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Strom Cuzewon posted:Although weirdly, Crokus wasnt in their gaming sessions, and he's pretty central to the story.
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Mar 15, 2019 12:05
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Also he's there, like Ganoes, for everyone to clumsily explain everything to
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Mar 15, 2019 12:21
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Ganoes as the "main audience pov character" just sort of disappearing for most of 8/10 books owns
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Mar 15, 2019 12:45
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He's been unconscious for most of book 1 so far.
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Mar 15, 2019 13:07
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:So I guess Anamander Rake is also some kind of divine or at least semi-divine figure. It makes Tayschren's victory at Pale more impressive. I get the feeling that the line between gods and wizards in this setting is a matter of degree rather then kind. Not by his choice. Also Tayschren is pretty much on a god level in terms of power and Nightchill is an Elder God. It is also later remarked by Rake that he didn't unveil his full power since he wanted to avoid the consequences of that This series is all about ancient horrors getting thrashed by new powers.
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Mar 15, 2019 14:10
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Apparently (book 8/9 massive spoiler) Rake's death was decided by a single dice roll? Makes you wonder what might have been.
Ben Nerevarine fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Mar 15, 2019 |
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Mar 15, 2019 14:37
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Ben Nerevarine posted:Apparently Rake's death was decided by a single dice roll? Makes you wonder what might have been. I'll be honest this made me cringe a little to read. I'm willing to accept most of the PnP stuff as a cool oral/collaborative storytelling basis for the novels but that is definitely a plot point that should have been a careful thematic choice. I dunno Also new reader do NOT read that spoiler
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Mar 15, 2019 14:40
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:I'll be honest this made me cringe a little to read. I'm willing to accept most of the PnP stuff as a cool oral/collaborative storytelling basis for the novels but that is definitely a plot point that should have been a careful thematic choice. I dunno Thankfully it felt plotted out and earned, but yeah, I'm dubious about PnP-as-storytelling insofar as plotting out a 10 book series goes quote:Also new reader do NOT read that spoiler I edited my posted to be clearer, definitely don't want a new reader stumbling on to that one.
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Mar 15, 2019 14:45
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Yeah, the spoilers on this page are all ones that made me go "oh poo poo!" when I read them, so definitely be mindful about tagging them properly and if you're a new reader, avoid spoilers like the plague. I actually quit following this thread whiel I was reading because I had something pretty substantial accidentally spoiled and I didn't want it to happen again.
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Mar 15, 2019 15:23
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:He's been unconscious for most of book 1 so far. I really like the (brief) relationship between Ganoes and Tattersail. No huge whirlwind romance, just two scared people with a sudden crush. Erikson is pretty bad with writing romances, but he and ICE are both really good at "horny".
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Mar 15, 2019 15:38
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Strom Cuzewon posted:I really like the (brief) relationship between Ganoes and Tattersail. No huge whirlwind romance, just two scared people with a sudden crush. Well, erikson do like his big ladies. As for spoilers, the main series have been out for like 2-3 years now. There are so many things happening in the series so it would be kinda hard to spoil them all or have a discussion that is not all spoilers.
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Mar 15, 2019 16:49
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Strom Cuzewon posted:I really like the (brief) relationship between Ganoes and Tattersail. No huge whirlwind romance, just two scared people with a sudden crush.
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Mar 15, 2019 16:55
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:I've been enjoying it a lot even though it does feel a bit like someone's DnD session or Let's Play report at times. The prose is very readable. This is a noticeable change as the series goes on. GotM it's pretty basic. DG is noticeably better. The rest of the series has some pretty good prose, even with his philosophizing marine grunts. His most recent book in the spinoff series Fall of Light I feel has gone to the point where it's not very readable and a bit navel gazy, though some folks seem to like it. Not saying that Malazan is the peaks of literature but I think that Erickson is is pretty good at it, to the point where ICE is a noticeable drop off.
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Mar 16, 2019 00:22
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ICE feels like what I imagine fan fiction for Malazan would be like. It's good fan fiction, but it's not on the same level as Erikson.
