JMF reading club: The Final Reflection
Aug. 31st, 2019 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnSo this is the first installment in what I think/hope will be approximately monthly posts (possibly more or less frequently, depending on how frequently I can get my act together on this and what else I am reading) on John M. Ford in which I reread his books, speculate on what the heck is going on in them, and... maybe... one of you tells me what is actually going on? :D
This installment is The Final Reflection, which was my very first JMF. I read it when I was absurdly young, I think late middle school or early high school, and I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Apparently I really liked this, as this was the gateway drug to my reading everything else I could find by him (and also not understanding it). Thirty years or so later, I've reread this many times and I think I now understand most of what's going on, although every reading I still figure out some things, and I still have a bunch of questions.
I didn't quite know how to organize this, so I just decided to organize by chapter. Of course it's heavy on the later chapters, since that's where all the plot comes together.
The Clouded Levels
Ch 1
Here we meet, not just Kethas and Vrenn (and Gelly and Zharn), but also General Margon, who we learn at the end of the book is the pro-war faction, with Kethas as the anti-war faction. Pretty clear now to me that Margon was involved with Mabli's cheating and Kethas kinew that, the way that he killed him so quickly and Kethas gave Margon the line about compliments to a worthy opponent. So, on a thematic level, this is setting up the whole pro-war/anti-war conflict that is the entire theme of the book.
-Reading this book it's always hilarious to me how JMF has set up the Klingon culture to be so... well... awful from a human perspective.
Ch 2-3
-I really don't understand the whole thing with Vrenn and Kethas and Rogaine.
-So, what's going on here is that Kethas has secretly been trying to arrange a Romulan Neutral Zone, traitorously from the pro-war-faction's side. However, Kodon, etc. don't think Vrenn was involved and are trying to rescue him (?) -- but when Vrenn hesitates, they tell him that Kethas verified information on the frontier raid Vrenn was on (and that almost killed them). So Vrenn thinks that Kethas never cared about him (I think this is what is meant by So there was only the khomerex zha… and the pieces of the game were only bits of wood in the fire.)
I am unsure about this -- about the underlying truth of everything. Did Kethas really leak information on the frontier raid, or did they just tell Vrenn that? Was it about trying to rescue Vrenn or about trying to divide him from Kethas? I'm just not sure about those things. I think we are meant to take it as the surface interpretation, but I'm so not sure, especially since Kodon is revealed as one of the pro-war-faction villains in the last chapter, and Krenn seems to have reasonably positive feelings about Kethas in the last chapter as well.
The Naked Stars
Ch 4
-He imagined that it would please certain of the Imperial Council greatly if the son of Kethas, who had died trying to make peace with the Romulans, were to die igniting a war with them.
Money quote here, and I'm just not sure what to take from this. Like, this seems more like a positive view of Kethas. What happened?
-Why does Kezhke tell Krenn he has to bring the ambassador back alive? I don't get this at all.
Ch 5
-What is the book about a war that lasts for a thousand years? The Forever War?
Ch 6
-Dr. Tagore reached for the book.
(Kethas reached for the dead green hand.)
There's something here I'm not getting. I think.
The Falling Tower
Ch 7-8
-Random small thing I figured out this time: "My Executive also is dead... I would have liked for the Admiral to meet his replacement." Oh! Of course he's talking about Kelly, going back to their discussion about women in command!
-The Red File. Okay, Section One contains the evidence that van Diemen is manufacturing skirmishes with the Klingons in order to promote Federation unity. (Heh, and before this became a notable trope, too!) This is given to the Federation instead of being released (which would dissolve the Federation) in exchange for the Federation's research on dilithium.
-I remember, years ago, figuring out that Zharn was the one that killed van Diemen and feeling very proud of myself because I sure hadn't been able to figure that out on first reading. I think the times are important here? vD's train stopped at 1552 Universal / 1052 local. Six minutes later (1558 U/1058 local) he was found dead. From 10:25 to 11:10 Krenn was in McCoy's office and/or at Mirror. So I guess they must have dropped off Zharn right before going to McCoy's, and he (somehow?) stopped the train and killed vD. I'm not sure how Zharn stopped the train, though??
