U is for—Underworld(s)
Given how A Rope of Thorns
finished up, it's no kind of spoiler at all to say that at least one
subplot of A Tree of Bones takes place almost entirely in the
Underworld. Not quite Mictlan-Xibalba, so much, as a larger, linked
constellation of Afterlives, a Hell-spectrum whose individual parts
mirror each other. Parts seem a bit more like Limbo, while other
parts seem like Purgatory, and where you end up definitely depends
not only on who you are while alive but what sort of business you
leave unfinished when you die. At any rate, I had fun designing and
referencing the various sections Chess and his Ma have to pass
through on their upwards journey. Having a fairly good grasp on both
myself and my druthers, though, I guess I always knew that one of
them would end up “having” to be Valhalla.;)
V is for—Victory
(Ambiguous)...a nebulous concept in most modern Westerns, since
we all “know” that this is an era in flux, a moment which is
already being overtaken by its own entropy. Also difficult in terms
of the shake-down from Pinkerton's Skirmish is the fact that no
matter who wins, the world has already been irretrievably altered:
Mages now can meddle, just like it's been amply demonstrated
that the non-hexacious can fight against hexes, with
arcanistric help. Which is probably all just a roundabout way of
saying don't expect anything quite as unequivocal as the end of your
basic superhero movie, because I don't have much interest in that.
This is horror, after all—or at least dark fantasy, depending on
where it's shelved.
Tomorrow: W and X!
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