Codex Born Discussion Post
This is the official discussion post for Codex Born [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] for anyone who wants to chat about the book or ask questions. I may or may not answer all questions, depending on whether or not it would spoil things for future books (or, you know, if I just don’t know the answer yet).
Obviously, there will probably be spoilers in the comments.
My thanks once again to everyone who picked up the book, and especially to those of you who’ve posted reviews or shared the series with others.
Evgeni "Eugene" Kirilov
August 28, 2013 @ 10:00 am
Are there creatures (not necessarily mentioned in the book(s)) that can do the kind of body construction/deconstruction/merging dryads can? Also, if those exist, are trees / wood / living matter necessary for the transition, or can they enter, say, a brick wall?
Jim C. Hines
August 28, 2013 @ 10:34 am
Not that Isaac is aware of 🙂
mattw
August 28, 2013 @ 10:35 am
I’m a little better than half way through the book and it’s great. I have been wanting to ask you about comic books in the Libriomancer world, and since I just read the chapter last night that starts with Lena learning to read, and she read some comics, this seems like a great place.
Would comic books function the same as regular books for Porters? Could Isaac reach into a Batman and pull out his utility belt? Or grab Green Lantern’s ring? Or the Ultimate Nullifier from an issue of Fantastic Four? Or do comic books get some kind of auto-lock, considering they often contain super-powerful, world destroying weapons?
Jim C. Hines
August 28, 2013 @ 10:39 am
Thanks, Matt!
Comic books generally don’t work with libriomancy. When reading text, the brain actively builds the images. Because comics and other illustrated media present those images for you, it doesn’t engage the brain in quite the same way.
That said, novelizations of comic book stories are certainly fair game…
Alex Hurst
August 28, 2013 @ 10:40 am
I was just thinking about that too!! I think it would be an awesome addition to that universe. Think of all of the things they could use from Forge’s (X-Men) invention table…. 😀
Daniel D. Webb
August 28, 2013 @ 10:45 am
I had been mulling over a thought about video games and libriomancy, but I guess the question about comic books nailed that down.
Y’know, this one read to me a lot more like an action/suspense novel than most of the fantasy I read. Fantasy tends to have long…I don’t want to say “pauses,” but amounts of text devoted to worldbuilding, whereas Codex Born, once the action got going, never let up. Not a criticism! It’s a different approach to the genre, but it was hella fun to read.
Evgeni "Eugene" Kirilov
August 28, 2013 @ 11:14 am
I am not sure what got me thinking about this, but is it possible to perform libriomancy through a book? So, a libriomancer would open book A (say one of the Dresden books, because they make pop culture references), reach into it, grab book B referred to inside A, and then perform libriomancy on B. One possibly application I can think of, assuming this is doable, is to reach a locked book – so even if LotR is locked in Isaac’s world, it won’t be in Dresden’s, and he could finally acquire the Sting!
Jim C. Hines
August 28, 2013 @ 11:46 am
That’s a fascinating question. I’m leaning toward no, but I’m going to have to think about it a little more to say exactly why…
Evgeni "Eugene" Kirilov
August 28, 2013 @ 12:35 pm
Here’s my take on it. The book the libriomancer will be reaching into in the first place (A) works essentially like a portal to another world – and that world has its own laws of physics/magic. Libriomancy is likely not one of them, so book B will be just a book there. But I can’t be confident in my hypothesis, because the “portal to another universe” part is not entirely sound – it almost feels like instead of opening a portal to another universe, libriomancers are rewriting sections of their own universe to obey the laws described in the book; this would allow for magical objects pulled out of books to retain their magical properties in the libriomancer’s universe (since they were, in a way, created in it). I spend too much time thinking about the scientific plausibility of magic 🙁
The million dollar question, though, is – what could happen if Isaac (say, in the third book) had access to Libriomancer or Codex Born?
