Notes on oaths and laws in Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota
Snippets worth preserving and commenting upon, from the first three books of Terra Ignota.
Published
Updated
Preface
Certain parties will say, “How is this outright copying of large portions of the text not a violation of copyright?” I believe that this posting constitutes fair use under U.S. law:
the purpose and character is noncommercial commentary upon the quoted works
the nature of the copyrighted work is a published novel; by excerpting the sources in this fashion I provide the relevant source text for the analyses contained in this article
the quoted works are a minor fraction of the whole books, and while some of the quoted texts are foundational to the worldbuilding, these excerpts do not recount the plot of the novels.
because the quoted works are a minor fraction of the whole, they should have no substantial effect upon the market for the novel; the novel’s plot is as much as possible left hidden.
If you have standing to disagree and wish to do so, contact me and we’ll work something out.
Onwards, to the discussion whose purpose animates this text. This got lengthy and hard to navigate, so I broke it up by oath: