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The Rat posted:I'm halfway through the Broken Empire trilogy and I have mixed feelings about it. The writing and world-building is excellent. The setting had me a little surprised once I figured out what era it was set in. But the narrator is an absolute unlikeable oval office. And this is coming from someone who enjoyed all the Flashman novels. The narrator improves and becomes someone who isn't exactly likable but is a well formed character. He also realises he's a complete piece of poo poo, which helps. The second and third novels are definitely better than the first, and I feel that Lawrence could have shaved off some of the grimdark poo poo from the first novel and had a trilogy which was unambiguously good and easy to recommend series, but whatever, it's still pretty great.
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Dec 25, 2014 14:59
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Yeah don't get me wrong, I don't mind grim characters in general. Shivers, Gorst, Takeshi Kovacs, Flashman, I'm all right with those. But when Jorg starts off the book with raping peasant girls and then burning them to death? It's a bit much. I just finished the second book and liked it more than the first, thank to having less of that. Onto the third now.
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Dec 25, 2014 21:00
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Don't judge the first book until you read the third. Real shitshow, that book 3. Prince of Fools has more promise than the first trilogy though.
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Dec 25, 2014 23:55
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Jack Ketch posted:I just started Mark Lawrence's new book, Prince of Fools, it seems much in the same vein as Flashman according to what he's said about his influences. Though I'm having a hard time getting into it, mostly since I loved characters like Gorst, Shivers, Ninefingers and Jorg so maybe I'm kinda hosed but hopefully it grabs me soon, kinda mechanically reading it at work while there's downtime. I really wish it grabbed me like the first chapter of Prince of Thorns or Abercrombie's stuff. Ran into Snorri yet? I liked that book better than any of the Prince of Thorns books and I liked that series a fair amount
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Dec 26, 2014 02:05
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I read 2/3rds of the Broken Empire before giving up. The 2nd book's jumping back and forth in time made it really hard to follow unless I was sat down binge-reading it for a few hours (as opposed to my normal pace). Overall, I thought it tried to be a little to clever sometimes, like, "We get it... Jorg has a gun, please move on." Those books were actually the impetus for me to eventually discover Abercrombie, and I'm much happier with his books. That being said, if you follow Mark Lawrence on FB, he'll respond to your comments and stuff. He's a cool dude.
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Dec 29, 2014 15:40
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Just finished the Broken Empire trilogy. Felt like the ending was really rushed. (Luckily I'm used to rushed endings thanks to Dan Abnett  ) Like I mentioned before, I enjoyed the setting and the writing style and whatnot. But based on how much of a oval office Jorg is, I don't feel like it's something I'd recommend to friends.That said, whenever Lawrence's next trilogy in the same setting is out and complete, I'll read it. (I hate reading trilogies bit by bit and having to wait months/years for the next one to be released.) The Rat fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Jan 7, 2015 |
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Jan 7, 2015 01:26
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The Rat posted:Just finished the Broken Empire trilogy. Felt like the ending was really rushed. (Luckily I'm used to rushed endings thanks to Dan Abnett
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Jan 7, 2015 04:20
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UncleMonkey posted:Wait, so Joe has books 2 and 3 finished? How did you get advance copies of both? Broken Empire is Mark Lawrence. That said, it's possible to have an ARC of Half the World at least, but as far as I know Half a War is still in the editing phase (though the latter part of it). They're both being published this year.
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Jan 7, 2015 04:22
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Ornamented Death posted:Broken Empire is Mark Lawrence. 
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Jan 7, 2015 09:47
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The Rat posted:Just finished the Broken Empire trilogy. Felt like the ending was really rushed. (Luckily I'm used to rushed endings thanks to Dan Abnett I just finished Prince of Fools yesterday, and it's about a million times better IMO. Same style of fairly reprehensible main character, but a lot less psychopathic raping and setting people on fire and a lot more womanizing and being cowardly
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Jan 7, 2015 22:24
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I blew through TFL trilogy, then BSC, then The Heroes. Loved them all. I just want to see Logan again. That scene in The Heroes, while the Northmen are charging through the fog in the Orchards on their way up to the Heroes... and then you hear fighting and people shouting . Union men running and screaming "THE BLOODY NINE! HE'S HERE!!". Then you hear his maniacal bloody laugh echoing through all the chaos. I was so pumped at that point. I literally put the book down for a few seconds while I went "HOOOOLY loving poo poo!!!" And then I find out it was just a (good) ruse  I just started reading Red Country through, and I read in the thread that TB9 will make an appearance! Can't wait.
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Jan 16, 2015 20:16
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Red Country spoilers: Lamb is TB9, right?
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Jan 18, 2015 16:03
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RCarr posted:Red Country spoilers: Yes.