John D. Bell
August 28, 2013 @ 12:44 pm
Wagh! “It’s
turtlespaperbacks all the way down!”Jim C. Hines
August 28, 2013 @ 12:45 pm
Okay, after pondering this a bit more…
-Libriomancy requires two things: physically identical (or near-identical) books, and the active belief of readers. A book that’s never been read will have no magical power, and a one-of-a-kind book will *generally* have no power (though we’ve seen in Codex Born that there are potential workarounds here).
-Locking a book is done to a single physical copy of the book. The same magical resonance that makes libriomancy work transmits the locking spell to other copies.
So we’re left with two possibilities in your scenario.
1. The book-within-a-book is real enough to have that physical resonance for magic, in which case it would also fall under the locking spell.
2. The book-within-a-book isn’t real enough, meaning it has never been read, and is therefore powerless.
And yes, libriomancers aren’t literally opening portals to fictional universes; they’re simply using the books as “templates” for magic in this world.
AndreaJ
August 28, 2013 @ 5:03 pm
Lena is amazing and I love her to pieces. Just wanted to say that.
review is in the works. . .
Susan
August 28, 2013 @ 5:57 pm
By the end of Codex Born, I went from not-really-liking Gutenberg to thinking he’s a, well…not nice person at all whom I actively dislike.
Was that your intent as an author, or am I taking more from the book than you meant?
A few questions:
If locking a libriomancer’s power can block the mental damage caused by using too much magic, why isn’t the technique used more often? Shouldn’t at least senior level porters know how to do this? OR is Gutenberg keeping this technique to himself even though it could help others? (See “actively dislike” above).
Has Gutenberg fathered children?
Is the talent for libriomancy inheritable?
Jim C. Hines
August 28, 2013 @ 6:30 pm
Thank you 🙂
sistercoyote
August 28, 2013 @ 7:26 pm
I will have you know that a) you broke my heart, and b) I love Isaac for being the sneaky SOB he is but Gutenberg’s second (Whose name I am spacing on for some reason) for being even sneakier.
I also love Lena for so many reasons. And I really, really hope her book works because yes. She deserves it.
Finally: RUST MONSTERS YES. I only ever once played a character who actually wore metal armor, and we had to replace her plate four times in one game year because of the damned things. (And then she got, as an inside joke from the DM, Chainmail Bikini of AC 2. It was awesome.) So I might have made all sorts of happy squee noises interspersed with groans at that point in the book.
Finally, I have pimped it all over the place but mostly face-to-face and I meant to write a review but…fail.
Sally
August 28, 2013 @ 8:12 pm
Water nymphs rising from swimming pools, wielding Super-Soakers!
Michael
August 28, 2013 @ 9:28 pm
Loved it lots, I can’t wait for the next one / mad I have to wait for it, I was hoping Ponce De Leon would show back up as he was fun in Libromancer, I do hope we see him again! I was sad that Jeneta wasn’t more involved but know why. Thought Lena was going to be pregnant after her diary entry in Ch 20, I really liked her diary entries at the start of each chapter.
How far physically damaged can a book be to still work? Issac does a number on Beauty and the Beast to make it wider, split the binding but leaves the cover intact, would it still have worked if he then partial split the binding again between pages and folded pages up to get more area, or is there a damage limit? Obviously cutting the book in 2 would decrease the area and not help. What about fold-out books? Books with large maps/illustration could those be used for larger objects? (mostly I just want Issac to get his X-wing that was awesome when he was thinking about that)
Michael
August 28, 2013 @ 9:28 pm
Water Nymphs only will lead to a whole chapter on watery tarts, swords, and systems of government.
Dana
August 28, 2013 @ 9:37 pm
I adore both books and am eagerly looking forward to more. I am intrigued and delighted by the entire structure of libriomancy and so admire how you came up with this magical system. Go you! Also I heart Smudge.
I have a question:
I know that you intentionally created Lena as a character who would force us and probably you to look at problematic issues with how women are portrayed in SFF.
