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I reread the first two books of the latest trilogy before the last book came out and they’re good but they are also a promise of something the final one doesn’t deliver. Whereas Last Argument of Kings definitely delivered on what the first two books promised. Abercrombie is better at shaping books because each of the first two is more satisfying than the individual books of the first trilogy were but he didn’t have as good an idea of what he wanted to do with the final book so the trilogy as a whole is weaker.
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Jul 27, 2023 20:24
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:I really think there was a magic plotline that got cut in TWoC. The first two books have too many random characters making too many references to the House of the Maker opening but in the third book I don't think anyone mentions it except as a landmark. Yeah, agree with a lot of this.
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Jul 28, 2023 19:29
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I've been watching The Last Kingdom recently and while I think it's a series that anyone who is a fan of Abercrombie's works would enjoy, it also has Simon Kunz as the perfect Bayaz.  quick file upload I've heard Graham McTavish as a possible perfect casting for Bayaz before, but I think this guy's acting is a cut above. He can't play as commanding as Bayaz in The Last Kingdom since his role as Odda is an advisor to a king who is actually just an advisor and not a puppetmaster, but it's almost there.
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Sep 18, 2023 02:47
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This may be old news but it looks like we're getting new short stories in a few days?
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Sep 25, 2023 21:40
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Hughmoris posted:This may be old news but it looks like we're getting new short stories in a few days? oh hell yes
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Sep 25, 2023 22:33
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Hell yeah
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Sep 25, 2023 22:41
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gently caress yeah. I loved Sharp Ends.
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Sep 26, 2023 22:55
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Shame the stories are only like 15 pages each
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Sep 30, 2023 20:17
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Yeah that was good but also short as gently caress, dang.
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Sep 30, 2023 21:17
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I was watching a roundtable discussion with Succession's British writing staff and realized how much The Age of Madness characters remind me of the cast of Succession. Leo is Tom, Savine is Shiv, Orso is Kendall, and Bayaz is of course Logan. Not quite 1 to 1 but close enough to comment on.
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Nov 16, 2023 03:00
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Progress Report February ’24 Always appreciate insight into his process.
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Mar 1, 2024 20:19
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Looking forward to reading The Devils. As for the film, I hope it does get shot and released one day but considering the state of the industry, upcoming potential IATSE labor action, etc, I’m not holding my breath. I work in vfx and the downturn in the industry over the past year as well as the extremely uncertain future due to AI and reduced budgets and consolidation has driven a few of my colleagues to homelessness and even a couple to suicide. Film is in a bad place.
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Mar 2, 2024 05:30
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Threads like these always appreciate newbies so Hello, I am a newbie roughly 60% through The Blade Itself. (I have read the Shattered Sea YA trilogy previously, enjoyed it but wanted less YA and more "Yer completely hosed, 'Arry" type writing.) So, where I have left it is Jezal dan Luther just realised he like likes Ardee* ("poo poo"), Logen and Brother Longfoot are to the docks to secure a ship for Bayez, Ferro just encountered two Eaters and Glokta just took an ancient scroll from the science college. *Ardee is also the name of a town in County Louth in Ireland with a pronounced accent even for here so her name has unintentional giggles for me. Best character thus far is easily Glokta, I dig his backstory and his bit about hating stairs hits home as I hosed my back recently and yep, same here. The Union is top heavy with idiots (including Glokta) who do not understand the basics of leadership and just seem to think every day is white boy day and it very obviously isn't. Everyone seems to think Bayez is a good guy despite the fact he never said he was and he is pretty obviously looking to claim that favour he's owed. I have the other two books so I can rattle through them and will keep you updated. That said, I am gonna bow out of the thread because spoilers et cetera.
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Mar 24, 2024 19:37
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You'll see...
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Mar 25, 2024 05:16
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Glokta and Shivers are my favourite characters. Halfway through Best Served Cold and holy poo poo-
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Mar 25, 2024 09:39
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Monica Bellucci posted:Best character thus far is easily Glokta, I dig his backstory and his bit about hating stairs hits home as I hosed my back recently and yep, same here. Funny thing, that. Back pain is exactly what inspired Glokta. See Joe's answer to question 5 Also drat, looking back at his blogging and old Twitter feed makes me wish he was posting somewhere still these days.
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Mar 25, 2024 18:19
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Xenix posted:Funny thing, that. Back pain is exactly what inspired Glokta. See Joe's answer to question 5 Huh, small world sometimes. So that's me done with the first book and I have now met Bloody Nine. Oddly not a big fan despite being that angry once or twice, you really do not notice damage except as a force that hits you broad or slim and you are supercharged strength-wise for a bit. Still digging the poo poo out of Glokta and I expect the Union to get cockstomped by Bethod's lot up to Bethod doing some dumb poo poo that gets him cockstomped back. Stupidity is universal. I actually was not expecting a Fellowship of the Ring type quest and the House of the Over-arching Plot was kinda fun except I am utterly unconvinced Bayez is Bayez necessarily, just hid him self long ago under that name or took it over or something. I enjoyed it mightily and will get stuck into the next one tomorrow after some shopping and what not.
