The Malazan Book of the Fallen: Too many wor'ds.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Malazan Book of the Fallen: Too many wor'ds.

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

So I caught this last night on my second re-read of Deadhouse Gates. "Jhistal priest." I get that they're supposed to be a destrier of an Old God? but I don't really get why Duiker seems so stoked to get a chance to get his hands around the throat of Mallick Rel, the priest of Mael who helped/pushed Pormqual into locking the gates on Coltaine. What's the background for this? Do we ever find out why he seems to hate them so much?

Ccs posted:

That's good to hear. I'll definitely be checking out the next book.
As for my other point, I like magic here and there, but it's better when it's something used at crucial times and isn't just everywhere. It should be used sparingly (kinda like lightsabers in Star Wars).

That's the one of the main premises of the Malazan series, though.. That if you use power indiscriminately, you'll just bring trouble to yourself. Power draws other powers, which is why poo poo gets craaaazy magical the farther you get into many of the books.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2011 16:26

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 09:36

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Habibi posted:

I'm not quite sure what you're asking? The second part of your question answers the first?

I guess I was mistaken in thinking that he just had a thing against jhistal and that there was some back-story to it. And also, how was Duiker aware of the priest being a jhistal and/or the priest's intention to sacrifice the entire army, in essence? Hmm.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Apr 2, 2011

# ¿ Apr 2, 2011 01:02

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Kjoery posted:

So I've been reading Memories of Ice, and I got to the point where Toc derped off with Panon.

Specifically:
"Make sweet love to me you lopsided cyclops you!!!" -Envy
"Your subtle undertones are no match for me, sorceress." -Toc
...A couple minutes later...
"Welp, I'm pretty much useless here, so I'll go run off with this cannibalizing horde of fantatics because " -Toc
"hello i am dust" -Tool

Why? Why would Toc do that? Will it be explained? I know he was being angsty because everyone's power exceeded his, but come on.

\/\/I guess that makes sense. Thanks!

Yeah I agree with Snappe, I just re-read this last night since I'm reading MoI again. Toc was both scared shitless of being turned into some kind of slave by Envy, and he thought his best chance to reach the Malazans was by blending into the fanatics. Unfortunately, fate was also pushing him in the same direction and he of course ends up all buddy-buddy with the KCCM matriarch. He really didn't give a poo poo about being outgunned by everybody, that's pretty much par for the course for his character in every situation he runs into until he ends up forced into a role later on..

# ¿ Apr 7, 2011 19:04

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

So I was up at like 4am the other night trying to finish Memories of Ice and came across something with Toc the Younger. Togtha the Wolf of Winter. Toc the.. Tocthe? It's probably a fluke but that's the kind of connections you make at 4 in the morning, I guess.

Also holy poo poo do things make so much more sense, and minor details really jump out at you after the second or third read of these books.

MoI is probably my favorite Malazan novel overall, although Paran's QQing gets a bit tiresome.

Also, I noticed in MoI that there was some insinuation that Quick Ben might be a god. It was a small thing but it struck me when I came across it, due to the QB conversation and questions in this thread.

Synesthesian Fetish posted:

I"m a little over a quarter of the way through book 1 and am still lost. When do things start to get more clear?

Depends on how carefully you read, and how good you are at noticing the details. I caught a lot of stuff right away, but it makes a lot more sense upon re-reading the novels after you've read some of the latter novels. I got lost in book 3 or 4 the first time through, stopped, and then started from the beginning a year or two later. Holy poo poo what a difference that made, the difference between riding a horse and hanging on for dear life, in a sense.

HeroOfTheRevolution posted:

Self-insert characters aren't exactly groundbreaking in the fantasy genre.

And I'm sure that, say, Samuel Clemens never had any self-insertion in his novels, either..?

Abalieno posted:

Even Karsa was a roleplayed character, but it hasn't anything "meta" about it.

Goddamn, that must've been a boring-rear end campaign, considering he loses both his companions almost immediately, and does poo poo like killing 8 out of ten rival Teblor tribesmen during his blood raid with Bairoth and Delum, then proceeds to roll around solo or hang out with dudes who're already ascended the majority of the time.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 14:58 on Apr 12, 2011

# ¿ Apr 12, 2011 14:51

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Here's a question that I've yet to clear up for myself: what's up with the 'ascendant' dogs? Was the dog in Coltaine's train the same as the dog in Karsa Orlong's raiding party, Gnaw, the same as Garath, the dog in Lady Envy's party, or was it/they Hounds of Shadow (fairly obviously not, although two at least were free by the third and fourth books, etc etc? I never did find enough to make sense of the dogs, which was which or if they're all the same, etc. It bugs me, because I think they are, but can't find anything to really prove or even lend itself to the idea.

the periodic fable posted:

i don't care about "fantasy names" one way or the other but, wasn't it explained that T'lan comes from the word Tellan with the apostrophe added which in their language (and ours) indicates that something is missing? and in the language of the Imass the thing missing symbolised something deeper than just "there's meant to be a few letters here". i might be misremembering completely, though.