So my question is: I was a little taken aback when Nidhi got romantically and sexually involved with a patient. That is quite the ethical no-no for psychologists and psychiatrists. So, did you do that on purpose? Is that ethical lapse on Nidhi’s part, something you are intentionally exploring with Lena’s character? With her being by nature so irresistible? Because the ethical problems for Nidhi seemed underplayed to me. Basically it kinda troubled me. I adore Nidhi and I realize that we can’t see much of her through Isaac’s viewpoint, as this is something baked into the choice to use first-person, but surely it’s something Nidhi would have thought about?
One of the things I’m looking forward to in future books is more Nidhi, and I’m very curious about this particular issue in regard to her and Lena’s relationship. Because for Nidhi? If she were any good at all at her work, and clearly she is, it would be a big deal.
And thank you again for including so many interesting and out-of-the-mainstream characters and relationships. It’s just fascinating! Along with the cool magic, awesome action, breathless page-turning pacing, and lovable characters. I am a hard sell for first-person, but I fell in love with Isaac right away. Thank you for these books.
amy
August 29, 2013 @ 12:10 am
Would libriomancy work with braille or audio books?
Martin
August 29, 2013 @ 1:01 am
Just a short update since i grumbled earlier: Book 1 and 2 are now available as Kindle ebooks for european customers again. Strangely, at some point only Book 2 was available.
Jim C. Hines
August 29, 2013 @ 7:29 am
Don’t ask me why. But I’m glad they’re both available for purchase again!
Jim C. Hines
August 29, 2013 @ 7:30 am
For Braille books, in theory, if you had enough copies out there being read.
Audio books, probably not. Though Jeneta’s abilities throw all sorts of things into question 🙂
Jim C. Hines
August 29, 2013 @ 7:38 am
Gutenberg can be a total bastard when he thinks it’s necessary. At the very least, I would expect people to feel conflicted about him. I chose that Mark Twain quote at the beginning on purpose, after all 🙂
What happened at the end wasn’t so much blocking the mental damage as it was shutting the Big Bad out of Isaac’s head. Had Gutenberg come along 15 minutes later, there’s a good chance there wouldn’t have been much Isaac left to save. And given some of the internal politics of the Porters, not to mention the power of that gold pen Gutenberg uses, he’s decided it’s better to keep that one close to the vest. Whether or not that’s the right decision…
The Porters haven’t been able to find a genetic component to magic.
And Gutenberg did not have any children … as far as people know.
Jim C. Hines
August 29, 2013 @ 7:41 am
By Gutenberg’s second, I’m guessing you mean Nicola Pallas? I’ve actually got a short story about one of her first experiences with magic and chupacabras that should be coming out some time next year, I think.
Also, thank you! (And hey, it’s never to late to write reviews 😉 )
Jim C. Hines
August 29, 2013 @ 7:42 am
Ponce de Leon will be back for book three 🙂
The book has to be a physically whole object. Beyond that, it depends on how powerful the book was to begin with. The damage not only increases the risk of something going wrong, it starts to weaken the physical resonance with other copies of the book.
Fold-out books could theoretically work. You’d just need to print enough copies.
Jim C. Hines
August 29, 2013 @ 7:43 am
And it occurs to me that even if Isaac got his X-Wing, he wouldn’t necessarily know how to *fly* the thing.
Jim C. Hines
August 29, 2013 @ 7:58 am
Great question! And a messy one, too 🙂
Partly, we’re seeing the start of their relationship through Lena’s eyes. Lena knew Nidhi was growing more and more attracted to her — which makes sense, as Lena was transforming into Nidhi’s ideal woman. But Lena didn’t see the conflict, and wasn’t fully aware of the work Nidhi did to keep that attraction under control.