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Mar 27, 2024 03:21
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*252 pages later* Ladisla just had a run-in with reality from which I rather doubt he will learn, Glokta rules despite (very deliberately?) not taking his thoughts about the Union to the blatantly obvious conclusion. Still can't figure if he is deluding himself or not on that one. Are all of his practicals gonna betray him or just one/some? Bayez is still up to stuff and I am unconvinced on his identity and super unconvinced on his intentions. Logen's OG crew are very sensible - get the food first. Is Quai a dark horse? When are Logen and Ferro gonna gently caress and who gets the most scars from it (Logen). I don't really have any questions right now. Just about everybody with any power, actual or not, is Up To Stuff and I look forward to seeing all that poo poo crash into each other and it turns out it was kindly ole Mr Jinkeys all along!
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Mar 30, 2024 20:34
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And that's the second one down. I raise a glass to the fallen, those of you at the end anyway, died hard, died bloody. I outright laughed my rear end off at the Fellowship of the stone at the end, after all that looking for magic enriched uranium. Glokta continues to rule and has now come up hard against the division between his instincts and the Union, I expect some bizarrity to follow. I still can't figure if Sult is dumb or part of some things, he comes across, most of the time, like someone with blinkered horizons, product of his environment but he seems rather up to date on Eaters which is very suspicious, at least, to me. West is wonderfully, wonderfully angry and I like the way all the Northmen know what they are looking at when they look at him. Pike seems like a smart, double hard bastard. Shivers is gonna be something, although Abercrombie's insistence on most Northmen being very tall or double tall or psycho tall or big mchuge or Jeff Mountain is getting a bit..... old. Other than Dogman, I expect them all to ding their foreheads going through a door. The inevitable Logen/Ferro groinal mash-up was wonderfully written and real as hell. Quite possibly the best sex scene I've read. Low bar, I know but.... The Magi seem like a bunch of self-important arseholes who are utterly incapable of just leaving poo poo alone. Looking forward to the third book.
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Apr 1, 2024 00:26
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Monica Bellucci posted:
paraphrasing, but "sorry I couldn't keep the milk in the bucket" is one of my favorite lines of fictional prose I've ever read.
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Apr 2, 2024 00:02
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Doing a reread of TFL and I think the scene that ages best with knowledge of what comes after is (spoiler safe to read after TLAOK) Jezal's victory dinner. Bayaz seething "how loving dare they" as a bunch of monkeys poke a nuke with sticks just before the dinner course is just 
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Apr 5, 2024 12:51
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I just finished BtaH too. I really have no idea what's going to happen in book three, because between the Gurkish war/Bethod's war/poo poo Union politics/Bayaz having uncertain motives, that's four big issues grappling for dominance over the ending and I can't predict the relative proportions between them in importance. At least Logen will reunite with his guys, I'm sure.
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Apr 7, 2024 10:13
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This week I have been occupied with going to a friend's for a couple of days to unfuck my back (as previously mentioned), then it turned out another friend was nearby, camping with his son in a forest so we visited with swords and basically got drunk on old-fashioneds while Highlandering around the forest at night. I ended up giving his kid my training sword because that kid was loving stoked, let me tell you. (we also had dog who had a ruddy good sniff of everything). When I got back to work I appear to have a massive cold, first once since the before times. I forgot how poo poo they are. Anyway, I have been on a bit of a reading hiatus because of all of that but, I shall spoil where I'm at in book 3, WAR! AGAIN! Everything is turning to poo poo for the Union, Jezel is loving what now and even he seems baffled and, y'know, married to an enormous bigot. West and Pike continue to rule, Glokta, despite his brain finely tuned to ignoring everything in front of him is actually gonna have to choose a side and Bloody-Nine killed a mate. So, it'll be a bit of a sprint if this cold let's up in any way.
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Apr 7, 2024 12:53
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And thus I was done with the trilogy. I have done a wee bit of pondering and don't think my thoughts have any particular shape to them so I'll pretty much just splut them down here. I suppose my biggest surprise was Glokta. I really thought he'd have to make a decision but nope, he avoided doing that which is kind of impressive except for the bit where it forces him to learn nothing and, in point of fact, makes him have to be the one to kill himself. He does not survive, merely continues existing. having deliberately learned nothing. Fundamentally self-inflicted idiocy. Jezal I find liking the most at the end. He's not a coward, he is just unable to do pretty much anything he wants to do and inflicts pain and misery purely by existing. (Some of it is well deserved but most isn't) Logen stayed, fundamentally, the honest one and a survivor type with rabies. His culture, such as I think of it, seems determined to slip into barbarism, albeit slowly. Bayaz is a bag of poo poo thinks it's a man and, like all bullies, doesn't like their lies being pointed out which is why he got harsh with Jezal. There does indeed seem to be no-one to stop him and he, too, will perpetuate his cycle of killing all the things he touches, never brave enough for even basic introspection. Didn't see the second twist though, exactly. The one where he's a shithead, yeah. I liked Pike right up until the end, another idiot unwilling to do the right thing. West, poor bastard but it has also been my experience that you pretty much get nothing but poo poo for doing the right thing so, yeah, I can commiserate. I'll keep reading but I am waiting on the next bunch of books and have a few to get through anyway. Iunno, I miss anything or anyone want me to expand on something?