I noticed this in a few other places besides the T'Lan thing, too. None come to mind but the seeming bastardization of some languages made me come up with that "Toc-the" thing I posted.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Yeah, I'm sure he's got a reason for it and it's all explained but on a first read it can be painful to slog through. It ends up coming across more as "here, have a big hefty ladle of Fantasy Language" rather than as a justified narrative choice. Another author I like has stated he tries to never use more than one invented word per sentence, just so you don't get distracted by it, and that's a rule I wish Erikson had followed.

It really isn't mentioned anywhere that you could fathom in the first book or two, imho. But once it hits you, it's a ton of bricks.

Kjoery posted:

-bridgeburners: everyone is ages behind us but instead of waiting we will all suicide because ???

Always an even trade. :colbert:

Even if the trade was Whiskeyjack :cry:

Plus, there is a reason later why most of them need to be dead

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Apr 13, 2011

# ¿ Apr 13, 2011 04:30

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Cervixalot posted:

Its been awhile, and I remember having the same question when I finished MoI as well, but to my recollection:

MoI The Pannion Seer WAS a jaghut. At the beginning of the book, Kilava comes across the mother jaghut and her two children. Thinking that the Rent above Morn would keep them safe from the Clan of T'Lan Imass, she pops the two children in it. The Rent is basically a prison intended for one being, so when she pops the son in, a Matron K'Chain Che'Malle who had been trapped in there for many years pops out, then when the daughter goes in the son pops back out. The son uses the Matron to get access to the crypts with the undead che'malle which he uses in his eventual pannion army. When they defeat the Seer, they have mercy on the Seer and reunite him with his sister, who remains at the young age in which she was put in the Rent. And wasn't the Egg a Finnest? Someone who has reread it recently can probably shed more light on this.

And yeah, Karsa owns.

Yeah this is pretty much on the money. The finnest was also a finnest containing the matron's power as well iirc, though. And the rent isn't a "prison," it was a bleeding wound/portal between a warren and "reality". In a couple spots throughout the books, the only way to close these rents once they've reached full size, is to use a soul to block them. The children were and unfortunate accident, and the braindead matron's soul was the perfect cork. Kilava was hell-bent for fixing her mistake although she wasn't entirely knowledgeable about what/why anything had gone wrong in the first place, which was why she spent the end of the book storming Coral's palace to kill the Pannion Seer and the matron - she is an Imass after all, and their solution to all Jaghut-related problems is pretty much always the same. Quick Ben was the only one who figured it all out, and that's why he busted in and changed the outcome which was otherwise inevitable - the Pannion and Matron being killed by someone or other.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2011 15:50

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

HeroOfTheRevolution posted:

Oddly enough, he's mentioned towards the middle of TCG as 'part of the group,' but doesn't appear in TCG. Presumably he died in the battle with the Short-tails, though his death doesn't happen 'on-screen.' He definitely didn't survive to the end, at least.

I just read the part where Kalam meets Sinn and Shard in a little shithole outpost in Raraku, iirc. He was definitely there at that point but I haven't gone any farther right now and it's been too long since I read them last time.

I came across one funny thing I somehow missed the first time through: Pearl. When he and Lostara Yil go to meet with Gesler and Stormy and co, the soldiers mention having seen Pearl dancing on a table in drag, in some tavern. I am having a hard time assuming that was only a disguise..

Also, who the gently caress ARE Gesler and Stormy and Truth and those guys, what's their history? I've read through like 7 of the Malazan books at least once, the first 3 I read at least 3 or four times now. Who were they? Also, is that dude in the tower with the fossilized dinosaurs Urko or possibly his brother?

