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Strom Cuzewon posted:Is Fall of Light worth it despite all that? I have a decent tolerance for monologuing, but that looks like it could get exhausting. Regarding your Bonehunters sendoff, I'll just add one thing - Whiskeyjack's storyline isn't over yet and there is a point to the whole thing; if nothing else, it serves to demonstrate the very plot-relevant phenomenon of gods loving themselves over by overplotting - something Hood in particular is rather prone to. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Dec 3, 2016 |
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Dec 3, 2016 18:35
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Further regarding WhiskeyJack, I think the reason for Hood's shenanigans is revealed in later books. If you can't wait, WJ's little sister was given to Hood's priests and consecrated in his name, WJ recovered her, Hood is petty as gently caress and does not like being cheated.
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Dec 4, 2016 00:13
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Strom Cuzewon posted:Is Fall of Light worth it despite all that? No, it really isn't. Its up there with Esslemonts efforts and the later books of the Wheel of Time in terms of being the sort of utterly pointless installment that just leaves you pissed off at the author for wasting your time.
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Dec 4, 2016 01:56
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bucketybuck posted:No, it really isn't. Its up there with Esslemonts efforts and the later books of the Wheel of Time in terms of being the sort of utterly pointless installment that just leaves you pissed off at the author for wasting your time. I hope this is like Toll the Hounds where opinions are vehemently divided because I ended up liking Toll the Hounds.
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Dec 4, 2016 04:46
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What the Christ did Olar Ethil do to Raskan 
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Dec 4, 2016 05:33
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snoremac posted:I hope this is like Toll the Hounds where opinions are vehemently divided because I ended up liking Toll the Hounds. Toll the Hounds was the poorest book of the main series, but even then it at least had a lot of memorable sequences and had plenty of direct relevance to the overarching plot. Fall of Light is what Toll the Hounds would be if it had finished at the two thirds point.
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Dec 4, 2016 14:24
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Ehhhhh I feel like I liked TtH for different reasons. I wouldn't place it close to last. I liked the Kruppesque narrative, basically, and even the Nimander stuff.
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Dec 4, 2016 16:53
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Lmao if you wouldn't try something because a vocal goon said bad things. I read on other forums people passing on shrimps because a vocal goon was aagainst them wtf. Also. S T O N E W I E L D E R is good.
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Dec 4, 2016 21:05
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oh FoL's already bought and ready to go, I just remember before I read TtH that it was met by some with a chilly reception because of its different style.
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Dec 4, 2016 21:15
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Fall of Light should have been at least half as long as it was and also included an actual climax instead of the wet fart that we got. And what kind of civil war is wrapped up in one battle?
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Dec 4, 2016 22:23
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Man I always crack at this: "Iskaral Pust rode like a madman. Unfortunately, the mule beneath him had decided that a plodding walk would suffice, making the two of them a most incongruous pair".
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Dec 4, 2016 22:48
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anilEhilated posted:I'd say it is worth it if only because all the setup promises the third book to pretty pretty loving grand, but it also continues in FoD's trend of turning everything you thought about Malazan on its head. Hood always seemed way more chill than that, so I'll look forward to him finally getting involved in shenanigans. Feather Witch states that (MT Spoilers) [spoilers] "Death sits upon the throne of ice" so he's blatantly a Jaghut. Or Hood's Domain is a tattered remnant of Omtose Phellack, which wouldn't really make any sense. [/spoiler] Why that's significant I haven't the foggiest. Unless that's why there's the Empty Hold in Letheras. It would mean Death is not a natural part of the world, and only exists in the Deck, not the Cedance, which predates the coming of the Tiste to Malazan-land. So the K'Chain Che'Malle didn't just create entropy, they created death as well. I'm gonna need to buy more string and corkboards.
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Dec 4, 2016 23:31
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Hood, for all that he is a fun guy and interesting character, has one thing always hanging over him. If he is hosed with, or if something is taken from him, he will do everything in his power to rectify the situation. That is his entire character arc and he sadly knows this and is just dealing with it.
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Dec 5, 2016 08:43
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FoD: Holy poo poo, the Draconus daughters murdering everyone comes out of nowhere. They are horrifying.
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Dec 5, 2016 16:20
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So the sequel to Eriksons Star Trek parody Is apparently out. Haven't gotten it yet since it was pretty expensive for a paperback.
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Dec 6, 2016 21:26
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Cardiac posted:So the sequel to Eriksons Star Trek parody Is apparently out. I was really excited to read Willful Child cause I love Star Trek and I love Erikson's writing but I loving hated it. Just repeating the same jokes that weren't funny the first time for 300 something pages. It was exceptionally disappointing. Cause his humor in the Book of the Fallen is pretty consistently good.
