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Cosca did seem to go a bit...saturday morning cartoon evil at the very end, I seem to remember. Hard to say if that pettiness was in keeping with his character, but it definitely disappointed me.
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Mar 3, 2016 22:58
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Mystery Opponent posted:Funny, that was actually one of the reasons I didn't like Red Country as much as the other books. Like, sure, Cosca was obviously a dick what with him running a mercenary company and all, but he wasn't a murderous piece of poo poo in the other books. Well, not of the magnitude that he was in RC. From Best Served Cold: "The Thousand Swords fought for Ospria against Muris. They fought for Muris against Sipani. They fought for Sipani against Muris, then for Ospria again. Between contracts, they sacked Oprile on a whim. A month later, judging they had perhaps not been thorough enough, they sacked it again, and left it in smouldering ruins. They fought for everyone against no one, and no one against everyone, and all the while they hardly did any fighting at all. But robbery and plunder, arson and pillage, rape and extortion, yes." Cosca never personally got his hands dirty, but the behavior has always been there. VagueRant posted:Cosca did seem to go a bit...saturday morning cartoon evil at the very end, I seem to remember. Hard to say if that pettiness was in keeping with his character, but it definitely disappointed me. I figured it was sheer desperation. He crosses a couple lines at that point because he knows his time is up and there's no point in maintaining any veneer of romanticism. Magitek fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Mar 3, 2016 |
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Mar 3, 2016 23:01
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Mars4523 posted:Poor Brand in Half a War.
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Mar 4, 2016 01:46
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Magitek posted:From Best Served Cold: Yeah that's all true, but the character just didn't feel evil in the other books to me. Goat milk drinking trying to kick his drinking problem Cosca was my favourite 
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Mar 4, 2016 19:50
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Alright you talking smack about my man Corsica and I got to set it right. When Corsica reunites with his mercenary buddies and says they need a captain to be doing what a mercenary captain is supposed to be doing and Monza thinks its her because she is stupid and says something like "Win battles!", and Corsica looks at her like the idiot she is and says "Make Money" and everyone agrees and then he's the captain again? Corsica is not a good guy, but in Abercrombie's universe that is not saying much, but in the rankings of the "bad guys" Corsica is one of the best. His entire MO was to inflate the value of his mercenary company and only fight winning battles. Any time the fight changed for the worst it was time for him and his men to GTFO. His scheme where he divided his company, propagandized, and then held mock battles was brilliant. None of his men died, and they all made out like bandits, until Monza ruined it for everyone. Corsica is a evil dude, but he is an evil dude that actually cares a little bit about the lives of the men he leads, unlike anyone else in the circle of the world. In Red Country he has been broken and he has given up, as he says in the beginning the trick to his life now is to just not care. Ultimately it is this that destroys him he has lost his last piece of what made him human and has become an animal that even Friendly can not recognize.
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Mar 4, 2016 21:26
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But what about Sardinia
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Mar 4, 2016 23:07
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UncleMonkey posted:Yeah, that was brutal. Not going to lie. Seeing how it absolutely shatters Thorn makes it even worse.
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Mar 5, 2016 00:31
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:But what about Sardinia Autocorrect is a motherfucker. There are other people in the series who come up with a scheme to benefit their employees / people at large - my personal favorite probably has to be Finree, since we never actually see Calder get his poo poo together (other than his last scene with his brother  ) whereas Finree has a nonzero track record of looking out for the folks who were getting trodden underfoot and will probably make a really good wife-of-administrator. Almost certainly a better person than Cosca on balance, seeing as how the only people Cosca gave a poo poo about were A) himself and B) his employees, in that order.Finree's big problem (and Glokta's to the extent that his job doesn't inherently make him a terrible person) is that when presented with the opportunity to move up within the Union's moderately unpleasant system and work within it, fully aware that it's unpleasant and some of why, she made the obvious, sensible choice and said "gently caress yeah". She'll get to do some genuinely good things while being an effective cog in the machine of empire. Not that I don't love Cosca, mind you. He's a fantastic character and not completely bereft of redeeming qualitiies.
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Mar 7, 2016 22:07
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Calder's poo poo was kinda together for all of the heroes. He's the smartest guy in the north. He certainly learned things along the way, like how to show leadership and bring people together and all that. My point is, before any of that, he looked at the situation, inferred the best course of action, and it took black dow and friends three days of bloodshed to come to the same conclusion. He was a real prick in the trilogy, I can't say I was excited to read about him more, but drat if I wasn't with him from the start of the heroes.
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Mar 7, 2016 23:18
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Calder's poo poo was kinda together for all of the heroes. He's the smartest guy in the north. He certainly learned things along the way, like how to show leadership and bring people together and all that. My point is, before any of that, he looked at the situation, inferred the best course of action, and it took black dow and friends three days of bloodshed to come to the same conclusion. He was a real prick in the trilogy, I can't say I was excited to read about him more, but drat if I wasn't with him from the start of the heroes. Yeah, he only came behind Bremer for me in the "more flushed out formerly minor character from the trilogy that's now awesome" category. Well, in Heroes that is, Cosca will always be at the top of that list overall from all of the standalones.
