The Malazan Book of the Fallen: Too many wor'ds.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Malazan Book of the Fallen: Too many wor'ds.

snoremac: Jul 27, 2012; I LOVE SEEING DEAD BABIES ON 𝕏, THE EVERYTHING APP. IT'S WORTH IT FOR THE FOLLOWING TAB.

Oh Snapple! posted:

I'll say fair enough on that.

I think part of the reason Itkovian resonated a lot with me was that when I was reading MoI for the first time I was already super weary of the more cynical trend that was going on with the genre, so in many instances it was extremely refreshing to see an author like Erikson with a genuine respect for selflessness - in the cases of both Coltaine and Itkovian, I feel a lesser author would have been all too eager to summarily punish them for doing what they did (likely through having their sacrifices accomplish nothing).

Honestly Itkovian and Coltaine ended up being the foundation of why I like the series so much.

Further related to Itkovian, and while this is very vague I'm still gonna tag it anyway cause it's for stuff much later, seeiing how he conducts himself in the Shield Anvil role provides an extremely stark contrast with a later character and without Itkovian's example I don't think that character would work nearly as well.

I only have ASoIaF to compare it to, but I agree that Erikson's respect for selflessness, and overall respect for humanity, is very refreshing. I think both series have a cynicism borne out of the horrors people are capable of, but whereas ASoIaF stews in it and finds no value in anything but ruthless pragmitism, Malazan finds value in the ways people counteract and cope with those horrors. I think DG struck a chord with me because the refugee plot is a timely analogue to what's happening around the world.

Edit: A moment that touched me by catching me off guard was when the surviving refugees entered Aren and were kindly supported by the people inside. I was expecting them to be hateful shits who wanted them to get the hell out, so it was a relief that they were the polar opposite.

snoremac fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Aug 15, 2016

# ? Aug 15, 2016 05:08

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# ? May 17, 2024 22:13

Khizan: Jul 30, 2013

Tommofork posted:

Dunno what the deal with Hairlock or Tattersail is, mages can usually make up their own name if they want.

A lot of the mages do that whole wizard thing where they don't tell anybody their true name.

Monocled Falcon posted:

The bridgeburners are marines? I was aware that Sorry joined the marines but I thought that she had transferred into the regular army then the bridge burners behind the scenes.

How does that make any sense? Marines are maritime troops for ship combat.

The Malazan Empire started on Malaz Island. It's a fairly small island and so all of their troops were marines and it just sort of stuck, IIRC.

# ? Aug 15, 2016 05:31

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

Khizan posted:

The Malazan Empire started on Malaz Island. It's a fairly small island and so all of their troops were marines and it just sort of stuck, IIRC.

There's also a lot of complaining about "marching in long campaigns, that's not what we do, we're hit-and-run specialists". In RG they're all looking forward to a bit of good old marine warfare, although the way it turns out is, well, different.
Basically the picture I'm getting is that Lasseen doesn't really know how to utilize Kellanved's elite units. Or she's still trying to get rid of them.

# ? Aug 15, 2016 11:22

cptn_dr: Sep 7, 2011; Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies

anilEhilated posted:

Basically the picture I'm getting is that Lasseen doesn't really know how to utilize Kellanved's elite units. Or she's still trying to get rid of them.

Or both!

# ? Aug 15, 2016 11:32

snoremac: Jul 27, 2012; I LOVE SEEING DEAD BABIES ON 𝕏, THE EVERYTHING APP. IT'S WORTH IT FOR THE FOLLOWING TAB.

Holy poo poo, Karsa rules.

# ? Aug 15, 2016 14:08

snoremac: Jul 27, 2012; I LOVE SEEING DEAD BABIES ON 𝕏, THE EVERYTHING APP. IT'S WORTH IT FOR THE FOLLOWING TAB.

I just finished the first part of House of Chains and absolutely loved it. I understand now what people mean when they say this series feels truly epic, what with how it introduces you to a story utterly removed from the established world and then slowly pulls back to reveal its place in the bigger picture. The writing is so tight. Karsa is awesome. And after that ending my mind is reeling. I'm flicking back through DG now.

# ? Aug 16, 2016 18:25

NmareBfly: Jul 16, 2004; I posted my food for USPOL Thanksgiving!

snoremac posted:

first part of House of Chains

snoremac posted:

Karsa is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99lyU5N--f8

# ? Aug 16, 2016 18:52

Shockeh: Feb 24, 2009; Now be a dear and
fuck the fuck off.

I don't know whether to be pleased or dismayed that someone can like early Karsa, (EARLY KARSA) and dislike Itkovian. It's like finding out dogs can talk or something.

# ? Aug 16, 2016 19:28

Spermy Smurf: Jul 2, 2004

Early Karsa was fricken awesome. He never gives a single gently caress about anything.

Itkovian took a while to grow on me. Third re-read and I started paying attention a bit more to characters I didn't really appreciate the first time around.

# ? Aug 16, 2016 21:52

snoremac: Jul 27, 2012; I LOVE SEEING DEAD BABIES ON 𝕏, THE EVERYTHING APP. IT'S WORTH IT FOR THE FOLLOWING TAB.

