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Masonity posted:Kindle touch and fire. It seems like its limited to Wikipedia and their own book community though. I swear I'm probably the only person on the planet with a keyboard Kindle these days.
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May 13, 2014 17:44
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uh zip zoom posted:I swear I'm probably the only person on the planet with a keyboard Kindle these days. I have one! Not that I ever use the keyboard but they didn't have the other kind when I bought it and I have no reason to upgrade since it works perfectly fine. e: I bought it specifically because of the Malazan series and not wanting to buy another massive 10 books series that I didn't have room for on my shelves
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May 13, 2014 20:27
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I had one until my washing machine flooded my flat and it was in a bag at floor level. :-( Now I have a kobo because I could get a cheap second hand one faster than a kindle.
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May 13, 2014 20:47
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I've got a keyboard kindle because I can't stand not having page turn buttons on the side. On my keyboard, I can easily hold a book with just my left hand and still turn pages, but on my paperwhite I've got to do an irritating little reachover to avoid the page-back portion of the screen.
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May 13, 2014 21:18
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another kindle keyboard user chiming in. I love it, and am not looking forward to upgrading/downgrading from it. That said, my kindle keyboard battery is starting to drain faster and faster. malazan stuff: ....there's a malazan encyclopedia? And tehol beddict is a mary sue character written properly. Honor Harrington is a mary sue character that I dislike, I enjoy reading tehol stuff.
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May 13, 2014 22:01
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Levitate posted:I have one! same here, bought it ( the new regular one,not the one with keyboard) just because of the Malazan series and it works great. I even manage to read more of it because I carry my kindle everywhere. I have to admit it would be awesome to have malazan encyclopedia on it also.
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May 13, 2014 23:19
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Alright I have to ask. Why did the Empress do mass purges on (relatively) loyal and extremely competent soldiers and generals while there were still wars going on? Cause it doesn't make any sense at all since it all just ended with mass deaths on both the Empress's assassins and her various Fists' troops.
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May 14, 2014 01:26
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amuayse posted:Alright I have to ask. She (a) didn't know where their loyalties lay and (b) wasn't very good at the whole empress thing.
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May 14, 2014 01:45
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Isn't it heavily implied she knew the Emperor and Dancer were not actually dead?
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May 14, 2014 02:01
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BobFromMarketing posted:Isn't it heavily implied she knew the Emperor and Dancer were not actually dead? I thought so. The demotions and so on were a win/win for Kellanved, Dancer and Laseen. She looks like she's consolidating her hold on the throne while getting all the veterans to the coalface right before poo poo gets real.
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May 14, 2014 02:10
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Habibi posted:She (a) didn't know where their loyalties lay and (b) wasn't very good at the whole empress thing. [b] really cannot be emphasized enough. She was really, really bad at it. Like, goddamn.
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May 14, 2014 02:14
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amuayse posted:Alright I have to ask. whats the best way to train up raw units? Dump some heavily experienced soldiers in the unit to toughen them up. Like how Fiddler was the least badass member of the bridgeburners in GotM, but was the most experienced soldier in the 14th army. That and Lasseen backstabbing Kellanved didn't inspire 100% loyalty in all of Kellanved's elite commanders & units. So all those elite commanders & units had to be reassigned/broken up/destroyed. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 03:02 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 02:14
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Aside from the random nobles that were herded up in DHG does Lasseen even have any confirmed kills? I can't think of anyone specifically that she actually took out. Tayschrem definitely roasts some mages at Pale but even that I remember as being on his own initiative and not necessarily anything Lasseen wanted him to do.
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May 14, 2014 02:50
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The Ninth Layer posted:Aside from the random nobles that were herded up in DHG does Lasseen even have any confirmed kills? I can't think of anyone specifically that she actually took out. I'm assuming you haven't read any of Esslemont's books? Surly is a far better killer than ruler, despite how much she wants to rule.
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May 14, 2014 05:04
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Baudin posted:I'm assuming you haven't read any of Esslemont's books? Surly is a far better killer than ruler, despite how much she wants to rule.
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May 14, 2014 05:12
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Baudin posted:I'm assuming you haven't read any of Esslemont's books? Surly is a far better killer than ruler, despite how much she wants to rule. I think his question is more an allusion to the fact that all of the "presumed purged" Old Guard are really just kicking around somewhere under false names.
