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Ochre. I understand why he uses it in all his archaeological bits, but still.
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May 27, 2012 22:02
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Abalieno posted:Common word enough and adjective. Makes sense it's a bit more frequent: If "turgid" comes up a lot in your daily life, you are having a much more exciting time than I am.
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May 27, 2012 22:54
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bigmcgaffney posted:Ochre. I understand why he uses it in all his archaeological bits, but still. This one is interesting because it appears entirely thematic. "Ochre" appears above 20 times in DG and more than 10 in HoC, but it's around 5 for the other books. I guess makes sense in describing desert areas and the dominating palette. P.S. About colors. Slightly different game. "Brown" appears: 221 times in A Dance with Dragons 11 times in The Crippled God Abalieno fucked around with this message at 23:59 on May 27, 2012 |
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May 27, 2012 23:54
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Abalieno posted:Just checked. Haha I didn't think this many people would respond. I could have sworn it was more than 6 times in MoI but I guess not. It's not just that word though, words like turgid, scree, dun, etc seem to get used a lot. Also, these are words that I had to look up in my Kindle's dictionary so maybe that's why they stand out so much, but still. Abalieno posted:
But what about "Dun" Erikson's equivalent to brown? Edit: After getting about 15% in to HoC...holy crap Karsa is awesome. I love how Erikson has spent so long with this character at the beginning of the book and its not jumping around quite as much (yet). Pegnose Pete fucked around with this message at 00:08 on May 28, 2012 |
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May 28, 2012 00:06
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Pegnose Pete posted:But what about "Dun" Erikson's equivalent to brown? 6 times in GotM. 3-4 for DG, MoI and HoC. Never in MT. Haven't bothered checking other books.
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May 28, 2012 00:17
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Abalieno posted:6 times in GotM. 3-4 for DG, MoI and HoC. Never in MT. My Kindle tags 8 hits for dun or dun-coloured  I love the use of archaic words in fantasy books, they just seem to really stand out over and over after I look them up. E: Okay, I'm a few pages into chapter 3 of HoC and I've had two turgid's and a susurration. Pegnose Pete fucked around with this message at 01:58 on May 28, 2012 |
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May 28, 2012 01:26
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I'm almost done with Memories of Ice (first readthru of the series) and god drat I'm glad I gave this series another shot - I quit about a third of the way through Gardens of the Moon the first time, but gave it more of a chance the second time and it really clicked around when Tattersail 'died'/ introduced Darujistan characters. Also, I just got to the part where Whiskeyjack dies and what the gently caress  . Don't spoil it for me, I'm just hoping that he somehow pulls a Tattersail. I'm also looking forward to seeing the significance of Dukier using Coltaine's vial at the end of DG.
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May 28, 2012 03:41
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So I started The Bonehunters, and I'm looking forward to reading it already. Just from the Prologue a dragon being awakened by Nameless Ones, a dude hunting that demon, a church full of recently dead guys with people splattered all over, and another mysterious person who knows what happened but I can't remember what he looks like
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May 28, 2012 05:27
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Abalieno posted:This one is interesting because it appears entirely thematic. "Ochre" appears above 20 times in DG and more than 10 in HoC, but it's around 5 for the other books. Pretty much. He uses it extensively for the Seven Cities deserts, as well as the potsherds that were presumably made from the local clay.
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May 28, 2012 05:34
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pakman posted:So I started The Bonehunters, and I'm looking forward to reading it already. Just from the Prologue a dragon being awakened by Nameless Ones, a dude hunting that demon, a church full of recently dead guys with people splattered all over, and another mysterious person who knows what happened but I can't remember what he looks like The prologue? It's not a dragon. It's something else. Can't say much more but you'll be surprised. As an IMO, The Bonehunters is the last book before Erikson starts going out of control with the whole philosophizing schtick. The later books are still pretty drat good, but I started to tire of the essentially-same-voice monologue from 5 different characters.
