Week 6 Posts A/B

Vocab
Chitinous (227) - somewhat translucent

Reliquary (236) - A box or other container for relics.

Figurative Language
1) "Extending back from the wheel was the beginnings of a chassis. Loops of wire and circuit boards pilfered from the bay hung from the neatly welded frame, awaiting placement of the engine, whatever that was going to be...." (230). This is an example of imagery because the reader can imagine the plow being built and what it looks like.

2) "These are the Ages of our Covenant - the cycle we must complete again and again as we strive to follow Those Who Walked the Path" (224)! This is an example of personification. This specific quote is describing a relic and the characters are personifying it with these god-like traits.

3) "Just hearing his Staff Sergeant's name made Jenkins' stomach churn. He and the rest of the recruits had spent the day bellyaching about the heat, unaware they'd been resting between the jaws of a well-set trap" (218). This is an example of foreshadowing because this quote specifically is hinting at an event that is about to happen.

Quote
"Part of him wished al-Cygni had included all the footage - shown the methane explosion and Avery's mad scramble away from the fireball - if only to prove to the recruits that sometimes caution was the better part of valor" (241). I thought this was an interesting quote because it's like government's in the status quo being bias with their propaganda. They show the good things that happen but never the bad things or the consequences. So I thought this quote was interesting.

Theme
The theme for this part of the book is really just the calm before the storm. Now I know technically that's not really a theme but it truly applies so that's why I have it. This part goes real in depth about the humans' preparation for this new alien species their about to encounter. So that's mostly what happens and this links back to the theme.

Post B
For this post I thought I would talk about an interesting quote I read. "Now that all three were out in the light, Avery noticed they each had different-colored- fur tufting through breaks in their armor. The leader's coat was light gray, almost silver. One of the escorts had dark brown fur and the other, tan. This second escort was actually a bit taller than the leader and more muscular, though Avery knew this was a bit like comparing two models of main battle tanks: one might weigh more than the other, but both would have no trouble flattening the 1/A recruits" (247). I thought it would be really interesting to picture actually meeting aliens with technology that is far more superior than your's. I mean just think about seeing these huge around 8ft tall gorilla type aliens that could crush your head with a hand, kinda scary. Connecting to the book is the point that Joseph also does a really good job describing the Brutes they get to be known as. For example he talks about one type of their weapon, a pistol that shoots plasma spikes and has two bayonets attached to the sides. Another example is their ships. He describes them as a H looking shape with a stasis field in the middle and a ball shaped turret near the cockpit. Also he describes it when it lands as the water being suddenly evaporated from the plasma etc... It's these kinds of descriptions that makes the characters, vehicles etc feel more real and make the antagonists feel like this huge powerful juggernaut. So all in all this section is the calm before the storm as I talked about before and the descriptions really help to enhance the mood of the events happening and about to happen.