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Mar 16, 2019 01:12
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I'd forgotten Ganoes existed before reading his name on this page. Not a bad character. Just kinda there. His reappearance in I think Bonehunters is a nice surprise.
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Mar 16, 2019 08:22
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Aranan posted:ICE feels like what I imagine fan fiction for Malazan would be like. It's good fan fiction, but it's not on the same level as Erikson.
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Mar 16, 2019 10:16
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dwarf74 posted:I really don't. Out by MoI they're talking like they are soulmates. Tbh I try to think about MoI as little as possible.
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Mar 16, 2019 20:09
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Strom Cuzewon posted:Tbh I try to think about MoI as little as possible. But otherwise MoI is one of the best in the series.
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Mar 16, 2019 20:56
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dwarf74 posted:Seriously though, Tattersail/Paran is puffed up as a timeless love for all ages. It's super clumsy. I think there's enough in MoI that we're not meant to take the romance entirely at face value - there's at least one scene of Ganoes kicking himself about how this is just a weird infatuation with a woman he barely knows. Also I'm kind of an outlier among the fans, in that I loving hate MoI. It has all the worst excesses of the series (vague portentions, ill-defined stakes, half the plot is offscreen) and frankly HoC does everything MoI does but better. And with Karsa (but I repeat myself)
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Mar 16, 2019 23:33
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In MoI the siege at Capustan  and the undead velociraptors reveal are both really, really good. Don't Ganoes and Silverfox talk like one or two times and have a major falling out before she disappears for the rest of the series, very early in the book? I think the starcrossed romance is probably one of those GotM things that got redacted later
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Mar 17, 2019 01:44
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https://steven-erikson.org/life-on-thin-ice-updating-my-progress-on-the-witness-trilogy/ Erikson is such a ballsy writer and I love him for it. Might not even see Karsa till the third book.
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Mar 17, 2019 06:41
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"as you say" is equivalent to a mississippian saying "well bless your heart"
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Mar 17, 2019 07:46
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I'm happy to read he considers Crack'd Pot Trail his best necromancer novella; it's probably my favorite piece of Malazan period.
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Mar 17, 2019 10:56
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My hype for this trilogy just doubled.
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Mar 17, 2019 15:09
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dwarf74 posted:Seriously though, Tattersail/Paran is puffed up as a timeless love for all ages. It's super clumsy. i haven't reread gotm in a long, long time, but i went through MoI pretty recently, and the sense i got was, in addition to what some others have said, that several of the upper-rank Malazan characters deliberately promoted that idea, with Ganoes specifically, as a lever towards shifting Tattersail to the fore among Silverfox's personalities
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Mar 17, 2019 15:54
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Dust of Dreams spoilers: the K'Chain Che'Malle used genetic engineering to resurrect dinosaurs, who then turned on them and ate them all. It's loving Jurassic Park
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Mar 17, 2019 21:59
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Strom Cuzewon posted:Dust of Dreams spoilers: I think the implication is more that the Che'Malle experimented on themselves to make a superior, more intelligent form of Che'Malle and the Nah'Ruk was the resultm. It's really unclear though tbh.
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Mar 17, 2019 23:35
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DoDIIRC the Nah'ruk were either a primitive species or parallel evolution of the Che'Malle. They were already extinct when the KCCM resurrected the species via genetic engineering. The KCCM Matrons hoped the Nah'ruk could be integrated into their society (as slaves/workers) but their oils/minds weren't compatiable and wouldn't submit. The Nah'ruk absolutely experimented on/enhanced themselves though. That one Nah'ruk Karsa fought in TBH had literal nanomachines in its body.
