This was a favorite of mine as a teen and I just reread it this year. I still loved the two characters and the mystery of it--Gillan doesn't really know anything about her heritage or her powers, and you don't learn a whole lot about Herrell's people either. But that's not because Norton didn't bother to make the history up, it's because she keeps everything a mystery. You don't know Gillan's powers, or how weak Herrell is (or isn't), or what the other Riders are able to do, or whether the "soul splitting" can be reversed, or what will happen if Gillan and Herrell actually consummate their marriage, or what will happen if they defy the other Riders--the book takes place in a sort of mist of lost peoples and unknown possibilities (some of them very bad). I still love this sort of setting.
It leaves a lot up to your imagination, which is half the fun. I would say it does tilt toward implying Herrel is stronger than he believes he is, but that this is never quite confirmed to a reader's satisfaction - which, as you point out, is half the fun. There are so many avenues left unexplored that a reader can spend years filling in the gaps and enjoying every minute of it!
Oh, I agree it implies that Herrel is stronger than he thinks he is--and that that's one reason Gillan picks his cloak--but she never spells out how much.
This was a favorite of mine as a teen and I just reread it this year. I still loved the two characters and the mystery of it--Gillan doesn't really know anything about her heritage or her powers, and you don't learn a whole lot about Herrell's people either. But that's not because Norton didn't bother to make the history up, it's because she keeps everything a mystery. You don't know Gillan's powers, or how weak Herrell is (or isn't), or what the other Riders are able to do, or whether the "soul splitting" can be reversed, or what will happen if Gillan and Herrell actually consummate their marriage, or what will happen if they defy the other Riders--the book takes place in a sort of mist of lost peoples and unknown possibilities (some of them very bad). I still love this sort of setting.
It leaves a lot up to your imagination, which is half the fun. I would say it does tilt toward implying Herrel is stronger than he believes he is, but that this is never quite confirmed to a reader's satisfaction - which, as you point out, is half the fun. There are so many avenues left unexplored that a reader can spend years filling in the gaps and enjoying every minute of it!
Oh, I agree it implies that Herrel is stronger than he thinks he is--and that that's one reason Gillan picks his cloak--but she never spells out how much.
And the history. In a number of her works, she deals with the aftermath of war while putting all the actual war into the backstory.