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Apr 15, 2011

# ¿ Apr 15, 2011 19:25

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

HeroOfTheRevolution posted:

Gesler and Stormy's backstory is basically that they're (I think this is revealed in DoD) old-time members of the Malazan army. I think both were, like Whiskeyjack, on their way to Fist or possibly already Fist or some other high rank before the Laseen takeover, after which they were bumped down to corporal or adjutant and set to boring guard duty somewhere in Seven Cities. Truth is the young recruit who ends up in the Marine squad with them. Everything else happens during the series.

And yeah, you got the identity of the tower guy correct (the one in the spoiler).

Yeah thanks, that's what I was thinking, Truth is obvious (although he seems to have something more going on too, from the interaction between Lostara and himself in the scene I referenced.. There were some dogs or something that were way intent on him, oddly so it seemed like.)

I guess I was just hoping that someone had read a latter book than I'ev reached, or something, which might satisfy the reader (me) with a little taste of what was going on when Adjutant Gesler still had rank, his penchant breaking commanders' noses (iirc) arose from or maybe a few more amusing scenes with this happening, etc.

Phummus posted:

They are, if I recall correctly, Some of the crew who navigated the Edur ship (Silandh?) through the Tellan warren. That's where they got the bronze skin, etc.

Aye, but they didn't live in a vacuum before that point, and all signs point to "these were some pretty exceptional dudes way before they found that boat, and they seem to've had some wicked stories happen to them long before the point you first meet them."

Oh yeah, also what happened to the Silandh's whistle?

# ¿ Apr 15, 2011 22:30

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Abalieno posted:

Does anyone know what's the deal with the core of mythology? Just finished to write a comment on Tor.com reread and I'm wondering how it could all fit together.

Questions like: who comes first between K'rul, Burn, the Azaths and Mother Dark?

Could the world outlive Burn?

I always kind of assumed the world to be a warren itself too, so I would say yeah "reality" would survive, but possibly not that particular plane of existence. Darkness is almost always before anything (except chaos, possibly depending on the fiction) can exist including light. (I wonder, are there any novels or myths where the world was simply fathomless light without objects or shadows?) FWIW, we do know that a destroyed warren can be brought back in one way or another, be it shards, or given form by certain events such as MoI (I believe one of the characters near the end of MoI asks out loud if there are other sleeping Mhybes, and if Burn could possibly be one of many or potentially infinite worlds inside of dreamers' minds.

Then again the Azath are links to all planes and directly linked to the decks, however the Crippled God's house had to be added to the decks before he stopped loving up reality, so there must be a larger scope than the stuff we're aware of, bringing back to the Mother Dark thing, imho.

Did that explain anything for you? No? Good. I'm confused, too. What would've happened if, inside Dragnipur, the Chaos caught up to the gate to the true warren of shadow - which is what I assume/remember was in the center of the wagon, and where/how the hounds escaped to, for instance?

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Apr 16, 2011

# ¿ Apr 16, 2011 01:01

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Yep.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2011 15:36

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Ammanas posted:

From Deadhouse Gates onward the novels slide from being well-paced throughout to cramming climax(es) into the very end. Enjoy the constant action while it lasts

How dare they cram climaxes into the end of a book!

# ¿ Apr 26, 2011 17:33

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Junk Science posted:

Tell me again about that Tiste Edur with the spear...

He lost his spear because a Letherii sailor laughed at him. :snoop:

# ¿ May 3, 2011 16:23

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

headshot24 posted:

Not skimming the thread for fear of spoiling something awesome so pardon the dumb gently caress question...is there a good summary of books 1 and 2 somewhere? I read them about a year and a half ago and read 100 pages of 3 before I lost interest, but I'm giving it another shot starting on Memories of Ice.

To be quite honest, I didn't know half what was going on in 1 and 2 and petered off on 3, and went back and read 1 and 2.. And then 3 made so much more sense and had so much more I gave a poo poo about that it was kind of astounding. :aaa:

# ¿ May 4, 2011 00:04

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Levitate posted:

That's also cool with me. Just seems like one of those series where you're always second guessing what's happening with people, just to be on the safe side.

It ties directly into the fate of the Bridgeburners and "reality" as a whole. Although it's still pretty bleak.

# ¿ May 17, 2011 16:00

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Happened to be watching a movie tonight, "The Long, Hot Summer".

Now I know where Quick Ben's name came from. I wonder how one character fits in with the other.

