Thoughts on Mastiff
The biggest heartbreaking irony about Tunstall's betrayal in Mastiff is that...if he hadn't done it, if he'd just...stayed true to the end and rescued the Prince with Beka, Sabine, & Farmer...he would have gotten exactly what he wanted! The King would have given him a title! He would have gotten what he thought he needed to be "worthy" of Sabine! (Let alone the fact that she didn't want or need him to have a fancy title to be "worthy" of him. She loved HIM for HIM. Sigh...).
It's perfect tragic irony and I hate it but...but it's not bad writing and it didn't come out of nowhere (both criticisms I've seen from fans in the past), either, the signs are there in Terrier & Bloodhound. I think I've only read Mastiff twice or maybe three times, as opposed to the countless times I've read Terrier & Bloodhound, but I think I understand it all better now at 31, than I did as a teenager reading it for the first time (when it came out lol). Doesn't make it hurt any less, of course...sometimes it makes it hurt worse.
