The Cauldron

So which SoA book is your favorite and why? (Details, people, details! lol)

My favorite book is Elegy.  It seems like there are more references to Achmed's forbidden love for Rhapsody, even if he seems to be acting more like a jerk than in the other books (because of the Lightcatcher). 

one for whom he felt the damnable emotion of love,
denied, confused, and forbidden as it was.

Plus Anwyn gets blasted by hrekin by Grunthor, and that's just great.  I LOVE his lines to Achmed at the beginning and very end.

    "What in the name of every ridiculous evil god that never existed happened here?"  An ugly light came into the giant Sergeant's amber eyes.
    "Birthday party got a little out o' hand, sir."  (Elegy, 14)

    "I don't envy Rhapsody her homecoming," Achmed said, pulling his cloak around him and preparing to start out into the building storm.
    Grunthor cleared his throat as he opened the door.  "Yeah, well, sir, Oi don't especially envy you yours, either." 
    The Bolg king's eyes narrowed as he glanced back over his shoulder.  "What now?"
    "Well, if ya thought that 'birthday party' we had while you were gone the last time left a mess, wait until ya see the one that's waiting for you when you get back this time, sir."
    Achmed sighed in annoyance.  "Hrekin."
    "Actually, sir, that's right.  And lots of it."  (Elegy, 426-27)

I seem to like Rhapsody and Prophecy. They're the ones that really set the scene and introduce characters. Not to mention Lord Stephen is in them a lot...

---

Avatar Art © Rhapsody - Yargh, that would be Thesa, the fiery Pirate Captain! =]

Destiny, without question. There's at least three rather romantic Rhapsody/Achmed moments. Plus, it's all happy. And Edwyn Griffith says that Tristan should be devoured by weasels. Good times.

---

avatar by Eaving, used with permission

I'd probably have to say Rhapsody, though it's been a while since I've read the books. I love the prologue - it's so bittersweet. Also the journey through the Root - it's so original. But I do love the moment in Destiny when Rhaps and Ashe discover they are Emily and Sam. I also agree about Stephen *sigh*

---

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." ~ C.S. Lewis

*Avatar by me (formerly adain_hwyfar)*

Off-topic, but: I rather think they discover that they're Emily and Sam in Prophecy, since I just re-read Destiny. Though, since Rhapsody's memory is stored in the pearl until Destiny, so she doesn't really realize they're Emily and Sam until Destiny.

---

avatar by Eaving, used with permission

My favorite was Rhapsody.  Perhaps because I was reading it for the first time on a war, sandy beach...or maybe the Pina Coladas had me in a fantastic mood...but I just remember reading it and not being able to pull myself away from it until the sun went down.  I liked the "innocence" of it and the end when "Sam" and "Emily" walked away together...

---

Avi is my family crest.

    My personal favorite was Prophecy, mainly because thats when we meet Oelendra, and the whole part with Elynsynos. I think that there has never been any better portrail of a dragon, other than Dragonheart.

I also love the part when Rhapsody throws the rock at Ashe's head. That was just plain funny, and the muffins coment.
I also really loved the part where Ashe wakes up and finds Rhaps in the garden and she tells him that he said muffins all that time ago.
But my personal favorite part of this book and why I love it so much, is when Oelendra suddenly remembers all the Lirin songs because of Rhaps.

"Excuse me but your waiste is not above my head." -Rhapsody

---

"Now look what you've done, you monster. I told you never to play with the bottle labeled ‘Passion.' It's totally explosive stuff."- Aphrodite (Xena)



- Avatar done for me, by me.

   If I am so invested into a series that something happening to a character triggers a wave of emotion, I consider it to be a sign of being amazing. What happened to Elysian during Elegy somehow struck me more than anything else Anwyn did, even if serving a demon, tearing your civilization apart and dooming your grandson to countless years of despair in the name of the F'Dor really does outweigh it. 

   The anger I felt at the destruction of Rhapsody's refuge from the world, as well as the site of some of the most important events of her life, showed me how much I had come to love these books, and the characters.This has also happened to me when I was reading Robin Hobbs' Liveship Traders. Strangely that made me angry as well( I will not say what, as it is a major plot point ).

