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It's worth mentioning that this series, at least IMO, goes well past the 'shade of gray' idea and into full on black fantasy. I'm not talking ASoIaF grey, I'm talking everyone gets hosed hard and the only truly likable characters seem to get hosed the hardest. Abercrombie is a fantastic writer, but his work is simply too dark and depressing for me. I haven't bought BSC and unless I hear reviews of future work that is a little more balanced (twisting the usual fantasy archetypes and dishing out plenty of pain makes for great reading, but there was literally NO ONE you felt good about at the end of the first trilogy - TBH, even if he had just had West be injured but clearly recovering I would have felt a lot better), I don't think I will be buying any more of his books.
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Apr 20, 2010 18:11
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 04:43 |
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Grand Prize Winner posted:I thought that West lived. At least, there's no clear indication that he died. I hope Its pretty clear that that sickness unleashed by the weapon is pretty much fatal - West looks like a walking corpse the last time we see him. Don't get me wrong, I love killing characters and destroying the usual fantasy formula, but you still have to have SOME redemption in the end, some kind of diamond in the blackness. Abercrombie purposefully sets up and knocks down every fantasy cliche (I thought the readers gradual realization that Byaz is not the gruff but friendly old cliche grandfather wizard was brilliant, but he takes it a step too far IMO.
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Apr 20, 2010 22:48
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TShields posted: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. Glokta essentially does nothing good that does not serve his own purpose and just ends up a puppet of Byaz instead of a puppet of the Arch Lectur (or whatever his name was) - his crowning achievement is dodging the death he so rightfully deserves by twisting the hatred of one of his victims into a tool he can use. When he creates Pike, the first Practical who is well and truly his, Glokta takes that final step onto his inevitable journey into being the next evil puppetmaster, just like his former boss. The only difference between him and the man who he replaced is that he has a better understanding of torture because of his history, and he fearfully serves a different overlord. He didn't serve as a torturer because of a pride he felt doing work - he worked at his job because it let him temporarily exact his revenge on a new suspect and because it was all he could do besides roll over and die. Sand is witty and funny at times and we become used to him because he is tragic and we spend a lot of time in his perspective, but you don't really end up liking him as a person.
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Apr 21, 2010 06:10
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Zasze posted:well if he isnt dead hes about a step away and a shattered shell of his former self far worse than even glotka at his lowest. I think they even have a little joke about how West is like Sand now. I think based on Sand's reaction and the fact that thousands are dieing from what West has, its pretty clear that if the poison/radiation/whatever doesn't kill West, its still left him a shattered husk of his former self. As far as making plans with Luthar, I took that as just one of the kings advisors telling him what he wants to hear. Byaz has Sand by the short and curlies and hes going to do what he wants. I think he tortures the Arch Lectur 1. to cement Pike as his and 2. because he hates him and, at a very base level, enjoys doing what was done to him. Remember the saying earlier in the books? 'First it is done to us, then we do it to others, then we order others to do it'? Sand completes that three step process at the end and starts Pike on that road.
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Apr 21, 2010 18:22
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Bummey posted:He hasn't come up with anything really ground breaking. Barbarians of the frozen north (I groaned quite loudly when I saw the words frozen north appear in a description of them), middle eastern analog Gurkish, European analog Styria, wizards and demons... Right. Its not so much about the setting and the universe he has created (in fact, his world is almost Black Company like in its disregard for maps/a living, breathing world), but about the characters he creates and the way he uses them to completely annihilate every standard fantasy cliche. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he purposefully makes the setting (cold northern barbarians, middle eastern desert Gurkish, generic temperate kingdom with knights, etc) familiar to fantasy readers because it makes his destruction of other cliches that much more astounding.
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Apr 21, 2010 22:21
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 04:43 |
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Flatscan posted:And because if you focus on "world-building" you end up with the Wheel of loving Time. Sniff sniff, tugg tugg. I'm not saying that is a bad thing - far from it. By skipping the world building parts (and really, at this point who needs 3 page descriptions of random towns) it lets him keep the storyline tight and fast moving.
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Apr 22, 2010 00:50
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