Does Galen Deserve to Be the Main Character?

Use this forum to discuss the October 2020 Book of the month, "We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies" by Matthew Tysz.
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Vivian Jabeya
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Re: Does Galen Deserve to Be the Main Character?

Post by Vivian Jabeya »

The first book of the Voulhire series portrays Galen as a main character. His story is written in the first point of view. This signifies that he will play a very important roles.
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Post by Vivian Jabeya »

Galen is too naive for a 28-year-old due to his upbringing and life experiences.
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Post by iammiape »

Joseph_ngaruiya wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 00:28 Is Galen fit for the position of the main character? Does the author use him to explore Voulhire to its depth? Can you attribute his character traits to the overall rating of the story, or does he tamper with its flow? Could a change in his characterization have caused a switch of the author's tone?
Although he wasn't portrayed like a leading protagonist in this book, I have high trust that we'll soon see him influence the aspects of the book. Considering his nature and background, he is fitting to be the main character and have so much to prove about himself. His identity as a Voulhire's refugee will induce deeper sentiment from me if he'll also be the one to save Voulhire from its utter end.
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Post by Asma Aisha Ansari »

I think Galen is a good candidate to be the protagonist of this series. Initially, he seems unassertive but it's because he is too busy paying attention to what the better-informed people around him ask him to do. He acts according to what he feels is right in a given situation. He avoids conflicts as he has seen too much of it in the Lands of the Princes.

I'll never forget how he took a stand when he saw that some miners were not being treated humanely at Alcovia. He raised his voice for those miners and demanded that they be treated with respect.

The readers can relate to Galen because they are new to Voulhire just like him. I think this works well with the flow of the story.
Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. - Agatha Christie
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Post by Michelle Menezes »

Definitely! I like Galen's naivety and how he is the only person who is not trying to take advantage of others. He has the potential to turn out to be ones of the best main characters, but he'd have to get a little smarter and not trust everyone blindly. He actually gives me Jon Snow vibes and Lord Eldus came across as Ned Stark. Some parts of this book seem similar to Game of Thrones.
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Post by t_mann23 »

I haven't read the rest of the books in the series, but I did find myself questioning whether Galen was much of a main character in the first book. It seems like he mostly just follows Rowan and goes along with what other people tell him rather than making many decisions for himself. Honestly, I was more interested in Lord Eldus' story. I think if Galen took more action, I would have liked him better. However, he is an interesting character to see Voulhire through since he's a foreigner and he's learning all about it at the same time as the reader. It makes it so much easier for us to understand the world the series takes place in, and we can relate to Galen since he's in the same boat as us.
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Post by vidhya s v »

I think that the author made Galen too much naive and innocent in the first book. I haven't read the other books in the series and hence my opinion is solely based on the first book. There isn't much development in Galen's character but King Wilhelm, Maido, and Meldorath seem interesting characters to me. All things said I do like the impartial point of view that Galen provides us of Voulhire.
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Post by Mason Garrod »

I think Galen's outsider perspective makes him a good everyman, but then again, all the events in Soulhire and Hillport were told through the eyes of Voulhirians and I wouldn't say it made much of a difference. Galen felt pretty tangential in this book but I assume he will go on to be a very major player in later books. His journey did still introduce us to several Voulhire towns, as well as allow us to be introduced to the main religion
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Post by Akshi Porwal »

I feel that the author made Galen the main character just to be able to make the readers familiar with this alternate universe. Apart from that I see no reason for him being the main character since Lord Eldus has more character and more storyline too
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Post by Janet Kimetto »

Galen definitely deserves to be the main character. He is the reason we get that backstory about the Emperor of Lullabies and the war-torn Lands of the Princes. Besides that, he's new in Voulhire, and the more he learns, we learn too.
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Post by Josephe-Anne »

There were so many characters in this story, so it's easy for Galen to get lost among them. But yes, I do believe that readers are touring Voulhire along with him. I don't mind his naive outlook on life. I think we were all naive at some point in our lives. I would leave his character as is.
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Post by Michael kane »

Yes he fits the bill perfectly as he is originally not from Voulhire, his point or perspective perfectly describes his experiences in this foreign land, and his naivety is afresh breath of air in an otherwise cruel world.
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Post by Akshobhya B »

Galen is the first person narrator so he is the one that the author chose as his protagonist. We cannot argue about it. The author will reveal more in the rest of the books in the series.
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Post by Aashu Chaudhary »

I think Galen deserves to be the main character. It's for two reasons. The first is his pure heart. He respects people and doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. The second reason was his experience of war from the land of the prince. The land of the prince is at war since he was eight years old. He has seen the face of the war. The people of Voulhire are not familiar with big wars and chaos. Meldorath is going to shock them all, but Galen will cope most quickly.
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Post by Shridhar Suryawanshi »

I think Galen is a pretty good character. He is interesting to read about and honestly, the story needs his kindness that comes from his personalty in a world that is revolving around war and bitter anger.
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