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May 14, 2014 05:24
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Yeah. Again can you guys think of a named Old Guard member who "drowned" that is actually dead or confirmed killed? The only one I can think of specifically is Dassem Ultor / Traveler and even then we still see the guy walking around and doing poo poo. I got the impression from reading the books that Lasseen definitely wanted to look like she had purged Kellnaved's Old Guard without actually having to do anything, sort of like how she wanted to make it seem like she was sacrificing the Bridgeburners on Genabackis when really she was positioning them for another threat. The Ninth Layer fucked around with this message at 06:01 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 05:59
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The Empress' incompetence is something that took awhile to sink in for me. I don't think I really picked up on it until the end of The Bonehunters. One gets so used to highly competent characters--sometimes supernaturally so--that coming across someone in power who's an absolute fool is jarring. For the first several books I just assumed she was very, very subtle. To be honest, I've started to wonder the same thing about Tayschren (sp?).
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May 14, 2014 17:07
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Yeah a lot of things make more sense once you realize that Laseen had no business being empress. Kind of a running theme in Malazan is the incompetence of leadership, and how they're propped up and kept afloat by the capable people under them that they grind into the dust. See also: Rhulad, Malazan army Captains and fists, etc. She was a bar wench cutpurse who got jumped up 50 rungs on the ladder due to her ability to control highly talented people who probably only didn't open her throat because they had no interest in leading, like Topper, Kalam, etc.
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May 14, 2014 18:46
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I don't think it was incompetence, it was that her early paranoia and the consequences of the necessary purge after her ascending the throne caused her to reject the old guard, which left her with very little power base. The nobility would prefer going back to pre-malazan balkanism, the claw as we see are turned against her, the talons don't care for her, she wasn't able to endear herself to the populace, tayschrenn and the underground mages were at best indifferent and at worst hostile, and she had to send the armies off continuously to keep them occupied. Also she seems lovely because she is always in direct comparison to Kellanved, the most canny person of the age, who could rely on dassem, the logros, and dancer too.
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May 14, 2014 19:56
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The Ninth Layer posted:Yeah. Again can you guys think of a named Old Guard member who "drowned" that is actually dead or confirmed killed? The only one I can think of specifically is Dassem Ultor / Traveler and even then we still see the guy walking around and doing poo poo. The important thing to remember is that she didn't purge most of the old guard - they purged themselves (and it was an act that further unbalanced Lasseen, because she thought they were loyal). Outside of that, the only defensive action we are aware of her taking with regard to the old guard is knocking WJ down to sergeant so he doesn't serve as a beacon for rebellion. The BBs weren't really sacrificed on her watch (I could be wrong but iirc that was on Tayschrenn's hands or was a big mistake or something), though I'm guessing you're thinking about them being made outlaws later.
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May 14, 2014 20:41
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Habibi posted:The BBs weren't really sacrificed on her watch (I could be wrong but iirc that was on Tayschrenn's hands or was a big mistake or something), though I'm guessing you're thinking about them being made outlaws later. But yeah, Tayschrenn says he thought the BBs would be safer in the tunnels, I recall.
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May 14, 2014 20:50
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dwarf74 posted:Is there anyone else who thinks this is pretty much a retcon? We never really find out what actually happened or why at Pale. Tayschrenn says he was trying to help the Bridgeburners and only killed Nightchill after she turned on the others, but he also had good reasons to lie about it.
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May 14, 2014 23:46
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Habibi posted:The important thing to remember is that she didn't purge most of the old guard - they purged themselves (and it was an act that further unbalanced Lasseen, because she thought they were loyal). I'm on my phone at work at the moment so can't really look it up but there's a reference in one of the books that Surly had Napan royalty connections and the commanders that drowned were ex Napan, hinting at a longer standing feud. With the demotions and inversion of command there's a conversation between Dujek and Whiskeyjack in MoI where they discuss that it was all part of the plan, so the right people were there when poo poo got real.
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May 15, 2014 00:10
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Aargh posted:I'm on my phone at work at the moment so can't really look it up but there's a reference in one of the books that Surly had Napan royalty connections and the commanders that drowned were ex Napan, hinting at a longer standing feud. Yes, iirc the context of that reference was that all those Old Guard Napans went and appeared to off themselves because they knew that, being Napan, if they stuck around to serve Surly it would look like they were party to the betrayal/assassination due to their association / background.
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May 15, 2014 00:51
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dwarf74 posted:Is there anyone else who thinks this is pretty much a retcon? Well, that is more likely due to the inconsistencies between GotM and the rest of the series. Tayschreen was quite heavily retconned during the series.
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May 15, 2014 10:52
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I never got the whole thing about the Empress sacrificing the Wickans though. Also, how did she manage to lose the Moranth's support?