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Mar 8, 2016 22:49
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Heads up thread! Sharp Ends is out today! (In the UK, at the very least.) I'm proud to say Joe himself signed my copy and I'm prouder still of what he wrote about me:  Bad news though, when I was waiting in line I overheard him say it will be a while before the next book, because he wants to write the whole trilogy and THEN release them in a steady flow. 
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Apr 26, 2016 16:26
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nooo
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Apr 26, 2016 16:30
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25 bucks for the hardcover man are real books expensive now, poo poo isn't even that thick.
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Apr 26, 2016 18:06
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On chapter 2, love these short stories so far. Got to see characters again that I was upset were killed off in previous books. I understand why they were but it's nice to see them again.
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Apr 26, 2016 19:17
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VagueRant posted:
Ehh, I'm not that bothered by this news. Abercrombie (unlike some other fantasy writers) writes rather quickly so I have no doubt that the next trilogy will actually be finished. Personally I don't mind waiting 3 years for a trilogy if the books are all released a few months apart, rather than getting 1 book a year. Plus, since each book release probably involves quite a bit of book tours and signings and whatnot, his writing could get done even quicker since he can avoid most of that until he's completely finished. And his narrative might end tighter since he'll have a finished product to look at as a whole, so if there is an inconsistency in the third book he'll have a chance to fix it before the first is released. Sucks to have to wait so long, I agree, but since JA has proven that he can actually deliver finished work in a timely fashion, I'm taking this as good news.
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Apr 26, 2016 19:38
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Joe has sold out to the fantasy elite and has included a map shock horror
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Apr 26, 2016 21:33
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God loving dammit why does the UK always get cooler covers??
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Apr 27, 2016 02:44
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The snobbier audience demands it.
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Apr 27, 2016 16:30
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if you add '/uk' at the end of amazon.com you can order the cool version. They can ship to the USA, but you have to pay for shipping, but it's not ridiculous.
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Apr 27, 2016 17:11
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You can also just order from the Book Depository and get free shipping.
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Apr 27, 2016 17:28
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^^^ fuuuuckKing of Foolians posted:if you add '/uk' at the end of amazon.com you can order the cool version. They can ship to the USA, but you have to pay for shipping, but it's not ridiculous. I ended up ordering from amazon.co.uk instead. Is that the same thing? I paid like twice what I would have for the US version (when you include shipping) so my cover aesthetic matches the first trilogy. I feel like an idiot and also proud that I care about that.
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Apr 29, 2016 05:32
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Grand Prize Winner posted:I paid like twice what I would have for the US version (when you include shipping) so my cover aesthetic matches the first trilogy. I feel like an idiot and also proud that I care about that. Man if you're paying that much, you should be getting a signed copy.
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Apr 29, 2016 14:46
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Sharp Ends owns, but I kind of wish we had a whole book about Shev and Javre now.
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May 6, 2016 17:10
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I really liked Best Served Cold, so I wish Sharp Ends delved a little more into Monza beating the tar out of the Union politically and militarily. That's a book in itself.
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May 6, 2016 17:40
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Tofu Injection posted:Sharp Ends owns, but I kind of wish we had a whole book about Shev and Javre now. Agreed. I'd buy that one in a heartbeat.
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May 7, 2016 01:13
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Tofu Injection posted:Sharp Ends owns, but I kind of wish we had a whole book about Shev and Javre now. I enjoyed the Shev and Javre arc, but I found the fact that Shev meets so many of the big players in the original 6 books kind of ridiculous. She knows Severard, Whirrun, Shivers, Monza, Logen, Vitari and I'm sure I'm missing someone else. It was actually sort of interesting to hear that Shivers came back to Monza at some point, though... Edit: I'm also baffled that even though the arc takes place over 19 years and that her sword contains more magic than everything in the first 6 books combined, minus Bayaz's magic nuke, no one knows who Javre is. Xenix fucked around with this message at 03:11 on May 7, 2016 |
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May 7, 2016 03:09
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Tofu Injection posted:Sharp Ends owns, but I kind of wish we had a whole book about Shev and Javre now. I think Joe chose Shev and Javre for the subjects of his next trilogy and we're just getting a sneak peak in Sharp Ends. I'd further hypothesize that he's already got a general story line put together that ties in with what we've already seen. Hopefully it won't take him too long to get them fleshed out enough that he feels comfortable releasing book one.
