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Cardiac posted:Don't know if I could force myself to reread the 2 first series of Thomas Covenant a third time. My tolerance for characters suffering is pretty low after Donaldson, Williams and Hobb (Hobb is always good though). If your tolerance for characters suffering is low, you won't even make it to the end of the first Gap novel.
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Mar 29, 2016 07:49
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Amazon is putting Fall of Light's release date at April 26th, hard to believe I'm just three (long) weeks away from reading it. I just finished my first re-read of the series (mostly through Audible) and three weeks is just enough time for me to listen through Forge of Darkness. Getting hyped!
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Apr 5, 2016 06:44
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I'm still slowly grinding my way through Midnight Tides. It hasn't taken me this long to read a Malazan book since GotM, and I'm still not sure why. Halfway through MT, and it's just as good as everything that came before, but it's still feeling like a real slog. But Rhulad has just come back to life and become Emperor, so I assume it's him that Paran needs to worry about, rather than Mosag, the Azath is dead and some ancient being (presumably from the prologue) is trying to get out, and Bugg is looking more and more suspicious. I assume it's going to be all convergence and economic holocaust from here on out. cptn_dr fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Apr 5, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 06:50
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cptn_dr posted:But Rhulad has just come back to life and become Emperor, so I assume it's him that Paran needs to worry about, rather than Mosag, the Azath is dead and some ancient being (presumably from the prologue) is trying to get out, and Bugg is looking more and more suspicious. I assume it's going to be all convergence and economic holocaust from here on out. Rhulad's resurrection is where it starts picking up, so don't worry it gets better! Also, the first chapter for Fall of Light is on TOR
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Apr 5, 2016 07:05
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Jedit posted:If your tolerance for characters suffering is low, you won't even make it to the end of the first Gap novel. I am afraid of that and that is one of the reasons for putting off reading that series. Mind you, I have read more Hobb and Williams than I care to admit so......
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Apr 5, 2016 10:29
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I wanted to thank goon Mayheim for suggesting me the Malazan series. I'm on RG right now and man, what a good series. Also decided to read the thread and Jesus you guys are such babies for hating the names. Can't wait for the latino themed squad so you start hating him for putting Cpl. De La Fuente or Sgt. Cahuantico and Squad Mage Texeira.
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Apr 6, 2016 01:45
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Erikson is a goddamn master. Still pretty jealous of that Goon who got the manuscript of Fall of Light to read.
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Apr 6, 2016 13:21
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Cardiac posted:I am afraid of that and that is one of the reasons for putting off reading that series.
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Apr 6, 2016 13:49
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cptn_dr posted:I'm still slowly grinding my way through Midnight Tides. It hasn't taken me this long to read a Malazan book since GotM, and I'm still not sure why. Halfway through MT, and it's just as good as everything that came before, but it's still feeling like a real slog. Personally I found the first half of MT to be kind of a slog and the second half to be a really fun and fast read.
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Apr 6, 2016 18:33
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Elyv posted:Personally I found the first half of MT to be kind of a slog and the second half to be a really fun and fast read. As everyone else in 180+ pages of this thread has said, power through and rest assured that all of this will eventually tie into the series' bigger picture. You'll be spending a lot more time in Lether and this is only the beginning. And the city side of the story introduces a handful of my favorite characters in the series. Also, like all of these, the second half gets really good.
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Apr 6, 2016 20:14
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I actually read MT right after Deadhouse because...something about the other books not arriving, it was a long time ago. Anyway, it's such a good standalone tale that I could read it without any confusion.
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Apr 6, 2016 20:39
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Mind you, you have no idea what a slog is until you tried TtH.
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Apr 6, 2016 20:40
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Trull and Tehol were both great from the start but i can't remember how much of early midnight tides they take up
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Apr 6, 2016 22:52
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anilEhilated posted:Mind you, you have no idea what a slog is until you tried TtH. I was crushing a reread of the series and that book stopped me cold.
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Apr 7, 2016 00:57
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It's the rest of the Edur drama that really drags. Most of the Edur seem intent on failing to develop as both characters, and as plot devices. Trull and Tehol are always pretty interesting, they just don't get enough screen time at the beginning.
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Apr 7, 2016 00:59
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re-reading the Korbelain & Broach books to bide my time until Fall of Light. I'll probably be able to fit in Forge too
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Apr 7, 2016 01:34
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anilEhilated posted:Mind you, you have no idea what a slog is until you tried TtH. Before or after one have read FoD? Because after FoD, TtH is pretty good.
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Apr 7, 2016 08:10
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I have no idea how to feel about FoD, on my first read I made it like half of the way through it and hated most of it. Last month I was thinking about it and decided to start fresh and go through it again and I finished it in a day and a half loving most of it. So really I have no loving idea what to think of that book other than that it is better than TtH.