The relationship evolved a lot over time. In the beginning, Nidhi was therapist and guide and teacher and protector, helping Lena adapt to the larger world. But Lena adapted quickly, and Nidhi became less and less those things.
If this sounds at least somewhat like rationalization, it is 🙂 It’s the kind of rationalization Nidhi struggled with. She was definitely conflicted, though she’s come to terms with it by the time we meet her in the books. And I will say that while Lena was determined to not force Nidhi into this relationship, had Lena been a normal human woman, it’s very doubtful the relationship would have happened.
Does that sort of answer your question?
CyberLizard
August 29, 2013 @ 10:06 am
Thank you very much for your honest and real portrayal of polyamory. I squeed a little when you mentioned metamours and how Heinlein isn’t a useful model for dealing with poly. I suspect I know which books Isaac was worried about showing on the library book request!
Do you have many poly friends/acquaintances or did you have do much research? (I won’t invade your privacy by asking about your own personal relationships)
I’m on my second read-through so I’m sure I’ll notice much more this time.
Thanks for the fantastic work!
Jim C. Hines
August 29, 2013 @ 10:36 am
Thank you! It was something I really wanted to get right. Or as “right” as I could, at any rate…
I have several friends who are in polyamorous relationships. As for my own experiences, I’ll just say that I’ve learned I’m not well-suited for it, personally. So writing about Isaac, Lena, and Nidhi has been a blend of personal experience, listening and talking to friends, and research.
I learned “metamour” after going to Twitter and saying, “Hey internet, what’s the word I’m looking for here?” I don’t know how people wrote books before the internet!
liz
August 29, 2013 @ 2:55 pm
I was wondering about this ‘collective belief’ thing. I understand that imagination has power, but really no matter how well the author has described an object/person everyone will imagine it differently. For example: My brother and I both read a novel that had a small dragon in it. Talking about it later we realized I pictured the dragon being green and he pictured it being blue. I’m not sure if the author ever said precisely what color it was either. So if this were to happen with an object a libriomancer was pulling out of a book, what color would it be? Would it be the color most people imagined it to be, the color the libriomancer imagined, or perhaps the author?
Another question along those lines pops in my head every once in a while. A lot of books have settings in real places. Places that many readers who live/been there would find flaws in. Wouldn’t this weaken the belief and therefore the power the book had for libriomancy? Like watching a movie with obviously fake snow, or someone leaving the door wide open in the dead of winter. It takes you out of the story a bit and makes you think “Californians don’t know what its like to be cold.” Your imagination stopped working for a second.
Z
August 29, 2013 @ 3:54 pm
I keep wondering if Isaac will have a stroke of genius or insanity and try to replicate the circumstances where Charles Hubert managed to heal over Gutenberg’s lock.
Jim C. Hines
August 29, 2013 @ 3:57 pm
All I’ll say for now is that the thought has crossed his mind…
Dana
August 29, 2013 @ 11:19 pm
Yes, it does, sort of. But although I may have an imperfect understanding of the professional ethics involved, a shrink getting involved with a patient or former patient is quite problematic. And that was definitely the relationship they had, at first. I look forward to getting more of a sense of how Nidhi justified it.
And honestly: It’s totally enough for me that you’ve considered it and taken it into account as you write — it’s your story, after all! Thanks for answering.
Edmond Woychowsky
August 30, 2013 @ 3:06 am
A couple of questions about collective belief; would the capabilities of an artifact in a book change based on the times? For example, an artifact that was considered all-powerful when the book was first released might have lost some of it`s potency in light of recent scientific advancements, in much the way the battle of Gettysburg changed over the years in Clifford D. Simak`s “Out of Their Minds”.
Also, would it be possible to retrieve the individual components of one of Asimov`s robots from a story and assemble it? The belief in idea that the robot is a learning machine and therefore incomplete may be enough to get past the self awareness/intelligence issue?