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Dec 7, 2016 03:25
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apophenium posted:I was really excited to read Willful Child cause I love Star Trek and I love Erikson's writing but I loving hated it. Just repeating the same jokes that weren't funny the first time for 300 something pages. It was exceptionally disappointing. Cause his humor in the Book of the Fallen is pretty consistently good. Still better than Scalzi.
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Dec 7, 2016 08:52
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I thought Willful Child was really funny, but I've also never watched Star Trek apart from a few of the movies, so make of that what you will. I'll definitely pick up the new one.
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Dec 7, 2016 16:21
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Gravity Cant Apple posted:I thought Willful Child was really funny, but I've also never watched Star Trek apart from a few of the movies, so make of that what you will. I'll definitely pick up the new one. Yep, the first Willful Child book is hilarious and awesome, and this is coming from somebody who's seen a lot of Star Trek Star Trek. Very clever book, very funny, and while it had some painfully overt criticism of consumer capitalism and contemporary America etc., it did so in Star Trek style and that's kinda par for the course. The Star Trek references were also very much on point. The sequel though (Wrath of Betty)...ick. Finished reading that one a few days ago. That book is a significant downgrade from the first installment. I chuckled a couple times as there are on the rare occasion some decent jokes, but on the whole it's just a groanworthy diatribe about how consumer capitalism will doom us all and global warming is totally a thing you guys. Expect Riker levels of smugness about these points, by the way. Almost all the overt Star Trek references are holdovers from the last book with a couple new name-checks to keep the basics of the book series intact. Otherwise, the adventures are now mostly just classic sci-fi movie parody planets, with one admittedly cute shout-out to an early TOS episode. I didn't hate it. I finished the thing, after all. But if you're expecting anything like the first Willful Child book, or even just something pretty good, I think you will be disappointed.
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Dec 9, 2016 18:12
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Finished FoD. For better and worse, Erikson exercises a lot of restraint in terms of structure, prose and dialogue. It's arguably the most accessible novel in the series, very tightly wound, with little of the Malazan series' indulgences and experimentation. I was glad there was very little plodding introspection; only Kadaspala was kind of boring in this regard. I did miss the humour and general uncanniness though. I couldn't reasonably imagine someone like Iskaral Pust or Greyfrog getting involved because it would clash with the realist depiction of the characters. The renegades are like the unpleasant, realistic inverse of the Malazan soldiers. Those scenes were hard to read but well written. I actually felt a bit of anger over the injustice and stupidity of their assaults. I was wondering: is Hunn Raal's assertion that the Deniers are rising up entirely a fabrication? I know he fabricates part of it himself by dressing soldiers in Denier clothes, and that the threat is vastly overblown and purely an excuse, but is true that they were a threat in any sense, or was it completely fiction? Also, when did the river god die? This was mentioned near the end but I didn't catch any earlier mention. Do you think there's something to be made of Errastas eventually copying Draconus and becoming consort to a queen? He loves to get nostalgic about the way things were so I could see him trying to emulate Draconus to meet his ambitions. I struggled to finish this, though not out of any dislike. After 11 books straight I'm burnt out. I think I'll read a few other things before reading FoL. snoremac fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Dec 13, 2016 |
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Dec 13, 2016 04:06
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I'm not sure which part of Reaper's Gale has hit me harder: Beak's death, Toc's death, or Kilava not being a gently caress-up
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Dec 15, 2016 15:03
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Strom Cuzewon posted:I'm not sure which part of Reaper's Gale has hit me harder: Beak's death, Toc's death, or Kilava not being a gently caress-up Probably the last one.
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Dec 15, 2016 15:27
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snoremac posted:Finished FoD. For better and worse, Erikson exercises a lot of restraint in terms of structure, prose and dialogue. It's arguably the most accessible novel in the series, very tightly wound, with little of the Malazan series' indulgences and experimentation. I was glad there was very little plodding introspection; only Kadaspala was kind of boring in this regard. I did miss the humour and general uncanniness though. I couldn't reasonably imagine someone like Iskaral Pust or Greyfrog getting involved because it would clash with the realist depiction of the characters. I'm pretty sure the denier uprising was entirely fake. They were pretty downtrodden and I don't remember a single instance of any of them fighting back until after their villages had been raped and murdered. The river god died before the events of the book due to being used up, poisoned with pollution and abandoned by the Tiste, moreso than being supplanted by Mother Dark. It was resurrected by T'riss when she stopped in, then promptly re-murdered by Draconus when he returned to Kurald Galain.