Shockeh posted:

I don't know whether to be pleased or dismayed that someone can like early Karsa, (EARLY KARSA) and dislike Itkovian. It's like finding out dogs can talk or something.

He's hilarious. He wants to murder a thousand children to impress a girl! He makes the Malazans and T'lan Imass his sworn enemies the second he hears of them! He rescues a corpse from a shark because the shark has no right to steal his corpse! The whole section is a blast.

I'd hazard a guess that his introduction just after Itkovian's death is on purpose, since he's his polar opposite on the compassion scale. They're very different characters so I'm not sure what you mean.

Edit: Just thinking on the whole compassion thing, there are a couple of things that bothered me in this section: the 'eagerness' of the rape victims and the narrative's indifference to the consequences of Karsa's slaughters. Thinking on it, the events are depicted as Karsa interprets them, so what he sees as eagerness is probably just terrified submission, while the narrative's blind to any suffering because Karsa doesn't care about it.

snoremac fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Aug 17, 2016

# ? Aug 17, 2016 01:51

NmareBfly: Jul 16, 2004; I posted my food for USPOL Thanksgiving!

Okay, you're fine. We were just worried you thought he was a cool badass dude, which is what some people come away from that section thinking was the point.

NmareBfly fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Aug 17, 2016

# ? Aug 17, 2016 02:54

snoremac: Jul 27, 2012; I LOVE SEEING DEAD BABIES ON 𝕏, THE EVERYTHING APP. IT'S WORTH IT FOR THE FOLLOWING TAB.

Haha. No, he's a great character but a terrible person. I sympathized with his dad's anguish over what he's become. It's cool how at first you get the impression that Karsa is representative of his people only to find out that his zeal and bloody-mindedness is off the charts.

snoremac fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Aug 17, 2016

# ? Aug 17, 2016 03:07

Oh Snapple!: Dec 27, 2005

Oh no he's very representative

# ? Aug 17, 2016 04:21

snoremac: Jul 27, 2012; I LOVE SEEING DEAD BABIES ON 𝕏, THE EVERYTHING APP. IT'S WORTH IT FOR THE FOLLOWING TAB.

Erikson loves susurration, ochre, countenance, efficacy and narrowed eyes.

What am I missing?

# ? Aug 18, 2016 08:16

TGG: Aug 8, 2003; "I Dare."

Potsherds is the only other one I can come up with off hand. Definitely got most of them!

# ? Aug 18, 2016 09:16

cptn_dr: Sep 7, 2011; Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies

TGG posted:

Potsherds is the only other one I can come up with off hand. Definitely got most of them!

Hey man, Archaeologists love potsherds.

# ? Aug 18, 2016 09:56

Fenrir: Apr 26, 2005; I found my kendo stick, bitch!; Lipstick Apathy

Also, coruscating.

# ? Aug 18, 2016 09:59

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

snoremac posted:

Erikson loves susurration, ochre, countenance, efficacy and narrowed eyes.

What am I missing?

large women

# ? Aug 18, 2016 11:43

Fuzzy Mammal: Aug 15, 2001; Lipstick Apathy

What no turgid?

# ? Aug 18, 2016 17:19

Cryptozoology: Jul 12, 2010

The air in these books is often febrile

# ? Aug 18, 2016 17:42

Ynglaur: Oct 9, 2013; The Malta Conference, anyone?

Gelid, on occasion .

# ? Aug 18, 2016 19:56

Fuzzy Mammal: Aug 15, 2001; Lipstick Apathy

Fuzzy Mammal posted:

Found it!

# ? Aug 18, 2016 20:40

apophenium: Apr 14, 2009; Cry 'Mayhem!' and let slip the dogs of Wardlow.

I seem to remember hearing a lot of ululating cries.

# ? Aug 18, 2016 20:44

Spermy Smurf: Jul 2, 2004

Wait, he says it twelve times across 900 pages and that's a lot?

I mean, sure it's an odd word, but that's not a lot right?

# ? Aug 18, 2016 20:56

imagine dungeons: Jan 24, 2008; Like an arrow, I was only passing through.

At least they're cool sounding words.

# ? Aug 18, 2016 21:30

Gravity Cant Apple: Jun 25, 2011; guys its just like if you had an apple with a straw n you poked the apple though wit it n a pebbl hadnt dropped through itd stop straw insid the apple because gravity cant apple

Everyone's forgetting Kalam rolling his shoulders.

# ? Aug 18, 2016 21:40

Fenrir: Apr 26, 2005; I found my kendo stick, bitch!; Lipstick Apathy

Gravity Cant Apple posted:

Everyone's forgetting Kalam rolling his shoulders.

The best part is Quick Ben calling him out on it

# ? Aug 18, 2016 22:00

Aranan: May 21, 2007; Release the Kraken

"Crepuscular" is the word I picked up on and enjoy the most. I think he only uses it two or three times, but one of my friends read GotM and immediately asked me wtf that word meant and if it was "that kind of book" to use pretentious words.

Not even a month later, it was used on an episode of Archer to describe an ocelot or jaguar or something.

# ? Aug 19, 2016 00:12