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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:Why did they intentionally misspell argument Brits...
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Sep 13, 2011 08:21
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I'm in the middle of Best Served Cold and something big just happened, normally I'd just wait and see but this is my favorite character in the series so I need to do know: Is Nicomo Cosca actually dead? I ask because he has nine lives and I don't count deaths in these books unless someone chops off a head
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Sep 13, 2011 13:40
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:Why did they intentionally misspell argument Haha, I didn't even notice that. You can't even claim it's a Brit thing because it's not spelled that way on Gollancz's webpage.
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Sep 13, 2011 13:56
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The Gunslinger posted:I'm in the middle of Best Served Cold and something big just happened, normally I'd just wait and see but this is my favorite character in the series so I need to do know: spoiler about Nicomo Cosca in Best Served Cold No he isn't actually dead and you will see him again later in the book Edit: I am doing a re-read of the series and I'm at Best Served Cold and I got to say this book isn't as great on re-reads. I really liked it the first time around but most of the characters that are introduced are just really unlikable. The characters I do like (Nicomo and Shivers) are characters from the original series. The only new character I like is Friendly and that's mostly due to his interactions with Nicomo. Most of the other characters range from bland to uninteresting and even annoying. I want to skip any chapter from Morveer's point of view and Monza is just a bitch. There just isn't any characters of Glokta's or Logan's level of quality. Though I got to admit I really really love Nicomo in this book, his character is so much better then it was in The First Law and he was really enjoyable in that trilogy as well. I guess Shenkt was a main new character as well but we see so little of him it's hard to really say if I liked him or not, I guess I just really don't have any opinion on him yet. I hope we see more of him in upcoming books. Clinton1011 fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Sep 13, 2011 |
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Sep 13, 2011 17:24
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Man, I loved Morveer and the fact that he actually got to become Styria's version of the Bogey Man was the best thing.
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Sep 14, 2011 01:58
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I kind of felt bad for Mauthis in BCS. Yeah, he was in the room when everything went down, but he didn't plan anything or involved in anyway then just being the money man.
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Sep 15, 2011 00:37
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KillRoy posted:I kind of felt bad for Mauthis in BCS. Yeah, he was in the room when everything went down, but he didn't plan anything or involved in anyway then just being the money man. Yeah, me too. But it did make for a great read. "Uh, hey, Morveer, why the gently caress are all of the clerks dying?!" "Well, I couldn't be sure which ledger he'd use this morning, so I poisoned all of them."
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Sep 15, 2011 02:35
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Yadoppsi posted:Yeah, Stranger-Come-Knocking and his band are wild men from east of the Crimea river. Holy poo poo...Crimea River. That's it, humour is officially over. The best pun has been found.
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Sep 15, 2011 12:58
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thatbastardken posted:Holy poo poo...Crimea River. That's it, humour is officially over. The best pun has been found. Could someone explain the pun to the idiot. <~~~~ The idiot. Edit: wow just wow, how can I not see that when reading the name. There has to be something wrong with my brain. Clinton1011 fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Sep 15, 2011 |
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Sep 15, 2011 16:45
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Clinton1011 posted:Could someone explain the pun to the idiot. Cry me a river. This is some Low-key Lyesmith level poo poo
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Sep 15, 2011 16:49
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Just finished Best Served Cold, thought it was fantastic and far better overall than The First Law. I can see how it would rub some readers the wrong way though, there isn't really a "good" character to get behind most of the time. Going to start on The Heroes this weekend, any word on what hes working on now?
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Sep 16, 2011 14:00
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The Gunslinger posted:any word on what hes working on now? Something which may well appeal to someone with your user name, set in the same world but moving to the south this time. The current working title is ' (A) Red Country', possibly without the A. He's aiming for a fantasy story heavily influenced by westerns which should be interesting. A couple of Joe's blog entries for you on the new book: Can you tell what it is yet? A Red Country Jekub fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Sep 16, 2011 |
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Sep 16, 2011 15:53
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The Gunslinger posted:I can see how it would rub some readers the wrong way though I did go on a bit of a rant there but I got to say over all I still really like the book. It just wasn't as good on a re-read as The First law trilogy was. It might be my least favorite book he has written but its still better then most of my favorite books in the Fantasy genre and that just shows how great Abercrombie is as a writer.
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Sep 16, 2011 17:15
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It's surprising coming from someone who has had some of the best titles in fantasy, but (A) Red Country is (A) Terrible Title.
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Sep 16, 2011 23:37
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reflir posted:Cry me a river. I don't think I've ever felt stupider reading a book then I did when I found out Low Key was Loki.
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Sep 17, 2011 00:17
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wellwhoopdedooo posted:It's surprising coming from someone who has had some of the best titles in fantasy, but (A) Red Country is (A) Terrible Title. Not at all. Gets the point across pretty well. I do prefer it without the 'A' though.