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May 7, 2016 11:07
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Suxpool posted:I think Joe chose Shev and Javre for the subjects of his next trilogy and we're just getting a sneak peak in Sharp Ends. I'd further hypothesize that he's already got a general story line put together that ties in with what we've already seen. Hopefully it won't take him too long to get them fleshed out enough that he feels comfortable releasing book one. I suspect either their exploits will be the catalyst for a major driving force in the trilogy and/or that Shev and Javre will be major supporting, but not POV, characters in the trilogy. The temple at Thond will almost have to be involved somehow.
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May 7, 2016 20:26
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Xenix posted:Edit: I'm also baffled that even though the arc takes place over 19 years and that her sword contains more magic than everything in the first 6 books combined, minus Bayaz's magic nuke, no one knows who Javre is. She almost never draws it, though. I'm pretty sure she only draws it against the other warrior women from Thond.
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May 7, 2016 22:49
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Calling it now. Thond is home to one of Juvens' unnamed apprentieces.
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May 8, 2016 03:53
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I started re-reading the First Law trilogy because it's been a while. I forgot how great they are at doing the gritty fantasy stuff without being too over-the-top about it for me to care. Does Sharp Ends have any stuff about the Shanka in it? They're presented as a pretty large threat to the north at times in the first book but they kind of go by the wayside after.
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May 10, 2016 23:10
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Suxpool posted:Calling it now. Thond is home to one of Juvens' unnamed apprentieces. She used it against Flood's group, too (or at least against Flood, when she cut his spear up), but only one of them survived.
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May 11, 2016 11:48
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Ornamented Death posted:Man if you're paying that much, you should be getting a signed copy. Already out of stock, gently caress.
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May 11, 2016 16:01
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Ugly In The Morning posted:I started re-reading the First Law trilogy because it's been a while. I forgot how great they are at doing the gritty fantasy stuff without being too over-the-top about it for me to care. Does Sharp Ends have any stuff about the Shanka in it? They're presented as a pretty large threat to the north at times in the first book but they kind of go by the wayside after. To my memory they're never even mentioned in any of the three standalones after the trilogy, nor in Sharp Ends. The number of Shanka in the north may be drastically reduced or even nearly wiped out after Bethod used them against the allied B9/hillmen group in the siege.
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May 12, 2016 05:34
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Suxpool posted:To my memory they're never even mentioned in any of the three standalones after the trilogy, nor in Sharp Ends. The number of Shanka in the north may be drastically reduced or even nearly wiped out after Bethod used them against the allied B9/hillmen group in the siege. The Shanka are referenced in Red Country, although they don't play a big role. The Shanka are underground in the Dragon People's territory, and the Dragon People have sent warriors to drive them off. This takes away about 300 fighters, leaving say 80 behind. The relevant quotes: ‘The Shanka are breeding in the deeper tunnels.’ Uto’s voice. She always counselled caution. ‘Then we must drive them out.’ Akosh. She was always bold. ‘If we send enough for that there will be few left behind. One day men will come from outside.’ ‘We put them off in the place they call Beacon.’ ‘Or we made them curious.’ ‘Once we wake the Dragon it will not matter.’ ‘It was given to me to make the choice.’ Waerdinur’s deep voice. ‘The Maker did not leave our ancestors here to let his works fall into decay. We must be bold. Akosh, you will take three hundred of us north into the deep places and drive out the Shanka, and keep the diggings going over winter. After the thaw you will return.’ ... The colours of fire shifted across Akarin’s face as he nodded. ‘We must send everyone who can hold a blade. Eighty of us are there, fit to go, who did not travel north to fight the Shanka?’ ‘Eighty swords upon my racks.’ Shebat shook his head as if that was a matter for regret. ulmont fucked around with this message at 15:34 on May 12, 2016 |
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May 12, 2016 15:30
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Just saw this on some fantasy list on imgur and I thought it was Tight As Hell. http://i.imgur.com/6lUkr06.jpg
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May 17, 2016 22:10
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I just finished Before They Are Hanged, and will be going on Vacation soon. I was thinking of getting an audio book for the road trip, but wont have the trilogy finished before hand. Will Best Served Cold, The Heroes, or Red Country spoil any thing from the Last Argument of Kings? If so, does anyone have any recommendations for anything similar to Joe's style that's stand alone?
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May 18, 2016 13:01
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Yeah, the standalones will spoil some things for the bigger trilogy, if not explicitly, they'll imply enough to ruin a lot of tension. Maybe try Half A King for the audiobook?
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May 18, 2016 13:05
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My new job has me taking close to 4 hrs of trains a day until I relocate closer to the new office. I guess it's time to read the series again for the 4th (5th?) time.
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May 18, 2016 14:01
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VagueRant posted:Yeah, the standalones will spoil some things for the bigger trilogy, if not explicitly, they'll imply enough to ruin a lot of tension. Best Served Cold would be ok. I really wouldn't recommend The Heroes or Red Country until you've finished the trilogy (also, don't read Red Country until you've read The Heroes, and don't read The Heroes until you've read Best Served Cold). Seconding Half A King.
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May 18, 2016 14:18
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