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I hope he's going to be able to keep cranking novels out, I checked out his blog a few weeks ago and it seemed like he was hinting at having a hard time getting back into a writing groove.
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Dec 21, 2011 00:03
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Trevefresh2 posted:Anyone know what the deal is with the prologue put at the very end of the heroes book in the extras section? Is that from his next book? If you mean the short story with Bremer dan Gorst, then it was included with several editions of The Heroes originally (I have it in my copy from Waterstones, but it was probably in other editions too). It's not from anything, it's just a little extra.
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Dec 21, 2011 00:40
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John Charity Spring posted:If you mean the short story with Bremer dan Gorst, then it was included with several editions of The Heroes originally (I have it in my copy from Waterstones, but it was probably in other editions too). It's not from anything, it's just a little extra. poo poo, mine didn't have that. (and I love me some Bremer)
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Dec 21, 2011 00:42
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Goddammit do I have to buy the Kindle version or something? I bought the UK hardcover because I liked the cover better and I miss out? You'd figure he'd give the perfidious Britons the short story.
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Dec 21, 2011 03:44
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Grand Prize Winner posted:Goddammit do I have to buy the Kindle version or something? I bought the UK hardcover because I liked the cover better and I miss out? You'd figure he'd give the perfidious Britons the short story. Mine was in the UK hardcover version from Waterstones. It's a little story that shows what happens to Bremer (and those around him) just before the beginning of The Heroes, detailing events that are only hinted at or briefly recounted at the start of the book.
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Dec 21, 2011 12:57
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John Charity Spring posted:Mine was in the UK hardcover version from Waterstones. It's a little story that shows what happens to Bremer (and those around him) just before the beginning of The Heroes, detailing events that are only hinted at or briefly recounted at the start of the book.  Is it posted online anywhere?
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Dec 21, 2011 17:21
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John Charity Spring posted:If you mean the short story with Bremer dan Gorst, then it was included with several editions of The Heroes originally (I have it in my copy from Waterstones, but it was probably in other editions too). It's not from anything, it's just a little extra. Nooo.. I just bought my copy maybe a month ago. The prologue placed at the end of the book is the story about some apostle... The cover looks like this: 
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Dec 21, 2011 17:59
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Well poo poo, I want to read both of these stories now. Does it have a title that I could look up?
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Dec 21, 2011 18:02
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Clinton1011 posted:Well poo poo, I want to read both of these stories now. Does it have a title that I could look up?
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Dec 21, 2011 18:05
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Above Our Own posted:Yeah, what are the names/headings of these little sections? I will have to go back and re-look at it when I get home. I skimmed over the one about the apostle though and did not recognize any names or places from previous first law trilogy universe books.
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Dec 21, 2011 18:43
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The one I got at the end of The Heroes (which was set before the beginning of the book, chronologically) is called Yesterday, Near A Village Called Barden.
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Dec 21, 2011 22:08
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Just started on Best Served Cold. I'm really looking forward to this one, the plot is just the sort of thing I love. And it's great to see that Shivers has a big role. I liked him instantly when he first showed up in Before They Are Hanged. I'm glad he still has such a large presence in other books as well. e: Also, just an aside, but literally every single time I see a headline about Syria now, by brain automatically reads it as Styria. Understandable since the only difference between them is a single letter, I guess. I can't be the only one. UncleMonkey fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Jan 6, 2012 |
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Jan 5, 2012 23:53
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UncleMonkey posted:e: Also, just an aside, but literally every single time I see a headline about Syria now, by brain automatically reads it as Styria. Understandable since the only difference between them is a single letter, I guess. I can't be the only one. I never had that problem until you mentioned it. Dick  . Have fun reading about Monza and her brother's past! When the incest is revealed and you get all shocked I'm gonna be laughing on you.
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Jan 6, 2012 00:26
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Going to force myself not to look at the spoiler text, but I'm sure when I get there I'll know and I'll be sure to let you know. 
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Jan 6, 2012 00:59
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Grand Prize Winner posted:I never had that problem until you mentioned it. Dick I'm waiting for him to get to "It should have been you."
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Jan 6, 2012 01:46
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Hughmoris posted:I'm waiting for him to get to [REDACTED] Best part of the book for me. Really powerful.
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Jan 6, 2012 01:51
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Hughmoris posted:I'm waiting for him to get to "It should have been you." It was like, "Do it to Julia!" level creepy, and sudden, and hateful, and ... good.
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Jan 6, 2012 02:11
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Ugh...how did I NOT get this on my first readthrough: “Be careful, Ferro. And listen to Bayaz. He is the first of my order, and few indeed are wise as he.”
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Jan 7, 2012 22:27
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DarkCrawler posted:Ugh...how did I NOT get this on my first readthrough: I'm confused, what about this did you not get?