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Jan 18, 2015 16:09
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RCarr posted:I blew through TFL trilogy, then BSC, then The Heroes. Loved them all. I just want to see Logan again. If you don't think The Dogman is the most likable dude in the series, I ain't got nothin' for you.
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Jan 19, 2015 00:02
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Abercrombie's so good at writing lovable villains though. My favourite character all up was probably the sperglord poisoner from BSC.
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Jan 19, 2015 05:15
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02-6611-0142-1 posted:Abercrombie's so good at writing lovable villains though. My favourite character all up was probably the sperglord poisoner from BSC. Friendly and Cosca made BSC into one of my favorite books. Morveer is the only detracting factor from the novel, but even he's perfect at being what he has to be. In Red Country I just assume Cosca's brain is fried from syphilis and alcoholism.
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Jan 19, 2015 05:27
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Grand Prize Winner posted:You know the thing that weirds me out about Abercrombie's YA stuff? They're like action movies. Not much sex or swearing, plenty of violence.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:59
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I'm trying to decide what fantasy to read next, I know I want to read Best Served Cold/The Heroes/Red Country at some point as I enjoyed The First Law trilogy. I'm just wondering, how do they compared to the First Law? Are they as good, or not as good? I mean, I know they aren't poo poo or anything, I'm just trying to decide if I want to read them NOW, or if I can sit on them for a while. I got lots of books to read that are all supposed to be awesome and it's hard to decide what to read next at the moment, you know? If they are even better than First Law I'll bump 'em up in my queue.
Damo fucked around with this message at 05:40 on Jan 21, 2015 |
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Jan 21, 2015 05:33
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Damo posted:I'm trying to decide what fantasy to read next, I know I want to read Best Served Cold/The Heroes/Red Country at some point as I enjoyed The First Law trilogy. I'm just wondering, how do they compared to the First Law? Are they as good, or not as good? I mean, I know they aren't poo poo or anything, I'm just trying to decide if I want to read them NOW, or if I can sit on them for a while. I got lots of books to read that are all supposed to be awesome and it's hard to decide what to read next at the moment, you know? If they are even better than First Law I'll bump 'em up in my queue. Best Served Cold is all about the revenge. Think Count of Monte Cristo, or Kill Bill in novel form. Lots of Cosca, which was one of my favorite characters from TFL. The Heroes is all about war, or more specifically, one battle spanning a few days between The Union (and Union-allied Northmen under The Dogman) versus the Northmen under Black Dow. This is my favorite fantasy book period, so I'd call it better than TFL. The barbarians are my favorite part of the Crombieverse though so YMMV. Red Country is a gritty western (Joe says he was heavily influenced by Deadwood). Some of the coolest characters from the series are in this book, but written in a different style. It's a cool new perspective on the world. Are they better than TFL? Maybe. Maybe not. All of the above books are influenced by different genres of writing and have their own independent themes. If any of those themes appeal to you then you will probably like that book a lot. I'd say keep reading because gently caress those other books that are supposed to be awesome and gently caress the people who told you there are more awesome fantasy writers than Joe Abercrombie. Suxpool fucked around with this message at 09:06 on Jan 21, 2015 |
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Jan 21, 2015 09:02
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I really liked both BFC and The Heroes and think they may well be better than TFL. They are smaller in scope as single books but still very cool. Red Country was different, I liked it but probably not on the same level as the others.
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Jan 21, 2015 17:30
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Best Served Cold question: Sulfur and Shenkt knew each other. Sulfur is a eater, and Shenkt is a eater; It seemed to be heavily implied that Shenkt was one of the eaters from The First Law, but he says that both he and Sulfur served the same master. I'm assuming this is Bayaz. I can't remember Bayaz having an eater besides Sulfur on his side in TFL. I can't for the life of me place who the hell Shenkt is supposed to be; Am I just reading too much into it, and Shenkt isn't a recurring character from TFL?
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Jan 21, 2015 20:57
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Geisladisk posted:Best Served Cold question: Sulfur and Shenkt knew each other. Sulfur is a eater, and Shenkt is a eater; It seemed to be heavily implied that Shenkt was one of the eaters from The First Law, but he says that both he and Sulfur served the same master. I'm assuming this is Bayaz. I can't remember Bayaz having an eater besides Sulfur on his side in TFL. I can't for the life of me place who the hell Shenkt is supposed to be; Am I just reading too much into it, and Shenkt isn't a recurring character from TFL? Yeah as far as I know Shenkt wasn't in TFL, he's just a former apprentice of Bayaz.
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Jan 21, 2015 20:59
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Damo posted:I'm trying to decide what fantasy to read next, I know I want to read Best Served Cold/The Heroes/Red Country at some point as I enjoyed The First Law trilogy. I'm just wondering, how do they compared to the First Law? Are they as good, or not as good? I mean, I know they aren't poo poo or anything, I'm just trying to decide if I want to read them NOW, or if I can sit on them for a while. I got lots of books to read that are all supposed to be awesome and it's hard to decide what to read next at the moment, you know? If they are even better than First Law I'll bump 'em up in my queue. Best Served Cold and The Heroes are both better than The First Law.
