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NovemberMike posted:Yeah, that's part of what I'm talking about. The two common perspectives in fantasy have good guys who made a decision to be good and bad guys who made a decision to be bad (it's just that in one of the perspectives both sides are bad guys). The Malazan series tends more towards people doing what they think they have to do. Beak. 
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Sep 30, 2011 17:51
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A trilogy about Kellanved would be so much more interesting than one about Anomander.
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Sep 30, 2011 20:34
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Habibi posted:Beak. Beak's a good example because he's an inversion of the standard mental retard in fantasy. IIRC the standard is to have the "slow" guy get a little bit of power and then turn into a tyrant or else they have a minor victory that wouldn't be special for a non-retarded character. Beak could have been replaced by Quick Ben or Tayschrenn without changing the basics of what happened, just how people reacted to him.
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Sep 30, 2011 20:40
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NovemberMike posted:Beak's a good example because he's an inversion of the standard mental retard in fantasy. IIRC the standard is to have the "slow" guy get a little bit of power and then turn into a tyrant or else they have a minor victory that wouldn't be special for a non-retarded character. Beak could have been replaced by Quick Ben or Tayschrenn without changing the basics of what happened, just how people reacted to him. Not entirely true - I was using Beak as an example of the guy who gets swept up in events beyond his control and just tries to stick it out best he can. He's a bit of an extreme example, what with being not right in the head. Someone like QB or Tayschrenn I can't really see winding up in a similar situation. They don't get swept up by poo poo. They sweep poo poo up.
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Sep 30, 2011 20:53
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Habibi posted:Beak. He did what he had to for his friends. He was happiest he'd ever been at the end. I'll never forget that one loving line in the book. He's telling the marines/adjuct a story about his childhood and it ends with something like: Why is everyone crying?
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Sep 30, 2011 20:54
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LtSmash posted:Kallor That "it was ever thus" line was maybe my favorite one-liner in the whole book.
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Sep 30, 2011 20:58
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I just finished the last book and would like to know why so many things were left unresolved. And also, what's wrong with me that I want to read through it a second time?
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Sep 30, 2011 21:34
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uh zip zoom posted:I just finished the last book and would like to know why so many things were left unresolved. And also, what's wrong with me that I want to read through it a second time? A) Two perspectives. Either Erikson is a dick, or it more closely matches his concept of a history compiled by those experiencing the events (Hi there, Duiker - how are you?) where the historians just can't find all the answers to write them down. B) Nothing at all.
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Sep 30, 2011 21:37
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uh zip zoom posted:I just finished the last book and would like to know why so many things were left unresolved. And also, what's wrong with me that I want to read through it a second time? 1) Some will be resolved in spin-off novels / series', and some will probably remain unresolved because they are related to other bits of history in the Malazan world and no one will be able to get around to writing them. 2) No - it's better the second time around. Try it. Read the first 50 pages of GotM. I can almost guarantee that: - it will be 200% more interesting than the first time around; - it will make 200% more sense; and - you will notice things you completely missed the first time around.
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Sep 30, 2011 21:55
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uh zip zoom posted:I just finished the last book and would like to know why so many things were left unresolved. And also, what's wrong with me that I want to read through it a second time? I think the "main" series is just about this specific group of Malazans and their story, not so much about the universe that it's set in. Especially when "The Malazan Book Of The Fallen" is written by TCG. It fits in with the theme of the series, you are unceremoniously dropped in the middle of poo poo and then dropped out of it.
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Sep 30, 2011 22:19
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I'm reading House of Chains for the first time today (I finished Memories of Ice like a year and a half ago and couldn't get into House of Chains at all). For some reason, it just clicked, and now Karsas is the best loving character and I want every book to be about him running around beating the poo poo out of people and following the cool-rear end Tablor rituals.
