Lego Tower Bridge Photoblog: Days, um, The Rest of Them

Okay, I fail at photoblogging. I didn't get last Sunday's work posted in a timely fashion, and then this weekend I did a bit of poking at it on Saturday and more on Sunday, and, um, now it's done.

So you get the rest of the photos all in a bunch, I'm afraid.

( First, Day Two. )

So that's Day Two. The next day, I only did a little work. ( Day Three has several photos, though. )

At this point, I diverged substantially from the instructions, deliberately half-building the walkways in the wrong order so as to get the right visual for the fight scene. But I think I'll leave those pictures until last, and give you Day Four first.

( Which I did not mean to do all in one go. )

( Are you ready for the awesome? )

And now, what at least some of you have been waiting for. I give you the Lego Re-Enactment of Sherlock Holmes' Climactic Scene:

( With, erm, substitute figures. )

So there you have it. Five days' work, counting the "Day Zero" of sorting; I'd estimate it at maybe fifteen or twenty hours. Not that long, really. In fact, part of me is saying it wasn't nearly long enough, and clearly what I need is another giant Lego model to work on.

I don't. I really, really don't. But this one was very fun. Much love to kniedzw, for knowing what kinds of presents his wife will love.

Revisiting the Wheel of Time: A Crown of Swords

[This is part of a series analyzing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time novels. Previous installments can be found under the tag. Comments on old posts are welcome, but please, no spoilers for books after Crossroads of Twilight, as that's the last book I read before starting this project.]

Back in the day, I think A Crown of Swords was my favorite book in the series. As I've said before, it's the one I waited the right length of time for (enough to build anticipation, not enough to become annoyed); furthermore, it has a lot of Mat, and also some really good moments for both Elayne and Nynaeve. In retrospect, it isn't as good as The Shadow Rising -- which will probably remain the best-constructed slice of this sprawling narrative, unless Sanderson really knocks my socks off -- but it's okay. Its major weakness is probably the fizzle of confrontation at the end. (A lot of people apparently complain about how little time passes during the book, but a) man, that must take obsessive work to figure out, since there are no dates given and b) I don't care about time so much as plot elapsed. And while this one is firmly in the throes of "too many new plots, not enough resolution," stuff does happen.)

I'll get to the plot construction in a minute, but first: exciting news! I think I've figured out Faile. But I need other people to check my characterization math, because I don't have a copy of Lord of Chaos around to see if I'm correctly remembering her behavior there, and I don't remember what happens later well enough (especially the bits from Faile's pov).

( Follow me behind the cut . . . . )

Sadly, I've had to give up reading Leigh Butler's recaps over on Tor.com; I'm starting to hit way too many spoilers for Knife of Dreams (and in another book or two of recapping, there would be Gathering Storm spoilers, too). Unfortunately, I'm also beginning to think I need to avoid the Wheel of Time wiki, too; an injudicious click while looking something up outed a particular character as a member of the Black Ajah. <sigh> Pity; Leigh's posts were good for making me think of other stuff I wanted to say. And the wiki is good for refreshing my memory on things. But I'm trying to avoid spoilers, so.

Next up, The Path of Daggers, in which my favorite character takes his sabbatical from the narrative. <sigh again> Well, say it with me: at least it isn't Crossroads of Twilight.

I've missed this

You know what I love about reading fiction?

I can do it while walking places.

For the last four years, a large proportion of my reading has been nonfiction, most of it research for the Onyx Court. Which requires my attention to follow complex sentences and complicated arguments, and often I end up taking notes: not very compatible with strolling down the sidewalk. But if the book in my hands is a Dorothy Sayers mystery? I can jaunt off to the grocery store, no problem, and not feel annoyed that the walk is taking up valuable time, because I'm entertaining myself as I go.

No doubt whatever I write next will require some amount of research. But until then, I'm going to do my very best to read ALL the fiction.