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Jan 9, 2012 04:51
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Yeah same with me. Either you got a much deeper understanding of that quote than I did, or missed a whole lot of back story. Bayaz was always introduced as the "First of the (order of the) Magi". The dude speaking to Ferro in that quote is a Magi, so Bayaz is literally the 'First of his order'. Is there something deeper to the quote that I missed?
syphon fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Jan 9, 2012 |
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Jan 9, 2012 06:31
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Those are pretty much the exact words that Gandalf used to describe Saruman the Wise...maybe I am reading too much to it but it seemed to me to be a subtle nod that Bayaz was not the gruffy but overall nice Gandalf-like figure that he had seemed to be so far.
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Jan 9, 2012 11:06
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Just finished the First Law trilogy and I absolutely loved it. My favorite part of the ending was Bayaz kicking the poo poo out of Jezal and putting him in his place. On the one hand, it kind of sucked, because I wanted Jezal to have a happy ending after trying so hard to be a better person. On the other hand, it was just the most outright display of pure evil from Bayaz, and the most blunt and unsubtle example of a character getting knocked down a peg and forced to confront the reality that they may be completely incapable of change, no matter how much they try. It was really interesting to go from not liking any of the characters, to really endearing myself to them over the course of 3 books. Maybe not necessarily ever particularly liking them as people, but rooting for them to do better. The biggest bummer, of course, was West's fate. Apart from slapping Ardee, the guy consistently did the right thing throughout the series. He even got Poulder and Kroy to get along. I also vividly saw certain actors for a few characters. Namely Jeff Bridges for Bayaz(which is funny because I see it mentioned earlier in this thread. For Glokta I pictured some kind of hybrid of Jude Law in Road to Perdition and Kiefer Sutherland in Dark City. And for Jezal I definitely always pictured Harry Lloyd(the guy that played Viserys Targaryen.) Just a great series. Now I'm just patiently waiting for BSC and The Heroes to arrive.
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Jan 14, 2012 11:46
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Read both Best Served Cold and The Heroes the last couple weeks, and I enjoyed them a lot. I almost skipped Best Served Cold and went straight to The Heroes, but I'm glad I didn't because Best Served Cold was awesome. it was like The First Law trilogy's Greatest Hits in terms of the characters that show up from the trilogy in this one. As to The Heroes It was also good to know Shivers' backstory. Also, Bremer dan Gorst  I love how he portrays himself as a scapegoat, and I felt sorry for him, until the end when Finree actually confronts him about Sipani and it's revealed Gorst wasnt a scapegoat, he was drunk with a whore and it wasnt the first time--Fantastic! And Bayaz' moment with "Black" Calder similar to his moment with Jezal at the end of Last Argument of Kings was good. What a badass.
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Jan 14, 2012 20:20
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Badass as he is, he needs some kind of comeuppance. All-powerful douchewizards must die.
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Jan 14, 2012 22:47
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Hondo82 posted:
I think my favorite part of that exchange was: "drat, so I guess Shivers was working for you too huh?" "No, just got lucky there lol" 
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Jan 14, 2012 23:58
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Kekekela posted:I think my favorite part of that exchange was: here's a part I liked: "Knives, and threats, and bribes, and war?" Bayaz' eyes shone with the lamp light, "Yes?" "What kind of a loving wizard are you?" "The kind you obey." all he needs is a "Bad rear end Motherfucker" wallet.
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Jan 15, 2012 02:59
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Interesting post from Abercrombie over at the Westeros forums, concerning female characters, the dangers of slipping into sexist writing, and one scene in particular late in Last Argument of Kings. It's a bit of a long read but very worthwhile.
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Jan 15, 2012 15:38
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Dang... his self-criticism seems harsher than that one conservative guy who accused him of bankrupt nihilism.
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Jan 15, 2012 18:44
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(I guess I'm going to go ahead and spoiler tag most of this just to be on the safe side.) Well, it's an interesting read and probably more than a little accurate. The female characters were the weakest link in the First Law Trilogy. Just try defining them: Ardee drinks and is sarcastic, Terez is an uncompromisingly icy, and I couldn't tell you one defining trait about Cathil, except that I guess she was supposed to be kinda tough. And that's about it. Yeah, we get some justification for the negative traits, but there's gotta be something more to them for anyone to really care. And, of course, there's Ferro. Of all the POV characters she is the one that goes through almost no character growth. Yeah, there's definitely an adolescent draw to her being a super tough bad rear end with demon's blood. But when Abercrombie tries to go deeper, and you see the soft edges of her personality, or her vulnerability, they are always very quickly thrown to the side and forgotten. All that single minded angst and rage just makes for an unpleasant read. What's most odd is that even in her internal dialogue she almost never lets her guard down. Contrast that with Logen, who never forgets about his regrets, and desires, even upon returning to the north where he is outwardly almost universally a dick to everyone except Dogman. I'm definitely a fan of bleakness and nastiness both in writing and film. But, yeah, that last scene with Terez definitely hit on the wrong notes. Not only is she the only homosexual character I remember from the series, but she is also one of the least likable and least developed. And we see her punished and exploited the instant someone realizes her sexuality. The whole plot line could have been reworked where Terez is shown to be slightly more human, maybe there are attempts at intimacy that always end awkwardly. It would have had the same effect of Luthar ending up completely alone in the world and in a loveless marriage, and people could have just GRRM'd their way to the conclusion that she was a lesbian. With the added bonus of having one less climax scene in a book that felt like it had 1 or 2 too many, anyway. I mean, it was pretty obvious conclusion to come to, even without a Rainbow Guard. ataridc fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Jan 15, 2012 |
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Jan 15, 2012 22:01
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What's a Rainbow Guard?