# ¿ May 19, 2011 03:40

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Abalieno posted:

You must be wrong. I thought it was this:

That bear looks like a barn-burner to me, can't trust 'em. :colbert:

# ¿ May 22, 2011 19:26

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Spills the Moon posted:

Hey guys, I'm not sure if this has been posted but I was surfing for some Malazan gossip online and came across the blurb for ICE's new novel. Here, read it for yourselves:

Maybe this kind of thing is exciting only to me, but I thought it was a neat find. Until I read it that is. This sounds really bad. I support ICE and all, because I like to get my hands on anything Malazan, but this just sounds awful. I hope this is fraudulent and isn't actually what it's going to be about. Is it me or does this sound like poorly conceived fan-fiction?

Also, Dracoinus.

Yeah that sounds pretty bad, it strikes me as extremely close to GotM, frankly... Right down to the crypt with a Jaghut right outside Darujhistan, being opened by someone with otataral. I suspect that ICE couldn't handle taking the story somewhere that wasn't already heavily fleshed-out. Smacks of laziness.

And WTF why would you pick a name like Dracoinus, just to confuse readers more with similarly-named characters?

# ¿ Jul 30, 2011 00:00

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Habibi posted:

Made me wonder if this was common practice at some point in history that Erikson decided to focus on it so much.

It was pretty common for mothers to do this to their children to wipe off grime and stick down cowlicks not that long ago.. My grandmother would do it in a heartbeat.

Not that far off from loogie-based hair gel.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2011 23:56

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Electronico6 posted:

As for the child Well Habbi already answer. But does the Child actually see Cotillion when he's shrouded or is Cotillion not shrouded at all.

Coltillion was shrouded, but Apt and her kind are not originally from the realm of Shadow iirc, so they kind of never mentioned that his powers may not always work on their kind, and Panek's cyclops eye was made by Apt so it shares some of that power and it was a big "whoa, poo poo, gently caress me!" for Cotillion. It may or may not be explored more later on, I don't recall.

Panek and Apt certainly come and go, though.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2011 17:51

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Leospeare posted:

Even Jaghut Tyrants! In GOTM, either Fiddler or Hedge (can't remember which) took down Raest with a cusser. (Okay, it wasn't a single-handed victory nor an outright kill, but still counts for something.)

So when do you all think an ascendent is considered a god? Is it when people start worshipping them, or they take over a Deck of Dragons house, or something else? Dessambrae has worshippers but I don't recall if he's ever shown to have a place in the Deck. Shadowthrone and Cotillion seemed to jump straight into godhood because High House Shadow was empty - I always got the impression that they didn't have much in the way of actual worshippers beforehand, though there may have been cults of Shadow that they effectively took over when they ascended.

I was under the impression that gods are just ascendants who've claimed a throne and thus gives them power/dominion over the warren that it represents. There are also different "tiers" or "races" of gods, such as the basic ones such as Hood and Shadowthrone (who're really simply Ascendants who took a throne, or who found a role and filled it,) the primordial gods such as Mother/Father Dark and Burn etc, then there's alien gods (The Chained God, who doesn't give much indication of ever having a mortal background, although that may be simply because you never see his origins,) and the REALLY alien gods (the jade statues.)

That's what I thought, anyway.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2011 17:42

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Juaguocio posted:

Rake is also worshiped as the Black Winged Lord by the people of Bluerose.

And he's the son of Mother Dark, which does make him the only available personification of the Tiste Andii deity.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2011 19:23

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

pakman posted:

I love Memories of Ice. Quick Ben is such a badass, and Talamandas is cute . I am really interested into what will happen with Gruntle and Paran, too. I just finished reading the part where Itkovian goes to the Barghast women: are they shouldermen? Does this mean that indirectly Itkovian and the Grey Swords are indirectly giving themselves to worship of Hood because of what Quick Ben figured out only moments earlier? I also don't understand that interaction earlier with Broach and Bauchelain. What exactly happened?

Keep reading, all will be made clear.

And which interaction are you referring to with KB&B? More than one character "interacts" with them, but I don't really recall Itkovian and co bumping into them off the top of my head.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Jan 10, 2012

# ¿ Jan 10, 2012 22:29

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

^^^ I took it as kind of a redemptive arc but yeah, I didn't like it. I didn't like most of the Felisin arc, it's just hate piled on bad feelings piled on misery and suffering and injustice and pride.

pakman posted:

Regarding Hoc holy crap Crokus is an assassin now instead of just a thief, and is on a mission for Cotillion.

And he continues to win the "gooniest manchild in the entire series" award.

the least weasel posted:

No, they weren't, pakman specifically said Heboric. When exactly do they cut off Rath'Fener's hands again?