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Sep 17, 2011 14:10
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onefish posted:Not at all. Gets the point across pretty well. I do prefer it without the 'A' though. Oh, it "works", mechanically. It just feels weird. They're both kind of generic words, and "country" ... I don't know. It just doesn't flow as well or have the same feel as The Blade Itself or Before They Are Hanged. I get that he was playing Red Dead Redemption, and it's a western, but I really don't like the flow of it. Maybe it's different with a UK accent.
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Sep 17, 2011 23:33
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KillRoy posted:I don't think I've ever felt stupider reading a book then I did when I found out Low Key was Loki. You ain't alone. I had to close the book and double face palm.
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Sep 18, 2011 02:20
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I think the title Red Country is pretty cool. I think he should go with All the Pretty Coscas though.
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Sep 19, 2011 08:46
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Please, no more Cosca. He had a fantastic story in The First Law trilogy and was, by far, my favorite character of that series despite his relatively short role. I felt his character was ultimately harmed in Best Served Cold. I loved the poo poo out of Cosca, but I really don't want to see him again. Joe does a great job with character progression and he (usually) ends them in the best possible places. The Wire spoiler. Really, don't mouse over this. Or, uhh, quote this post if you haven't watched The Wire since you'll end up seeing the spoiler text: Like Omar buying cigarettes at a corner store, then getting shot in the back of the head by an eight year old. That was the best and only way Omar could have gone. A glorious shootout would not have been a fulfilling ending for him. Please stop trying to bring back characters. 
Bummey fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Sep 19, 2011 |
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Sep 19, 2011 23:07
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Yea I loved the way he ended Logan's arc, while I would like to see more of the character he really shouldn't be brought back due to how well his story ended. I do hope we see more Glokta though, I loving love that character and can't wait for another book with him in it.
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Sep 19, 2011 23:33
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Bummey posted:Please, no more Cosca. He had a fantastic story in The First Law trilogy and was, by far, my favorite character of that series despite his relatively short role. I felt his character was ultimately harmed in Best Served Cold. I loved the poo poo out of Cosca, but I really don't want to see him again. Joe does a great job with character progression and he (usually) ends them in the best possible places. Im the opposite. I thought he had little depth in the First Law and loved him in Best Served Cold. Different strokes I guess. I also really liked the Day/Moreveer relationship in that book, especially the way it ended.
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Sep 20, 2011 01:12
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Clinton1011 posted:Yea I loved the way he ended Logan's arc, while I would like to see more of the character he really shouldn't be brought back due to how well his story ended. Here's what I think, again. Louis CK is probably the best living comedian. One of his most important, and self imposed rules, is that at the end of the year he throws away his previous act. This makes him create an entirely new set, from the ground up, for the next year. It is what has allowed him to get better as a comedian because it keeps him from stagnating, always coming up with new material. He also says that he'll occasionally tell his best bit right from the start, forcing him to really bring out a performance for the rest of the show. I've seen him live half a dozen times and he never fails to impress. I like Abercrombie for the same reasons. He's (mostly) not afraid to ditch the very well loved characters from a previous series and create a (mostly) new cast for the next book. I don't want to see the same characters over and over. So many other authors have made these long, grinding series that end up going on for more than a dozen books, but never actually going anywhyere: Jordan, GRRM  , Goodkind, etc. It encourages complacency. Cameos are fine if done properly (Dogman in Heroes), or taking background characters and bringing them into the spotlight (Calder in Heroes), but relying on established characters over and over can't be good for a writer's developmental processes.BananaNutkins posted:Im the opposite. I thought he had little depth in the First Law and loved him in Best Served Cold. Different strokes I guess. I also really liked the Day/Moreveer relationship in that book, especially the way it ended. Morveer was great. For all his talk of being the greatest poisonmaster the world has ever known, he totally followed through. I was chalking him down as all bluster for most of the book, but that.. you know. That one part. Man. Morveer was a great character. Bummey fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Sep 20, 2011 |
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Sep 20, 2011 01:19
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I just finished the mistborn series in like 2 weeks, and I have a huge gaping hole in my soul now that it's over. Is Ambercrombie a good place to go from here?
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Sep 20, 2011 02:36
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Bummey posted:Morveer was great. For all his talk of being the greatest poisonmaster the world has ever known, he totally followed through. I was chalking him down as all bluster for most of the book, but that.. you know. That one part. Man. Morveer was a great character. For all my hate of the character I have to admit his arc is really well done. He is so well written you just have to hate him since he is so unlikable.
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Sep 20, 2011 02:39
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Umph posted:I just finished the mistborn series in like 2 weeks, and I have a huge gaping hole in my soul now that it's over. Is Ambercrombie a good place to go from here? Abercrombie is very different from Sanderson. Sanderson writes amazing settings and one-dimensional characters, Abercrombie writes amazing characters in a pretty generic setting. For what it's worth though, I read and loved both.
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Sep 20, 2011 04:45
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My biggest problem with Cosca was that I could tell that the author really really loved him, which basically gave him giant impenetrable plot armor. At no point in Best Served Cold was I at all expecting him to die and even at the end when he fakes drinking poison or whatever I was basically just waiting for him to pop up and give an excuse to keep living. It took a lot of the tension out of scenes for me.
