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The Gunslinger posted:There's two hardcover Red Country(1, 2) listed there from different publishers, one is 560 pages and the other is 640. I'm assuming the difference in page count is something like font size or whatever? Anyone know?
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Apr 5, 2012 14:44
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UncleMonkey posted:I was just assuming that page counts are just estimates or placeholders at this point, since the book is still going through the editing process. Ahh ok. Is it normal for a hardcover to have two different publishers in the same region? That's the thing that made me do a doubletake. All of my previous Abercrombie books were Orion so I guess I'll just order the Orion one.
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Apr 5, 2012 14:52
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One seems to be UK and the other US according to the Publication city/country as well.
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Apr 5, 2012 18:18
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Looks like the new cover was released. I wish they had stayed with the old style with the map, coins and blood.John Charity Spring posted:That looks like it'd be the US cover. It's the same style as the US cover of The Heroes, and it quotes the Wall Street Journal. Yea its the one from Orbit so that might be the case, Wouldn't the UK cover be released first though since it comes out in the UK a bit before the US?  Clinton1011 fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Apr 5, 2012 |
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Apr 5, 2012 18:26
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That looks like it'd be the US cover. It's the same style as the US cover of The Heroes, and it quotes the Wall Street Journal.
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Apr 5, 2012 20:35
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One of my favorite things about Abercrombie's work is all the things you catch on re-readings. I'm finishing Argument up again, and Joe keeps harping on something that I can't ignore. Last Argument / Best Served Cold: Jezal gives a wedding ring to Terez described as having "[an] enormous blood-red stone". I recall the ring given to Monza by Benna in BSC as being described very similarly. Going to keep an eye out for any other hint of a connection, because damnit, I love these books.
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Apr 14, 2012 09:42
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Clinton1011 posted:Yea its the one from Orbit so that might be the case, Wouldn't the UK cover be released first though since it comes out in the UK a bit before the US? There's probably more... artistry going into the UK cover, if it's going to be the same style as BSC and The Heroes. Joe has confirmed that that's just the US cover on his blog, with the UK covers still to come.
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Apr 14, 2012 11:00
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Awesome that they put Logen on the cover. Maybe he'll run into demongirl from the trilogy.
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Apr 14, 2012 15:18
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John Charity Spring posted:There's probably more... artistry going into the UK cover, if it's going to be the same style as BSC and The Heroes. Joe has confirmed that that's just the US cover on his blog, with the UK covers still to come. Peztopiary posted:Awesome that they put Logen on the cover. Maybe he'll run into demongirl from the trilogy. 
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Apr 14, 2012 22:14
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UncleMonkey posted:I would love a Logen/Ferro reunion. Totally, I really liked those two broken-rear end people getting together and experiencing some real affection. Just, no more sex scenes with slurping noises please. That was a little much. When he did it with the Jezal/Ardee, I thought he was making a point about how kind of twisted their relationship was, and it had a somewhat powerful effect on me, but after the second or third time I realized that's just how he writes a sex scene. I almost hope that he's got some point I'm missing, because as it is they're these uncomfortable moments that don't seem to add much to the story, and I'd just rather not read them. Like I've got nothing against a sex scene, even if it is uncomfortably realistic, but if you're going to actually describe it I feel like it should have more to say than could be accomplished with a pan to the fireplace. When I have sex I know there's just as much schlurping and stuff going on, but that's not what I hear while I'm in it, you know? So it makes reading them feel not only voyeuristic, but like I'm an alien watching the strange and gross mating rituals of a couple of bags of wet meat.
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Apr 15, 2012 10:12
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I'd say that I dislike Abercrombie's sex scenes, but I laughed way, way too hard at the fact that one of the most terrifyingly violent people in the world prematurely ejaculated. The whole awkwardness of Logen and Ferro sexual encounters was a great way to humanize both of them, at least for a while.
Aggro fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Apr 15, 2012 |
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Apr 15, 2012 17:13
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Ahahaha yeah I forgot about that, that was excellent. I still think they were slightly creepy, but they were definitely a world better than the standard flowery description of how the virgin hero is an indefatigable sexpert who walks out triumphantly in a velvet robe as his concubine lays in a quivering puddle.
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Apr 15, 2012 19:15
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The Logan/Ferro sex scene was one of the funniest things ever put to print, and intentionally so 
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Apr 15, 2012 19:30
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Just finished Best Served Cold, liked it but not as much as the trilogy. Felt really bad for Shivers by the end. Now onto The Heroes!
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Apr 16, 2012 00:49
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Mr.48 posted:The Logan/Ferro sex scene was one of the funniest things ever put to print, and intentionally so I loved it, most fantasy sex scenes are awkward and gross unintentionally, Abercrombie just did it on purpose.