Ack.. this is one of those impossible topics... I'm not sure how I can choose, but it's reall close between Elegy for a Lost Star and Destiny.  I remember crying so much in Destiny at the end, when Stephen dies, and I remember crying so much when Llauron dies in Elegy...  So much more happens in Destiny (mostly because it is simply a longer book) but the accomplishments made me feel great.  Each triumph the trio experiences was just so intense that I could not stop thinking about it for days, weeks even.  But I just can't forget Llauron's sacrifice in Elegy, and how close Rhapsody and Achmed really are, and how heartless of a character Anwyn was.  Plus, we get to hear about what happened to Farron, and Anborn, and Gwylliam.  I'm not sure if it's just the getting to hear about all those characters I love again or something more, but both books really are special to me. So you'll have to settle for the tie.

Also, when Edwyn and Anborn have a full conversation through cards that Edwyn's emissary reads, I nearly died laughing. That was the funniest thing I have ever read.

Destiny closely followed by Rhapsody.  I really love Prophecy too but there's that part in the middle during Rhapsody and Ashe's love affair that makes it third.  At times it can be so...sappy.  The Prologue in Rhapsody drives me crazy for the same reason.  But Destiny is the best because there's the hunting for the F'dor coming to its completion and Cymrian Council which has got to be one of my favorite parts; Rhapsody is when everything is fresh and a mystery and that's when it's just Rhapsody, Achmed and Grunthor and them discovering their place in the new world.  Prophecy has a lot of action and lore in it too and I really like the part where Rhapsody visits the dragon and she meets Oelendra, but I found the love chapters in the middle kind of anticlimatic...but the trilogy as a whole is my favorite, and then the bridge books.

---

"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
~Edgar Allan Poe
"Darest thou now O Soul, Walk out with me toward the unknown region, Where neither ground is for feet Nor any path to follow."
~Walt Whitman
~Avatar made by Me, madhatter.

I really enjoyed Rhapsody! In all it is my top and ultimate favorite of fantasy all together (at the moment, that all could change someday). I love the way Achmed, the snake (The Brother) was before he met Rhapsody, and before they came to the Wyrm Lands. Of course, I still love the way he is now.

---

The instructor put's out a single chair in the middle of an empty room, and he says; "Explain to me how this chair is not here."
One student says: "Chair, what chair? I don't see a chair."

AVATAR BY ME

My fav book is Destiny cause if i'm not mistaken Achmed and Rhapsody actually kiss twice (and they're real kisses too, not those friendly kind) in that one.

I think once in the beginning by a camp fire after they hunt all those children with the bad blood and then once more at the end right before they go kill the main evil dude by the cathedral.

Destiny is also my series favorite! The dramatic tension between Achmed and Rhapsody rivals that between Ashe and Rhapsody...I love the parts when Ashe gives Rhapsody the memory pearl and she learns their real past, and when they finally find happiness together and decide to marry. But I also loved the scenes between Achmed and Rhapsody - when they were talking by the Earthchild and he subtly stated his love for her for the first time, when they kiss...*sigh*

I am a little annoyed at Rhapsody, though! Every single time that Achmed has opened up in the slightest about his more-than-brotherly feelings for her, she seems to take no notice! For example, in the Loritorium by the Earthchild, the two times they kiss, inside Llauron's shell...she makes no response whatsoever, simply ignores it. She has given no clue as to what she thinks about Achmed's feelings, or if she even realizes them as existing. That bugs me about her. I would love to see E. Haydon allude to Rhapsody's thoughts on the matter in a future book, as Achmed's thoughts have been made clear several times!

Windchild wrote:

Every single time that Achmed has opened up in the slightest about his more-than-brotherly feelings for her, she seems to take no notice!

What about (in Llauron's shell in Elegy) when she says, "I...do...do-love" and he interrupts her, saying, "Shhh, don't be a...Waste-of...Breath" or something like that.  (Don't have the book for the exact quote, sorry).  It seems to me that she was trying to express her feelings for him because she thought they were both about to die, and he (maybe knowing how she feels) doesn't let her finish completely.  He knows she's married to Ashe, and maybe he didn't want to hear her say that she loved him if they couldn't be together.  I think that's the closest she's ever come to saying "I love you" to Achmed.

