. No worries for me if I fall behind since I've read the book previously.

Up through chapter 7:
(view spoiler)[ How did you like the way he's painted the picture of the world so far? It's interesting to see how he's laid out the post Medieval structure with brokers, factors, & such. Even some discussion of currency & prices, but without getting boring about it. Ditto with understanding how imagers are different than everyone else & something about how they're structured.

Knowing what's coming, I thought he did a great job with Rhen's eye, precision, & attitude. Then he concentrates & doesn't realize what he's done. He must have painted it, but it's a little more precise than normal.

The religion/philosophy is the same through the entire series & is well introduced. Naming is bad because it separates the thing from itself in our minds. We think of the label, not the action or object. (hide spoiler)]

Up through chapter 10

Honestly, just a few days ago I was in Paris, visiting Musee d'Orsay and the timing for this book to come into my life couldn't be better!

(view spoiler)[
I am absolutely awed at how the author describes the whole world, specifically, the artists' way of life. I can't describe how much I'm loving the details!

At first, the style seemed a little bit dry for my taste. Nothing like Acacia, mind you, but there was a lot of "doing" and not enough for me to relate to Rhennthyl yet. Gradually, this began to change, but by that time I was already hypnotized by the whole painting procedure and Rhennthyl's diligence and passion for accuracy and details.

It feels like I am reading a historical novel about the Renaissance mixed with fantasy and I am loving it!

Jim, now that you've mentioned religion/philosophy, I realize this is another thing that struck me. I can't help but be almost converted into it XD Names do put a lot of limitations on us.
(hide spoiler)]

So far, brilliant! I am going super fast though, almost at chapter 15 now...no reading tomorrow for me. XD

Sorry, Cillian. I just couldn't take another day trying to slog through that fantasy anthology, but I didn't mean to take off like this. It's just sucking me in, though. I wound up reading more tonight, too. Couldn't put it down.

I'm ready to start chapter 14, but I've pulled it out of my lunchbox & will read another story or two in Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy instead to give you time to catch up. The next story is by Neil Gaiman, so it shouldn't be too much of a sacrifice, although so far things have not been going well even with favored authors. It's like this editor picked out the worst.
:(

Gergana wrote: "Up through chapter 10..."

That's cool that you got to see that collection. I'm sure you appreciate art more than I do. My wife does, too. She's got a BA & a BS in art & art history, respectively, although she doesn't use it anymore. She was an art teacher for a year, but caught by budget cuts so went back to horses, the love of her life.

Modesitt does have an understated way of writing, but I like that he describes as the story moves along & doesn't just hit me with tons of description & explanation. It does mean that I have to read carefully, though. He often packs a lot into a little.

I thought the details about painting were fascinating, too. Even though I don't know anything about it, I am a craftsman & was judged enough of an artist to sell my bowls at the Brandywine Museum's sale. I'm not really sure where the line is drawn & that made me less so. I turn bowls out of green, found wood & then dry them so they often have different shapes, but I let the wood speak for itself. No real artistry needed there save for getting proper angles to show off its features.

(view spoiler)[As for the Namer & the Nameless, it's definitely a very interesting & intriguing thread, especially when put together with Rhen's thoughts. I liked how he thought that he was prideful & didn't want to show off his poor singing voice. The lack of reverence & attitude just makes him pop as a person, not a flat character. (hide spoiler)]

>.< Sorry, Cillian! I promise I won't read anything today! I've been devouring this book like a hungry ugly baby.

I think I'm up to chapter 18 now. I took yesterday off. I love how Modesitt is explaining what an imager is to us through Rhen's eyes.

(view spoiler)[I wonder about him creating the aluminum box & some other things when he first starts. Was there aluminum in the office? And what was the black box made of that they made on the boat? It's staying pretty logical, but a few things like that stuck out.

It's pretty chilling how often imagers kill before they're found & how he was told he would have been found dead if he hadn't come in. It really makes all his fears seem more real, less like paranoia. (hide spoiler)]

Oh, Cillian...how could you... After everything we've been through...


..

MUAHAHAHA!

Seriously though, I can totally understand. It's easy for me to zone off whenever I want to, because the audiobook can just keep playing while I'm working, traveling or cleaning. But reading takes far more effort and concentration and if a book doesn't click - there's no point wasting valuable time.

Cillian, I would like to give you a list of titles to pick from for our next buddy read. But let's do this in May, once I'm back from my trip.

As for Imager, don't worry about it. To be... honest, I am having a little bit of a trouble as well. Not as much as you though, but I am around 51% now and....

(view spoiler)[ I REALLY REALLY REALLY miss the drawing part. It was my favorite thing about the whole book - learning how artists used to live in an era similar to our Renaissance. When Rhen's teacher and his son died in the fire, I thought - FINALLY, some excitement!

