DuSt- Book Group Evaluation

First of all, the book was AMAZING. I'm definitely going to look for Elizabeth Bear's next installment in the series. Because the book was so amazing, and we all seemed to enjoy it, our weekly discussions were always interesting and engaging. Everyone stuck to the schedule, contributed both ideas and pieces for the collage, and truly made this endeavor fun! Everyone gets full credit in my book!

Thanks for the time, effort, contributions, great talks, and experience in general everyone!

~Jamie

Dust themes/ideas

I was amazed by how many different themes/concepts/issues the author covered in Dust. When I finished the book I actually sat down and wrote out the ones that I found most prominent/interesting:

-Love
-War
-Duty (to one's country (world))
-Family feud
-The loss of loved ones
-Sibling rivalry
-Eternal life
-Revenge
-Hope/determination

The best part about Elizabeth Bear's incorporation of these ideas is that she portrayed them all to extremes, which really made the connections between the characters and their personalities pop. Not to mention the intricacy they lended to the story line.

Book group evaluation

I think that this was a great book, and i liked our group a lot, we all had different takes on the book and brought a lot of different ideas to our discussions. I would be really interested to see who reads more from this author and who doesn't later on. I think we all enjoyed one aspect of the book or another and our collage was a really good way to share our interpretations of the text. I would give full credit to everyone. Thanks for being so cool guys, i had fun!

Umm you know everything

So i was trying to explain this book to a friend the other day and i had to geive like 20 min of explanation, just setting up the world and what was going on before i even started with the story line. And it was really amazing to see how my ideas about the book formed while i was explaining it. I think something that I was looking for in the book, but couldn't find till it was all done was the religious symbolism of the fallen Angels, and the fact that they were the splinters of a destroyed god. And the battle so save a world that we as readers and even the characters themselves did not understand or know.They had so little connection with their ship, much unlike we have a connection with earth. I would really like to read more by this author. And i loved the end of the book, I can't imagine a better way to wrap up the story.

Evaluations

I had a lot of fun working with everyone in this group and getting to know them. I'm happy that we chose such an awesome book because we had a great time getting together on Wednesdays and just talking about the book. (It was even better when we met at Avellino's to get coffee while we discussed the book). Everyone gave really good insights and we actually made the project fun by putting together a collage that related to the book. We all worked really good together, there were times when not everyone was able to meet but we were still able to get some discussions going and then just tell the missing person what we had talked about. It was really great having this blog to be able to post different things to each other, and I especially loved Jame's post of all of the main characters and how they're related because it definately helped to map out everyone in the book. Overall, full credit to everyone, this was an awesome experience and I think we all had a great time doing it.

Book group evaluation

I really enjoyed our weekly group meetings which I feel allowed us to explore the text in more detail than what we could have done in a classroom setting. The collage was a fun activity and was something different that I enjoyed. I also appreciated everyones contribution to the group and our activities and blog posts, which is why I believe all of our members deserve full credit. Thanks again for the engaging conversations and to Lauren for creating the blog.

Other works by Bear

Elizabeth Bear Homepage (Good info on the rest of the books in the series-Dust, Chill, Grail)
http://www.elizabethbear.com/bio.html

Evaluation

The Dust group met on Wednesdays at 730. We discussed how the book related to class material and how we felt about the reading in general. We used this blog as a place to finalize our thoughts and review what we had discussed. We made a collage as a product of our discussions and feelings related to the book. All group members participated and the overall experience was enjoyable. Thanks again to Lauren for setting up the blog and the rest of the group for their contributions. Every one deserves full credit.

IN THE END

Love does not help to understand
The logic of the bursting shell.
Edna St. Vincent Millay
I shall die but that is all that I shall do for death.
Edna St. Vincent Millay


Thoughts of dust or the end are often related to loss or sorrow yet are they truly deserving of this connection? Dust is formed due to a change, a change in shape, size, color and smell. We often see dust lying around on the top of the fridge or floating in the air when a stiff breeze rolls by but do we ever take the time to examine the significance of this dust. When the end comes it's often followed or surrounded by sadness and a feeling of loss but this interesting when we consider the fact that the end is nothing more than a change, a change in shape, size, color and smell. Thus the dust and the end are one in the same. Change is something that should be embraced and pushed to its limits. We should find a change in every aspect of life at some point or anther otherwise things will never be better or worse. When we loose our wings and can no longer fly we must be willing to take on the nano that enables us to pierce the heart of our enemy with the effectiveness of any blade or dagger. When we find ourselves running through a heat which burns our lungs and melts the pads of our feet we must be willing to push through and outlast the pain for the end is near.