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May 28, 2012 05:39
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And some really awesome poo poo still happens in the later books that usually redeems them for the slow parts
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May 29, 2012 13:55
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So I'm about a third of the way through House of Chains, and some of Kellanved + Dancer, Laseen and Tavore's history is starting to get revealed a little more...and it occurred to me: I always assumed the Malazan empire was a long established power (Not long by Erikson terms, but I guess I was thinking a hundred years or two...) but was it Kellanved that began the Malazan empire? As in, expanded beyond Malaz island and dominated Quon Tali? I'm not sure if this was something I was meant to understand from the beginning and just missed, or if it's another one of those things you pick up as you go. If answering this question will lead to further spoilers...just warn me and don't answer.
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May 29, 2012 16:16
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I'm not too certain about the Empire's timeline mostly because it's hard to pin down how old certain characters are or should be, but yeah Kellnaved and Dancer got the whole thing started. Without spoiling too much, the two were originally successful pirates based out of Malaz and most of their original lieutenants including Surly/Lasseen were part of their pirate crew.
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May 29, 2012 16:30
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Pegnose Pete posted:So I'm about a third of the way through House of Chains, and some of Kellanved + Dancer, Laseen and Tavore's history is starting to get revealed a little more...and it occurred to me: I always assumed the Malazan empire was a long established power (Not long by Erikson terms, but I guess I was thinking a hundred years or two...) but was it Kellanved that began the Malazan empire? As in, expanded beyond Malaz island and dominated Quon Tali? I'm not sure if this was something I was meant to understand from the beginning and just missed, or if it's another one of those things you pick up as you go. Ages are going to be a little weird. Most of the original crew were mages or ascendants and as such are going to have much longer lives than your average joe. IIRC Whiskeyjack was supposed to have been from a generation after most of them, and he was getting to be an older man by the time the series began. I think the empire was supposed to have been almost a hundred years old at the start of the series.
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May 29, 2012 16:57
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The Ninth Layer posted:I'm not too certain about the Empire's timeline mostly because it's hard to pin down how old certain characters are or should be, but yeah Kellnaved and Dancer got the whole thing started. Without spoiling too much, the two were originally successful pirates based out of Malaz and most of their original lieutenants including Surly/Lasseen were part of their pirate crew. This spoiler is what just got revealed in HoC, that's what I was referring to. Thanks for clarification...and yeah I guess the whole ascendant thing has to be taken into consideration too. I guess I picture Whiskeyjack to be in his mid-to-late 50s, with Dujek maybe a decade older.
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May 29, 2012 17:32
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The Malazan wiki claims the Empire was founded in 1058 (although there isn't a reference I assume it's taken from one of the books) and the events in Night of Knives as well as the prologue to Gardens of the Moon take place in 1154 (DHGthis is the year when Kellanved and Dancer die/ascend/"disappear". While typing this I also realised that literally the second line of the first book in the series tells you the answer: "96th year of the Malazan Empire". I don't think anybody knows the exact year that Kellanved and Dancer went on the warpath though.
Opal fucked around with this message at 18:30 on May 29, 2012 |
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May 29, 2012 18:24
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Fuzzy Mammal fucked around with this message at 18:52 on May 29, 2012 |
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May 29, 2012 18:44
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the least weasel posted:"96th year of the Malazan Empire".  Thanks haha
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May 29, 2012 18:58
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About noticing certain words I can say for example I finished the first book of Thomas Covenant by Donaldson and noticed VERY CLEARLY that he used "ejaculated" twice. It's not that he uses that word too much, it's just that it kinda stands out. And it's not what you think it is. In Donaldson's books people ejaculate when they yell something... Really. Abalieno fucked around with this message at 21:20 on May 29, 2012 |
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May 29, 2012 20:06
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That actually used to be pretty standard English usage, it's not peculiar to Donaldson.
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May 29, 2012 20:11
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Sometimes yelling just feels really good, don't judge.
