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Just got the first book and I'm really loving it so far. I'm about 300 pages in, and he writes great dialogue and characters. I'm a sucker for deep, layered worldbuilding, and that's my only gripe with this series so far. The world is barely described in a lot of cases, so it feels like a bunch of disconnected personalities floating around in a world I can't really imagine other than fairly loose descriptions like "Argiont: castle." Does this get a bit better as the series goes on? Other than that, loving it. I don't have easy access to the last two books in the series, so I'm trying to stretch this one, but goddamn if I don't want to rip through it in one night.
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May 11, 2010 18:13
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Bummey posted:Nope. Nah, not that descriptive. Anyway, good worldbuilding isn't about describing every single mundane object in the environment to the point where you want to blow your brains out.
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May 11, 2010 22:20
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nutnmunch posted:In the second book the locations the characters visit are described in much more detail. Same deal with the third. The focus in these books is without a doubt on the characters more than anything else, though. I love the damned characters so far. Logen describing crapping on a medieval toilet was hilarious, "the wind cooling your fruits."
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May 11, 2010 23:58
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Oh man...Almost done with book 1, and though I've really liked the whole thing, he really picks up the pace in the last 150 pages, basically from when they go into the House of the Maker. So loving good...I don't want to finish it because I can't get the next one till this weekend. 
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May 17, 2010 18:11
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Mr.48 posted:If you're more than ~50 pages from the end the best is yet to come Just finished it, pretty great. Need to get over to the used bookstore; Hopefully they have the last two in the trilogy.
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May 18, 2010 20:07
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Hah, I just got the thread title. Nice. 
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May 19, 2010 00:50
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I'm about 150 pages into book 2, and so far I'm liking it more than book 1. It's much faster paced, and gets you into the characters at a nice clip. I loved book 1, but felt like it meandered around a bit early before finding focus in the second half.
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Jun 5, 2010 20:35
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Joshtafari posted:Abercrombie will have a short story in the anthology 'Swords and Dark Magic' coming out in a couple of weeks for those in need of a fix before 'Heroes' comes out, along with some other unknowns like Michael Moorcock and Glen Cook. Erikson, Lynch, and Ambercrombie? Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! 
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Jun 8, 2010 23:08
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Welp, just finished the trilogy and moving onto BSC, but goddamn, wanted to vent a little: The ending of that book is basically the DEFINITION of depressing. I don't think a single loving character made it through who wasn't in a horrible position. I can't think of anyone happy at the end. I loved it, and ripped through it even though I wanted it to last, but goddamn...I can't tell how I feel after reading the last pages. A combination of "drat, this series is great" and "I want to kill myself." He definitely ratcheted up the GRRM "loving over all my characters" quotient in this one, although in my opinion he did it in a much more natural way. Everything that happened made sense, despite being horrible and sad but also kind of awesome. One thing I admire the poo poo out of him for is that, on a level that only the Malazan books surpass, he layers poo poo in books that comes out later. So many authors don't do the stuff that works from book to book. GRRM, for example, writes great plots, but they're all fairly self contained in each book aside from ongoing storylines. I'm talking about, for example, Pike, who turns out to be Rews who we meet in book one and pick up randomly in book two. Or Valint and Balk turning out to be Bayaz, and the hints he layers in the earlier books that some of you probably got. Great stuff. But drat...Depressing. West about to die Jezel trapped by Bayaz Bayaz turning out to be possible the biggest badguy in the series Princess Lesbo having to get down with Jezel because her lover is hostage Glotka being basically a puppet and miserable as always Ardee cleaning up poo poo every morning The Northmen unhappy with everything Ninefingers possibly dead, who the hell is ruling the north now Ferro crazy and who knows what's going to happen to her At least Longfoot made it out ok  What did I miss? lol...The great thing about the books, though, is that even the bad guys have realistic reasons why they do things that make you realize they aren't even that bad in some cases. If half of what they say about Bayaz is true, then Mammun probably had pretty good reasons to want to kill him and to break the First Law. Black Dow betraying Ninefingers at the end? As much as I loved Logen, there was a part of me that understood...I mean, the part where he killed Thunderhead kicked my rear end, and even though we love Logen's character, you can understand where Dow's coming from. The part where he says basically "I may be poo poo, but if I keep you from the throne I've done one good thing in my life" was loving great, and really showed you how multifacted and awesome these characters are. They aren't just black and white, good and bad. The great evil turned out to be a lot more ambiguous then we though, and the benign old Gandalf figure turned out to be a loving rear end in a top hat. I know fantasy has been moving in this direction for awhile now, but I think this is one of the best examples of the non black/white type of characterization the genre has seen, characters who feel way more human and real. Great stuff, great books. But god...I'm going to go watch some comedy now or something to cheer back up.