-I don't understand why it's necessary to put in Section One the fact that van Diemen isn't in San Francisco at the time of the broadcast. What is the importance of that, besides that he's actually in Georgia?
-I also understand in this reading that Maxwell Grandisson III must have been the person van Diemen was meeting (I think I might have figured this out earlier but forgot), and that he must have been financing/in charge of van Diemen's actions, thus his suicide after meeting with Shepherd (in Ch 9).
-Why does Krenn not have orders to release Section One regardless? Surely Meth would prefer the dissolution of the Federation to an intact one? Or is this an action Krenn takes on his own? (I can fanwank that Meth prefers two Empires as a "more stable" situation, but it's a fanwank with no support from the text.)
Ch 9
-awwww, I'm imagining Cmdr Kelly the Klingon with her little flower bag, hee
-I also finally understood that Dr. Tagore totally knows the Klingons killed van Diemen, which explains that (hitherto totally odd to me) story about Yamamoto.
-"It was selfish, literally damnably selfish, if I believed in Hell. Which I don't, any more than a Klingon. What extra purpose would it serve, in a universe so backwards that death can be an act of love?" I feel like... this part bit teeth deep into my psyche and never let go.
-I still don't really understand Krenn's story about Khemara and Rogaine. Is the point that he just has very complicated feelings about them? But also later he says that speech to Tagore about "trouble rather the tiger in his lair" and says it's a Klingon faith, which Tagore seems to connect to that story, and later there's that bit about Khemara so I guess... the point is maybe that Kethas put Vrenn in mortal danger, but in service of a greater good, and Krenn now understands that??
-I like about this book that the plot is actually stated in small words at the end so I can understand it! (1) The Council will think the Federation is equal to the Klingon Empire in its dilithium capability, and the Federation will think the Klingons stole its dilithium knowledge, so it will be a stalemate and they won't have a war. Yay!
-Plot (2): Section Two of the Red File talks about the Klingon war faction and their actions, like trying to bombard the planet at the end and re-ignite the war between Klingons and the Federation that Krenn just laboriously stamped out on the Federations' end. But this isn't a good thing to do against a Federation that has dilithium! so now the war faction, who killed Kethas, will themselves be killed. (Probably Tagore wouldn't approve of this, but he doesn't know, at least during the book.) So I guess it really is the case that Krenn has been actually working to avenge Kethas (if so understatedly that it's never explicitly stated). Thus also his final observation that revenge is the final reflection of the sharing of grief or pain (of Kethas' death, I guess). Hey cool, something else I learned this time!
-Aw Krenn, trying to say it's OK if Kelly doesn't want to be his consort anymore.
-"Krenn thought how strange it was that this secret, that he was not the son of Rustazh, had made him even more the son of Khemara: given him exactly the weapon with which Kethas had tried to arm him. The weapon of patience, against which Klingons had no defense."
I thought I understood this, but... I don't. What does patience have to do with finding out he was not the son of Rustazh?
-Also why did Margon go to all the trouble to fake Vrenn being the son of Rustazh? Presumably... I guess?... so Kethas would adopt him? In order that... umm... yeah, I got nothing.
Feel free to ask your own questions in comments, and perhaps I or someone else can answer them!
Next month I'll probably do The Dragon Waiting (as a result of being in the middle of reading Lent and therefore interested in Savonarola).
This installment is The Final Reflection, which was my very first JMF. I read it when I was absurdly young, I think late middle school or early high school, and I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Apparently I really liked this, as this was the gateway drug to my reading everything else I could find by him (and also not understanding it). Thirty years or so later, I've reread this many times and I think I now understand most of what's going on, although every reading I still figure out some things, and I still have a bunch of questions.
I didn't quite know how to organize this, so I just decided to organize by chapter. Of course it's heavy on the later chapters, since that's where all the plot comes together.
The Clouded Levels
Ch 1
Here we meet, not just Kethas and Vrenn (and Gelly and Zharn), but also General Margon, who we learn at the end of the book is the pro-war faction, with Kethas as the anti-war faction. Pretty clear now to me that Margon was involved with Mabli's cheating and Kethas kinew that, the way that he killed him so quickly and Kethas gave Margon the line about compliments to a worthy opponent. So, on a thematic level, this is setting up the whole pro-war/anti-war conflict that is the entire theme of the book.
