I'm interested in the book for one reason. To dwell deeper into the world JP created.
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Its like a story book but told through the music. I imagine the characters, the settings, and the atmosphere.
Yeah, same here. It'll be cool to have some things fleshed out a bit more. I love Act I of the story because I think it sets up the world, the characters, and the conflict beautifully. Act II just has some flaws that bother me, and I'm not 100% happy with the execution of the resolution to the story, so I don't listen to Act II nearly as much. But one of the things I have long maintained would make the story better is this:
I get that the focus of the story is in the personal interactions between the characters, and how their own personal relationships are more important than the actual war part of the plot. It's kind of like how in the John Adams series a few years ago, despite that the Revolutionary War and, to a much lesser degree, the War of 1812 are HUGELY important to the context of what is going on, you don't actually see hardly any of the battles themselves in the series. But in John Adams, I didn't overly miss the battle scenes because there was plenty more that was done in the story that made me feel the plight of the soldier and citizen. For The Astonishing, I felt that was lacking. I felt the high stakes for the characters. And rightly so, since that is the focus. But the stake in the story are supposed to be so much higher given the condition of the common man throughout the realm and how many are actually dying, according to the lyrics in A Better Life. But beyond the two verses of lyrics in that song, I don't feel the plight of the average person in the realm, so the stakes don't
feel as high. Despite the length of the album, I think we needed a song that digs into that a bit more. To me, it would fit better in Act I. But due to the imbalance in the comparative lengths of the two acts (admittedly done on purpose, because that's how two act plays are often done as well, with the resolution in act 2 being generally shorter), I think it could fit well in Act II and make Act II stronger. I REALLY wish they had done a song that gets into the fighting going on, and how people are dying, and the NOMACS are wreaking havoc. Just one song on that subject could have really raised the stakes in the story and made it have more of an emotional impact, IMO. Getting some of that in the book is the next best thing.