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May 29, 2012 20:29
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You know, I really really used to love this series. I loved the first couple of books but then as time went on I started to feel my interest slipping, and finally about 1/3 of the way through Toll the Hounds I finally just gave up. Between not being able to remember what happened from the last book and a pace that seemed really slow to me, I finally just gave up. Do the two books that follow it get better? I have been thinking of giving it a go again and starting over from book one, because its been forever since I read the first books.
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May 29, 2012 23:23
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Porkchop Express posted:You know, I really really used to love this series. I loved the first couple of books but then as time went on I started to feel my interest slipping, and finally about 1/3 of the way through Toll the Hounds I finally just gave up. Between not being able to remember what happened from the last book and a pace that seemed really slow to me, I finally just gave up. The typical Malazan novel sequence is a slow beginning that builds up to a huge convergence. Toll the Hounds takes this to the extreme on both ends. The beginning is boring as all hell Kruppe narrating 1/3 of the book and having Nimander for another 1/3 oh god but it ramps up heavily 2/3 of the way through. It's probably the best ending in the series. The last two books follow the formula too, not as slow as the beginning of TtH but they will drag in at the start of the book (especially with the 'dreaded Erikson philosophy rants'), but IMO they really pay off at the end. DG and MoI side-stepped the "typical Malazan plot" because they had the Chain of Dogs throughout DG and the seige of Capustan pretty early in MoI.
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May 29, 2012 23:39
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Yeah I remember really digging on everything right up until House of Chains, then it started to go down a little bit from there. But I would enjoy reading the first ones again so I may give the whole series a go from the top!
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May 29, 2012 23:46
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Porkchop Express posted:You know, I really really used to love this series. I loved the first couple of books but then as time went on I started to feel my interest slipping, and finally about 1/3 of the way through Toll the Hounds I finally just gave up. Between not being able to remember what happened from the last book and a pace that seemed really slow to me, I finally just gave up. I am at the exact same point, about 2/3s through Toll of Hounds and just stalled out. Of course I had been reading straight through the series from the second book. Reading The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach stories and the first couple Black Company books is a nice break.
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May 30, 2012 17:19
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Porkchop Express posted:You know, I really really used to love this series. I loved the first couple of books but then as time went on I started to feel my interest slipping, and finally about 1/3 of the way through Toll the Hounds I finally just gave up. Between not being able to remember what happened from the last book and a pace that seemed really slow to me, I finally just gave up. TTH took me about 7 months to get through, I went through all the book before that in 6 months. I personally feel that the 1st 2/3rds of TTH is probably the worst parts in the entire Malazan series. The story definitely picks up in the last two, although DoD does have its moments where you need to slog through. I don't remember TCG being tedious, I think it was mostly balls to the wall malazan awesomeness.
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May 30, 2012 17:25
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I just finished TTH yesterday, and I have to say it's actually one of my favourite books in the series (Memories of Ice and Midnight Tides would probably be my other two favourites). I definitely think Erikson could have cut a couple of the plotlines in the book (Some of the Darujistan stuff felt totally pointless, especially the knuckle murdering guy, the Scillara/Chalice parts were often pretty poorly written, and it would have been nice if Duiker had actually done something in the book) but I thought it was generally a nice break after the generally awful Reaper's Gale. It's true that the Tiste Andii parts are really slow, but I don't think this a huge flaw in the book, since it lets you get acquainted with their miserable, hopeless, and plodding psychology, which makes the ending that much more moving. And of course whatever flaws the book has, the last 1/3rd makes up for them.
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May 31, 2012 08:05
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The first 2/3rds of TTH took me 4.5 months to read, and the last 1/3rd took me around 3 hours. It's amazing how much that book picks up.
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May 31, 2012 13:22
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I just finished Midnight Tides, and am going back and reading Gardens of the Moon, since I can't afford to get the other 5 books right now (  )Anyways, something I didn't quite figure out the last time I read it and I feel that I should have - Who is Circle Breaker?