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Sep 30, 2011 23:21
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Grammaton posted:A trilogy about Kellanved would be so much more interesting than one about Anomander. I'm not so sure about that. I'm not sure Erikson, or anyone, could pull off a whole book of Kellanved being both true to the character and readable. Second there is a poo poo ton we don't know about Anomander. Remember that the Tiste Andii of malazan verse have had 300,000 years of ennui to get that whiny and in flashbacks young Anomander came off as fairly different from present Anomander. quote:I just finished the last book and would like to know why so many things were left unresolved. And also, what's wrong with me that I want to read through it a second time?
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Oct 1, 2011 00:49
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quote:I'm not so sure about that. I'm not sure Erikson, or anyone, could pull off a whole book of Kellanved being both true to the character and readable. Second there is a poo poo ton we don't know about Anomander. Remember that the Tiste Andii of malazan verse have had 300,000 years of ennui to get that whiny and in flashbacks young Anomander came off as fairly different from present Anomander. Forget Anomander, Kellanved is interesting precisely because most of our understanding of his character is based on second and third hand hearsay. When you start deconstructing all of those events and explaining everything in detail I doubt the character would live up to what our imagination has filled in based on bits and pieces we get. I'd much rather most of that pre-godhood stuff stay as it is, I wasn't terribly impressed with most of the old guard characters in the series anyway. Sometimes the legend is more interesting than the man.
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Oct 1, 2011 16:26
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I'm personally not too excited about thr Anomander prequels, I find most of their history and past endeavors very boring. The Tiste Andii's ennui is an interesting concept but kind of boring to read excessively. However, if they involve Rake on adventures with Brood, Envy, and the QoD, it could be sweet.
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Oct 2, 2011 01:05
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Ennui is Malazan for "Stupid emo-ness that is dumb and annoying" right?
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Oct 2, 2011 03:35
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Spermy Smurf posted:Ennui is Malazan for "Stupid emo-ness that is dumb and annoying" right? "But Mother Dark!" "I am mother dark." "Mother Dark!" "Hello."
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Oct 2, 2011 05:14
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Hopefully the trilogy covers the period before Anomander's people started suffering from ennui-emo.
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Oct 2, 2011 05:50
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I thought Kellanved and Cotillion were Erikson and Esslemont's characters in the Malazan GURPS game and they're used as a kind of author insert. They'd be pretty boring to write about in detail.
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Oct 2, 2011 06:33
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Vanilla Mint Ice posted:Hopefully the trilogy covers the period before Anomander's people started suffering from ennui-emo. I hope it covers his visit to the island of the Seguleh. Just needs like a single chapter.
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Oct 3, 2011 05:52
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WeWereSchizo posted:I hope it covers his visit to the island of the Seguleh. Just needs like a single chapter. I kind of hope it glosses over that. We've already heard that story.
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Oct 3, 2011 10:57
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Maybe the Tiste Andii will be really arrogant instead of emo. That'd be cool.
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Oct 4, 2011 00:28
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02-6611-0142-1 posted:Maybe the Tiste Andii will be really arrogant instead of emo. That'd be cool. Anomander Rake yields to no one.
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Oct 4, 2011 02:12
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So I stayed up really late last night reading Gardens. I'm at the point in the story where Tattersail was just reborn in Kruppe's dreamworld(?). I am really loving what's going on. The T'lan Imass is pretty freakin' awesome. I love Hairlock's puppet, and really want to know what the deal is between him and Quick Ben. What is Quick Ben? I was laughing in the scene where Hairlock was setting the ravens on fire because my imagintation pictured this tiny wooden doll no more than a few inches long , jumping and skipping along throwing fireballs. He is completely insane. Edit:Also, what is the point of the gods getting involved in mortal affairs? Is it a dick-waving contest between them? It's also mentioned that gods can be killed. How is one made into a god? Are the gods that exist now the person that killed the previous god? Is sorry possessed or was she somehow trained by Contillion in what seemed like a very short amount of time before she joined the 2nd as a recruit? What exactly is her purpose? Again I bet all my questions, or at least some of them, will be answered in time and later books. pakman fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 03:05
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pakman posted:So I stayed up really late last night reading Gardens. I'm at the point in the story where Tattersail was just reborn in Kruppe's dreamworld(?). I am really loving what's going on. The T'lan Imass is pretty freakin' awesome. I love Hairlock's puppet, and really want to know what the deal is between him and Quick Ben. What is Quick Ben? I was laughing in the scene where Hairlock was setting the ravens on fire because my imagintation pictured this tiny wooden doll no more than a few inches long , jumping and skipping along throwing fireballs. He is completely insane. Some of Ben's origin story is in Memories of Ice.