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Mar 18, 2019 00:11
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IncendiaC posted:DoDIIRC the Nah'ruk were either a primitive species or parallel evolution of the Che'Malle. They were already extinct when the KCCM resurrected the species via genetic engineering. The KCCM Matrons hoped the Nah'ruk could be integrated into their society (as slaves/workers) but their oils/minds weren't compatiable and wouldn't submit. The K'Chain are one of my favourite parts of the whole series. The books constantly peel back layer after layer of their culture, from undead zombies, to crazy Literally Aliens, to the incredibly tragic, tattered remnants in Ameplas Rooted I was up til midnight finishing my re-read of DoD, and it's rocketed up in my estimation. When I first read it I really disliked it, but it's got some fantastic stuff in it. The first third is really baggy and padded though - all the fun shenanigans the Marines get up to completely grind the story to a halt, and the book spends a lot of time pointedly refusing to tell the reader the plot. I've never liked the parts where Erikson deliberately obfuscates things for no reason (*cough* Memories of Ice *cough*), and given how much of DoD is just moving pieces around for the climax it doubly pissed me off when it didn't actually shed much light on things. I've enjoyed it a lot more when I've not been grasping at the next plot twist and can just sit back and enjoy the writing and characters for what they all. It also helps that I'm no longer combing for clues to prove that The Crippled God is secretly Grallin, the God of the Tiste Liosan, trapped on the moon which was such a good theory, seriously. Because when DoD hits the mark, it's incredible. The vignettes of the marines on the rafts are fantastic, with gallows-humour slowly turning into actual despair, the whole Barghast plot is soul-crushing, especially Olar Ethil turning Toc against Tool, and then the loving Unbound intercepting Masan Gilani, closing off Tool's one avenue back to his humanity and the climax is  incarnate
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Mar 18, 2019 21:07
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dwarf74 posted:I really don't. Out by MoI they're talking like they are soulmates. Yeah he's hugely guilty of this - almost every single romance is an absurd love-at-first-sight, occasionally elevated to like actual fate-shaking proportions. Most egregious being Trull and Seren, Lostara and Corporal Rando; but there's no shortage
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Mar 19, 2019 00:25
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lostara and henar vygulf is a beautiful story, Hood take you
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Mar 19, 2019 01:13
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1994 Toyota Celica posted:lostara and henar vygulf is a beautiful story, Hood take you It also tracks with how widowers tend to react emotionally to their partner's death. Of the 'sudden pairings' in TMBotF that's one I would hesitate to criticize.
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Mar 19, 2019 01:20
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thumper57 posted:Yeah he's hugely guilty of this - almost every single romance is an absurd love-at-first-sight, occasionally elevated to like actual fate-shaking proportions. Most egregious being Trull and Seren, Lostara and Corporal Rando; but there's no shortage He's good at writing faux mythology, cool climaxes, grunts talking like philosophy majors. Not so good at : romance
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Mar 19, 2019 01:34
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1994 Toyota Celica posted:lostara and henar vygulf is a beautiful story, Hood take you If you're talking about their denouement (specifically Henar's memory of his father) then OK I'm with you I guess, but that could have just as easily been between him and say Mayfly or Nefarrias Bredd. But the leadup to this love story for the ages seemed to me to be (please fill me in on what I'm missing here): Dude looks at her legs and -gasp- she doesn't stop him - then lizards attack and she's like "oh no this true love cannot end so quickly, it's so powerful I will literally summon a god to save the day with the power of this love"
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Mar 19, 2019 02:59
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Besides, she and Pearl were a great couple.
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Mar 19, 2019 12:06
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Counterpoint: Urb and Hellian
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Mar 19, 2019 12:22
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Cardiac posted:Not by his choice. What, I don't remember this at all. Could someone explain please?
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Mar 19, 2019 12:50
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Man with Hat posted:What, I don't remember this at all. Could someone explain please? At the start of MoI Kallor curses Lady of Cold Nights to be torn apart by monstrous hands. Nightchill is torn apart by a demon. Later, Kallor talks to Silverfox in a way that makes the connection explicit
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Mar 19, 2019 12:59
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Strom Cuzewon posted:At the start of MoI Kallor curses Lady of Cold Nights to be torn apart by monstrous hands. Nightchill is torn apart by a demon. Later, Kallor talks to Silverfox in a way that makes the connection explicit anilEhilated posted:Besides, she and Pearl were a great couple. My favourite part of that is her complaining "gods, men never shut up" at the same time Samar Dev is complaining "gods, men never speak" 
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Mar 19, 2019 13:00
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Hand Row posted:Counterpoint: Urb and Hellian You mean Hellian and Skulldeath. 
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Mar 19, 2019 17:01
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