The steerswoman who came looking for the nice wizard in the backstory to book 4 had very dark skin, which I remember because it surprised me when her description was given--even though I knew that skin color was not necessarily going to be correlated with geography given the origins, I'd fallen into that mindset.
Your comments make me uncomfortable, which is often a sign that someone is on to something, so these might be defensive "OMG I love these books shore up the barricades!," but:
As a preliminary matter, the Outskirters initially pinged my European buttons through "barbarian" and Bel's style of poetry, and my mind got set that way, so whatever you saw as suggesting them as Natives slid off me. I'd be interested how other people read them. (I don't remember the details of the second book very well.)
I think Rowan doesn't try to convince the Outskirters of her conclusions, after Bel's initial very negative reaction? I remember them still disagreeing about it in book 4, I think.
What do you think about the flip side, not gaining knowledge but spreading it? I think of the fourth book when Will gives the townspeople bombs and promises to come back if he can and teach them how to do it themselves, to level the field against the wizards and take control of their own lands. It's a little honky-ish but I think that withholding information as dangerous (or just upsetting?) also has problems.
Finally, everything in the series is a puzzle to be solved, though I realize that the Outskirters not being treated differently than anything else may not make it better.
Finally finally, I agree with you about the torture.
no subject
Your comments make me uncomfortable, which is often a sign that someone is on to something, so these might be defensive "OMG I love these books shore up the barricades!," but:
As a preliminary matter, the Outskirters initially pinged my European buttons through "barbarian" and Bel's style of poetry, and my mind got set that way, so whatever you saw as suggesting them as Natives slid off me. I'd be interested how other people read them. (I don't remember the details of the second book very well.)
I think Rowan doesn't try to convince the Outskirters of her conclusions, after Bel's initial very negative reaction? I remember them still disagreeing about it in book 4, I think.
What do you think about the flip side, not gaining knowledge but spreading it? I think of the fourth book when Will gives the townspeople bombs and promises to come back if he can and teach them how to do it themselves, to level the field against the wizards and take control of their own lands. It's a little honky-ish but I think that withholding information as dangerous (or just upsetting?) also has problems.
Finally, everything in the series is a puzzle to be solved, though I realize that the Outskirters not being treated differently than anything else may not make it better.
Finally finally, I agree with you about the torture.