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Sep 20, 2011 07:58
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Count me amongst the few that thought Cosca really died the first time.
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Sep 20, 2011 08:44
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Me too! I was heartbroken. Fell for it hook, line and sinker. And what Bummey says about characters is spot on.
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Sep 20, 2011 10:02
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I actually really like Abercrombie's style with characters. He leaves you wanting more. I know I spent half my time reading the Heroes waiting for Logen to appear, and the other half trying to find clues to whether or not he is or if he was still alive. After his new book, he will have fleshed out almost all of his work (The Union,The North,Syria,Dagoska, Old Empire, and now Ghurkel), hopefully his book after that wraps up the whole overarching plot. I also hope Bayaz gets raped with a fork. Knowing Abercrombie, he will leave us with a bunch of character cliffhangers and laugh his way to the bank.
KillRoy fucked around with this message at 11:30 on Sep 20, 2011 |
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Sep 20, 2011 11:27
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I would really like to see a magician or wizard type character. I was hoping he was going to turn Malicous Quai (or however you spell that) into someone really cool, but well, he turned out to be the dog's dinner.
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Sep 21, 2011 05:36
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Whenever I find a new author I like I normally send a quick piece of fan mail just because my job is probably 10x easier than being an author but it still blows at times so I figure they could use the encouragement. I've never gotten anything but form mail back which is fine, I don't really expect anything. Joe actually sent me a personal response with that patented Abercrombie cynicism which I thought was pretty cool. Anyway I just finished The Heroes, it was fantastic and even better than BSC/TFL in many ways. The way he writes the North Men is a bit generic at times and I do tire a bit of Bayaz just showing up and pushing everyone around in all of the books but the character/plot arcs were pretty much perfection.
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Sep 21, 2011 15:17
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Sloop posted:Abercrombie is very different from Sanderson. Sanderson writes amazing settings and one-dimensional characters, Abercrombie writes amazing characters in a pretty generic setting. For what it's worth though, I read and loved both. The Sanderson stuff also tends to get a bit on the Dragonball Z-ish side of things. At least that's how the Mistborn trilogy struck me, especially in the latter half.
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Sep 21, 2011 16:25
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The Rat posted:The Sanderson stuff also tends to get a bit on the Dragonball Z-ish side of things. At least that's how the Mistborn trilogy struck me, especially in the latter half. I've only read one Sanderson book (Stormlight Archive first book) but it was definitely on the DBZ side of things. I won't call Abercrombie realistic but his stuff is generally a bit more grounded.
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Sep 21, 2011 16:36
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I've never once read a scene by Sanderson that consisted only of somebody's eyes vibrating, bookended by commercials.
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Sep 21, 2011 23:57
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The Gunslinger posted:Whenever I find a new author I like I normally send a quick piece of fan mail just because my job is probably 10x easier than being an author but it still blows at times so I figure they could use the encouragement. I've never gotten anything but form mail back which is fine, I don't really expect anything. Joe actually sent me a personal response with that patented Abercrombie cynicism which I thought was pretty cool. I emailed Chris Evans (The Iron Elves trilogy) and he sent me three signed bookplates. Completely unrelated to Joe Abercrombie...
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Sep 22, 2011 02:12
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Ornamented Death posted:I emailed Chris Evans (The Iron Elves trilogy) and he sent me three signed bookplates. This post reminded me to check when his next book comes out, looks like it comes out next month.
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Sep 22, 2011 02:34
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Clinton1011 posted:This post reminded me to check when his next book comes out, looks like it comes out next month. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Even though the cover is loving horrendous.
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Sep 22, 2011 02:37
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Trilogy and Best Served Cold spoilers Logen displayed an ability in "The Blade Itself" that doesn't seem to have been discussed much in this thread. Early on, while traveling with Malacus Quai, Logen kneels down over the remains of a fire, sucks up a fire spirit and keeps it under his tongue. Logen later spits the fire spirit at a bandit and it pounces on the bandit and burns him to death. It kind of seems out of place with the rest of the books, but it happened. This ability is never mentioned again and for the remainder of the trilogy Logen is treated as if he can only speak to the spirits. But he actually does have at least some ability to make certain spirits do his bidding. Bedesh had the "skill of speaking with spirits and of making them do his bidding". Bedesh's fate hasn't been explained yet, but we don't have any reason to believe that his gift died with him. Also, Logen comes from "over the mountains", his people were seemingly an somewhat isolated group and we don't know if they were just generic Northmen. It seems to me that there are a lot of hints that Logan is more than just a regular old berserker, which kind of makes me think it more likely that we'll see him again. Finally, it is striking that immediately after Logan falls off a cliff at the end of the trilogy, Best Served Cold starts up with Monza falling off a cliff and surviving, despite the lack of a river to break her fall. 
Scrubber fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Sep 22, 2011 |
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Sep 22, 2011 03:50
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Scrubber posted:Trilogy and Best Served Cold spoilers I'm going to try and find the line about Bedesh but I think Gustrod killed him during their war. (not 100% sure on the spelling of Gustrod)
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Sep 22, 2011 15:04
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