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Oct 4, 2011 03:11
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02-6611-0142-1 posted:Maybe the Tiste Andii will be really arrogant instead of emo. That'd be cool. It's hard to be arrogant when you're too busy crying and wetting yourself with gayness. Also, I'd rather hear about the Seguleh by an actual Seguleh, if we heard about them from Rake it would be an outsiders perspective. I want to know more about their inner workings. Edit: You know what? I'm going to read every Karsa chapter, then read every Nimander chapter, and I'll post a trip report. We'll see which one makes me compare Erikson to Spermy Smurf fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 03:12
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Spermy Smurf posted:Also, I'd rather hear about the Seguleh by an actual Seguleh, if we heard about them from Rake it would be an outsiders perspective. I want to know more about their inner workings. We might hear about that in the Darujhistan novel (please ICE don' make it suck...) since we had the rogue Seguleh show up in TtH. Plus the Seguleh seem to be linked to the Tyrant. Isn't some of the prequel Tiste Andii stuff foreshadowed in TtH and tCG? The whole Hust sword/Hust legion bit and the internal factional warring? I always thought the emo Andii phase was after Mother Dark abandoned them. IncendiaC fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 03:18
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What ever happened to the Seguleh the Malazans found in the barrels? (I figure this is vague enough not to spoiler)
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Oct 4, 2011 03:34
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I'm pretty sure the Tiste Andii were elder jerks before humans even existed. Pretty much ever view we get of their time in Karkanas they are being assholes to someone. All those hostages, war with the other Tiste races, Anomander killing Tiam to prove a point to Mother Dark. The Shake who exist to die on the shore. The emo came afterwards once they realized they shat the bed and had to live hundreds of thousands of years after their god who literally exists cast them out for eternity.pakman posted:Edit:Also, what is the point of the gods getting involved in mortal affairs? Is it a dick-waving contest between them? It's also mentioned that gods can be killed. How is one made into a god? Are the gods that exist now the person that killed the previous god? Is sorry possessed or was she somehow trained by Contillion in what seemed like a very short amount of time before she joined the 2nd as a recruit? What exactly is her purpose? Again I bet all my questions, or at least some of them, will be answered in time and later books. Of course he's insane he's got the body of a puppet! Gods interfere with people for the same reason people interfere with each other. Sometimes they want something our of it, sometimes they want something from a god who is busy interfering with mortals, sometimes its to wave their 100,000 year old dick so people don't forget them (wouldn't you be way more into Thor if he showed up in Libya and threw around lightning bolts because people were ignoring him?), and sometimes gods are just huge jerks and gently caress around because they can. Also people pray to them so at least once in a while people want intervention by as god. Gods are pretty nebulous at that point, you will eventually learn more but basically when someone gets powerful enough and gets worshipers they become a god. Maybe they kill one of the other gods and take their place or maybe they just show off the power and get followers from where ever. Sorry: you will find out more but you are on the right track.
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Oct 4, 2011 04:11
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I tracked down Book 2 without too much trouble and right now I'm a little over halfway through. One thing I really like about this series is that even when there are three or four groups of characters all doing different things, they're all still a blast to follow and I'm never disappointed that now I'll have to read another chapter of so-and-so. There's always at least one character I really like reading about.