-Reading this book it's always hilarious to me how JMF has set up the Klingon culture to be so... well... awful from a human perspective.
Ch 2-3
-I really don't understand the whole thing with Vrenn and Kethas and Rogaine.
-So, what's going on here is that Kethas has secretly been trying to arrange a Romulan Neutral Zone, traitorously from the pro-war-faction's side. However, Kodon, etc. don't think Vrenn was involved and are trying to rescue him (?) -- but when Vrenn hesitates, they tell him that Kethas verified information on the frontier raid Vrenn was on (and that almost killed them). So Vrenn thinks that Kethas never cared about him (I think this is what is meant by So there was only the khomerex zha… and the pieces of the game were only bits of wood in the fire.)
I am unsure about this -- about the underlying truth of everything. Did Kethas really leak information on the frontier raid, or did they just tell Vrenn that? Was it about trying to rescue Vrenn or about trying to divide him from Kethas? I'm just not sure about those things. I think we are meant to take it as the surface interpretation, but I'm so not sure, especially since Kodon is revealed as one of the pro-war-faction villains in the last chapter, and Krenn seems to have reasonably positive feelings about Kethas in the last chapter as well.
The Naked Stars
Ch 4
-He imagined that it would please certain of the Imperial Council greatly if the son of Kethas, who had died trying to make peace with the Romulans, were to die igniting a war with them.
Money quote here, and I'm just not sure what to take from this. Like, this seems more like a positive view of Kethas. What happened?
-Why does Kezhke tell Krenn he has to bring the ambassador back alive? I don't get this at all.
Ch 5
-What is the book about a war that lasts for a thousand years? The Forever War?
Ch 6
-Dr. Tagore reached for the book.
(Kethas reached for the dead green hand.)
There's something here I'm not getting. I think.
The Falling Tower
Ch 7-8
-Random small thing I figured out this time: "My Executive also is dead... I would have liked for the Admiral to meet his replacement." Oh! Of course he's talking about Kelly, going back to their discussion about women in command!
-The Red File. Okay, Section One contains the evidence that van Diemen is manufacturing skirmishes with the Klingons in order to promote Federation unity. (Heh, and before this became a notable trope, too!) This is given to the Federation instead of being released (which would dissolve the Federation) in exchange for the Federation's research on dilithium.
-I remember, years ago, figuring out that Zharn was the one that killed van Diemen and feeling very proud of myself because I sure hadn't been able to figure that out on first reading. I think the times are important here? vD's train stopped at 1552 Universal / 1052 local. Six minutes later (1558 U/1058 local) he was found dead. From 10:25 to 11:10 Krenn was in McCoy's office and/or at Mirror. So I guess they must have dropped off Zharn right before going to McCoy's, and he (somehow?) stopped the train and killed vD. I'm not sure how Zharn stopped the train, though??
-I don't understand why it's necessary to put in Section One the fact that van Diemen isn't in San Francisco at the time of the broadcast. What is the importance of that, besides that he's actually in Georgia?
-I also understand in this reading that Maxwell Grandisson III must have been the person van Diemen was meeting (I think I might have figured this out earlier but forgot), and that he must have been financing/in charge of van Diemen's actions, thus his suicide after meeting with Shepherd (in Ch 9).
-Why does Krenn not have orders to release Section One regardless? Surely Meth would prefer the dissolution of the Federation to an intact one? Or is this an action Krenn takes on his own? (I can fanwank that Meth prefers two Empires as a "more stable" situation, but it's a fanwank with no support from the text.)
Ch 9
-awwww, I'm imagining Cmdr Kelly the Klingon with her little flower bag, hee
-I also finally understood that Dr. Tagore totally knows the Klingons killed van Diemen, which explains that (hitherto totally odd to me) story about Yamamoto.
-"It was selfish, literally damnably selfish, if I believed in Hell. Which I don't, any more than a Klingon. What extra purpose would it serve, in a universe so backwards that death can be an act of love?" I feel like... this part bit teeth deep into my psyche and never let go.
-I still don't really understand Krenn's story about Khemara and Rogaine. Is the point that he just has very complicated feelings about them? But also later he says that speech to Tagore about "trouble rather the tiger in his lair" and says it's a Klingon faith, which Tagore seems to connect to that story, and later there's that bit about Khemara so I guess... the point is maybe that Kethas put Vrenn in mortal danger, but in service of a greater good, and Krenn now understands that??
-I like about this book that the plot is actually stated in small words at the end so I can understand it! (1) The Council will think the Federation is equal to the Klingon Empire in its dilithium capability, and the Federation will think the Klingons stole its dilithium knowledge, so it will be a stalemate and they won't have a war. Yay!
-Plot (2): Section Two of the Red File talks about the Klingon war faction and their actions, like trying to bombard the planet at the end and re-ignite the war between Klingons and the Federation that Krenn just laboriously stamped out on the Federations' end. But this isn't a good thing to do against a Federation that has dilithium! so now the war faction, who killed Kethas, will themselves be killed. (Probably Tagore wouldn't approve of this, but he doesn't know, at least during the book.) So I guess it really is the case that Krenn has been actually working to avenge Kethas (if so understatedly that it's never explicitly stated). Thus also his final observation that revenge is the final reflection of the sharing of grief or pain (of Kethas' death, I guess). Hey cool, something else I learned this time!
-Aw Krenn, trying to say it's OK if Kelly doesn't want to be his consort anymore.
-"Krenn thought how strange it was that this secret, that he was not the son of Rustazh, had made him even more the son of Khemara: given him exactly the weapon with which Kethas had tried to arm him. The weapon of patience, against which Klingons had no defense."
I thought I understood this, but... I don't. What does patience have to do with finding out he was not the son of Rustazh?
-Also why did Margon go to all the trouble to fake Vrenn being the son of Rustazh? Presumably... I guess?... so Kethas would adopt him? In order that... umm... yeah, I got nothing.
Feel free to ask your own questions in comments, and perhaps I or someone else can answer them!
Next month I'll probably do The Dragon Waiting (as a result of being in the middle of reading Lent and therefore interested in Savonarola).
no subject
Date: 2019-09-01 06:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-01 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-01 09:32 am (UTC)Dr. Tagore reached for the book.
(Kethas reached for the dead green hand.)
A gesture evoking a similar memory? Is this Krenn seeing how much Tagore cares about the book by analogy with Kethas and Rogaine?
(Okay, now I remember enough of it that I do want to reread it after all).
no subject
Date: 2019-09-01 09:29 pm (UTC)(Kethas reached for the dead green hand.)
A gesture evoking a similar memory? Is this Krenn seeing how much Tagore cares about the book by analogy with Kethas and Rogaine?
Yeah, I think I was suffering from the same thing you described when you read Scholars of Night, where I was unsure how much to read into that. I mean, I think you're right in your take on it as an analogy of caring for the book / Rogaine, and then I was thinking, maybe not, as Tagore isn't dying, and what does this say about Krenn's relationship with Kethas at the point he was assassinated vs. Tagore... I'm probably just overthinking it.
If you reread it, let me know! :D (It's probably the fastest read of his books, I think, so at least not all that much of a commitment...)
no subject
Date: 2019-09-05 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-05 07:44 pm (UTC)And I think I do understand pretty much all the major parts of what is going on plotwise (turns out my reading comprehension now is actually rather better than it was thirty years ago, who would have thought), I think now I just have a number of questions related to where Ford elides information about how he got from X to Y -- I don't know sometimes whether the answer is "there is a very complicated and deeply profound path from X to Y" or "it's a straight line, idiot."
no subject
Date: 2019-09-08 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-09 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-25 09:09 am (UTC)Hi to the book club. I’m a friend of Cahn’s Dreamwidth friend iknowcommawrite. Cahn showed me their post after I had recommended FR to my friend. I promised to reread the book and comment. Sorry for being so long winded :-)
I understand some of what went on, though maybe not as much as I thought I did. I think it’s the sign of a good book; that it not only can stand rereadings, but there is always something to discover.