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Jan 22, 2015 03:48
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Suxpool posted:I'd say keep reading because gently caress those other books that are supposed to be awesome and gently caress the people who told you there are more awesome fantasy writers than Joe Abercrombie. Am I the only one that noticed this little nugget?
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Jan 22, 2015 04:44
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Yeah as far as I know Shenkt wasn't in TFL, he's just a former apprentice of Bayaz. Pretty much this. It's pretty strongly implied that Shenkt was Bayaz' previous apprentice and do-dirt henchman, and he got tired of working for an evil son of a bitch so he went independent. Shenkt being the elder Eater would likely make him more powerful than Sulfur, which obviously scares him shitless.
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Jan 22, 2015 08:05
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I read the Broken Empire series after seeing it mentioned here. I quite liked it, but I actually enjoyed the first book the most - I quite like having a violent nutter as a protagonist. The second book had some interesting details, but I founded its constantly changing time periods hard to follow. The third book also had good parts, but overall it felt like it rushed to the ending and the ending was... odd. I'd really like to read a book on the Dead King's rise to power though, from the glimpses we got it seems a hell of an achievement.
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Jan 23, 2015 11:57
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Cosca was probably my favorite character in BSC. I was legit sad when he evidently died. In Red Country he was hard to like and got a little irritating, but I think maybe that was the point.RCarr posted:Red Country spoilers: I don't think it's ever explicitly declared that yes this is Logen Ninefingers, the character from TFL unless I'm forgetting about it, but you are strongly and repeatedly led to that conclusion by what's revealed about the character's history and capabilities, and it would seem kind of pointless to me if it turns out it was actually a red herring. Ross fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 03:30
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Ross posted:I don't think it's ever explicitly declared that ... Umm, your definition of "explicitly" is apparently a bit more "I need the Graven Writ of God" than mine. Seriously, Shivers notes that he's "Got to tell ’em that nine-fingered bastard is back to the mud." and you don't take that as confirmation? I mean, sure, the other 5-ish references to a nine-fingered northman Shivers is out to find, or to Lamb being "bloody, all right." could be coincidence, although extremely unlikely. I mean, you have to be realistic about these things. ulmont fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 04:00
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ulmont posted:Umm, your definition of "explicitly" is apparently a bit more "I need the Graven Writ of God" than mine. And from the end of the chapter where Dab is introduced. Thumb slipping out between his fingers over and over, rubbing at the stump of the middle one. The missing one. ‘We all got a past,’ he said.
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Jan 25, 2015 04:08
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Also holding up his 4-fingered hand and Glama Golden realizing right then that he's going to die.
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Jan 25, 2015 04:10
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I wasn't trying to hit every piece of evidence. Or I'd be quoting the whole damned book.
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Jan 25, 2015 04:15
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I'm not saying it's not him, christ.
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Jan 25, 2015 04:42
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Also holding up his 4-fingered hand and Glama Golden realizing right then that he's going to die. The greatest scene in the book. If that didn't give you chills I'm forced to conclude you're a robot.
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Jan 25, 2015 04:52
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Braking Gnus posted:The greatest scene in the book. If that didn't give you chills I'm forced to conclude you're a robot. Yeah I wasn't trying to make some zinger argument, just wanted to point out a cool as hell scene where it's evident.
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Jan 25, 2015 04:57
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Yeah, sorry, that had nothing to do with the discussion at all. I just felt it needed to be said. Should have added that to the end.
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Jan 25, 2015 05:05
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Abercrombie does this thing where he won't use certain character names from previous books. At least some of the major ones. I can't remember Jezal or Glokta being referred to by name after TFL, or Monza after BSC.
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Jan 25, 2015 09:28
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How many people refer to the president as "Barak", or Barak Obama? Generally people don't refer to rulers of nations by their names, or it's just King or President X. But most commonly "the president/king". Blind Melon fucked around with this message at 10:22 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 10:20
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02-6611-0142-1 posted:Best Served Cold and The Heroes are both better than The First Law. Correct opinions itt
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Jan 25, 2015 12:32
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They wouldn't work without the trilogy though. None of his Circle of the World books are actually self-contained. You don't have to read all of them, but if you haven't read the trilogy parts of BSC and Heroes don't make sense. The only reason that whole scene with Bayaz and the corpse pit works as well as it does is because of how well established Bayaz has been by the trilogy.
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Jan 26, 2015 02:26
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I was rereading Red Country and man it really illustrates how much it sucks to be on the receiving end of Cosca's bullshit.
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Jan 26, 2015 02:30
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