IIRC, at the end of MoI, they do it. But since nobody's home at the place they are sent, they end up getting picked up by something infinitely alien, otherworldly and very, very nasty. There's a moment of anagnorsis when Rath'Fenar (and I think everyone else too) realize what's happening, and I think someone decided to have mercy and finish him off first, or at least tried to. It all happened at the very climax of MoI when poo poo really hit the fan.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Feb 2, 2012

# ¿ Feb 2, 2012 19:54

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

NovemberMike posted:

I think this was intentional. He's trying to be tough and names himself "Cutter", but it's a joke on him because cutter is the nickname for a surgeon. People trying to act tough in this series generally backfires. One of Karsa Orlong's most badass moments is when somebody keeps on insulting him and he just doesn't care because he just knows he's too badass for the insults to be right. Similarly, Bugg and Tehol act like fools but they come off as some of the most amazing characters in the series.

Yeah I understand all that, it still doesn't change the fact that for the most part he is one of the most boring characters in the books. He reminds me very strongly of the beetle kid Totho in the Shadows of the Apt series, he's young, stupid, spoiled, and prone to making rash and/or immature decisions based on a very loose grasp of what the gently caress is actually going on around him. He's just not a likable character, and at least when he was Crokus he was young and dumb and having fun, and had an excuse for not knowing his rear end from a hole in the ground.

Becoming Cutter actually made him less interesting to me, and the whole romance/not-romance thing with Apsalar really fell flat to me as well.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2012 21:20

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

pakman posted:

I'm still not quite sure what Karsa's role in all of this is, either. The renegade Imass/Teblor gods call him the Knight of Chains, but he says he isn't. He has a flint sword like the Imass now. And it was mentioned in an earlier chapter that his kind used to be the minders for Icarium.

This is all very confusing right now.

If that made any sense, am I correct in unravelling what was said?

I'm pretty sure that Karsa really is, that house in particular is a bit odd as the aspected cards do not necessarily have to be on any specific terms with TCG. Karsa's extreme experiences with being bound, as well as the souls he has chained to himself, makes him the perfect candidate for knight.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2012 19:57

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

BananaNutkins posted:

Well, good to hear he goes back to that. I'm just going to pretend Raraku was Viet Nam and continue onwards.

It's not Viet Nam, it's a magic desert that changes anyone who survives it. There are deserts in reality which nearby indigenous cultures believe to have similar properties.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2012 01:20

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

BananaNutkins posted:

It also happens in Memories of Ice. Toc the Younger says it about one of Lady Envy's dogs. The first time I recall it happening was, like the guy above stated, in Deadhouse Gates with the headless galley and those characters.

It doesn't necessarily turn you into a shell-shocked wackjob, though.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2012 17:46

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

^^^^ Power Attracts Power.

Why do people make such a deal out of how unlikely it is that all these "powers" come together at the climax of every story, every time? It was explained early on and repeatedly, that it's part of how the world works. When you accumulate enough power, it's similar to having a great enough mass and density in space - you pick up your own "gravity." And when you're cruising around the galaxy and cross paths with the gravity well of some other reasonably large body, you'll throw each other off slightly, and if neither of you were moving at a high enough rate, then you would eventually attract each other and collide.

The the Malazan books there is generally some kind of serious (metaphorical) "black hole" of power/gravity in each book, which attracts all of the powers within range, like moths to a flame.

Stew Man Chew posted:

Yeah his inclusion in Book 1 was kind of confusing, there's no effort to develop him much but he keeps on showing up. I just kept thinking "Who the gently caress is this mook and why do we care?"

I asked this way harder about Trull Sengar, because I somehow totally skipped over the connection of him showing up at the end of the book before Midnight Tides.

Paran was always a bit bland to me, largely in part because of his noble upbringing and initial attitude. He's just a spoiled, douchey kid, and despite a lot of good fortune keeping him alive through some pretty wild scenarios, he still seems to me to just be a spoiled, douchey kid with a big chip on his shoulder (and some gnarly scars), for the most part.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2012 22:24

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Except that you're talking in broad generalizations which are not true. That's like complaining that a WEB Griffith book doesn't have anyone in the world who's not a soldier, or loving a soldier when he's home from tours. Of course there won't be many interesting characters who aren't "in the loop", they would be rare because in that setting they're unnecessary and boring to the story as a whole.