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May 15, 2014 18:06
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amuayse posted:Also, how did she manage to lose the Moranth's support? Everyone who signed the contract with the Moranth was dead. No one alive to honor the contract with, no reason to stick around. Orb, scepters throne sorta spoiler. And then they realize someone is alive to honor the contract in Orb, Scepter, Throne Spermy Smurf fucked around with this message at 23:37 on May 15, 2014 |
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May 15, 2014 18:11
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amuayse posted:I never got the whole thing about the Empress sacrificing the Wickans though. Also, how did she manage to lose the Moranth's support? I'm fairly sure she was getting the support of the nobles by giving them Wickan lands - satisfying them by killing off the Wickan military leaders and then taking their lands later on.
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May 15, 2014 18:38
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amuayse posted:I never got the whole thing about the Empress sacrificing the Wickans though. Also, how did she manage to lose the Moranth's support? I interpreted it as her redirecting the anger of the Mob. She felt like Malaz City could explode at any moment, so it was better to give the Mob an enemy on which to vent their anger.
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May 15, 2014 19:12
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It's also because Mallick Rel is a huge, spiteful piece of poo poo.
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May 15, 2014 19:15
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Oh Snapple! posted:It's also because Mallick Rel is a huge, spiteful piece of poo poo.
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May 15, 2014 20:41
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Spermy Smurf posted:Everyone who signed the contract with the Moranth was dead. No one alive to honor the contract with, no reason to stick around. I realise its my fault for reading spoilers and having not read ICE's books but mind giving a heads up Oh Snapple! posted:It's also because Mallick Rel is a huge, spiteful piece of poo poo. I'm still surprised any of this happened since the impression given was that she could have stopped it when she wanted anyway but wanted Kalam to take over and he rejected it and as awesome as Kalam is he's still 1 person Jose fucked around with this message at 22:35 on May 15, 2014 |
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May 15, 2014 22:31
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There was also a passage about how They needed the agriculture space, so exterminating the Wickans would also be a land grab.
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May 15, 2014 23:06
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Jose posted:I realise its my fault for reading spoilers and having not read ICE's books but mind giving a heads up . Will edit my post, but it's not exactly a secret throughout the series. Even Eriksons books say it. Esselmonts book just shows it in detail.
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May 15, 2014 23:37
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Been reading the forge of darkness book. Got about halfway to the death of that horse and had to take a break. Man that was hard to read.
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May 16, 2014 02:00
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Jose posted:I realise its my fault for reading spoilers and having not read ICE's books but mind giving a heads up Biggest non spoiler ever but Dassem is still alive. That's why they can still honour the contract.
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May 16, 2014 19:52
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amuayse posted:I never got the whole thing about the Empress sacrificing the Wickans though. Jose posted:I'm still surprised any of this happened [spoiler] since the impression given was that she could have stopped it when she wanted anyway but wanted Kalam to take over and he rejected it and as awesome as Kalam is he's still 1 person
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May 16, 2014 21:42
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The impression I got was that Laseen was a really, really loving awesome assassin. Probably second only to Dancer. She'd crush Kalam if he fought her, he could take his Otateral daggers and she'd just beat him to death. She was even good at politics at a more local level, such as leading the Claw and organizing the betrayal of Kellanved. The problem was that she just didn't have the talent for managing an empire and she hosed it all up eventually.
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May 17, 2014 06:11
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NovemberMike posted:The impression I got was that Laseen was a really, really loving awesome assassin. Probably second only to Dancer. She'd crush Kalam if he fought her, he could take his Otateral daggers and she'd just beat him to death. She was even good at politics at a more local level, such as leading the Claw and organizing the betrayal of Kellanved. The problem was that she just didn't have the talent for managing an empire and she hosed it all up eventually. She was good, but I don't know how easy a time she'd have with Kalam. It was mentioned at one point that, purely in terms of fighting, Kalam was as good as or better than anyone in the Claw. Lasseen would have probably beaten him with the use her (imperial?) warren, but his otataral would negate that advantage, and she'd have to face him with hands/weapons. And clearly Kalam thought he could take her, given his plot from GotM/DHG (and that was before he acquired the dagger). As far as politics, it is also mentioned that she was responsible for at least some of the tactics Kellanved used to expand his empire, so clearly had some capability for tactics. As you say, her weakness was in actually managing the empire once she had it. She tried to do it through ruthlessness, which had to a large extent worked for Kellanved, but she had a knack for doing it the wrong way at the wrong time.
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May 17, 2014 06:33
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