When he finally decided to go become an Imager I was super excited! It reminded me a little bit of Harry Potter and The Name of the Wind. However...

(hide spoiler)]

There is something about the writing style that really bothers me. The book feels quite...detached. It's almost as if Rhen is listing the events for us, instead of experiencing them at the moment. Which is weird, since the whole book is from first person perspective. Rhen strikes me as a character who just lets things happen to him without putting any effort to change them.

(view spoiler)[ Yes, he DID decide to become an Imager, but he was left with no other choice. He is a person who seeks approval from his masters, because he can't get it from his father. It's not a bad thing. I often find characters who don't have strong ambitions and motivation, yet, enjoy the process and what they do, quite compelling. However, he is just so perfect. He is a talented artist, without practicing (he barely had any time, since he had to mix paint and do other chores). He is a talented Imager just because. He is also diligent and innocent, rendering him perfect for whatever side characters have planned for him.

(hide spoiler)]

My main problem is... I don't know what Rhen wants to do? He is letting other people decide his life for him and he is barely putting any effort in anything, apart from studying and seeking approvals. He is beyond talented in anything he does, but he lacks ambition.

At least, that's how I see him.

Apart from the writing style and unappealing protagonist, I really enjoy the world and the "magic" system! It's the main thing that keeps me going. The events themselves are really interesting, just not the way they're told by Rhen.

(view spoiler)[ When he was attacked by his two classmates, he didn't seem to care so much, which is fine - maybe he's the calculative and practical type. But the moment when he found out that he killed one of them and that the other will be semi-blind ... he barely even regretted it. Sure, he says he feels bad, but it doesn't look like it. He seems more happy with the promotion and the privileges, while the fact that he killed three people already and almost blinded another, don't seem to have any effect on his psychology.... I don't know how I feel about this. Yes, it was an accident, but as humans, taking another's life, whether on purpose or not, can leave a mental scar... Rhen is an exception though (hide spoiler)]

Overall, I am enjoying certain aspects of Imager, but I am having serious trouble connecting with or carrying about Rhen.

Cillian wrote: " Although your gifs kinda got me.."

MUAHAHAHAH! That was the point!

Cillian wrote: " We have a reading list on our other thread, the Acacia one. We contemplated Robin Hobb, too. ."

I know, but I think we might need a little bit of a ... woman's touch for our next book XD A friend of mine actually told me the difference. He said (approximately) this: do you notice how YA books with emotional, angsty protagonists, that focus mainly on the internal state of the character - falling in love, being jealous or worrying about their love interest while the world around them is crumbling, - are books mainly written by women. While books that are action orientated, where protagonists are constantly thrown from one predicament to another, without having much time to reflect on his emotions, yet always trying to fix the world, are mostly written by men. Both of these are EXTREME cases and the majority of the authors, regardless of their gender, try to balance things out. Nevertheless, you can almost always tell whether a book is written by a man or a woman.

Oh, and by the way, please feel free to contradict me! I really enjoy having discussions about these stuff and I am open to hear any opinion. Please bear in mind that this is a very broad generalization and without any ill-intent!

In my list of top 10 favorite series, 4 of them are written by men. Their protagonists are thrown or choose to enter into all kinds of situations and the character development is more of a consequence of their experience. They don't reflect much on what's happening inside them, don't dwell on feelings (memories, yes, but not on feelings so much). Their actions are not a result of how they have "chosen" to feel, but a result of what they believe they're expected to do.
This doesn't mean that characters written by men are unrelatable, because we don't get an update of what's going on in their head "every third page". On the contrary! Sometimes character's actions tell us far more about their internal state than any 5-page-long monologue. When we relate to a character, it's because we understand why they do things even without the author telling us.

Even The Name of the Wind, which is a book close to pure perfection for me, has its emotional and heart-wrenching moments (that made me cry for real), but the character relies on his actions and decision to develop, rather than spending time sorting out his feelings (to be frank, he does both). The hero, Kvothe, goes through hell, yet, when we are in his head, we can see how analytical and action-driven his mind is.

Books written by women, including my favorite ones, often have the "sorting out my feelings" moments in them. Yes, male authors have them as well and they can be quite detailed. The main difference is that the protagonists, written by women, often (but not always) choose to sort out their feelings before undertaking any main actions. It's almost as if we have to know why they're doing certain things, whether before or after the action itself. This is one of the main reasons why many YA books don't click with me. Also, sorting out how protagonists feel about their love interest can be slightly underwhelming (for me).
On the other hand, having this intimate perspective can give characters extra layers and render them more compelling to us.

In the end, it all comes down to balance. We need to be able to understand a character through their actions, but also through their internal motivation and reasoning. Emotions can play a huge role in understanding why a character would do something we might consider stupid, bordering to evil.

Acacia was an action driven book. The characters did heroic things and we, as readers, were expected to accept them as heroes. But, at least both of us, never did, because we saw them as people just going through the actions.