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Apr 16, 2024 19:11
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logen ninefingers sits with geralt of rivia and conan the cimmerian in my holy trinity of dangerous pathos-ridden fantasy novel protagonists with swords. hes so compelling. i might have to reread the first trilogy
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Apr 16, 2024 19:35
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He’s a great character yeah. It’s been mentioned a bunch of times before but Abercrombie does a very effective job of showing “oh THIS is why he has a reputation” when the time comes. And the short story in sharp ends drives it home a little more
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Apr 16, 2024 19:42
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Ainsley McTree posted:He’s a great character yeah. It’s been mentioned a bunch of times before but Abercrombie does a very effective job of showing “oh THIS is why he has a reputation” when the time comes. And the short story in sharp ends drives it home a little more That short-story was great. Say one thing for Hughmoris, he can read about The Bloody Nine all day.
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Apr 16, 2024 22:41
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My favorite was the Glokta story. Such a bastard. Got what he deserved. And then more. Like, way too much more.
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Apr 16, 2024 23:00
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I wasn't crazy about Red Country, but the big one on one fight and reveal was amazing and worth the reread every time.
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Apr 17, 2024 00:19
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I really enjoyed Red Country the second time through. I think it was someone itt calling it Low Fantasy Deadwood that put me in the proper frame of mind. Absolutely my favorite fantasy author. I'm doing another reread. It's like comfort food at the gym.
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Apr 17, 2024 01:02
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Oh this feels like a fun time for my reread FAN THEORY: Ferro was a late addition to the Blade Itself and the original trilogy in general. Ninefingers was originally the demon-blooded dude, which explains why he can speak with spirits. The Bloody Nine was the part of him that lives on the other side. Once she gets to Adua in TBI she and Ninefingers do literally everything together until the end of BTaH. They fight the Inquisition together, they go in the quest together, they get lost in Alcus together, etc. Ferro gets a bit more to do in LAoK, but even then she's mostly a bit player until the Gurkish invasion.
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Apr 17, 2024 01:19
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That makes so much sense I want to argue it. ... well, gently caress. Still the best written sex in print I have read. I have read some superb clangers, mind*. * Every sex scene by Richard (K) Morgan. The weird and baffling J K Rowling TERF weirdo.
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Apr 17, 2024 01:43
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I hadn’t considered that before but I can see it. I had always attributed ferro’s questionable necessity to the plot to Abercrombie not quite getting the hang of female characters yet for the original trilogy (which to his credit I feel like he fixed for the subsequent works, Savine in particular was a great character I thought)
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Apr 17, 2024 02:20
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Monica Bellucci posted:Iunno, I miss anything or anyone want me to expand on something? It isn't a spoiler to say that several minor characters in the trilogy have expanded roles in the stand alone novels and beyond. I'm curious which bit players you liked/hated and would like/expect to see more of in the future.
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Apr 17, 2024 14:04
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Hmmm. I know Shivers is gonna turn up a bunch because there is no way he doesn't. I'd like to see a bit more of Pike, mostly just to see if he made that stupid loving decision for any reason. I like Dogman. dude's got a good head and is pretty straight forward about stuff. I really like Bremer dan Gorst, he seems like a super interesting guy and also I took up sword fighting recently so reading about a big ole sword fighter appeals to me. I liked Ardee and could stand to see a bit more of her, although presumably it would include Glokta and, unless that dude has an out-of-nowhere come-to-Jesus, he is done. Most, if not all, of the mage people seem like tremendously selfish cunts, the likes of which everyone would just ignore if they weren't mages. Oh, have y'all read The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman? Y'should.
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Apr 17, 2024 20:17
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Definitely read the heroes. It's abercrombie's best book in my opinion.
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Apr 18, 2024 00:35
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FLIPADELPHIA posted:Definitely read the heroes. It's abercrombie's best book in my opinion. Yeah, I will. I ordered them Monday, so hopefully they arrive this week. Still around 10 books to get through first, although I've nearly finished the first 2.
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Apr 18, 2024 00:48
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Monica Bellucci posted:Oh, have y'all read The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman? Y'should. Yes, its very good. I find that Abercrombie's recent stuff actually might appeal to me less that Buehlmans works. Like I tried to read the preview for Abercrombie's newest book "The Devils" and the tone is just a bit too... everybody is so nakedly self serving, but in a way that doesn't make them feel like full human beings. Whereas Buehlman's characters have more of an emotional gamut that comes through in the tone of the writing. Buehlman also has a lot more range as a writer, with Between Two Fires, The Necromancers House, The Lesser Dead, and The Blacktongue Thief all going for radically different things.
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Apr 18, 2024 03:18
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Monica Bellucci posted:Oh, have y'all read The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman? Y'should. I liked it a whole lot. It's just that one step less grimdark than Abercrombie's work and that's the sweet spot to me. The world sucks a lot but people can still choose basic decency and not always fail and get punished.
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Apr 18, 2024 08:00
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