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Jun 25, 2010 03:51
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Torsade de Pointes posted:GloktaI thought Glokta ended up pretty well all things considered. He has a hot wife to help him around. He basically runs the Union. Plus, he still gets to torture people and doesn't have to deal with as many stairs. He realizes that he is a puppet, but he's just fine with that. Isn't the end of the book him torturing the former Arch-Lector for shits and giggles? I should have clarified...When I meant that it was hard to read, I meant that some people had lovely positions, and some people were just lovely. I mean on some level I love Glotka, but goddamn he's a bad person.
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Jun 25, 2010 04:35
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Bummey posted:One of the things I like most about these books is how everyone gets hosed. No one ends better than they started. I hate happy endings, and it's pretty refreshing see this dismal poo poo play out. I hate unrealistically happy endings, but I wouldn't mind a character or two finding a little bit of peace.
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Jun 25, 2010 22:38
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Meningism posted:Finished Before They Are Hanged, why does that tsundere demon-lady call her companions "pinks" when she is colourblind? "Pink" is a common slur amongst the southerners when talking about northerners, as their skin is darker.
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Jun 28, 2010 22:06
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Yeah, what the hell should I read after Best Served Cold? I've read these, the Malazans, ASoIaF, Locke Lamora, and WoT lately. Need something new to dive into!
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Jun 30, 2010 00:53
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Mr.48 posted:The Prince of Nothing series by R. Scott Bakker. Nice, thanks for reminding me...I think this is now next on my list. The cover blurb by Erikson certainly helps. ;p
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Jun 30, 2010 08:55
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Oh man...BSC is crazy so far. I have to admit, I think I like it better than the trilogy. But Cosca. For that matter, Shiver's EYE.Can you guess what part I just read?
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Jul 4, 2010 07:35
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TShields posted:The part with Shiver's eye was just loving painful to read... Its rare that I actually cringe at words written on a page, but this was really rough. (Cringe at the thought of the action, not at poor writing.) Completely agree...During that part my brain was somewhere in the "No...He wouldn't...It's gotta be fake...Aaaauuughghghhh...." zone.
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Jul 5, 2010 09:15
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bengraven posted:I started reading Blade Itself the other day and after a few chapters it's not getting me. Yeah, his first novel really felt like a first novel, to me. But I'm on Best Served Cold, and I can tell you, they get better and better to the point where this is one of my favorite fantasy novels, I think.
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Jul 6, 2010 03:07
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bengraven posted:I put the series to the side for a bit, but I do like one thing: Just wait till you get to Best Served Cold. There's a scene with a main character that will make you squirm.
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Jul 8, 2010 02:06
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John Charity Spring posted:The first image of the rough UK cover for The Heroes has been released. Still scheduled for release on the 11th of January. The versions I've purchased at Barnes and Noble are all the dope UK covers. Also, they've stopped selling the lovely versions of the US Malazan books, and are selling the insanely awesome UK ones. Same with Prince of Nothing. I'm thinking that they're finally starting to get a clue.
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Jul 17, 2010 19:53
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Kellanved posted:Went through the Trilogy and BSC again these last few weeks and I'm ready for more books with Logan , Glockta and Bayaz! Apparently it's going to have way more returning characters than BSC did. Black Dow, Shivers, Dogman, Kroy, more that I'm not thinking of...Plenty from the first trilogy. He basically said that the entire book takes place over four days in the north, one dicisive, ongoing battle that has tons of union and northmen.