Imager is a little bit the same for me - Rhen is completing different actions. But why? What does he hope to achieve? Is he trying to be perfect in everything because he is scarred? What is he afraid of? Does he even realize how perfect he is, does it bother him or does it make him feel superior? Does he regret some of his actions, how is this regret affecting his abilities now? How are his emotions changing him?


HAHAHA, sorry Jim, I bet you're holding your head right now, thinking - what on earth is going on here? I thought we were just reading a book!

Cillian, if the book isn't blowing any wind up your skirt, dump it. There are far too many books to read to worry about not liking a particular author's style & I think that's what this is.

Gergana I think you're really on to something in your last post about male & female authors. I don't think it's that extreme, either. My wife & I have noticed the same thing. One of the things that drew us together was loving so many of the same books. When we first got married & had limited space, we had to get rid of many duplicate books, some of which were very well read & loved. Books were a little harder to get back then (early 80s) at least some were.

Over the years, we've read a lot of the same sorts of books. We noticed different opinions on some books. I wouldn't spot anything wrong with a male author's portrayal of a female character while it would set her teeth on edge & vice versa. In some books, it doesn't really matter, such as the Belgariad or Lord of the Rings, where all the characters were caricatures, for instance. Other times, it does. Conan isn't going to notice that some dress is a specific style or off-beat color, he's going to concentrate on the girl underneath & how much it covers.

I finished "Imager" today & started on the next book in the trilogy. I'm engrossed.

As for Rhenn not being likable or feeling anything, he is & does, IMO. Some of this might go to my last post, but I think a lot is the circumstances in which he grew up. It's a hard world with harsh realities. I'll put a spoiler tag below & confine my remarks to the first half of the book.

(view spoiler)[Think about what he did up until he walked across the bridge to the Imager Isle. He worked like a dog for 10 years living in poverty while his 'master' & his son lorded over him daily & screwed him constantly. He does feel bad that he might have killed them by some very understandable thoughts, but you wonder that he has no sympathy for the boys he killed & maimed? I don't. I wouldn't either - didn't in the couple of fights I had as an adult. Neither of us asked for the fight, did what we could to avoid it, & dealt with the consequences after making sure as we could that we won. The other guy has to, too. As kids there are some rules, but it's a whole different ballgame as an adult. Someone has to be a real ass to push things that far.
(hide spoiler)]

Anyway, if you keep reading, I think you'll find more feelings.

Jim, you're a reading machine! How on earth did you manage! And without an audiobook too! XD I'm impressed!

You know, I'm pretty sure that if you try some of the Paranormal Romance books that lots of women like, you will probably feel weird reading about some of the men depicted there. Honestly, some of them lack any character, apart from - "I want to protect you and treasure you until you die". Ugh, I am also thinking about Twilight...

Anyways, you're right! Connan doesn't care so much about the details that can give clues to the personality XD Such as fashion choice. On the other hand, when women write male protagonists they're a little bit more in touch with their sensitive side, doubting their feelings (not their actions), wondering whether their (potential) partner is interested in a relationship, or worrying about them for no good reason. OR it can be exactly the complete opposite in excess! XD Try any romance book with a half-naked muscular dude on the cover.
Same with Male authors writing female characters - either make them very action-driven, with relationships happening without much internal drama, or make their life a huge emotional roller-coaster.

As for the spoilery thingy:

(view spoiler)[ No, I wouldn't feel any sympathy for the two boys either. They were very unpleasant, even before finding out how they threatened their classmates' sisters. It's the action of killing itself. When you kill someone, whether you thought they deserved it, or whether by accident, I believe we feel a sense of dread. The fact that we took a life away, the fact that we are now a murderer (I've talked to soldiers who have killed people in the past and they say that, despite them knowing that they had to defend themselves, that the enemy raped and killed children in Africa, they still felt the impact of pulling the trigger and taking a life away-even if it was for the greater good).

However, you're right. As I kept reading I find more and more clues about Rhen's inner torment, even if he doesn't show it or avoids thinking about it, he still wants to hear that he's done the right thing.

(hide spoiler)]

Dammit! I just lost my reply to you. Grrr!

I've read a lot of PNR/UF books. Check out my bookshelf of them & you'll find a couple of hundred. My daughter likes them & there wasn't a lot we had in common back when she was a teenager. (She tended to cry when I talked to her. Hormones, ugh!)

I always kept a few thousand books around, let the kids read anything I had, but read what they did & discussed it with them. I think that made me a damn fine parent & they agree, in that respect anyway. Others disagree, especially when they hear I not only let, but turned my daughter on to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series - even the later ones with the kinky sex - while she was in her early to mid teens. (Her older brother who also read the series had issues with my permissiveness, too. LOL!)