Ford was a gamer before a writer and I’ve played at least one of the games, the Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues for the RPG Paranoia. Paranoia is a more insane variant on the Komerex Zha!
I think that mindset influences a lot of this book. I read it when I was around 20, I think, and quite a few times since, though not recently. As I write, I finished my reread a few minutes ago.
The Klingons see everything as a game, and not in the sense of taking it lightly, but in the bloody, terminal way in which war is both a game and the last instrument of diplomacy. Diplomacy, called by Kipling the Great Game.
Kethas, the last of the Thought Admirals, trained his foster son to survive in this world. Remember that some enemies will never have learned to count. They will act stupidly and against logic.
[You write]
So Vrenn thinks that Kethas never cared about him (I think this is what is meant by So there was only the khomerex zha… and the pieces of the game were only bits of wood in the fire.)
I’m not sure this is the case. The pieces of that old board game, the things the child Vrenn valued so highly, were in the end unimportant. They were used against him, Kethas used the wooden game against him when he destroyed the pieces. Don’t be deceived and don’t let your enemies have ammunition against you.
I think those who control the Imperial Council now were those primarily against Kethas and his faction, so they’d appreciate the irony if they got to make another game move against Kethas’ memory.
If you take it that only at Kethas’ death did Vrenn fully understand the lesson about odds and not giving them to your enemy, then it makes more sense that Vrenn’s view of Kethas should continue to be positive. I also think that as a player of the komerex zha, he expects that other Klingons will scheme against him and isn’t bothered by that. It’s Klingon nature.
[You write]
-Why does Kezhke tell Krenn he has to bring the ambassador back alive? I don't get this at all.
That’s the game move Kezhke wants to make, no matter what other factions want. He’s got to focus on that, not to be deceived by the other factions who want to cloud his judgment.
[You write]
-What is the book about a war that lasts for a thousand years? The Forever War?
That would be my guess. Joe Haldeman. The brief synopsis indicates that. The Humans thought the Taurans struck first and they believed the same of the Humans.
Ch 6
-Dr. Tagore reached for the book.
(Kethas reached for the dead green hand.)
If this was on screen, there’d be a flashback here, first showing Tagore with the book and then back to a rerun of the assassinations. Tagore is teaching Krenn what the books can have to offer him, at the same time how precious they are to him. Involuntarily, Krenn’s mind goes back to his father reaching to his most precious thing, through all the gameplaying he did to achieve the end of peace.
[You write]
going to McCoy's, and he (somehow?) stopped the train and killed vD. I'm not sure how Zharn stopped the train, though??
Think of how fast he moved. He probably just jumped off it.
[You write]
-I don't understand why it's necessary to put in Section One the fact that van Diemen isn't in San Francisco at the time of the broadcast. What is the importance of that, besides that he's actually in Georgia?
No idea here, that one went past me. I did figure the Grandisson thing, just because of the comment about who could ask for a meeting at the last minute like that and get it? He did the same thing to get the Klingons to come and see him.
[You write]
-Why does Krenn not have orders to release Section One regardless? Surely Meth would prefer the dissolution of the Federation to an intact one?
Not sure; he may have seen it as a path to the Empire’s own destruction in some way? Two empires, balancing one another? I don’t know. I could be talking crap.
[You write]
Or is this an action Krenn takes on his own? (I can fanwank that Meth prefers two Empires as a "more stable" situation, but it's a fanwank with no support from the text.)
Ah, you say this too. Good.
[You write]
-I still don't really understand Krenn's story about Khemara and Rogaine. Is the point that he just has very complicated feelings about them? But also later he says that speech to Tagore about "trouble rather the tiger in his lair" and says it's a Klingon faith, which Tagore seems to connect to that story, and later there's that bit about Khemara so I guess... the point is maybe that Kethas put Vrenn in mortal danger, but in service of a greater good, and Krenn now understands that??
I like this, it rings true to me. Is that Sun Tzu, the tiger quote?
