Technomage Novels

[sindatur]

Iz,

Have you read the Shadow Within (Book 7). That pretty much covers the Icarus Landing on Z'ha'dum and the Shadows taking over the passengers and crew of the Icarus.

[iznardy]

sind--no, haven't even see that title, but i'll look for it.

pc--hey, you were the one who went into the legions of fire topic and told everyone to stop reading the series because "casting shadows" rocked and you wanted to discuss it right away.

i stopped reading a first rate series to read a second rate book. so you can't expect me to load on the praise.

[iznardy]

by the way, for the benefit of other posters:

if pc and i ever agreed on anything, the universe would immediately come to an end, and you and everyone you love would implode at the speed of light.

so count you're lucky stars we are arguing--

iz

[sindatur]

Oh Iz,

A PS, just looked at the Lurkers Guide.

Jeanne Cavelos is also the author of The Shadow Within (Book 7), so maybe that's why she skipped any depth on Anna and Morden at Z'ha'dum, 'cause she assumed you had read her other B5 book.

[ProfCrash]

iz, yup I did because I think Casting Shadows is a better book. Not to mention, it is alot easier to read one book then three, meaning it is easier to get to a point were people can discuss the book.

I could care less that you dislike the book or if you find things in it that you don't enjoy. That is your opinion. What bothers me is that you see an opinion that differs from yours as being an "apologist" instead of someone who disagrees with you.

I would suggest reading Book 7, it is pretty good and focuses entirly on John and Anna Sheridan. It explores what happened to the Icarus, what they found, what happened to them, and how the people involved made the decisions that they did. JMS has said that it is 90% canon, no idea what part of the book he would say is off. You even learn a bit more about Morden.

[ProfCrash]

Kimball, since she followed an outline given toher by JMS, I am sure there is a reason for Anna and Kosh appearing in the book beyond what we have seen so far.

Beyond that, it was Anna's appearence that made me think back to the scans that Franklin had taken oof her. The ones where he located the implants in the back of her neck. The implants that connected her to the Shadow ship and allowed her to control the ship. The implants that appear to be very similar to the Mages implants at the back of their neck where the chrysallis connects for three years. The implant that stores information on how a Mage cast spells and the like so that they can control the organic tech that is placed in their bodies at initiation. The chrysallis that is used to build their places of power, control their ships,a nd assorted other tools (staffs and amulets)

Sure the only mention of the Shadow ships could have come from the Narn and then later attack on the Narn at the end of the book. But instead we are treated to a few pages showing how Anna has merged with the ship. Coincidental? Knowing JMS (who wrote the outline, including the characters that he wanted introduced and setting of the book) I think not.

[iznardy]

okay, i will not longer comment on how bad this book was (ooops, did I just slip up?) and stick only to content.

of which there was very little (ooops! sooooory! this is going to be harder than i thought).

in which case i do find it intriguing that Morden was able to essentially scout the entire convocation without being spotted as a shadow agent.

now, i think from elric, we learn that this was do to all the confusion caused by the conflict between galen and elizar.

but if i remember correctly, it is pretty clear that morden caused this confusion, possibly by influencing galen during the casting of the "destruction" spell.

how morden could do this, since he isn't a mage or a telepath, i don't quite get.

it also seems like the mages are not a "society" in the same sense as the humans, minbari, narn, or centauri. each mage seems to have his own agenda and his own priorities. they don't seem very good at reaching consensus or acting in unison.

which would make them very easy prey for the divide and conquer tactics of the shadows.

[okay, count them up; that's almost 200 words without casting any aspersions on the techinical aspects of creative writing in this novel.]

[ProfCrash]

The Shadow Within

The Lurkers Guide has a nice summary of the book

[ProfCrash]

Morden has nothing to do with Galen's spell gone bad. He is there in the background observing. Galen's spell changes because he attempts to alter it. Isabelle saw that, Galen comments on it, the sensor pad shows it, ect....

Morden is at there to try and find supporteres among the Mages, note he asked the Mages what they wanted. Elizar is already a Shadow agent. He probably tells Morden about Galen's spell after the disaster at the morning training session. Elizar has also told the Shadows that he will get Isabelle and Galen to swear loyalty to him and spends a fair amount of time with both Galen and Isabelle trying to convince them that the Circle is withholding information.

Why Galen and Isabelle? Galen seems like a natural recruit. Elizar and he share a dream of returning the Technomages to glory (I know, it was in that boring 141 pages that you had to read so its not really important). Galen is also a student of a member of the circle who shows great promise, Kell is interested in him and not in Fed (the fourth initiate who is being trained by a circle member). Isabelle is apprenticed to a bit of a rogue who has some knowledge of how the tech works. Want to make a bet that the Shadows would love to have that info? Add to that, Isabelle is a strong Mage, she is able to defeat Elizar in a battle in the trianing arena.

So Elizar knows of two chrysallis stage Mages that could be very strong allies and who are more likely to follow him. Galen because he wants to see the Mages respected by the Universe again and Isabelle who is strong, wants to understand the technology, and is probably unhappy with the Circle because of her mothers treatment.

So when Elizar approaches Isabelle, Morden is there to observe. Is Elizar capable of what he says? Are these other Mage's strong enough?

When Elric sees Morden in the image, he puts together that Morden is not just an envoy of the Rook (back to those annoying 141 pages) but something else. He digs into Morden's past and pieces together what happened to him, and that he is suppose to be dead, and then tells Galen not to have any contact with Morden.

[iznardy]

Hey, just to prove I actually did read the thing, Elric's revelation about Morden is NOT in the aforementioned "annoying 141 pages" but in Chapter 9.

I did get the impression here that Morden was involved in Galen's spell-casting. However, the passage I was thinking of actually refers to Morden first appearance in the novel, when he shows his credentials to Elric. "As Elric looked at it now, the situation struck him as a sloppy attempt at misdirection: generate chaos to avoid scrutiny." Morden had apparently upset some type of cargo and thus distracted Elric from questioning him too closely about why he was on Soom.

Further investigation by Elric shows that Morden is asking everyone "What do you want?" and this, as much as anything, convinces Elric he is an agent of the Shadows.