Discussion thread for Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess. Beware, Here There be SPOILERS

[hippogrif]

Welcome.

This is a thread for discussing the Girl Genius novelization Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess, as well as all Girl Genius in general. The subject matter is the property of Phil and Kaja Foglio.

No spoilers are required in this thread. The assumption is you've read the material already. That is why this thread exists--to provide a place for people to talk without having to try to avoid giving away secrets.

I own this account. If you're rude or a jackass, I will delete your post. If you're debating in good faith and not annoying the natives, I won't. If people really can't behave, I'll delete the whole fershlugginer thread.

Have fun. Talk at will. If you don't want spoilers, run away now.

Hippogrif.

Comments

Re: T. Stormboy

[claudeng]

I LIKE that. I thought that passage was odd and scanned oddly but didn't know what to make of it. If it is him, I wonder when it's supposed to be published - something he's already done, or something he will do?

My one halfhearted gripe with the novel as a whole is that it undermined Tarvek masquerading as the incompetent fop. Vrin said something about him being annoying but spineless, but most of the time the reader sees Tarvek through Lucrezia's pov, who's seeing right through his mask. So we don't really get the effect of the mask in the first place. The reason it's halfhearted is the other half of me loves all the new Tarvek description.

Re: T. Stormboy

[hippogrif]

Agreed, but somewhat quietly. My take is that they figured that at this point the gig is about up anyway, and that by giving us more insight they could counterbalance some of the real in-fandom problems that developed as a result of leaving him looking like a complete crumb-bum. Even after years of them slowly pulling back the veil, there are still people who are certain he's a complete rotter.

I know why they did it the way they did the first time. But I also suspect that this was a good and reasonable time to provide a corrective, as the secret's less secret now in any case. It allowed them to do a number of things, including what you mention below: establish Anevka far more clearly as a dangerous villainess for some time.

Me, I'm curious whether she dinged Mummy before or after her robotification.

Re: T. Stormboy

[claudeng]

Being so new to the series and the fandom and with the tvtropes forum being my main exposure, I tend to forget about the rabid anti-Tarvek faction. In my first read, I thought he was a bit confusing but fascinating, and I definitely didn't get Anevka as dangerous as the hints are heading. So I can definitely see your points here.

Re: T. Stormboy

[hippogrif]

(Shrug) Fandoms all get wankers as well as saner if equally obsessive wonks (says the ultimate Tarvek wonk). But Tarvek really did manage to generate outright chittering hatred from some folks, and a LOT of people who were sure from the very start that what they thought they saw was the only possible interpretation. Some were, shall we say, both partisan and very rude about anyone who suggested that there might be more going on?

The thing is, I do think I see what happened; the Fs were trying so hard to present mysteries and do a slow developing plot, relationship, and thematic line that they were unable to reckon with the real-time responses of fans who were seeing it in page at a time peep-show format, who adored Gil, and who were making some very false assumptions about the form and genre conventions that would pertain. The result was that many, many people left no room in their textual processing for the eternal question mark, or the new fact that might adjust their thinking. And many fans love nothing better than to cheer for their team.

The novel is letting them try to compensate for the blindness and factionalism that did grow up.