Life Adrift in Space

The story invites, moving through space like a tumbling seed from a dandelion falling through a summer breeze. We find our selves watching and wondering what might happen or what might not happen. Will we find another warm and nourishing space which can bring us happiness or will we freeze and crumble. Things are never certain. Having an entire world set in a contained unit floating in space is interesting when the added element of size and perspective are needed. Layers of time and environment tucked into neat little packages. Life as we know it taking up the space of a spec of dust. Not the cruel dust with which we encountered but a tiny, unimportant hardly recognizable twinkle. Can we grasp the size of it or does every element redirect our ideas and our knowledge of that which surrounds us. The ship keeps moving on and we are now faced with an outer battle as apposed to the inner battle that kept us occupied for so long. We are now dust in eye of time.

The binding effects of nanotech

In the earlier sections of the book nanotech is used quite often and is the material used to restrain Percival, while she is being held prisoner. I found this interesting considering that nanotech is another name for nanotechnology which is "the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale" I found intriguing considering our discussions in class this past week dealing with the creation of time and space and the restraints they both have on us as human beings. Whether or not the book will continue to deal with the restraints of nanotechnology I do not know but I am interested to see how the book will coincide with what we discussed in class.

Overview

So here is just a brief overview of the characters and such in Dust roughly through chapter 20.
--The characters whose names are bolded are very important in the story, and the characters whose names are italicized out are dead.

ALASDAIR CONN, FATHER OF:

Caitlin, Tristen, Aefre, Benedick, Ariane, Caithness, Cynric, Oliver, Ardath, Dylan, Edmund, Geoffrey, Allan, Chelsea, Seth, Finn, Niall, Gunther, Barnhard, Avia
· Alasdair killed by Ariane
· Caitlin and Benedick were the parents of Perceval
· Tristen and Aefre were lovers
· Tristen was thought to be dead, but Ariane had actually claimed him dead and secretly held him hostage in the forgotten passageway, waiting to consume him until after she consumed their father

ANGELS:

Jacob Dust, Samael, Asrafil, Metatron (?), Camael, Uriel, Shakziel, Zakkiel
· Asrafil killed Metatron
· Jacob Dust and Samael are fighting to marry Perceval
· Jacob Dust lives on the world Jacob’s Ladder

MISC INFO:

Unblades: a sword which causes wounds unable to be healed, even by Exhalts
· Charity- owned by Tristen Conn (snapped by Innocence, wielded by Ariane Conn)
· Innocence- owned by Ariane Conn (removed Perceval’s wings)

Races:
· Exhalt: contain symbionts (colonies in their bodies, rather like nanobots, that control, regulate, and heal their body in every way, shape, and form)
· Mean: regular people of Rule
· Engineers: regular people of Engine

Extra People:
· Head: ungendered person in charge of the kitchen at The House of Rule; assigned by Benedick to guide Rien after, against his wishes, Alasdair made Benedick send Rien to Rule and live in ignorance of herself and her family
· Mallory: Necromancer who healed Perceval and Rien, who were guided to him/her by Samael; his heaven VERY similar to the Garden of Eden
· Gavin: Basilisk who befriends Rien and travels with her and Perceval on from Mallory’s heaven; creature of Samael

What drew me in...

First off, in honor of the background that I've chosen, I would like to comment on my fascination with the idea of an angel getting her wings cut off. I will admit that it wasn't the art on the cover of the book or the cheapness of the book that caused me to choose it, it was reading about how Perceval get's her wings cut off in the back cover. I'm not quite sure what part of that draws me in but maybe as I continue to read I can figure it out.

I'm excited to read further and see if the cut-off wings play a significant roll in the novel other than the obvious trials of losing an appendage.

-Lauren