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Just finished Midnight Tides. It was a bit of a slog at parts to get through but I think the good still far outweighed the bad. My favorite character was Brys Beddict, it was actually surprisingly refreshing to have a straight ahead noble good guy knight character in the series. Second favorite was of course Tehol, although I was bummed that his big plan to topple the economy fizzled out. Looking forward to getting back to Karsa.
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Sep 16, 2014 13:15
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Tokelau All Star posted:Just finished Midnight Tides. It was a bit of a slog at parts to get through but I think the good still far outweighed the bad. My favorite character was Brys Beddict, it was actually surprisingly refreshing to have a straight ahead noble good guy knight character in the series. Always remember that when Tehol is involved - "OR DID IT?"  is applicable.
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Sep 16, 2014 13:59
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Man, Kyle seems like a big dumb baby half the time for a Crimson Guardsman.
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Sep 17, 2014 02:53
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amuayse posted:Man, Kyle seems like a big dumb baby half the time for a Crimson Guardsman. You can probably chalk it up to ICE's writing, but Crimson Guard... ain't all that great.
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Sep 17, 2014 07:40
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The residents of Assail seem a bit disappointing as well. Just a bunch of dirt farmers and not-Vikings. I expected something insane like the Moranth Jungle or Seguleh Island.
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Sep 18, 2014 03:41
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I can't help but feel underwhelmed as well. I'm a little over halfway through and it's all pretty dull. There are several sets of POV characters on boats and I can barely differentiate them/their importance to the plots. Lots of cool stuff has happened, but it doesn't feel like it's in service to a larger story. Quite disappointing after building up Assail over 10+ books. Also, the storyline that I was most interested in revisiting (Silverfox) has barely featured at all. I don't hate Kyle as much as I used to, but he's gotten the lion's share of the spotlight thus far. Maybe it'll come around by the end and be good? I hope so.
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Sep 18, 2014 05:11
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Reading the blurb for Fall of Light on amazon will we finally get a proper explanation on chaos or have I just forgotten that during reading the main series? Also for Forge of Darkness spoilers again I'm forgetting, but did the Jaghut have access to Omtose Phellack before K'rul did what he did? Reading the book in bursts over a space of time really makes you forget small details. That, and keeping up with all the characters names and who they were. I've never had that problem in any of the other Malazan books
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Sep 18, 2014 08:15
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Almost done Memories of Ice now, what a ride so far. Someone please assuage my fear that this series doesn't get any better. I'm already sorta dreading Midnight Tides for the new plot/characters, but I felt the same way starting Deadhouse Gates and welp.
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Sep 18, 2014 16:24
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acumen posted:Almost done Memories of Ice now, what a ride so far. Someone please assuage my fear that this series doesn't get any better. I'm already sorta dreading Midnight Tides for the new plot/characters, but I felt the same way starting Deadhouse Gates and welp. Midnight Tides is imho a better introduction for the series than Gardens of the Moon. The new cast and continent are all really well done despite being disconnected from the other characters. The beginning of House of Chains counts as well.
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Sep 18, 2014 16:26
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Just bear with it when it switches characters, the results are still good for the most part. Some of the later books drag at times but still have amazing payoffs
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Sep 19, 2014 01:35
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Jose posted:Reading the blurb for Fall of Light on amazon will we finally get a proper explanation on chaos or have I just forgotten that during reading the main series? Also for Forge of Darkness spoilers again I'm forgetting, but did the Jaghut have access to Omtose Phellack before K'rul did what he did? Yes. Elder race, elder Warren (/hold/whatever).
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Sep 19, 2014 14:54
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Finally finished MoI. What a powerful third act. I wasn't at all expecting anything worse than Capustan, but it happened with the near annihilation of Dujek's army, and I already knew about Whiskeyjack's death. I'm pretty sure I fistpumped when Tool rolled in out of nowhere to gently caress poo poo up. The last scene of the few remaining Bridgeburners listening to Duiker's story really brought everything together. Can't wait to start House of Chains tonight.
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Sep 19, 2014 23:01
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Habibi posted:Yes. Elder race, elder Warren (/hold/whatever). Then, another question I might have blanked on, why? I mean it seems the Tiste were without magic until Draconus interefered and the Imass got theirs from Olar Ethil to some extent. I do wonder if/when the K'Chain Che'malle will show up
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Sep 20, 2014 06:58
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What is the next trilogy slated for after the Kharkanas trilogy? I remember reading something about it after TCG came out and I remember being way more interested in it compared to Kharkanas but I can't remember what it was going to be about.
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Sep 22, 2014 22:08
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Razzled posted:What is the next trilogy slated for after the Kharkanas trilogy? I remember reading something about it after TCG came out and I remember being way more interested in it compared to Kharkanas but I can't remember what it was going to be about. It's gonna be about Karsa.