[You write]
-"Krenn thought how strange it was that this secret, that he was not the son of Rustazh, had made him even more the son of Khemara: given him exactly the weapon with which Kethas had tried to arm him. The weapon of patience, against which Klingons had no defense."
I thought I understood this, but... I don't. What does patience have to do with finding out he was not the son of Rustazh?
Okay, let’s unpack this. He finds out years ago but doesn’t let anyone know he has. Merzhan thinks he’s dropped it on him, a final sting in the tail, but he really hasn’t. So Krenn has patiently waited and the result is that Merzhan is not able to strike the blow he thought he had?
Yeah. Brain grinds to a halt. I’ll keep thinking, maybe something will float up.
I think Kethas wanted to be sure his ideas would live past his own death and the only way to do that was to inculcate a child with his beliefs, a child with the talent to become a starship captain. He was running out of time to do it himself, with the council against him and his age, even if they hadn’t assassinated him. So I can see why he’d want a foster son with Vrenn’s capabilities. Why would his enemy want him to have one?
Reflective game, move against move…….yeah, thinking, thinking…… His enemy wouldn’t want that. No, I’m sorry, I can’t work that out.
I might need to pass this on to another onetime Klingon fan (g), the only one I’m still in contact with, if that’s ok? We were in the Klingon Occupation Force together long ago and she may have some thoughts about it. I know she’s familiar with Ford’s book.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-26 05:52 am (UTC)The Klingons see everything as a game, and not in the sense of taking it lightly, but in the bloody, terminal way in which war is both a game and the last instrument of diplomacy. Diplomacy, called by Kipling the Great Game.
You know, something I hadn't thought about explicitly before is that the khomerex zha is what the Klingons have as a religion. Like, Klingons say things like "Do you deny the khomerex zha??" and it's considered weird to do that, although not beyond the pale.
So Vrenn thinks that Kethas never cared about him (I think this is what is meant by So there was only the khomerex zha… and the pieces of the game were only bits of wood in the fire.)
I’m not sure this is the case. The pieces of that old board game, the things the child Vrenn valued so highly, were in the end unimportant. They were used against him, Kethas used the wooden game against him when he destroyed the pieces. Don’t be deceived and don’t let your enemies have ammunition against you.
Hmm, I'm not sure I agree with this particular interpretation -- Vrenn hesitates, and then the Captain says, "If the one hesitates for the breaking of the chain of duty, let certain terms of the negotiation be stated." And I think Vrenn himself thinks of himself as a piece in the khomerex zha! (Which he is, literally, in Ch 1.) But we can agree to disagree here :)
-Why does Kezhke tell Krenn he has to bring the ambassador back alive? I don't get this at all.
That’s the game move Kezhke wants to make, no matter what other factions want. He’s got to focus on that, not to be deceived by the other factions who want to cloud his judgment.
But why does Kezhke want that? I don't understand. Why does any Klingon want Tagore, who is a pacifist??
going to McCoy's, and he (somehow?) stopped the train and killed vD. I'm not sure how Zharn stopped the train, though??
Think of how fast he moved. He probably just jumped off it.
But how did he stop the train? I guess he probably just shorted a wire somewhere?? I suppose they trained him to do stuff like that too.
Okay, let’s unpack this. He finds out years ago but doesn’t let anyone know he has. Merzhan thinks he’s dropped it on him, a final sting in the tail, but he really hasn’t. So Krenn has patiently waited and the result is that Merzhan is not able to strike the blow he thought he had?
WAIIIIIT I didn't realize he'd figured it out before!! I had always parsed that bit ("almost by accident, he had found his own") as referring to Merzhan telling him the secret of his birth, not of him finding it out independently earlier. But now I see it can be parsed either way. ...although I still am not quite sure what is going on here even if that is the case, lol. I'll keep thinking too :)
So I can see why he’d want a foster son with Vrenn’s capabilities. Why would his enemy want him to have one?
RIGHT?? I don't know either!! Though it's possible Margon wasn't thinking that far ahead, maybe he just wanted to win the game in Ch 1 and thought Kethas would be distracted by him??
I might need to pass this on to another onetime Klingon fan (g), the only one I’m still in contact with, if that’s ok?
Yes of course!