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Oct 4, 2011 18:32
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Victorkm posted:Some of Ben's origin story is in Memories of Ice. But as to his actual question, there isn't enough information in the entire series to actually answer that. :p
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Oct 4, 2011 18:54
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The Ninth Layer posted:I tracked down Book 2 without too much trouble and right now I'm a little over halfway through. One thing I really like about this series is that even when there are three or four groups of characters all doing different things, they're all still a blast to follow and I'm never disappointed that now I'll have to read another chapter of so-and-so. There's always at least one character I really like reading about. This will change when you meet Nimander and co.
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Oct 4, 2011 19:28
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Nimander is great and I wish people would stop putting him down 
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Oct 4, 2011 22:56
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I like Nimander, too. Haters gonna hate.
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Oct 5, 2011 23:29
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I finished Gardens last night. Pretty cool ending, although I'm still not sure what exactly happened. Rake turns into a dragon to fight Tayschrenn's demon lord, high mages start dying to vocan, but Crokus throws a brick at her her when he sees her fighting Baruk. Rallick, Vocan, and Jahgut disappear into the tree-house-thing that was growing in Simtal's estate after Lorn planted the Finntal there? I'm guessing that we haven't seen the last of Hairlock. Also, at the very end, why does Crokus throw the coin into the lake? Does he not want to be used anymore nd is making Oponn choose another person?
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Oct 6, 2011 13:03
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pakman posted:I finished Gardens last night. Pretty cool ending, although I'm still not sure what exactly happened. Rake turns into a dragon to fight Tayschrenn's demon lord, high mages start dying to vocan, but Crokus throws a brick at her her when he sees her fighting Baruk. Rallick, Vocan, and Jahgut disappear into the tree-house-thing that was growing in Simtal's estate after Lorn planted the Finntal there? I'm guessing that we haven't seen the last of Hairlock. Also, at the very end, why does Crokus throw the coin into the lake? Does he not want to be used anymore nd is making Oponn choose another person?
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Oct 6, 2011 17:10
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Finally finished the last book. Loved it, but it left me wanting more. And not totally in a good way. I need some much, much lighter reading for awhile. Maybe some good, not too-long, sci-fi/fantasy/horror/adventure/educational/whatever. Any recommendations?
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Oct 10, 2011 01:24
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33rd Degree Idiot posted:Finally finished the last book. Loved it, but it left me wanting more. And not totally in a good way. The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach.
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Oct 10, 2011 05:28
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Am I the only one that had a horrible time getting through the first book? (Yes I realize my forum name gives the ending of this post away) I put it down probably 1/3 of the way through (After reading it the second time, should have gone past the halfway point, like all his novels). Took me over a year to pick it up again. Of course, after I finished it, I literally put it down, got my wallet and keys, and drove to the nearest bookstore and bought all the others that were out (He was only up to Memories of Ice at that time if I recall correctly), and proceeded to read those to the exclusion of all else. I just love the way that he's always hitting you with a surprise left or right. Some of the plot twists you never see coming. That, combined with his general detached approach to characters in that he has no problem killing them off just as you're beginning to become attached to them.(Whiskeyjack anyone?) Add those with his fairly different take on magic, which I have always loved. I've never outgrown the idea that magic is cool, and I like his take on it. Also, Nimander is pretty cool, and gets to be pretty badass. Basically I just wanted to come in here and rant about how much I love this series.
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Oct 13, 2011 01:16
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So I'm about 1/3 of the way through Deadhouse Gates. I really dislike Felisin. I'm a little confused as to what's going on, but I just got to the part where the headless men are rowing the ship in the warren.  
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Oct 13, 2011 03:29
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Does somebody have a little brother they can force to read the series from start to finish sitting in front of a webcam, then post a timelapse video of their reactions?
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Oct 13, 2011 03:54
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