Week Two: The History of Faction Paradox

Probably in some aspects more than others. Like, the Mal'akh seems to stem right from the Babewyns of Henrietta, while a lot of the Faction-specific stuff goes in slightly different directions, going more for an 18th century conspiracy and mystery angle, over the more direct occultism and sweeping history of Henrietta. They're more sister works than a full overlap of themes, especially given that Henrietta was also setting up Sabbath and the new status quo for the Post-War continuity, both of which go largely undiscussed in Book of the War.

In writing style alone you can tell The Book of the War and Adventuress were written around the same time, with their unreliable academic style. (Similarly, maybe This Town is kind of a Dead Romance 2?) But Miles’ affection for the 1700s began even earlier: his first Who novel, Christmas on a Rational Planet, is largely set in post-colonial America at the turn of the 18th century!

Emphasizing the occult angle over voodoo makes for a more culturally sensitive approach. The voodoo influence in Alien Bodies was a little too “other”, if you know what I mean. I would love to see a proper, culturally sensitive take on Afro-Latin spiritualism though. Papa Legba, Cousin Exu … it practically writes itself.

No, not yet. It’s a Tale of Two Time Wars, so part 1 will be about the NuWho War. I’ll finish it one day.

Great comparison with Peter Pan!

Interference is slightly more explicit about what the Unkindnesses are: they are the exact same entities as the Ravens of the Tower of London, but, unlike every other living thing in London, they did not blip from September 1st to September 14th, instead existing throughout the extended timeline of the Eleven-Day Empire just like the building itself. And in here, they don't have to hide what they really are…

Y'know, I only just caught up to the end of the reading material this week. But as I read through the entries on Tower Hill and Westminster it struck me just how ironic it is that London as the Eleven-Day Empire is what the Faction chose as its base of operations.

Like this supposed revolutionary organization dedicated to rebelling against the temporal imperialism of the Great Houses chose the political capital of the British Empire, an empire that's been used as a metaphor for the Great Houses and their place in the Spiral Politic itself. And not only did they chose the physical location of London as their base, they specifically used the House of Parliament as their headquarters. And in the Tower Hill entry it's stated that by doing so, the Faction 'aligned with the politics of the State instead of the city', which is why places like Tower Hill fall outside their jurisdiction.

Also of note is the Westminster's entry describing the role Big Ben played in enforcing British standards of time across the Empire, much like the Houses enforced a linear standard of time across history. Again, very ironic that this building was chosen by an organization that opposes linear standards of time.

Sorry for disappearing, I'll start commenting.

I've ended up a bit late with finishing this section, but I do just want to share my experience with reading this. So far, I've been trying my best to not read these entries in the order laid out, just to be a bit of a cool rebel y'know? It worked fine for Week 1, but what I found with Week 2 is that it was a bit more difficult. Repeatedly I ended up with no options but to follow the order (granted, I think part of it might be that the EPUB I'm using might have a bias towards this order - my only proof of this is that one of the entries after Loa in the list mentioned Loa but had no hyperlink to their page). Eventually, I just gave up and went along with this order.