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Apr 7, 2016 08:51
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Starting a re-read now after reading 1-3 about 10 years ago and immediately deciding they were the best fantasy I had ever read but then flaming out due to the sheer magnitude and pacing. Finishing GoTm now, trying to decide if I actually read 3 next to keep the story going and then alternate 2/4/etc. esp. since I understand enough of the cosmology to not be ruined by it. I had forgotten how frustrating it gets that everything/everyone is immortal and overpowered; within the first 300 pages it feels like an arms race, where each new character introduced is even MORE immortal and all-powerful and it gets really fatiguing. Rake is immortal and powerful BUT WAIT so is Pearl but wait even a single T'lan Imass could level an entire city and not be stopped BUT HERE'S THE JAGHUT TYRANT who's even MORE immortal and all-powerful than them! Calm down, buddy.
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Apr 7, 2016 16:55
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Transistor Rhythm posted:Starting a re-read now after reading 1-3 about 10 years ago and immediately deciding they were the best fantasy I had ever read but then flaming out due to the sheer magnitude and pacing. Eh, they are hardly immortal which you must have discovered by now. Also, one overhanging story arc in Malazan is how common soldiers can rise to best ancient powerful beings. The scene in the crippled god when the regulars say goodbye comes to mind.
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Apr 7, 2016 17:20
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Also, your perception of who is more powerful than whom will likely change several times throughout the series. It's not always consistent, either, though rarely with something as cheesy as a trick. It's more that you, the reader, rarely have all of the information.
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Apr 7, 2016 17:42
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Transistor Rhythm posted:Starting a re-read now after reading 1-3 about 10 years ago and immediately deciding they were the best fantasy I had ever read but then flaming out due to the sheer magnitude and pacing. Personally I always got stuck more on the "this dude is like ten thousand years old but but this other dude is ten THOUSAND thousand years old" thing but eh. Lunchmeat Larry fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Apr 7, 2016 |
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Apr 7, 2016 17:54
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Cardiac posted:Also, one overhanging story arc in Malazan is how common soldiers can rise to best ancient powerful beings.
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Apr 7, 2016 23:19
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Illinois Smith posted:I forget who the ancient D'ivers was who gets freed with the express purpose of loving up Icarium but then gets chumped by every mortal he meets. That part felt a bit annoying at the time but in hindsight "these ancient characters aren't nearly as all-powerful as they imagine themselves to be" is a definite theme. That's Dejim Nebrahl I believe. I also greatly enjoyed the squad of Tiste Liosan getting the same treatment.
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Apr 8, 2016 00:10
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pile of brown posted:That's Dejim Nebrahl I believe. I also greatly enjoyed the squad of Tiste Liosan getting the same treatment. Yep. As I remember, that whole "scary badass gets lit up repeatedly" bit first happened with [MoI] Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. As for the one you're talking about [Bonehunters] keep in mind Nebrahl DID accomplish his mission, quickly and effectively at that. He wasn't set loose to gently caress up Icarium, he was set loose to get Mappo out of the way. The rest happened later, and was in big part his own fault for supremely underestimating pretty much everyone he encountered. Fenrir fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Apr 8, 2016 |
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Apr 8, 2016 00:59
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Fenrir posted:As for the one you're talking about [Bonehunters] keep in mind Nebrahl DID accomplish his mission, quickly and effectively at that. He wasn't set loose to gently caress up Icarium, he was set loose to get Mappo out of the way. The rest happened later, and was in big part his own fault for supremely underestimating pretty much everyone he encountered.  But yeah, the underestimation thing happens a lot, even in Forge with Olar Ethil.
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Apr 8, 2016 01:13
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The best is in Letheras when Silchas Ruin in his dragon form is flying back to tear poo poo up and Fidler fucks him up with a cusser then Quick Ben tosses some magic at him. Silchas then promptly flys away like "eh, yeah I'm not loving with those guys." Actually, I'm pretty sure Fidler is the one ordinary dude that has hosed up more super powerful creatures/people than anyone else.
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Apr 8, 2016 02:44
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Illinois Smith posted:I forget who the ancient D'ivers was who gets freed with the express purpose of loving up Icarium but then gets chumped by every mortal he meets. That part felt a bit annoying at the time but in hindsight "these ancient characters aren't nearly as all-powerful as they imagine themselves to be" is a definite theme. I assume you're talking about the thing in Bonehunters. That was loving hilarious; it gets built up as this enormous scary thing, gets trashed by its first opposition halfway through the book, and iirc basically dies accidentally or something.
