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Ugh, finally have "Best Served Cold" in hand and I'm in the middle of one of Robin Hobb's trilogies. Guess I better finish this middle book then jump on "Cold" before I go crazy. But gently caress yes, amazing fantasy author, been talking about him for ages but nobody listened to me. 
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Apr 18, 2010 06:58
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John Charity Spring posted:Sort of. With Abercrombie, it tends to make a lot more sense, it's generally not just bad stuff happening for no good reason. It's for thematic reasons and it's usually as a result of the character's own actions. Of course, the end of Last Argument of Kings where Collem West gets magical radiation poisoning and will probably die was a bit harsh, but he's the exception. Its an awesome fantasy concept though- that those around massive magical events can experience some repercussions. As much as I like the character, what happened made sense in the world context. ALSO: Look at this  Click here for the full 800x1067 image. Geez, if you go on his website, he's pushing some internet poll to get votes for his books! (Everyone go vote for him! http://www.joeabercrombie.com/news/) That Absolute I swear this guy is the Anti-GRRM.. TShields fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Apr 18, 2010 |
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Apr 18, 2010 14:19
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Kellanved posted:I swear, this guy is the anti-gurrm. Thats my line. 
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Apr 19, 2010 18:14
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I don't see Glokta as evil, he was just a man who took great pride in his work, whatever his work was. He had a poo poo life, so he focused all his anger about his physical condition into his job, and it made him very effective. And I would have totally been his drinking buddy, just to make sure I didn't end up on the wrong side of the table.
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Apr 21, 2010 04:29
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Regardless of anything, its amazing that this guy- a relative newcomer to the fantasy scene- has come up with all he has in such a short period of time, and has done it well enough that all of us are interested in discussing it on the internet rather than use it for its true purpose: looking at people's naughty bits.
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Apr 21, 2010 20:42
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Yeah I'm about a quarter of the way through "Best Served Cold" and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Someone please refresh me- we saw Shivers fairly briefly in the other books, right? I'd look myself, but they're loaned out. He was the son of someone and wanted to kill Logen initially, but then ended up liking him? It took me a while to pick up on Vitari being Glokta's old lackey too, had totally forgotten she existed.
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Apr 26, 2010 14:38
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Ballsworthy posted:^^whether he comes back or not (he will) I choose to believe Logen lives Yeah, I caught the banker bit, thanks for the info.
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Apr 26, 2010 18:11
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Feel free to flame the hell out of me, but Johnny Depp as Cosca. He could just play his Jack Sparrow character with a different outfit and it would be absolutely perfect.
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Apr 27, 2010 03:38
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Diver Dick posted:I'd encourage anyone on the fence to pick up The Blade Itself and give it a try. The opening scene hooked me and I read all three books in the course of a couple weeks. Thats exactly how I got started- I read the first page of the book and had to know what happened next. I was lucky enough to stumble upon him after all three were out.
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Apr 27, 2010 05:52
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Anyone else see Friendly as an agitated Brian Posehn? If you've ever seen his stand-up, he does a weird squawky pissed off voice, and after Friendly's "Apologize to my loving dice!" flip-out, he's all I see for the character.
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Apr 30, 2010 06:51
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loving talk, people, Abercrombie is too awesome for this thread to die! I'm really having a hard time making predictions about the outcome of "Best Served Cold". Every time something happens, it seems to surprise the hell out of me. Someone (probably in the GRRM thread) complained that they gave up on it after 120 pages or so because it got repetitive, but I just don't see it. Yeah, they're killing off people on a list, but its incredibly different every fuckin' time, and since nothing ever goes according to plan, its incredibly entertaining. I never want this book to end!
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May 2, 2010 00:14
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I just passed the part where Shivers smashed that poor kid's head into the ground over and over when Monza was going to let him live. Fuckin' harsh. Not sure if I like him anymore, Logen wouldn't have done that.
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May 4, 2010 13:29
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Its hard to get much more badass imagery than a shiny steel eye.