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Jul 17, 2010 23:27
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Ornamented Death posted:If he shows up at all, I'm betting it's nothing more than a cameo at the very end, just enough to let us know that Logen is still alive. Yeah, I got the imression from his last few lines of internal dialogue and such that he was pretty much saying "gently caress you" to the north and everything else. If anything, I wouldn't be surprised if he went to find Ferro to help her gently caress poo poo up...the crap that happened after they parted seemed to harden him some.
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Jul 18, 2010 07:43
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Mr.48 posted:Oh yeah, he was the really uptight infantry general right? Poulder or something was the other cavalry commander. Yeah... The two competed with each other and hated the poo poo out of each other until one of them died, which I thought was a nice touch.
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Jul 18, 2010 14:26
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sarsbar posted:I finished the trilogy, and I'm almost done with BSC. Last Argument of Kings ruined my week; never has so much wrist-slitting despair and frustration been seen outside a history book. Despising that first character is actually a pretty huge spoiler, when you think about it, for people just starting the series. But yeah...The ending is pretty rough. I like his stuff, but if his NEXT four books are nothing but awesome but also holy poo poo I want to kill myself, I'm not sure how much I can stick with. ;p
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Jul 25, 2010 08:41
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I also think you're forgetting Monza's part in it...She's really good at manipulating and reading people, an excellent leader. She knew exactly how to plant seeds to make her start doubting Morveer.
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Aug 16, 2010 02:54
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Kneel Before Zog posted:I'm 3/5 of the way through the final book in The Blade Itself trilogy. I wanted to know if it's ever addressed exactly why Bayaz wanted NineFingers spared by Bethod? Is it solely because he can talk to spirits? Yes. He thought he needed someone who could talk to spirits to get The Seed.
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Aug 19, 2010 12:16
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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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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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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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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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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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eyebrow posted:So, just to clarify is Shenkt in any of the first trilogy at all? I figure that's probably not his real name, especially given the interlude with Vitari, but I wasn't sure. I want more backstory, he's badass. Nope, it doesn't seem so.
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Sep 16, 2010 08:25
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Skellen posted:If it turns out to be number two, then Abercrombie can go gently caress himself. I seriously doubt he would have ended that storyline so ambiguously if it was the last we were going to see of that character. Leaving things in doubt isn't really something he does much, if at all.
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Sep 24, 2010 19:13
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Hating you right now.
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Sep 26, 2010 19:18
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Axeface posted:Burned through First Law in about four days, just starting up with BSC now. About the short story: I don't have any interest in buying the anthology it comes packaged along with, so is there any other way to get my hands on it? I don't have a Kindle or iPad or anything, for what difference that makes. I'm happy to pay, I just don't often find myself a fan of fantasy and would rather not slog through (and put dollar down for) a whole collection of it for one story I'm interested in. Read this if you want to know whether that spoiler is true or not: It's false.
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Oct 11, 2010 18:35
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DangerDummy! posted:I don't mind that, though I don't think it's great or anything. I'm talking more about phrases he reuses a lot, like horses eyes rolling madly when they're injured, such and such a person being a black outline against the blue sky. There're a couple more I can't think of the top of my head. It's such a stupid thing to complain about, considering how much I'm enjoying him so far. More of an observation, I guess. Meh, it's not stupid. Writing is a marriage of amazing ideas and style, so if one of those falters it's noticeable. You can read an author who has an amazing loving world built, but is a lovely writer, or vice versa. I've alawys thought Abercrombie strikes a good middle ground. His world isn't nearly as developed/though out as it could be, but he writes great loving characters.
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Oct 14, 2010 12:20
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That's not a bad map at all, but yeah...I don't think it's very accurate.
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Oct 17, 2010 11:23
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sarsbar posted:That is one very tiny planet they have there. I assume he'll expand it beyond all that if he keeps writing in the same universe, like Feist did from Riftwar to Serpentwar.
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Oct 18, 2010 00:46
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Hollis posted:I had these books recommended to me at a bookstore , I read the first one and was just completely blown away and devoured the next books fairly quickly. I did not realize these were Ambercrombies first series. I assume you've read Martin's Song of Ice and Fire? Probably a stupid question, but they're pretty close in terms of themes and how loving dark they are.
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Nov 15, 2010 05:35
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There's only one character we need to know more about, immediately. I want Shenkt, Shenkt, and more Shenkt.
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Nov 18, 2010 07:44
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