Jim C. Hines
August 30, 2013 @ 9:16 am
I believe there’s a scene in one of the books where Isaac’s describing magic/libriomancy as a series of photographs layered together, and every photo is a little different, creating a recognizable but blurred shape. The libriomancer’s job is to finish bringing that into focus, so to speak.
But now I can’t remember if that actually made it into the final draft or got cut from revisions :-/
In the dragon example, it would generally end up being a majority rules thing, and if there’s no clear majority, then the libriomancer’s will would set the color.
The author’s intention wouldn’t really matter – it’s the readers who create the book’s potential.
And yes, a book which did a poor job of pulling the reader in and engaging their belief and acceptance of the story would tend to be a bit weaker.
Jim C. Hines
August 30, 2013 @ 9:48 am
Belief and a book’s magic do fade over time, so if you had a book that was consistently read for a century or more, the ideas and belief of the newer readers would be stronger than the older ones.
Pulling out an Asimov robot piece by piece? Theoretically, you might be able to do it … assuming you also had the equipment and the skill to reassemble the thing. And a book that gave you access to the individual parts, and didn’t leave anything out. I’d call it unlikely, but not impossible.
RyanH
August 30, 2013 @ 3:28 pm
I enjoyed the book immensely, but one bit really bothered me.
In the opening scene with the eReader, why was Isaac trying to ‘read’ poetry? His narration kept talking about how hard/impossible it was to do libromancy with an eReader, but what he was actually describing was his complete lack of connection with poetry. He just does not have a poetic bone in his body. So it felt weird that he was trying this new technical trick with a genre that he explicitly didn’t connect with.
I kept wondering what would happen if he loaded up an ePub of his favorite Star Wars novel instead. For that matter, so did he when he wondered about getting a full sized X-Wing!
Jimmy
August 30, 2013 @ 3:56 pm
When collective belief is talked about in the books I think of the theory of the collective unconscious from psychology if think Carl Young talked about it but cant remember details.
I also think the spooky in the book monsters are made of the collected fears and night mares of the human race.
Jimmy
August 30, 2013 @ 4:06 pm
Ok in the book it is mentioned several times that librayomancy is used more by people because they could only do a few simple spells if they were doing traditional magic. So now that Isaac has been blocked off from the books power he could find and train him self in a new type and in that training find out how to reconnect with the books.
Also how cool would it be if Lena were to meet a druid or nature magic user that could teach her more about herself. The more I hear about her book I kind of think about it a liberating to for women because if you look a it to a reaction to the Victorian style of girls can only sit in the corner and make food and babies. The nymphs are active they fight and have sex but if its cause they want to and that is how there culture is it is not really anti women.
RyanH
August 30, 2013 @ 5:11 pm
Hmmm, and as an addendum to the eBook thing, I’m wondering about display methods. After all, if eBooks work because thousands of byte-for-byte (bite-for-bite for the vampire books…) digital copies are magically resonant, then how they are displayed might not be a big deal. Forget trying to build a big Kindle, just use a projector.
And if eBooks are good to go, does that mean fan fiction is fair game? After all, I’m sure there’s pleanty of, say, Harry Potter fan fic that has a bigger reader base than many professionally published novels. Good luck for Gutenberg trying to lock all the fan fiction on the Internet one-by-one.
Jim C. Hines
August 30, 2013 @ 7:46 pm
Answer #1: By that time, Isaac had spent several days fighting with that damned e-reader. He would have tried everything from Star Trek to poetry to fanfiction to pirated movie scripts, and none of them worked.
Answer #2: Having no clue how Jeneta did what she did, he was trying to duplicate *exactly* what she did with her magic. Who knows, maybe there’s something special about poetry that allows it to work where other forms of text don’t?
Either way, given how Isaac’s brain works, you can bet he spent plenty of off-page time trying different things.
That said, it would have made sense for me to at least mention that in the opening scenes.