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May 4, 2010 15:34
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Tornhelm posted:Having just finished Best Served Cold, was anyone else thrown for a bit of a loop by Schenkt? Theres a few times earlier where he kills a guy by poking him through the collar bone with his finger or other crazy poo poo like that. I'm about 80% through and I picked up on it fairly quickly. When the other Eater[/spoils] says that her brother has been killed in the South, is that [spoiler]the pissy bitch from the last book going around killing eaters? Other books still loaned out..
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May 5, 2010 11:47
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Finally finished last night and I loved every minute of it. I swear to God, if we don't find out what the deal is with the loving bank some day, I'm going to poo poo a brick.
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May 6, 2010 11:47
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drat, you guys must have read these more recently than I did, or my memory is shot to poo poo at 25. I can't remember a lot of this stuff..
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May 7, 2010 18:46
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Johnbo posted:Gonna go ahead and disagree with that. Don't get me wrong, the trilogy was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed it...BSC was such a let down though. JA seemed to follow the same structure for each section of the book (as pointed out earlier in the thread) and as the plot wore on you could pretty much guess who would be alive by the end of it. I'm really hoping his next one shakes things up a bit because BSC was really anti-climatic. Now I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with that. I know what you're implying, but that was kinda dropped after the first two "jobs", beyond that it became kinda crazy, seemed like everyone was only surviving by the skin of their teeth. No way in hell I could have predicted who would survive that book by the middle. The way some people talk about it I feel like we read different books. I thought it was amazing, it in every way lived up to my expectations post-trilogy.
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May 13, 2010 14:27
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I really can't imagine reading BSC and skipping the trilogy.. That just doesn't make sense. Involved in a trilogy? Its three books, its not like you have decades of lore to catch up on. He writes so fast he practically wrote them over a weekend.
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May 18, 2010 07:20
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I have so many people I recommend this guy to and only one has taken me up on the offer to borrow my books. He flew through them in a couple weeks and is now as hooked as I am. I loaned them to another buddy and he sat on them for 8 months and just took them with him to Iraq. Heres hoping he doesn't neglect his duties to read...
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May 19, 2010 05:08
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Weaponized Cum posted:I finished the trilogy and I really enjoyed it. Could someone recommend similar authors or series? If you haven't read George RR Martin's books, give them a shot, but be prepared to hate yourself when he never finishes the series. Also, I really got into Brent Weeks' "Night Angel" trilogy (Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge, Beyond the Shadows).. Its a different feel, but its a complete trilogy and seems to have the same fantasy style. Also, glad to see this thread woke up again. Was quiet for a while!
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Jun 8, 2010 20:09
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Yeah she kinda got on my nerves, but she had her purposes. Really love this guy, its just a shame he's writing now instead of 10 years ago, because if he had a vast library of stuff for me to catch up on I wouldn't be bored out of my mind trying to find something new to read...
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Jun 29, 2010 17:03
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Khatib posted:Anyone have opinions on the Night Angel trilogy? I got all 3 at a used book store, read through the first 4 chapters of the first book and put it down for about 6 months. I mentioned to a friend how boring I thought it was, and he told me to give it another shot, so I picked up from where I left off and absolutely loved it. The first book kinda takes a kid from his pre-pubescent period up to his late teens, and when he's young its really loving slow, but it does pick up. And they talk about boobs a lot, so theres that.
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Jul 1, 2010 14:55
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Markeh posted:I just finished the first book. I enjoyed it but it had a lot more build-up than I was expecting. It's not really a stand-alone novel but given the praise heaped upon the trilogy I expect it will all tie together very well. Its really not supposed to be able to stand alone. He put them out so quickly though that it doesn't really matter. By the time most of the world realized his awesome, all the books were for sale.
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Jul 2, 2010 15:02
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A Nice Boy posted:Oh man...BSC is crazy so far. I have to admit, I think I like it better than the trilogy. The part with Shiver's eye was just loving painful to read... Its rare that I actually cringe at words written on a page, but this was really rough. (Cringe at the thought of the action, not at poor writing.)