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Apr 16, 2012 05:16
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tofes posted:Just finished Best Served Cold, liked it but not as much as the trilogy. Felt really bad for Shivers by the end. You'll like the heroes. Its a return to the trilogy's setting and familiar characters. I think it's joes best work personally.
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Apr 16, 2012 07:38
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Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he's a lover.
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Apr 16, 2012 14:26
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I liked Best Served Cold's revenge plot more than the trilogy, but all were good. Here's some cover for a limited edition of the book: Oh Monza Monza Monza.
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May 4, 2012 04:26
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Hondo82 posted:I liked Best Served Cold's revenge plot more than the trilogy, but all were good. Here's some cover for a limited edition of the book: I'm with you on BSC. The Trilogy was good but I think I fell in love with BSC. I didn't really care for The Heroes. I don't really care for the Northmen in general. That said, I'm definitely looking forward to more Logen Ninefingers.
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May 4, 2012 07:56
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Neep posted:I'm with you on BSC. The Trilogy was good but I think I fell in love with BSC. I didn't really care for The Heroes. I don't really care for the Northmen in general. That said, I'm definitely looking forward to more Logen Ninefingers. To each his own, but the Northmen are easily one of the best parts in opinion. Case in point: "That is one loving beautiful ceiling."
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May 4, 2012 08:23
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Wow, a fantasy cover I actually like. Is that a US or UK version?
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May 4, 2012 18:03
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isochronous posted:Wow, a fantasy cover I actually like. Is that a US or UK version? Looks like that's the cover for the Subterranean Press edition.
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May 4, 2012 18:51
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Fly Molo posted:To each his own, but the Northmen are easily one of the best parts in opinion. Case in point: "That is one loving beautiful ceiling." The Northmen come right after the Magi for me as the best part of the book...they repeat some of the poo poo but their culture and concept of honor and so on are great.
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May 11, 2012 17:18
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I hope they get the guy to read the audiobook for Red Country that did TFL, he was pretty great (Steven Pacey).
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May 11, 2012 18:37
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Just re-read Best Served Cold this week. Enjoyed it much more the second time around. The first time I read it, I was traveling and so I could only fit a chapter in here or there, so it felt fragmented and disjointed. This time I was able to give it more complete attention and got a lot more out of it. I think the reason I found it hard to follow the first time is that there are a lot of characters involved, and things are pretty fast-paced. That said, noticing the second time around how Monza and Shivers basically swapped morality views as the book progressed was loving amazing.
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May 11, 2012 21:16
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dyehead posted:I hope they get the guy to read the audiobook for Red Country that did TFL, he was pretty great (Steven Pacey). I really wish they would go back to Steven Pacey, Michael Page does a decent job and I liked him in a few other books that he was the narrator for but Steven Pacey did such an amazing job with the original trilogy. The fact that Michael was also the narrator for The Heroes doesn't give me hope though. VVV Edit1: drat I need to find a way to buy the UK version of BSC and The Heroes now, a VNC might let me do that, failing that I might have to go the  routeEdit 2: drat they are only 5.16 USD, why so much cheaper in the UK? Clinton1011 fucked around with this message at 14:57 on May 12, 2012 |
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May 11, 2012 23:28
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Clinton1011 posted:I really wish they would go back to Steven Pacey, Michael Page does a decent job and I liked him in a few other books that he was the narrator for but Steven Pacey did such an amazing job with the original trilogy. The fact that Michael was also the narrator for The Heroes doesn't give me hope though. Good news! http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2012/02/23/the-heroes-read-by-steven-pacey/ The Steven Pacey Audiobooks of BSC and The Heroes are available in the UK. Abercrombie confirms that Red Country will be read by Pacey and will be available in UK and US regions. Pacey is an excellent narrator, I listened to the First Law trilogy before I bought the books proper.
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May 12, 2012 11:56
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I just started rereading the First Law Trilogy. I have all 5 books on my Kindle but snagged the trilogy in analog form and gave them to my brother to read for the summer. He's hooked, the worst part is he doesn't even know how big of a oval office Bayaz is.
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May 12, 2012 21:59
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Beastie posted:I just started rereading the First Law Trilogy. I have all 5 books on my Kindle but snagged the trilogy in analog form and gave them to my brother to read for the summer. It's funny because early on you do understand that he's kind of a oval office but by the end you realize that he is such a total oval office that you need a new word to describe him. It goes from "Gandalf!" to "...Satan?" 
