Earlier today I read the scene in which Bean fires a .22 caliber bullet into Achilles brain, only the bullet doesn't *leave* his skull, it just bounces around inside there for a little bit.
Simply put that made me a little squeamish to think about. I put the book down and thought about it for a moment..... A moment which turned into a few hours. I just couldn't pick the book up again. That was so.... Yeah that was really extreme! A bullet jumping around in someones head stirring up everything. MIND ALTERING STUFF (if you catch my drift)!!!!
I thought the worst was going to be Virlomi finishing off the 2 Chinese soldiers with a bullet to the dome, but, it wasn't! Holy crap!!!!!!
I'm a guy who plays lots of video games. Lots of blowing stuff up, dead bodies strewn about levels, entrails, guts, you name it. But this small paragraph alone almost made me vomit! Well done Mr. Card! Well done!
Posted by X12 (Member # 5867) on :
SP is not Senior OSC's most violent book. Nor his most disgusting (not really my personal feelings, but the one probably accepted most by general society), I might add...
Pastwatch, Treason, Wyrms, The Worthing Saga, Songmaster (and a couple others... can't think very well right now, though..) all contain material that is for the more mature minded, meaning semi-graphic detail and raw human emotion that Senior OSC is oh-so-well known for.
Peace, Aphotic
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Don't forget Hart's Hope. The opening scene for that portrays something very ugly.
Posted by Mr_Megalomaniac (Member # 7695) on :
Bean shooting Achiles made me very very happy. I was all like, "Yeah, finally! That's what you get for being such a jackass Achilies! Whoooooooo!" <- that's me making faces at Achilies dead body. I really hated that guy... but glad he was in the books.
The ending of Wyrms grossed me out a bunch, but there wasn't much of a way around THAT part.
Hart's Hope also had it's share of disgusting parts in it, but it made the world feel more realistic I must say.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Some of the stories in Maps in a Mirror definately have some squeamy parts.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
My first thought when I read it was that it was a quicker death than Achilles deserved. I think I'm pretty desensitized to that kind of stuff.
Posted by Bekenn (Member # 6602) on :
It might, were it not for all that gray matter in the way, but even then it'd be more likely to simply get lodged in the skull. .22's are mostly used for target practice, so they aren't designed with piercing power or excessive damage in mind.
I liked that, when the moment came, Bean simply pulled the trigger. No hesitation, no worrying about whether the "good guy" should kill an enemy who seems defeated (as is so annoyingly persistent in movies), but instead simply the absolute certainty that this is the only way to stop Achilles for good, and the will to do what has to be done.
Posted by eyetell (Member # 8229) on :
The no hesitation was incosistant with Bean's character, and therefore debatably likable. There was hardly any comentary on gloating which would have been preferable, instead of so quick and over.
![[Taunt]](graemlins/taunt.gif)
<- that's me making faces at Achilies dead body. I really hated that guy... but glad he was in the books.