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Apr 8, 2016 02:53
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Mustang posted:The best is in Letheras when Silchas Ruin in his dragon form is flying back to tear poo poo up and Fidler fucks him up with a cusser then Quick Ben tosses some magic at him. Silchas then promptly flys away like "eh, yeah I'm not loving with those guys." Actually, I'm pretty sure Fidler is the one ordinary dude that has hosed up more super powerful creatures/people than anyone else. This is my favorite moment in the entire series.
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Apr 8, 2016 03:23
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Elyv posted:I assume you're talking about the thing in Bonehunters. That was loving hilarious; it gets built up as this enormous scary thing, gets trashed by its first opposition halfway through the book, and iirc basically dies accidentally or something.
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Apr 8, 2016 06:56
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Mustang posted:The best is in Letheras when Silchas Ruin in his dragon form is flying back to tear poo poo up and Fidler fucks him up with a cusser then Quick Ben tosses some magic at him. Silchas then promptly flys away like "eh, yeah I'm not loving with those guys." Actually, I'm pretty sure Fidler is the one ordinary dude that has hosed up more super powerful creatures/people than anyone else. Which is one of the many, many reasons why he is my favourite character in the entire series. I would almost call him the main protagonist of the series. Which again shows how Cook have influenced this series, considering the role of Croaker in Black Company. Also, which linear power progression applies to Fiddler? He doesn't turn ascendant nor dies and get unlimited cussers? The whole idea of linear power progression/every new character is mightier than last is just lazy rear end reading IMO. Like Kalam, he doesn't actually become better in the series and there are quotes saying even Dancer was wary about him prior to the start of the series.
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Apr 8, 2016 07:10
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That's probably a spoiler so maybe tag it. Fiddler is literally the main character of The Book of the Fallen though. Also Fiddler does ascend doesn't he? He is strong and ages slowly
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Apr 8, 2016 07:21
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Fiddler's the man. Just thinking of what the character has gone through though, he deserves a peaceful ending.  - Raraku pt. 1 - Mott Wood - his unit gets all but wiped out at Pale - Raest in Darujhistan - Azath House shenanigans - rejoins the goddamn army - Raraku pt. 2 / Whirlwind - Y'Ghatan - First boots on the ground invading Letheras - throws a grenade at a dragon - battles tesla coil-wielding space lizards - travels across a giant desert while dying of thirst - Crippled God's last stand Probably forgot a bunch of stuff in there (especially the stuff before GotM) too. Not a lot of fictional characters with a resume of badassery like that.
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Apr 8, 2016 07:59
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acumen posted:Fiddler's the man. Just thinking of what the character has gone through though, he deserves a peaceful ending. You forgot: Shutting down The Errant during the reading in Letheras. Pretty satisfying scene. The Drum during the invasion of Letheras
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Apr 8, 2016 08:14
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Wow, you guys were right when you said Midnight Tides picks up halfway through. It took me a month to read the first half, and four days to read the second. gently caress, that was a good ending.
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Apr 8, 2016 08:40
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Iskaral Pust is the man.
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Apr 8, 2016 09:30
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Cardiac posted:
Also given that Kalam gets rescued in TCG and immediately begins a ludicrously bloody and effective murder of Forkrul Assail chiefs I'd say he probably got stronger. Taking down the Claw was similarly impressive but landed him in Azath A&E for years. I agree that you can't rate characters on a linear scale of power but they definitely individually become more "powerful" in a way that's hard to read as anything other than a slightly silly but charming holdover of the story's RPG roots. I think the best example is when Quick Ben says that his fight with Icarium "stretched" him and made him able to access more warrens and stronger magic than he could before. He's literally stating he got in a tough encounter that levelled him up! Lunchmeat Larry fucked around with this message at 11:13 on Apr 8, 2016 |
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Apr 8, 2016 11:00
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:he's an ascended Rogue/Gadgeteer so his power is that cussers and other gadgets he uses get bonus damage because of his high-level feats and weapon specialization. He was already really high-level at the start because he was brought over from a previous campaign though. It's still better than the first Dragonlance books where you could hear Weiss and Hickman rolling the dice.
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Apr 8, 2016 13:28
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Ynglaur posted:It's still better than the first Dragonlance books where you could hear Weiss and Hickman rolling the dice.
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Apr 8, 2016 13:35
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:he's an ascended Rogue/Gadgeteer so his power is that cussers and other gadgets he uses get bonus damage because of his high-level feats and weapon specialization. He was already really high-level at the start because he was brought over from a previous campaign though. One of the many things I enjoyed about Malazan was how many fully-fleshed characters we met and no obvious RPG development. Paran and Cutter/Crokus have more traditional development and are pretty uninteresting to me. As for Quick Ben his veins basically burst versus Icarium due to overload and he lost that encounter. So therefore Trull > Quick Ben
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Apr 8, 2016 13:48
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