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Sep 22, 2014 22:34
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apophenium posted:It's gonna be about Karsa. Oh gently caress yeah, right on. It's gonna be a long few years :[ Maybe I should re-read the entire series 
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Sep 22, 2014 22:35
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Razzled posted:Oh gently caress yeah, right on. It's gonna be a long few years :[ That's a good idea regardless. On which note, after the disappointment of Assail, I decided to go back and reread all the other ICE novels (except NoK, because masochism has a limit) as it had been a while since I touched them, and I read them all interspersed with main series. Finished RotCG and am halfway through Stonewielder, and I'm noticing that, one, both books are leagues better than Assail; two, that I am enjoying the books far more for having read them one right after the other, as they revolve not just around the same main characters, but also minor ones (eg: it didn't even register before that the Seguleh you meet in Return also show up at Moon's Spawn in OST); three, that although I was not a fan of Assail, the information it contained has made both Return and Stonewielder more interesting novels.
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Sep 23, 2014 01:31
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I'm working my way through Toll The Hounds right now. It's okay. Sorta cool to see Darujhistan again. But there's so many characters I don't really care about, and the Tiste Andii are such sadsacks. Everyone weeping all the time for a reason I don't fully understand. They just live too long.
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Sep 23, 2014 04:46
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Ccs posted:I'm working my way through Toll The Hounds right now. It's okay. Sorta cool to see Darujhistan again. But there's so many characters I don't really care about, and the Tiste Andii are such sadsacks. Everyone weeping all the time for a reason I don't fully understand. They just live too long. The best* bit is that the group in TTH are literally the youngest Andii in existence. *not the best Don't worry, they do improve later on in the book.
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Sep 23, 2014 07:41
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Funnily enough, I had quite the opposite reaction to TtH. I didn't mind the Andii bits (Nimader's group in particular I found pretty good) but found myself skimming through the Darujhistan parts, mostly because I simply can't bring myself to care about any of those characters.
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Sep 23, 2014 09:31
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I personally like Darujhistan a lot more post-Gardens. Nimander and Co. I didn't like for the longest time until Clip finally forced Nimander to become badass.
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Sep 23, 2014 15:24
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amuayse posted:I personally like Darujhistan a lot more post-Gardens. Nimander and Co. I didn't like for the longest time until Clip finally forced Nimander to become badass. I personally think it shows how completely little they really thought of Clip for the majority of the book, like a very younger cousin you're bringing on an "adventure" because they're so self centred and you put up with it because you were taught to be polite.
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Sep 23, 2014 16:31
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I'm making my way through Reaper's Gale right now, still early on, but I just got to Karsa's first appearance. I literally laughed aloud when it consisted of him killing a rat out of boredom, handing it to the ship's captain just to be an rear end in a top hat, then proceeding to beat his own royal escort into submission for being impolite 
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Sep 24, 2014 01:18
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Habibi posted:That's a good idea regardless. I think it's pretty common sense that if you read a series of books in order by one author that it's a better experience then changing between two. I'm not even sure the point you're making. We know ICE's side is only barely touching Erikson, so of course reading them in timeline order would be weird, they're two loving different authors telling two different stories.
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Sep 24, 2014 01:56
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Finished The Bonehunters last night, so much awesome stuff it's almost too much to remember. My favorite character in the whole series is Paran, so I was pretty stoked at what he did and where he ended up. Also, Chekhov's Jade Giants. That was a great out of nowhere payoff to the freakiest scene in Book 4(?). Some stuff I didn't like though, Quick Ben being a dick the entire book, and not the lovable kind of rear end in a top hat he was in Book 3, and the ending was sort of a letdown. Did we really need Part II of Kalam Kills 5000 Guys? Also his "death" didn't hit very hard because we already know he's superman. On the whole, I can tell that Kalam is meant to be a super cool character (and was for a while in the first couple of books), but with other killers like Apsalar and Karsa around he becomes kind of lame. I also wish the individual Bonehunters had slightly more imaginative names, because it's hard to keep track of who the hell everyone is. On to Reaper's Gale!
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Sep 24, 2014 02:07
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It's pretty easy to tell which characters were played by ICE and Esselmont in their D&D game. All the cool ones who know way more than everyone else (kalem, Karsa, quick, paran, fiddler, cotillion and the rope and a dozen others). But yeah, that's just part of the series. Edit: VVVV I agree with you. One author writes well, the other is 7th grade fan fiction. Of course it's different. It's like reading a Gemmel story about Druss versus Tehol and Bugg. One is readable and rereadable, the other is barely skim worthy. Spermy Smurf fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Sep 24, 2014 |
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Sep 24, 2014 02:34
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Barreft posted:I think it's pretty common sense that if you read a series of books in order by one author that it's a better experience then changing between two. quote:they're two loving different authors telling two different stories. Habibi fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Sep 24, 2014 |
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Sep 24, 2014 02:35
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Fiddler does punch QB in the face a lot for being an rear end.