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Jan 16, 2012 00:19
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Grand Prize Winner posted:What's a Rainbow Guard? In Game of Thrones there is a gay male character. He's a noble, and that is what he names his personal guards (I think it might be "-Cloaks" rather than "-Guard", I've never actually read GoT). I think ataridc meant that figuring out that the First Law character in question was homosexual was rather easy even without that scene near the end or stupid references to rainbows.
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Jan 16, 2012 23:27
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In a Clash of Kings, not in the Game of Thrones.  ataridc posted:(I guess I'm going to go ahead and spoiler tag most of this just to be on the safe side.) Eh, just because she's gay doesn't mean she can't be a complete bitch too...but for the most part, I agree on female characters in the books not really being that greatly written. For being the main character Monza was the lamest part of the fourth book and Finree in some points just felt like a smarter Ardee West. DarkCrawler fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Jan 18, 2012 |
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Jan 18, 2012 18:25
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quote:Eh, just because she's gay doesn't mean she can't be a complete bitch too...but for the most part, I agree on female characters in the books not really being that greatly written. For being the main character Monza was the lamest part of the fourth book and Finree in some points just felt like a smarter Ardee West. Really? I agree on everything else, but I liked Monza. I thought she was an interesting character, even if she didn't grow that much chapter to chapter. It's been a bit since I've read it though, so maybe I'm forgetting something.
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Jan 18, 2012 21:55
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nutnmunch posted:Really? I agree on everything else, but I liked Monza. I thought she was an interesting character, even if she didn't grow that much chapter to chapter. It's been a bit since I've read it though, so maybe I'm forgetting something. Well, I didn't hate her, but compared to Shivers, Shenkt and Cosca she just wasn't much. Better then Morveer (?) though, I hated all his chapters.
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Jan 18, 2012 23:08
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DarkCrawler posted:Well, I didn't hate her, but compared to Shivers, Shenkt and Cosca she just wasn't much. Another point of different strokes for different folks. I loved Morveer's chapters and felt that Shenkt was the weakest point of the story.
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Jan 18, 2012 23:17
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Hughmoris posted:Another point of different strokes for different folks. I loved Morveer's chapters and felt that Shenkt was the weakest point of the story. I dunno, I feel like Shenkt was weak in BSC, but I can't wait to find out exactly what kind of shitbag he really is.
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Jan 18, 2012 23:25
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Shenkt was barely developed at all and came off as just a carbon copy "inscrutable badass" archetype to me. I feel the author left hooks in for further development but we haven't seen it yet. Morveer on the other hand you really get to see the entirety of his character as it's slowly unveiled: he's a sociopath, unaware of his own incompetences, incredibly narcissistic, but ultimately very much an idealist. I couldn't say half as much for Shenkt.
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Jan 18, 2012 23:33
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wellwhoopdedooo posted:I dunno, I feel like Shenkt was weak in BSC, but I can't wait to find out exactly what kind of shitbag he really is. Well at the very least he is the kind of shitbag that is married, finds a horribly injured woman, hauls her to his private cannibal shack and then rapes her while she recovers but is too injured to get away. e: I do like that these books feature a character that we see repeatedly killing and eating people, including children, and it is entirely understandable when people say, "I wonder what his character flaw is going to be."
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Jan 19, 2012 00:21
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Bizob posted:then rapes her Did I miss something? I don't remember that happening or even being implied. Edit: when did he eat a child?
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Jan 19, 2012 00:24
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Clinton1011 posted:Did I miss something? I don't remember that happening or even being implied. Maybe I'm mis-remembering but I thought there was a scene where he is creepily tending to her wounds and says something along the lines of, "you awake certain passions in me that only my wife has ever been able to excite" then cuts out and returns with a line along the lines of "when he was finished..." which I read in the worst possible way, given Abercrombie-world. As for eating a child I know he at least kills one during the final battle in the castle.
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Jan 19, 2012 00:29
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