Instant reactions needed: this is a test, this is only a test

[kinzel]

I'm on the road this morning, but after a breakfast discussion and consideration I have a question for you:

without re-reading the complete works, working from memory, right now, making a short list without looking at other people's answers:

which three Lee & Miller books are the least violent
which three Lee & Miller books are the most violent


Thanks -- we can talk about this next week.

meanwhile, we still are planning on seeing some folks at BangPop tomorrow.

Comments

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

One does wonder just what the results of such a measure might be useful for, but...

Let's start by noting that people die, often as a result of deliberate violence, in most of your books. Off-hand, I think perhaps only Fledgling does not have a death somewhere in it.

Most violent? The Crystal Duology destroys a universe along the way, which must count for something. And a key character dies. I Dare, similarly, has a large-scale attach and all that fun. But, as I believe is true for all of your books, the violence is there for a reason, and the "good guys" fight back effectively. So we're not talking meaningless violence, nor is it anything that the characters seem to wallow in or even (mostly) seem to enjoy. Along with that, I should mention both Scout's Progress and Duainfey, which have a great deal of stressful activity, whether it is accounted as violence or not. On the other hand, both also have "what comes next" books -- Mouse and Dragon and Longeye -- that do a lot to relieve the bleakness.

Least violent? Probably Balance of Trade, even if it does start with a tale of Liaden murders, and definitely has a con man die early on. Still, the focus of the story is not on violence, but trade. I suppose Fledgling also belongs in this group, although the thread of drugging Theo into conformity bothers me at least as much if not more than simple violence would.

However, even books such as Agent of Change, with gunfights, mercenaries, fires, and all that, don't really feel violent. I think part of this is attitude -- Val Con and Miri and others seem to see violence more as a regrettable temporary expedient than as an ongoing desirable method of solution. There's at least an intention to get away from violence. Or consider the ending of Conflict of Honors. That climactic meeting, which in many books would have been a bloodbath of violence, was a simple meeting, with good results, instead of simple death and destruction.