<div dir="ltr"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 11:41 PM, Bruce Hayles <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:brucehayles@gmail.com">brucehayles@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">Perhaps owing to lousy reading, I am left with a lot of fundamental questions that no one else has brought up.</div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Alternatively, you're asking Big Questions while we go after smaller things...</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div dir="ltr"><br><br> Or is Reis's death completely independent of Gideon, but he's already found the information he needs? If he is behind it, how could he have foreseen the storm and Kanoa's takeover? </div>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>Re: takeover: The islanders apparently worshipped Hanga, but at the end Kandy suggests they actually worship the Squid God (I like how Wolfe avoids the C-word throughout the book). Perhaps the Squid God ate Hanga the way Hanga ate the king's "gaffer?" Would that make the "natives" change their allegiance? </div>
<div><br></div><div>Also - those bat again... Cassie mentions Batman when she describes them to Sharon, but says they were more "manbats." There's actually a Batman character named Man-Bat, a scientist who transforms into a bat-creature after ingesting the wrong chemicals... I'm going to assume Wolfe doesn't know this and this isn't a hint, as Wolfe doesn't seem the type to be up on Bat-trivia... </div>
<div><br></div><div>Man-Bat link: "On Leather Wings" from the Batman Animated Series: <a href="http://video.aol.com/video/on-leather-wings/1727987">http://video.aol.com/video/on-leather-wings/1727987</a></div><div>
<br></div><div>Speaking of Batman, I'm mildly surprised we never had a discussion of The Dark Knight here. Fantastic film I thought.</div><div><br></div><div>-Matt</div></div><br></div>