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Dec 15, 2016 18:01
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Limp is great and is my new favorite B character. I don't think he had more than one or two speaking lines in the whole series but he just keeps showing up and injuring himself. Heh, that's quality humor.
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Dec 16, 2016 02:00
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BigHead posted:Limp is great and is my new favorite B character. I don't think he had more than one or two speaking lines in the whole series but he just keeps showing up and injuring himself. Heh, that's quality humor. Best B character has to be Touchless and the weird arguments he keeps having with himself. I guess he must be possesed by Oponn, but they're both shoving him in different directions.
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Dec 16, 2016 12:16
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Early into Fall of Light. I appreciate that Erikson always wants to try new things but those two soldiers bantering in Shakespearean metaphors is very jarring and lame.
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Dec 17, 2016 01:05
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Strom Cuzewon posted:Best B character has to be Touchless and the weird arguments he keeps having with himself. I guess he must be possesed by Oponn, but they're both shoving him in different directions. Wait, isn't that two different characters or are you making a Helian joke?
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Dec 17, 2016 01:28
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Touchy Breathless is two different characters. Helian joke.
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Dec 17, 2016 02:02
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Oh, a joke. I get jokes.
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Dec 17, 2016 02:36
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Alcoholism is a serious problem.  e: spiders are a more serious problem.
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Dec 17, 2016 02:38
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I'm having a hard time with chapter 10 of deadhouse gates. Duiker surveying the battlefield has me feeling disjointed and confused and its feeling like a real slog. So far I felt Gardens of the Moon (despite hearing often that its the weakest of the series) having been far more compelling and intriguing. In Deadhouse gates I'm not sure if I just feel more lost because it's been so long since I started book one, or I actually do feel more lost than I did with book one. Heboric's plot line is pretty straight forward however, well , it was until they met up with Mappo and Icarium.
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Dec 18, 2016 02:00
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I started Fall of Light but gave up near the end. I just can't be made to care any more, and the things he's trying (e.g. "witty" rosencrantz and guildenstern asides) fall flat with an iron clunk. More than ever it feels like he has less of a story to tell and is instead more fascinated with how he is telling it. Pretty sure this marks the end of following it for me, and I've read everything, including the crappy ICE stuff.
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Dec 18, 2016 02:08
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Read something bad by Peter Hamilton (literally anything), and then try Erikson again. crappy ICE stuff: almost everyone in this thread said "DON'T READ ICE books"....you only have yourself to blame.
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Dec 18, 2016 04:00
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LolitaSama posted:I'm having a hard time with chapter 10 of deadhouse gates. Duiker surveying the battlefield has me feeling disjointed and confused and its feeling like a real slog. So far I felt Gardens of the Moon (despite hearing often that its the weakest of the series) having been far more compelling and intriguing. In Deadhouse gates I'm not sure if I just feel more lost because it's been so long since I started book one, or I actually do feel more lost than I did with book one. Heboric's plot line is pretty straight forward however, well , it was until they met up with Mappo and Icarium. I felt the same around that point. Duiker's plotline gets much better and has an excellent payoff. It's the emotional highpoint of the series for me. I gotta say though that feeling confused is a thing that will never go away throughout the series and you just have to forge on. New stuff brings satisfying clarity to old stuff. Sometimes it's admittedly just muddled and remains that way, at least for someone like me who's not going to chase up why X thing happened in book Y when it's no longer relevant.
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Dec 18, 2016 06:39
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Stonewielder was great and lmao at people claiming it was carp. I'm on OST and it started strong as well.
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Dec 18, 2016 08:07
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Found Esselmonts account.
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Dec 18, 2016 12:56
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Prazek and Dathenar would've been a lot better if it weren't for almost every other character in the book waxing philosophical on the futility and meaninglessness of existence just the same as they were. IMO Stoneweilder is Esselmont's high point. The running battle across the ocean and beachhead landing sequence was pretty  I didn't care for OST because it was yet another Darujistan conflagration and his Kruppe is terrible.
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Dec 19, 2016 17:57
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Who is Fisher kel Tath and can somebody please break his quill?
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Dec 19, 2016 18:07
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Read something bad by Peter Hamilton (literally anything), and then try Erikson again. Eh, no. What has been said here is that Esslemont is on par with your average fantasy writer and that several of the ICE books have been enjoyable but with some crapshoots like Assail. Esslemont just pales in comparison to Erikson as an author and if you think he is bad, I would say you haven't read many books at all.
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Dec 21, 2016 09:49
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Counterpoint: Erickson is in fact a mediocre writer qua writer, ICE is bad.
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