Jim C. Hines
August 30, 2013 @ 7:50 pm
I believe Isaac mentioned fanfiction in Codex Born, speculating about some of the things Jeneta could pull off of the internet. But so far, this is only a theory, which may or may not be confirmed or disproven in future books 🙂
And yes, display technology certainly opens up other possibilities!
Jim C. Hines
August 30, 2013 @ 7:52 pm
Unfortunately, Gutenberg locked off Isaac’s ability to perceive or manipulate magical energy in general, not just libriomancy. But I guarantee he’s going to start out book three searching for a way around that lock 🙂
Michael
August 30, 2013 @ 8:30 pm
nah, he’d do fine I’m sure he’s logged enough hours of X-wing on the PC or Rouge Squadron on Nintendo to count for something. And he’d pull R2 along as well so he’d have some one to teach him, or do you think R2 is to sentient to come through?
Sweet on Ponce de Leon, now I really can’t wait!
Allison
August 31, 2013 @ 9:10 pm
This book is like the Empire Strikes Back of this series, even though if you hold to your pattern there will be two more books after this. Also that we have to wait a long time to see the next installment and how the “holy heck, how are they going to get out of this one?” gets resolved. Grrr.
Thanks Jim as always for an entertaining read. Also interesting because I am currently listening to McKinley’s Beauty on CD as I drive to work. Having them going concurrently was quite a mashup since you mentioned it so often. I really enjoyed all of the references to one of my favorite books.
Michael
August 31, 2013 @ 9:22 pm
Questions on Star Wars and Combined belief.
I got to pondering this in regards to my X-Wing/R2 reply above. A books power and resonance are basically proportional to the readership for the book. I’m assuming Isaac pulled the lightsaber from the novelization of Return of the Jedi (but maybe it was Star Wars ie ep IV) in Libromancer from the description given. Something that I thought would have lost some resonance as most of what’s read in Star Wars is the expanded universe, and not the original novels (In which Luke is Blues 5 and not Red 5). So do large franchises that have work in various formats do they get a boost due to greater collective belief?
Jim C. Hines
September 1, 2013 @ 10:13 am
There are two more books under contract. What happens after that will depend on a lot of things, including whether or not I’ve been able to bring the story to a close, sales numbers for the first four books, etc. (The sales numbers are a factor in whether or not DAW will be willing to buy more.)
Jim C. Hines
September 1, 2013 @ 10:15 am
I was thinking of the Star Wars novelization, but kept it vague enough that either would have worked.
Overall, I’d say the franchises get a boost simply from the number of people devouring the books.
Quinalla
September 4, 2013 @ 9:05 am
Just finished it this weekend and I’m really looking forward to the next one. I really liked all the Lena snippets at the beginning of each chapter and just her character in general and I also want to read all the books that I haven’t yet that you mentioned, so that’s another bonus! I’m curious to see where you take it from here.
Oh, and I love that most of the story is set in Michigan, I grew up in Northern Indiana, so Michigan is well known to me which makes it fun. I am so with Isaac on how freaky the Mackinac bridge is, brrr!
Jim C. Hines
September 4, 2013 @ 11:10 am
Thank you!
The bridge bits are based in part on my wife’s reaction when we go up north each year 🙂
Jimmy
September 12, 2013 @ 11:01 pm
Ok i had a great idea today. Which cansidering the fact that it ocurd while i am haveing the summer cold from heck makes it evan better. Would’nt it be great if nintendo put a e-reader on the dsi. They could make it lower cost and still make a bundel and get praised for getting kids to read. Then they could make a libarimancer game for the ds that you could unlock stuff by reading the books that the iteams come out of.
Also so if any of your books were to be made into movies or cartoons what one would you root for. If dragon riders of Berk can be one I want a goblin cartoon!!!!!!
Charlie
September 14, 2013 @ 7:34 pm
First of all, absolutely loved the books and can’t wait for the next.