Anyway, we read Mercy Thompson, Sookie Stackhouse, Kitty Norville, & many others. I couldn't handle some. I wanted to spank Faythe in Stray. (Probably too much like Erin. Bad decisions made for all the right reasons, although Erin mostly made very good decisions.) At first, I didn't care for Queen Betsy, but then Erin turned me on to the audio books read by Nancy Wu & I listened to 8 or so. They were a hoot.

You should compare our books. (Go to my profile & click that link.) It's interesting. We have 52 books in common, but only about 1/4 of them have similar ratings. Where Clavell & Hendee put you to sleep (judging by the zzz's in the shelf name) I loved them. On the flip side, you liked Armstrong's books way more than me & Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell put me to sleep. We both seem to like Briggs' books & the HP series, though.

I lazed around far too much this weekend so I could finish Imager. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also listened to 2 audio books while playing in the shop & getting chores done.

The first was H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy. I've been meaning to get around to it for ages & finally did. Wish I hadn't put it off so long. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The other was an audio only anthology, Stories from White Hats: Epic Western Tales of Legendary Heroes, put together by Blackstone Audio. Each short story was written by a different author & read by a different narrator. Another 4 star effort that I reviewed here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I adore Mercy Thompson and Harry Potter! As for Clavell & Hendee, I enjoyed the first one, and absolutely worshiped the second one! It's in my list of favorites, which is rare for me (I usually add the whole series, not just a middle book - which means the book was too awesome for me to ignore). The sequels though were a little bit too dry for me and suddenly became really dark and gloomy without the humor I was used to, and after the 5th book I just gave up.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is one of those books that if I reread now I would probably give up after 20 pages. You need to finish 1/3 of it before it gets interesting, but to be honest, not sure if it's worth it anymore :D Watch the TV series which are pretty awesome.

That's awesome that you encourage your children to read, Jim. And then discuss the books together? Man, I wish I had a parent like that :D

Gergana wrote: "...That's awesome that you encourage your children to read, Jim. And then discuss the books together? Man, I wish I had a parent like that :D"

Thanks. Both of us are like that & were raised like that. There's nothing in books that can hurt a kid so long as it is discussed openly. That includes the worst of sex & violence. Kids will skip over the sex until they're old enough & then there's no stopping them even before the Internet. I think it's more important than ever to discuss it now considering rule #34.

It's pretty amazing what they will pick up & skip over, actually. I was discussing Bridge to Terabithia the other day & someone mentioned how impressed they were by all the adults coming out of the theater practically in tears while the kids were all happy. The former concentrated on the death, while the kids concentrated on the end which was happy because of the dog, I think. I know I was continually amazed by what my kids focused on.

They weren't strangers to either sex or death from an early age since they were raised on & around farms. We bred ponies, rabbits, ducks, & dogs. My mother also had a farm where she raised lambs that we ate & many were slaughtered right there for Easter by their new owners. They ate various fowl that went straight to the table. The only year we ate frozen turkey was the time one pecked my youngest boy under the eye about Halloween. The turkey didn't get a second chance, so we had to freeze him for a few weeks. Mom also raised steers & we got a side of beef for our birthdays each year. The kids often helped pick it up from the butcher & had tours of the killing facilities.

They all had their own ponies & pets all their lives. Not taking proper care of an animal wasn't an option for any of us. We might eat it later, but it lived a good life until then. When we did kill it or a predator, the job was always done as quickly & cleanly as possible. Anyway, I think that gave them a lot of empathy, but also a lot of balance & taught them responsibility.

Do you have kids? Was this a drawing of your parents?


Your art is fantastic. Love it. I'm going to show it to my daughter. She's about your age.

Even though this isn't a couple of guys, I want to use it in several of my own reviews. So many books feel this way. Wonderful, Gergana!!!

Haha! Thanks Jim! No, the first image isn't of my parents :D I just imagine characters that are into different genre of books. As for the second one, feel free to use it :) (if you credit me, that would be much appreciated XD )

Might not be your parents, but it reminds me of my mother when I mention SF or fantasy to her.
:)

Jim, I'm sorry, I'm giving up on Imager as well XD I think I got to the part where (view spoiler)[Rhenn executes people as part of his duty (hide spoiler)] and I couldn't take it. Maybe I'm still a little bit of a fairies-and-unicorns-type of girl, who wants to believe that people always have a choice. I tried, some parts - I loved a lot, others - I just found slow and not so exciting. In the end Imager is a good book, but just not for me (or Cillian it appears). Hope we can read something together again one day and hopefully we'll all love it ^.^

That's a shame, but I do understand. There's definitely no unicorns & things only get tougher for Rhenn & others as time goes on. The political situation becomes more confusing & deadly, too. I'm about halfway through the second book & things are pretty bleak. His feelings about surviving haven't changed. He doesn't like it, but he feels no pity for most.