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Jun 2, 2012 23:00
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MaterialConceptual posted:I just finished TTH yesterday (words) I am about 20% done with TTH now, it's just relentlessly meandering. I feel like Erikson realized he had to do some serious work to reintroduce the characters the book deals with, and also set to "reintroduce" the city and blathering philosophy with the same gusto. But even with the interminable slog, it's a relief to come back to Erikson after reading Return of the Crimson Guard. Erikson does the (occasionally infuriating) things he does Well, Esslemont can't even manage that. He made the turgid/skirling/ochre prose tripsy and stuttering. I dunno if I'm going to bother with more Esslemont, although (huge spoiler) I really enjoyed the treatment he gave the long and difficult battle in which Laseen died.
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Jun 2, 2012 23:11
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Yeah I read books. posted:Anyways, something I didn't quite figure out the last time I read it and I feel that I should have - Who is Circle Breaker? He's an agent or spy working for the Eel . There's not much else to him.
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Jun 3, 2012 00:18
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the least weasel posted:He's an agent or spy working for the Eel . There's not much else to him. Well I know that, and Kruppe lets him leave at the end of the book on the boat with Crokus, Fiddler, and Sorry/Apsalar. I just figured he would end up playing a larger role and had forgotten about him until I came back to re-read the first book.
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Jun 3, 2012 00:33
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Also: I just picked up Bonehunters and Reaper's Gale tonight, mega excited to get back into it. edit: Oh my god, at the beginning of Bonehunters when the guy with Leoman eats the toad and starts tripping and rambling about feathers I pretty much lost it. That was amazing. Yeah I read books. fucked around with this message at 09:11 on Jun 3, 2012 |
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Jun 3, 2012 06:35
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Yeah I read books. posted:Well I know that, and Kruppe lets him leave at the end of the book on the boat with Crokus, Fiddler, and Sorry/Apsalar. I just figured he would end up playing a larger role and had forgotten about him until I came back to re-read the first book. Nope.
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Jun 3, 2012 11:04
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Stew Man Chew posted:I am about 20% done with TTH now, it's just relentlessly meandering. I feel like Erikson realized he had to do some serious work to reintroduce the characters the book deals with, and also set to "reintroduce" the city and blathering philosophy with the same gusto. I really should not have read that spoiler
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Jun 4, 2012 05:28
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5ive posted:I really should not have read that spoiler If you're not planning on reading the Esslemont books, the most it's talked about in Erikson's books is an off hand comment. Speaking of the authors...which one of them is going to write about what's going on in Assail?
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Jun 4, 2012 17:37
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I'm pretty sure Esslemont is going to write the Assail stuff.
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Jun 4, 2012 18:02
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Yeah, I think that Esselmont has Assail and a Darhujistan trilogy, Erikson has the Tiste Andii trilogy and then a Karsa trilogy. Not sure what else has been planned/announced yet.
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Jun 4, 2012 21:38
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CrazyLikeAMadDog posted:Yeah, I think that Esselmont has Assail and a Darhujistan trilogy, Erikson has the Tiste Andii trilogy and then a Karsa trilogy. Not sure what else has been planned/announced yet. Oh man a Karsa trilogy will be amazing!
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Jun 4, 2012 23:37
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Can someone give me a quick summary as to where Captain Paran is as of the beginning of Bonehunters? I'm about 1/4 of the way in, and noticed that Quick Ben/Kalam are close enough with Tavore to be meeting with her, and the last thing I remember w/r/t Paran was him being with Quick in Moon's Spawn where they buried the Bridgeburners. So where exactly is he? And, does he know that his sister is the adjunct to the Empress? Does he know Felisin's fate? And on that subject, does Tavore even realize what she did at the end of House of Chains? Sorry for all the questions!
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Jun 5, 2012 01:52
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