Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
He's not going to win any "Mr. Nice Guy" awards, but "unrealistically evil"? No - he certainly didn't come across that way to me. I found it to be an utterly absorbing book; one of the few that I "couldn't put down".
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Agreed with you Harry. The Pillars is one of my favorites also. And I like Gothic architecture so that makes me somewhat biased.
But speaking of villany, the Middle Ages citizen was not policed as much as today's citizen is, meaning that one could easily take the path of evil or the one of good, without being hampered. Try to tell a Baron locked up in his castle that he is wrong and he'll laugh you away for years. If you have read the book (as I hope you have) you will have witnessed a large number of similar situations: as history will also point to you. I've just finished "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova where she relates parts of Vlad's prowesses at evil treatments. The exploitation of pain was part of those days' political control and many were adept at the craft, it was expected of a ruler.
What I liked of the Pillars is that it showed a good side of the Middle Ages I did not know of and I found it refreshing.