The use of the Crystilleries in the story

Use this forum to discuss the September 2019 Book of the month, "The Crystilleries of Echoland" by Dew Pellucid.
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Jsovermyer
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The use of the Crystilleries in the story

Post by Jsovermyer »

The Crystilleries were a very unique device to move the story forward. The Crystilleries could show who had last touched an object. How were they used in the story? Do you think they were a good idea?
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Post by Kro92813 »

The crystilleries were a little confusing to me at the beginning, but once I grasped the concept of what the author was trying to portray, they did drive the story forward. They were invented to hold happy memories, but then became illegal and were all collected and cast into the lake which caused a lot of deaths by people trying to find the treasure (the floating bodies under the lake).

Without the crystilleries Velerian would not have been able to manipulate Frankenstein, Will and Peter would not have figured out how to enter Pellucids restricted section in the library, they wouldnt have figured out how to enter Olam Shone without it, etc.
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Post by ab2020 »

Kro92813 wrote: 03 Sep 2019, 04:39 The crystilleries were a little confusing to me at the beginning, but once I grasped the concept of what the author was trying to portray, they did drive the story forward. They were invented to hold happy memories, but then became illegal and were all collected and cast into the lake which caused a lot of deaths by people trying to find the treasure (the floating bodies under the lake).

Without the crystilleries Velerian would not have been able to manipulate Frankenstein, Will and Peter would not have figured out how to enter Pellucids restricted section in the library, they wouldnt have figured out how to enter Olam Shone without it, etc.
I completely agree with this. I haven't found many other books with such a unique plot/setting device as the crystilleries, and I liked how they represented the duality of good memories and danger/evil.
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Post by Kaylee Elmer »

I found them confusing to begin with, but they were definitely interesting. They ended up being very useful for Will.
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Post by Helene_2008 »

I thought they were an interesting concept and instantly liked them. I think it's interesting that they made the title though. While I think they are important to the novel, I feel like the royal shekel seemed more important.
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Post by RoxieReads »

Like a couple people have mentioned above, I was very confused with exactly what crystilleries were and how they worked at first. However, once I got a grasp for what they did, I thought that they were unique in the sense that they give objects a great deal of meaning throughout the book.
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Post by Kro92813 »

Kaylee123 wrote: 09 Sep 2019, 14:00 I found them confusing to begin with, but they were definitely interesting. They ended up being very useful for Will.
I thought they were confusing at the beginning too. It was hard for me to picture what the author was trying to portray. By the end I got the idea behind them but I was still a bit confused on the details of them/how they looked with the red yellow and blue stones inside. I had a hard time picturing some of the descriptions of them.
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Post by Kro92813 »

Helene_2008 wrote: 09 Sep 2019, 20:45 I thought they were an interesting concept and instantly liked them. I think it's interesting that they made the title though. While I think they are important to the novel, I feel like the royal shekel seemed more important.
This is a good point! I hadn't thought of that! Maybe because "The Shekel of Echoland" sounds sort of leprechaun-esque lol
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Post by Kro92813 »

RoxieReads wrote: 10 Sep 2019, 17:06 Like a couple people have mentioned above, I was very confused with exactly what crystilleries were and how they worked at first. However, once I got a grasp for what they did, I thought that they were unique in the sense that they give objects a great deal of meaning throughout the book.
I agree I think the descriptions were a bit confusing! It also seemed as if Will had a natural gift at knowing how to use them, yet at some points during the story they made it seem as if reading a crystillery was an art that not everyone could master. Granted he couldnt choose which memory to see, but still.
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Post by KCWolf »

I loved the Crystilleries, and how they were used to reveal different things in the story. I loved the way they were described, with the beautiful star-shaped gemstones floating inside. They were also a great plot device, and I loved the way they fit within the story. They reminded me of magical snowglobes combined with the pensives from Harry Potter.
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Post by Kro92813 »

KCWolf wrote: 11 Sep 2019, 13:17 I loved the Crystilleries, and how they were used to reveal different things in the story. I loved the way they were described, with the beautiful star-shaped gemstones floating inside. They were also a great plot device, and I loved the way they fit within the story. They reminded me of magical snowglobes combined with the pensives from Harry Potter.
Another Harry Potter parallel! I hadn't thought of this one, but yes! The pensieves keep memories too
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Post by HRichards »

I thought they were a lovely and unique device to use, but they did take a little puzzling through to figure out how exactly they worked.
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Post by Nisha Ward »

I liked that they added a touch of beauty and magic to the story and they were used sparingly. It was mostly as exposition and it tended to be quite organic. I'd like to know more about them, actually, so an expanded role in the sequel might not be a bad idea.
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Post by wordslinger42 »

I thought it was an extremely inventive idea! I read a lot of fantasy, and I've never come across anything quite like that in other fantasy novels. I'm always happy when authors in this genre don't fall back on previously used ideas, but instead come up with something unique that will engage readers more because it's something new.
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Post by Kro92813 »

HRichards wrote: 12 Sep 2019, 11:45 I thought they were a lovely and unique device to use, but they did take a little puzzling through to figure out how exactly they worked.
I agree! It took me a little bit to fully grasp what she was describing
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