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Sep 24, 2014 04:29
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Just finished House of Chains: Overall, somewhat of a letdown after reading Memories of Ice. With the Whirlwind plot, I was expecting a series of pitched battles blooding Tavore's army and instead all I got was a scorned lover, a stressed out Commander, and Tavore being Cold and Distant. At least Fid and Gesler made it somewhat interesting. The story of squashing the Whirlwind really seemed to just be an obvious slog from the get-go towards "Sha'ik gets betrayed by Korbolo Dom, dies somehow, Malazans win". I kept waiting for Tavore to pull a masterstroke against the Rebellion and it never happened. It was just such a stark change from the previous three books which were a gradual crescendo to incredible drama and pathos, where in HoC the peak was essentially the entirety of the first 'book'. On that note, Karsa Orlong really sold the novel, and was by far the most interesting PoV. What an unrelenting badass. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where the story goes with Cotillion/Shadowthrone's grab for power and what Laseen has to do with it all. Between that, the mysteries of the Crippled God and the Tiste Edur/Liosan/Andii there was plenty hinted at but not resolved that's gonna make the series' second act that much more interesting for me. acumen fucked around with this message at 10:45 on Sep 24, 2014 |
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Sep 24, 2014 10:37
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Spermy Smurf posted:It's pretty easy to tell which characters were played by ICE and Esselmont in their D&D game. All the cool ones who know way more than everyone else (kalem, Karsa, quick, paran, fiddler, cotillion and the rope and a dozen others). Funny thing about that; I'm fairly sure Erikson had said that he was Cotilion and ICE played Kellanved/Shadowthrone.
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Sep 24, 2014 14:42
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Don't worry, acumen: Tavore gets better. I'm on Dust of Dreams right now, and I'm only now starting to understand her character.
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Sep 24, 2014 15:40
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Ynglaur posted:Don't worry, acumen: Tavore gets better. I'm on Dust of Dreams right now, and I'm only now starting to understand her character. And even then, a lot about her doesn't even get revealed until TCG. anilEhilated posted:Funny thing about that; I'm fairly sure Erikson had said that he was Cotilion and ICE played Kellanved/Shadowthrone. No doubt ICE played Kyle, who is the in-universe representation of his writing: gets the job done, I guess, but it's not pretty, sometimes it's by accident, and he needs a lot of help to get there.
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Sep 24, 2014 17:40
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Habibi posted:No doubt ICE played Kyle, who is the in-universe representation of his writing: gets the job done, I guess, but it's not pretty, sometimes it's by accident, and he needs a lot of help to get there. Ugh, this is painfully accurate. Assail is really becoming a slog.
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Sep 24, 2014 18:42
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Kyle's moods seem to swing between self-righteous smugness and dumbfounded surprise.
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Sep 25, 2014 00:19
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Ugh, I finally finished Assail. It wasn't bad, but I wasn't expecting something that just came off like Midnight Tides in a more boring version of Skyrim. I going to finish Book of the Long Sun and Warhammer Fantasy's Storm of Chaos now.
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Sep 26, 2014 17:17
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A more boring version of Skyrim, now there's an achievement.
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Sep 26, 2014 18:35
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Assail was so hyped up in the series proper, I was so excited to see the place finally. Can't believe he was so tame in the actual book.
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Sep 28, 2014 00:12
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Barreft posted:Assail was so hyped up in the series proper, I was so excited to see the place finally. Can't believe he was so tame in the actual book. Can someone just spoil what the overall plot of the book is for me? I really don't want to have to read the book to learn what happened to some of the loose strings of MoI.
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Sep 28, 2014 00:19
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Ethiser posted:Can someone just spoil what the overall plot of the book is for me? I really don't want to have to read the book to learn what happened to some of the loose strings of MoI. Gold Rush of the Fallen.
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Sep 28, 2014 00:50
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I thought the big thing with Assail was that 3 tyrant mages were playing a game with each other using their subjects as fodder and the lost imass clans were throwing wave after wave of themselves into these tyrants who were stronger than jaghut tyrants. There was even a memory of assail in TCG right? With some laughing bearded mage guy? Im 75% of the way in there and idgi, where are trio of insane mages? Where is the imass meat grinder? Also I loving hate that every character ends a sentence with hey in ICE books, hey
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Sep 28, 2014 07:54
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