There are plenty of normal people who become ascendants, the rest who don't, didn't hang around long enough, and it'd be boring as sin to follow Sorry's dad around in his jackass adventures, despite the potential for monologues.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2012 01:51

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Abalieno posted:

Hmm, I'm no so sure this is the case. How would an ascendant acquire ascendant powers if not through the system? I do understand a god who's not automatically into the deck, because the power comes from the beliefs of his followers, but ascendants with no followers where do they get their powers?

Does Caladan Brood have a card?

As for the 'alliance' or 'agreement' aspect of it, I always felt of ascendants' power being like gravity. The more powerful you are, the more personal gravity you pull around (throwing your weight around :downsrim:

) the more "smaller bodies" are attracted to them, as well as "heavier" ones.

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 22:54 on May 15, 2012

# ¿ May 15, 2012 22:52

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Leospeare posted:

You forgot the most powerful one:

An explosives expert with an odd sense of humor

Two explosives experts with odd senses of humor.

And the giant talking bird? She's really more of a big ...moth...

# ¿ May 20, 2012 19:29

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Esposito posted:

(HoC) I haven't read it for a while, but the book definitely mentions the guy raping Scillara cumming in her as he dies. After the big deal they'd made about children of the dead seed in the previous book, it really felt that is where they were heading with it.

Yeah, you're putting too much weight into the fact that he happened to die, the Dead Seed thing was done on purpose by the women who were already enchanted by the dark force behind the Tenescowri, and I don't particularly remember her rapist being one of the Tenescowri, either, although I may be misremembering.. The main magic was drawing the seed out of the corpses (assuming that they were already suffering from, err, rigor mortis)... :downsrim:

# ¿ Jun 13, 2012 20:05

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Dessembrae always confused the poo poo out of me.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2012 19:04

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Hondo82 posted:

Fixed that that one sentence, it is Erikson's greatest flaw in the later books. So much of that could be cut out and none of it would be missed.

It functioned very effectively as a sort of Greek Chorus, I'm sorry you're not familiar with the plot device.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2012 15:50

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Robot Danger posted:

Thanks guys. I'm pretty confident in my choice now.

Patience is definitely not one of my virtues. Each time a chapter would switch to another character's perspective in The First Law series I would get a little grumpy for about 3 pages until the new one sucked me in. A bit of an exaggeration, but I was concerned that this happening on the scale of entire books would be too frustrating. It's no longer a concern, and if anything it's more exciting after the encouraging posts.

So thanks again!

My main advice would be to read Gardens of the Moon through Memories of Ice, and then consider going back to GotM at least, if not simply re-reading all three.

The difference in your own understanding of what's going on and why will be huge.

geeksauce posted:

I'm sorta low on cash at the moment due to a car payment and taxes coming out within the same week. The main reason I'm grabbing the first two at the same time is because my local B&Ns only have one copy of the MMPB copy of the second book. I hate the larger versions, as they don't feel as comfortable to me and they cost more. I'll try to pick up the third after my first paycheck in August.

The main thing is that book 3 is by far one of those most satisfying books in the series, with probably my favorite siege/battle scenes of any novel I've ever read. Even though Gruntle is a stupid goddamned name, sounds like a character named for the act of taking a poo poo. :colbert:

coyo7e fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Jul 25, 2012

# ¿ Jul 25, 2012 22:00

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

The Ninth Layer posted:

I don't agree with that. Some characters share common traits, but most of that you could trace to geographical origin or race. There aren't two characters in the series that I would say are characterized the same way; even the dozens of Malazan marines the books followed always felt unique and distinct to me as I was reading.

I agree with you however I can see how people might lump all heavy infantry, all sappers, together..

# ¿ Jul 31, 2012 07:14

coyo7e: Aug 23, 2007; by zen death robot

Blog Free or Die posted:

A guy dressed up in a hood dual wielding what appear to be kukris. Behind him there are clouds.

It works as an image, at least. Strong focal point, interesting pose, foreboding mood.

But to judge a book by a cover, I don't give a rat's rear end about this guy. Another generic assassin posing in a thunderstorm. The first image is inferior purely as an image, but poor as it is, it's a far better book cover. It's an actual scene from the book, gives you a (very basic) feel for the setting, and it has goddamn charm to it. It isn't the most amazing painting, but at least it looks like someone gave a poo poo about the painting itself, and the book it represents.

It's not like there aren't thousands of great cover artists out there, or that they won't do awesome covers for Erikson books, case in point:

Not disagreeing with anything you said however, I'm pretty sure that's Cutter, in that cover. And we've all established that he's about as generic assassin as you can get, so it's accurate to the book, if nothing else.. v :shobon: