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Mr.48 posted:From Joe's blog: I can't remember who these characters are.
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Aug 20, 2010 03:11
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savinhill posted:I can't remember who these characters are. Bethod's two sons.
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Aug 20, 2010 03:20
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Mr.48 posted:From Joe's blog: Honest and loyal in their meaning of the words, of course. Different cultures, boy-o.
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Aug 20, 2010 05:03
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I picked up The Blade Itself because Amazon recommended it to me and it was pretty good. Just starting the second now. Good stuff, hopefully it and its re-reads will tide me over till we get more Locke Lamora or Black Company.
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Aug 24, 2010 00:31
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Casao posted:I picked up The Blade Itself because Amazon recommended it to me and it was pretty good. Just starting the second now. Good stuff, hopefully it and its re-reads will tide me over till we get more Locke Lamora or Black Company. After the last Black Company book, I don't think I want to read any more. Just saying.
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Aug 24, 2010 01:29
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Casao posted:I picked up The Blade Itself because Amazon recommended it to me and it was pretty good. Just starting the second now. Good stuff, hopefully it and its re-reads will tide me over till we get more Locke Lamora or Black Company. Erm, I wouldn't count on getting any more Locke Lamora any time soon, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure Scott Lynch is still having problems with his anxiety/depression. 
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Aug 24, 2010 01:57
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I was reading ASoIaF, but that's not going to be done anytime soon, so I started the Malazan books. But that series isn't done either, so I started Tad Williams' Shadow series, believing it to be a completed trilogy. Not so! One more book remains to be published, so, desperate for more fantasy, I grabbed The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged from my local bookstore. I'm very impressed by Abercrombie's characters and his sardonic writing style, which is such a breath of fresh air in a genre dominated by heavy-handed philosophizing and needless detail. I'm used to the brutality of modern fantasy, but I've already been shocked by a few moments in this series (I almost had to stop reading when West lost his temper with Ardee). Now restock Last Argument of Kings, dammit!
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Aug 25, 2010 05:49
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Mr.48 posted:After the last Black Company book, I don't think I want to read any more. Just saying. Wrojin fucked around with this message at 07:23 on Aug 25, 2010 |
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Aug 25, 2010 07:21
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Probably the weakest spot is Dreams of Steal, Bleak Seasons, and She is the Darkness. Cook being able to write how people would kind of bites him in Dreams because Lady isn't really supposed to be a compelling writer. Bleak Seasons is really disorienting and Murgen is an emo gently caress, which continues into She is the Darkness. I think Water Sleeps and especially Soldiers Live pick back up significantly. Whatever you may say for the rest of Books of the South/Glittering Stone the very end of Soldiers Live was perfect. Related: Screw everyone that hates Silver Spike because of Case. I don't care if he's basically a fantasy redneck. He's fairly funny and the only person in the whole god drat series with any common sense. He does what he has to help his best friend, then gets the gently caress out of adventuring.
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Aug 25, 2010 09:12
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Juaguocio posted:I was reading ASoIaF, but that's not going to be done anytime soon, so I started the Malazan books. You've come home.  Put your feet up and enjoy the cruelty of an unthinking universe raining down hell on all protagonists.
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Aug 25, 2010 10:00
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Mr.48 posted:After the last Black Company book, I don't think I want to read any more. Just saying. Eh. I like the story and some of the new characters. I'll definitely continue reading, but I'll treat it the same way I treated the Southern Books - a distinct entity with the same characters. Kreeblah posted:Erm, I wouldn't count on getting any more Locke Lamora any time soon, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure Scott Lynch is still having problems with his anxiety/depression. The manuscript for book 3 has apparently been delivered - it's not a press release, but it seems decent enough to get my hopes up for. No word on book 4 being started, though. That said, I don't think he's as big as GRRM so I don't think he can sign the contract for 5 books and then put them off for 15 years.
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Aug 25, 2010 20:13
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Juaguocio posted:I was reading ASoIaF, but that's not going to be done anytime soon, so I started the Malazan books. Yeah, I keep meaning to read Malazan, I even bought the first 3 books, but I keep forgetting I have them, and it takes me a while to get into a series so when I try to pick it up and force myself to read it, I get nowhere. This I picked up cause it was recommended and on Kindle. Perfect combination for me right now, and I'm so glad to have a finished series to read. I'll definitely keep an eye on Abercrombie's future writings too, after what I've read so far.
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Aug 25, 2010 20:15
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Casao posted:The manuscript for book 3 has apparently been delivered - it's not a press release, but it seems decent enough to get my hopes up for. It's about drat time. loving Scott Lynch! quote:No word on book 4 being started, though. poo poo! The books weren't amazing, the writing was pretty bad in parts, and the stories alternated between being pretty drat good and pretty drat awful (Casino heist versus stupid pirate side story).... but I liked the world he built so I've been keeping a close eye on his (lack of) development. And about Joe Abercrombie, since this is his thread after all. I'm really looking forward to Heroes. The First Law was fantastic, BSC less so but still pretty great. I'm dying over here, especially since I'm almost done with Shadows of the Apt (another series with 2-3 more books planned)!
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Aug 25, 2010 21:13
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One of the things I'm always speculating to myself about is how big of a role does Bayaz play with his force meditation-esque abilities. Whenever Jezal is giving a speech or doing something that his inner monologue tells us hes finding difficulty with and Bayaz is nearby I think oh that must be Bayaz doing force mind tricks on him to give him more courage or find just the right words to say.
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Aug 26, 2010 02:34
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Kneel Before Zog posted:One of the things I'm always speculating to myself about is how big of a role does Bayaz play with his force meditation-esque abilities. Whenever Jezal is giving a speech or doing something that his inner monologue tells us hes finding difficulty with and Bayaz is nearby I think oh that must be Bayaz doing force mind tricks on him to give him more courage or find just the right words to say. Bayaz says in TBI that his specialties are fire, force, and will. So possibly, but I don't think there is any direct evidence for it.
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Aug 26, 2010 02:51
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To be fair, those of you thinking about starting the Malazan novels, by the time you get through the current 9 and the two side novels the 10th will be out and the series will be done. Last book comes out in January, I believe.
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Aug 26, 2010 03:35
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Yadoppsi posted:Bayaz says in TBI that his specialties are fire, force, and will. So possibly, but I don't think there is any direct evidence for it. Actually, Bayaz used his powers to make Jezel a better swordsman so he could win the contest, so he must be able to effect your mind/body somehow in a way you don't realize as he's doing it. Wow that was a poorly constructed sentence. You get the idea.
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Aug 26, 2010 03:36
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Kneel Before Zog posted:One of the things I'm always speculating to myself about is how big of a role does Bayaz play with his force meditation-esque abilities. Whenever Jezal is giving a speech or doing something that his inner monologue tells us hes finding difficulty with and Bayaz is nearby I think oh that must be Bayaz doing force mind tricks on him to give him more courage or find just the right words to say. loving Bayaz. gently caress him. Anyway, I think those sudden bouts of courage are probably more psychological than anything. After all, Jezal occasionally finds the balls to snap at Bayaz and the other council members, and I can't see Bayaz actually wanting him to do that. ninja edit: should I just spoiler all this? Yeah... :/
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Aug 26, 2010 04:35
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Also, whenever Bayaz does any kind of magic, it drains him physically quite a lot, so it's unlikely he'd be manipulating Jezal constantly like that.
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Aug 26, 2010 04:39
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Daveski posted:Also, whenever Bayaz does any kind of magic, it drains him physically quite a lot, so it's unlikely he'd be manipulating Jezal constantly like that. sarsbar posted:loving Bayaz. gently caress him. Uhh.. Guys. It's extremely obvious that Bayaz directly imbued Jezal with superman juice during the tournament's final round. Yeah, it drained the gently caress out of him like all of his demon-fueled magic does, but there should be no argument that he did it. Pretty sure he did it a second time, but I can't recall exactly where in the book that happened or I'd look it up.
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Aug 26, 2010 05:49
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Bummey posted:Uhh.. Guys. It's extremely obvious that Bayaz directly imbued Jezal with superman juice during the tournament's final round. Yeah, it drained the gently caress out of him like all of his demon-fueled magic does, but there should be no argument that he did it. Pretty sure he did it a second time, but I can't recall exactly where in the book that happened or I'd look it up. I wasn't referring to the fencing tournament. I was talking about after Jezal was crowned.
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Aug 26, 2010 06:50
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I think that's just Jezal finding his balls, I remember Bayaz being p happy about how he even talks like a king.
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Aug 26, 2010 11:18
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sarsbar posted:I wasn't referring to the fencing tournament. I was talking about after Jezal was crowned. Yeah, this is what I meant too. It's very clear when he does it during the tournament, but after that I didn't notice any instance when he is clearly manipulating things with magic
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Aug 26, 2010 11:30
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Daveski posted:Yeah, this is what I meant too. It's very clear when he does it during the tournament, but after that I didn't notice any instance when he is clearly manipulating things with magic Yeah, unless a minor part of that scene is to show you that he can.
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Aug 26, 2010 19:19
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Finally finished the books. Really good. Bayaz's reveals are great. You come to realize that he's really not a standard nice guy. Then you pretty much realize he's kinda straight up evil. Finally, you just come to realize he's a full out villain, more evil than anyone else in the story, and arguably more evil than anyone even mentioned.
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Sep 1, 2010 05:06
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Honestly I don't even know. I mean, what are he and Khalul even fighting about? Obv. Khalul will play up the "bringing him to justice" angle, but bending a whole nation to his whim to do so (and creating a legion of Eaters with all the casualties that necessitates) really puts him in no better stead. As far as I can make out, Bayaz topped Juvens (with the help of Kanedias?) then allied the Magi behind his false cause of vengeance and killed Tolomei and Kanedias to keep it a secret(?). We never found out why he killed Juvens in the first place, and he'll never explain it to one of the characters we spend most of our time with, as they're less than flies by his timescale. If any of the above is wrong please correct me, finished the trilogy about 6 months ago and haven't had the time to re-read.
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Sep 1, 2010 20:59
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As I see it, Bayaz killed Juvens because he was too restrained in the use of his power. Bayaz couldn't go on a power trip with his supposedly more powerful master breathing down his neck, so he engineered(?) Juvens' death. He must've somehow lured Kanedias into all this using Tolomei, and then he killed her to cover his tracks. It's possible that the Maker didn't even know he was manipulated right till the end. He's not really remembered as a big people's person. Basically, Bayaz is a major dick. So that's my take on the whole thing. Might be wrong, it's mostly supposition.
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Sep 1, 2010 22:39
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My impression of Bayaz: He's not evil, he's just ruthless. He'll do whatever it takes to further the ends he sees as necessary. He's certainly power hungry, but in many cases his views fall in line with folks you'd consider "good" in the series. He wants to control the world in his way, but I don't get the impression he's doing it because he's an evil bastard, just that he thinks he can do it better than anyone else. His long life and power and the poo poo he's seen has basically put him in a position where he holds the common man in contempt, and doesn't care if innocents die to get him where he wants to be. That said, he's not a murdering, raping, kill all good in the world and let evil reign rear end in a top hat, either. Pretty complex character, and another reason why Abercrombie is dope.
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Sep 2, 2010 08:33
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Kellanved posted:As I see it, Bayaz killed Juvens because he was too restrained in the use of his power. Bayaz couldn't go on a power trip with his supposedly more powerful master breathing down his neck, so he engineered(?) Juvens' death. Yeah off the top of my head regarding Bayaz Khalul's number two asked him why he killed Juvens, and he responds along the lines of "Juvens thought he could change the world with good intentions...but I say I didn't kill him!" So in my opinion he flat out murdered his old master to motivate all his fellow apprentices to follow his lead. Then murdered Kanedias' daughter to further motivate the apprentices to kill Kanedias, leaving him as the most powerful mage in the world. He's really just a power hungry rear end in a top hat, not cackling psychotic evil, but perfectly willing to kill anyone between him and absolute power One thing that struck me in the story was that Euz had 4 sons. The one went crazy in the old capital and was killed, Juvens and Kanedias are dead, but we've never really heard what befell the third son Bedesh. I think he was even briefly mentioned as being given mastery of a third school of magic by Euz. I imagine he'll pop up later, unless I'm forgetting him getting killed off. edit: found the section I was thinking of! Quai shrugged his bony shoulders and began to speak. “Almighty Euz, vanquisher of deomns, closer to gates, father of the World, had four sons, and to each he gave a gift. To his eldest, Juvens, he gave the talent of High Art, the skill to change the world with magic, tempered by knowledge. To his second son, Kanedias, went the gift of making, of shaping stone and metal to his own purposes. To his third son, Bedesh, Euz gave the skill of speaking with spirits and of making them do his bidding.” Quai gave a wide yawn, smacked his lips and blinked at the fire. “So were born the three pure disciplines of magic.” “I thought he had four sons,” grumbled Luthar. Quai’s eyes slid sideways. “So he did, and therein lies the root of the Empire’s destruction. Glustrod was the youngest son. To him should have gone the gift of communing with the Other Side. Subvisual Haze fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Sep 2, 2010 |
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Sep 2, 2010 17:04
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That last bit there's fascinating. All the spirits have been disappearing, and with Logen out of the picture for now (I wouldn't count the bastard dead yet), there's no one can talk to them. And this Bedesh fellow who was given one throwaway line in... The Blade Itself? He's the spirit guy. You've stumbled on either something absolutely gigantic or this series' biggest red herring, keiran_helcyan.
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Sep 3, 2010 08:59
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Grand Prize Winner posted:That last bit there's fascinating. All the spirits have been disappearing, and with Logen out of the picture for now (I wouldn't count the bastard dead yet), there's no one can talk to them. And this Bedesh fellow who was given one throwaway line in... The Blade Itself? He's the spirit guy. I'm pretty sure Logen wasn't the last guy who could do it. Bayaz had back up plans for every one else, I can't believe he wouldn't have one for Logen too. But yeah, I'm thinking it's a throwaway plot point. There's been no word of another trilogy or anything, has there?
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Sep 3, 2010 14:48
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Casao posted:But yeah, I'm thinking it's a throwaway plot point. There's been no word of another trilogy or anything, has there? Not another trilogy but I know Abercrombie's on record (probably somewhere in his blog, I don't have time to dig for it right this second) that for the forseeable future everything he does write is intended to be set in the same world. So, while that's not a promise of another trilogy...
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Sep 3, 2010 15:14
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I read somewhere that he's writing a few standalones, and then he IS tackling another trilogy. Wish I could remember where. =/
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Sep 3, 2010 17:56
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keiran_helcyan posted:Yeah off the top of my head regarding Bayaz Khalul's number two asked him why he killed Juvens, and he responds along the lines of "Juvens thought he could change the world with good intentions...but I say I didn't kill him!" So in my opinion he flat out murdered his old master to motivate all his fellow apprentices to follow his lead. Then murdered Kanedias' daughter to further motivate the apprentices to kill Kanedias, leaving him as the most powerful mage in the world. He's really just a power hungry rear end in a top hat, not cackling psychotic evil, but perfectly willing to kill anyone between him and absolute power Wasn't Badesh killed by Glustrod in the first war? I could be remembering wrong though.
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Sep 3, 2010 18:03
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Mr.48 posted:Wasn't Badesh killed by Glustrod in the first war? Nope. The last time the books talk about Bedesh is when he commands the spirits to release the Seed only to one who carries Juvens' staff.
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Sep 3, 2010 19:55
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Mmmmm. I haven't actually read 'Best Served Cold' yet, but I think I'm going to read this first anyway.
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Sep 9, 2010 18:33
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I've already read The First Law trilogy, and am nearly finished with Best Served Cold. I really like the characters in BSC (Shivers' character growth - so far - is very interesting!). There's a little preview of Heroes at the end of BSC, and it doesn't quite seem as interesting to me.
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Sep 9, 2010 18:41
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Unkempt posted:Mmmmm. Gah, you stupid fucker. I was expecting an ARC this week and had a whole sarcastic "oh hay whats this maybe I'll read it I.D.K." post planned. I would have been King of the Book Barn. Who gave you yours?
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Sep 9, 2010 18:58
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Unkempt posted:Mmmmm. You may want to read BSC...Some HUGE poo poo happens to Shivers which changes his character quite a lot, and he's in The Heroes, too. So if you've read the original trilogy, post BSC Shivers is going to be really weird to you.
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Sep 9, 2010 18:59
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Unkempt posted:Mmmmm. Life is not fair! 
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Sep 9, 2010 19:56
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