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Jul 5, 2010 04:09
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I've been an Abercrombie fan since his first book hit shelves. It was on the "New Releases" table at Borders, and I read the first page and knew I had to keep going. Just finished "The Heroes" since our local store didn't get it in on release day. By the time they mailed me a copy, I was already invested in another book. It was amazing, as usual. I don't think it lacked any of what his other books had. They're all fairly consistently good, so I wasn't disappointed in the least. I REALLY wish I hadn't gotten into him so early on, because now I have to wait a couple years for his next release. I kind of like getting into a series when it's already complete, that way I always know what I'm reading next and don't have to hunt for something new. Oh well.. Guess it could be worse (*cough*ABSOLUTEFUCKER*cough*)
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Apr 7, 2011 05:45
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Slanderer posted:Is it crazy that I personally hold onto the notion that Whirrun's sword was, in fact, quazi-magical, but was wrong about his death because Bayaz's assistant (name alludes me) interfered, and is all magical and whatnot. It was at least alluded to that he had been around the battle the whole time, so whose to say he wouldn't have acted to intervene in cracknut's death Yoru Sulfur is Bayaz's assistant. My "First Law" books are on loan to someone, but I was trying to remember if he was a cannibal. Weren't there cannibals? If so, when Bayaz was eating the nameless "meat" in front of Calder at the end.. 
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Apr 7, 2011 16:18
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Joe hasn't written a weak book yet, in my opinion. Some are better than others, but you can't say any of them are bad. Just go in order.
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Apr 7, 2011 19:29
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Umiapik posted:When I started reading this and saw just how many characters he was introducing, I nearly gave up there and then. I hate those overlong fantasy novels where you need a goddamn flow chart to keep up with who everyone is. But I persevered and ended up being very impressed by the skill with which Abercrombie handles the frequent changes of perspective in the novel. As the story unfolds, you can always understand what's going on and how the fighting is progressing; at the same time, you develop a interest in each character and what's happening in their own little part of the battlefield. Nice work. His shifting viewpoints are one of the highlights of his books because he does them so loving well. I loved the battles in this book where it would frantically change from one side to the other and you'd see the same microcosm of action from different eyes every time.
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Apr 11, 2011 16:26
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It does sting a bit when it's all over with. It's one of those things you wish will go on forever and ever and ever... Luckily, the man is a loving book writing machine, and he seems to be in love with his own universe, so you still have plenty to look forward to. Onward to "Best Served Cold" and "The Heroes"!
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Apr 16, 2011 06:57
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Akrabbim posted:Somehow or another I utterly missed the existence of Best Served Cold. I think I thought it was in the First Law trilogy and just outright skipped it. Just finished the Heroes yesterday. Since I have no desire whatsoever to read a book when I know what happens after it (strange quirk of mine, I know, but it bugs me), can somebody give me a basic plot summary of the book in spoiler? I know someone already put in the important bits, I'd just like a quick overview. Seriously- get over your loving quirk. It has almost no bearing on "The Heroes" other than you know Shivers is going to survive, you know something happens to Gorst (which takes place over the course of like 5 loving pages, big whoop), and Monza is mentioned once or twice in "The Heroes". It is meant as a stand-alone in the same world, just like "The Heroes". READ IT!
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Apr 19, 2011 21:45
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John Charity Spring posted:That's not what Bayaz is. Hah, yeah, no kidding.. You missed some amazing stuff, there, reflir...
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Apr 23, 2011 04:58
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Abercrombie is just easy to read. It's not that he's "simple" or "basic", he just doesn't bog down his story with a bunch of unnecessary bits. And his world feels more "real" than a lot of them that I've read. The only problem I have with him is that he needed to be around 10 years ago so I'd have more material of his to read.. I've been in the Fantasy thread struggling to find something LIKE him to read, and I hope that book will show up on my doorstep today.
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Sep 30, 2011 17:52
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