I noticed an inconsistency in the books, in Libriomancer Isaac used a green laser to steer Smudge, because: “Red lasers don’t work. I think the green reminds him of fireflies.” and yet in Codex Born: “I played the laser over a metal coyote, which Smudge happily trampled as he pursued the elusive red dot uphill.” Small thing I know, which leads me to my question or questions. How difficult is it to remember all the small details and how do you keep track of all these things? I imagine having notes on all the characters would amount to a massive heap, I’m no writer myself, but I would think you don’t carry all this information about all the characters in your head?
Thanks again for a most enjoyable reading experience and I will definitely be picking up your other books, as these two are the first I’ve come across.
Jim C. Hines
September 15, 2013 @ 10:17 am
Charlie,
Thank you! And crap, you’re right. I’ll make a note to fix that before the paperback edition comes out here in the states.
I do my best to remember the details, and I do have a fair amount of notes, not to mention stopping from time to time to open up the finished manuscript of earlier books so I can do a search for some random bit of information. But obviously, my memory isn’t perfect 😛
Jim C. Hines
September 15, 2013 @ 10:46 am
I would absolutely love to see some sort of animated goblin movie or series. But really, I’d be happy to see any of my books make the jump to the small or big screen.
Someone did a fan-made trailer for The Stepsister Scheme that I loved. That’s at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh-L5frvod0
Noyan
September 19, 2013 @ 10:13 am
Clearly Nymphs of Neptune isn’t a timeless classic, so when people start forgetting about the book in 10-20 years and no one reads it anymore, what will happen to Lena?
Jim C. Hines
September 19, 2013 @ 11:06 am
It won’t affect Lena personally. Once the spell is complete, it exists independently. However, over time, it does get harder and eventually impossible to do new magic using old, no-longer-read books.
Noyan
September 19, 2013 @ 1:30 pm
Wow, thanks for the fast reply! I just read Codex Born in its entirety last night and I love it. Ages ago I had asked you on twitter about ebooks, and it’s nice to see that addressed. Though there are still many other questions that technology brings. Is an ebook copy of a locked book still locked? Can you char an ebook? Does it damage the device or the file?
Also, can a libriomancer pull a skill from a book? For example, can Isaac (assuming he gets his powers back) learn blacksmithing by reading a book about a blacksmith? And by learn, I don’t mean learn in the way normal humans do, I mean like Neo learns martial arts in The Matrix.
Jimmy
September 23, 2013 @ 2:29 am
I still think Lena’s book may not be that bad. It depends when it was wrote. Think about traditional gender roles in differnt times. The females fight and act violently and yes they do have sex. But isant that why we rute for the sex and the city girls?
From what I gleaned from the books and the charicter of Lena the nymths are strong and tuff and they enjoy fighting and sexs. When Lena branched out to include Issaic she became more complex of a person. So if on neptuin with their lords and them all knowing about how the bond shapes the nymth to the persons desire what happens when its mulitple nymths to a lord. He cant be with them all constanlty and they would be able to do what they want in the mean time.
I dont know mabey its just the biblyophlie in me that wont right off any book evan pretend ones. (also since Mr. Hines made it up it rocks evan if he did not right it yet)
Also in a unrelated note in the next book if Issaic is depressed will it be hard for you to wright those parts since you have gone threw that as well and could it triger any kind of relapse?
Jim C. Hines
September 23, 2013 @ 1:45 pm
I appreciate the concern, but Isaac’s depression and struggles haven’t triggered anything for me, beyond the normal ups and downs that come from trying to write a book. In some ways, it’s actually been a lot easier writing about Isaac’s mindset, having been through some of the same reactions myself.
Jim C. Hines
September 23, 2013 @ 1:47 pm
Good questions! On the ebooks, they’re still experimenting and trying to figure out the rules. Ebooks are definitely susceptible to charring, though.
And as far as Isaac knows, you can’t really absorb a skill without also absorbing the character who had that skill, which leads to very bad results.