And she was the one to instigate both kisses in Destiny (which, back to topic, is increasingly becoming one of my favorites.  Not more than Elegy-yet, but maybe in time).

Oh good point AL, I can't believe I forgot about the Ending scene. Elegy was great!

Sam I am. wrote:

My fav book is Destiny...

I’ve changed my mind.  Now that I have attained some distance from all the emotion that I got caught up in as I successively read all the SoA books (except TAK), I can more clearly judge them.

 

I would have to say that my favorite book is now Rhapsody.  Believe it or not, in retrospect, I find myself fondly remembering Rhapsody's trip along the Root.  When I was first reading it, I couldn’t wait for the trio to hurry it along to the other side.  But now I miss those times when the Duchess, Achmed and Grunthor were all alone together.  Just the three of them working as a makeshift team.  That hardly ever happens anymore. 

And when they all finally emerged on the other side of time, I was at the edge of my seat for the next several chapters.  It was a new world for them (and for me as well).  Yes, I do believe I liked the first book Rhapsody the best.

resimars417 wrote:

Ack.. this is one of those impossible topics... I'm not sure how I can choose, but it's reall close between Elegy for a Lost Star and Destiny...  So much more happens in Destiny (mostly because it is simply a longer book)

Yes, but that is what I didn’t like about Destiny; too much stuff happened.  I felt that the pace of that particular book was just too slow for my liking.  Plus, IMO the first part of the book just felt too much like The Adventures of Rhapsody and Achmed, and a bit of a departure from the main story arch.  The ending of Destiny was really great though, IMO it just took too long to get there.  Sort of like The Return of The King movie, it was truly awesome, just a half-hour too long.
  

And if it were not for the “pearl incident,” IMO Prophecy would easily be the best book of the bunch.  But the “pearl” thing just made all the wonderful moments that preceded it ring a false note---like a dream sequence intro in the movies.

 

So for me it is between Rhapsody and Elegy for a Lost Star.  (I didn’t care too much for Requiem for the Sun)  Rhapsody was awesome, but Sam breaking little Emily’s heart in the beginning of the book just left me feeling too disgusted afterward to call it my favorite.  And when I stopped reading SoA because of that, the sick feeling actually lingered for weeks…

 

So I guess I have to pick Elegy; I just liked reading the conversations between Rhapsody and Achmed.

I'd usually just say Destiny, but like others said I thought a lot of things were rushed. So either Prophecy or Destiny are my favorite books in the series. I think I liked meeting Oelendra and her as a character, so that's probably what did it.

Psyche wrote:

  I think I liked meeting Oelendra and her as a character, so that's probably what did it.

I never warmed to Oelandra at all, she is just this non-entity. Whenever I read about her, I felt pure indifference.

Sam I am. wrote:

Rhapsody was awesome, but Sam breaking little Emily’s heart in the beginning of the book just left me feeling too disgusted afterward to call it my favorite.

But Sam didn't delib.... Oh I see what you're doing!  I'm not getting into this argument again lol

---

Maireann croí éadrom i bhfad - a light heart lives longest

Sam I am. wrote:

Rhapsody was awesome, but Sam breaking little Emily’s heart in the beginning of the book just left me feeling too disgusted afterward to call it my favorite.

IloveGwydion wrote:

But Sam didn't delib.... Oh I see what you're doing!  I'm not getting into this argument again lol

I once accidentally dropped an industrial strength stainless steel electrical fan on my toe.  And it hurt like you wouldn’t believe; it took two weeks for my toe to look normal again.

 

Now, I'm not positive about this, but if it weren’t an accident, and I deliberately dropped that fan on my toe; I am pretty sure that it would've hurt just as much.  LOL.

 

You see, pain is pain; whether Sam meant to or not.  LOL.

 

IMO there is just so little happiness to be found in the first book Rhapsody.