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May 13, 2012 10:12
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Skapegoat posted:Abercrombie confirms that Red Country will be read by Pacey
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May 13, 2012 13:26
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The Supreme Court posted:If you still like any of the characters after a couple of books, you're doing well! Actually one of the characters I like the least is Shivers. I know I'm unfair towards him, but he was introduced when Logen had already cemented his position in awesomeness and here is this new kid whose very first personality trait is to kill the awesome Logen for vengeance. Then there's his development in BSC. It's too long swing from one opposite to another. In the beginning he goes out of his length to be a nice guy and in the end he takes extra measures to be evil, like killing Orso's second son while Monza didn't want to do it. It's like he's shouting a gigantic "gently caress you" to everyone including his past self and a man like that is very difficult to like. I understand losing an eye made him see the world differently (  ), but going around being as evil as possible in order to shame his previous ideals is just too unsettling. I could be friends with Logen, Glokta and even Bayaz, since they at least know how to socialize, but not Shivers. He'd probably make people feel uncomfortable for the sake of them feeling uncomfortable.It's great to have a new book, especially when it tells about Logen! I agree that his character arc was developed and concluded pretty well in the trilogy, but because he didn't die it's entirely plausible there are still adventures he can participate in. Hopefully someday Abercrombie will write a book that is set in Gurkhul and we'll get to see Khalul. How does he compare to Bayaz? Also, in BSC Ishri spoke about a woman killing her brother. Was it Ferro killing Mamun? If so, how could she know it was Ferro who did it, since presumably Mamun died under a pile of rubble and he only creeped to Ferro without anyone knowing.
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May 13, 2012 16:20
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I agree that Shivers is an unsympathetic character, but he's still very likable as a fictional invention because his story arc is compelling and believable. If we're rating any of the characters you mentioned on a really life morality scale, they're all horrible people.
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May 13, 2012 18:00
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Shivers was a very sympathetic character for me. That's what made it hurt so much when he just became a sociopath. That's what makes it so tragic, that he's genuinely trying to be a better person and awful things happen to him that push him over the edge. And while I love Monza, it's as much her fault as anyone's. If she hadn't reacted by using her guilt as an excuse to push him away, maybe he would have been able to hang on to even a spark of his empathy. Abercrombie's world is very much like Martin's in this way: If you're nice or honorable or trying to be a good person, the harder you get hosed over or hurt. However, in the long absence of Logen, I think we can all agree that the best northman is the Dogman.
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May 13, 2012 22:16
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Shivers himself is perfectly sympathetic up to a point. The thing that drags down him and his arc is just how much bullshit Abercrombie throws at Shivers so that he can have an excuse to go with the "people can't change" bullshit yet again, which ties into my general annoyance of this series in that the characters are never really allowed to actually develop as people before a narrative force comes along and resets them to be the horrible people they were initially, either through acceptance of that (Logen) or through apathy and fear of consequence if they attempt to do better (Jezal). But I'm pretty vocal about my hatred of themes like this, and relegated the series to "fun read" status after finishing the initial trilogy due to it. Dogman really is the best, though. Oh Snapple! fucked around with this message at 23:40 on May 13, 2012 |
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May 13, 2012 23:38
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DarkCrawler posted:It's funny because early on you do understand that he's kind of a oval office but by the end you realize that he is such a total oval office that you need a new word to describe him. It goes from "Gandalf!" to "...Satan?" My favorite part of the series is how the most powerful force in the universe according to the most powerful living mage isbanking institutions.
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May 13, 2012 23:44
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Oh Snapple! posted:Shivers himself is perfectly sympathetic up to a point.
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May 14, 2012 00:23
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Above Our Own posted:Yeah, the author does seem to sacrifice his characterization for the sake of his narrative at points. Jezal is a bad example though, because he genuinely overcomes many of his personality defects over the course of his arc. He starts off cowardly, ignorant, and selfish; he ends up gallant and open hearted. I don't think his final encounter with Bayaz proves he's a coward; backing down before a man who can blow up castles and poo poo with his mind is hardly a mark of cowardice. Mind that I'm not being entirely hostile toward Jezal. Fear in itself isn't an inherently bad thing for a person (though I enjoy seeing characters overcome it to do the right thing), the issue is again that the narrative pushes these circumstances upon him which make his growth useless: He either sighs, does what he's told, and tries to do a small thing here and there (and even then this is a "maybe" because we haven't really seen if he was every able to, say, get that hospital built); or he doesn't, gets killed, and Bayaz replaces him with someone who will. It occurs to me often that half the reason I have continued interest in this series is the prospect of Bayaz getting horribly hosed up.
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May 14, 2012 00:38
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Oh Snapple! posted:It occurs to me often that half the reason I have continued interest in this series is the prospect of Bayaz getting horribly hosed up. Ouch. I love Bayaz. I want to see him head south and really gently caress some poo poo up. The Northmen mainly suck with the exception of Dogman's bunch. So that leave the prophet and his theocracy. I support The Union 100%, Bayaz or not.
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May 14, 2012 02:53
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You know, I read all 5 of these books a year ago and it's only just now on my second read through that I get the thread title.
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May 14, 2012 03:35
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I just finished The Heroes and I liked it better than Best Served Cold. I definitely prefer the North to Styria and Bayaz is such a unimaginable loving rear end in a top hat it's great Actually I just like people saying "back to the mud" all the time
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May 14, 2012 04:03
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