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Mr.48 posted:Logen was by far my favorite character in the whole trilogy so I would definitely like to see him again. I agree. Logen is tremendously interesting and fun to read about. I'm in the middle of Before They are Hanged right now and loving it. Man, say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he can write an awesome fight scene.
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Apr 19, 2010 17:00
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Hughmoris posted:Say one thing for Hughmoris, say he'll be downtrodden if the Logen Ninefingers does not make an appearance in Heroes. Well, I read your possession theory before the third book, where we REALLY see the Bloody Nine, so I had it in mind. And while I'm not sure I'd have come up with it myself, I have to say, I prefer it, and hope that's what Abercrombie was going for, or was at least allowing as a possibility. It definitely fits with Logen's rare connection to the spirits, and helps explain some of the Bloody Nine's actions and abilities. So yeah, I like the theory. If we never see Logen again, it's what I'll choose to believe, and if we do see him again, I hope for more evidence for it.
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May 8, 2010 18:49
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Evfedu posted:Logen had a fantastic arc that pretty much encompassed everything you needed to know about him except: "Who is his dad" and maybe a clearer explanation of his berserking. That last line of yours definitely helps me figure out exactly what was happening with the ending. Great point. And now I feel happy and satisfied with the trilogy all over again.
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Sep 27, 2010 18:04
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Bizob posted:The simple fact that "Heros Die" is cited along with the First Law and Malazan in that article is almost enough to get me to overcome the shame that would come with buying something with that awful cover. Can anyone tell me if its any good? The currently sold version has a slightly better cover. Still a bad painting, but better design: http://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Die-Matthew-Woodring-Stover/dp/0345421450 I quite liked Heroes Die, and also like Mieville, Abercrombie, GRRM, Lynch, Rothfuss (goonhate notwithstanding), etc. It's different than those books -- much more obviously the product of a particular personality, for one. It's a bit over the top: Stover's personal writing motto is "I Swear by the Power of All Dark Gods that I Will Write Every loving Word Balls-Out for Glory." But it's not *bad* writing - as far as writing every loving word etc etc goes, I think it's about as good as it gets. Great fight scenes (Stover's a pretty good martial artist), actual surprises, actual themes (among them, Stover says "It's a piece of violent entertainment that's a meditation on violent entertainment"), and so on. Certainly not as inventive as Mieville, and earlier in the "gritty" "revolution" than Abercrombie (and therefore, perhaps, a bit less careful about the way he does "grit"), but this is basically stuff you won't find anywhere else. And, I mean, I don't know if Abercrombie's read him, but doesn't "Heroes Die" sound like the title Abercrombie's book might have had if Stover hadn't gotten there first? If you like Scott Lynch, Lynch has acknowledged a very deep debt to Stover. Oh, and John Scalzi loves his books, too: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/10/14/tgbstover/. In any event, I really wish Stover sold better, because I would like to read more Overworld books. Blade of Tyshalle was a bit baggy for me (though it had some great parts), but Caine Black Knife was a pure shot of angry energy with some depth to it.
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Feb 17, 2011 18:27
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Replies to thoughts: 1. These aren't really the types of books I'd normally reread. I'm not surprised you're disappointed with a bunch of stuff on reread - these are action fantasies, and I'm not sure there's enough depth there to make a reread rewarding. I think I agree with you about most of your complaints, but I still really liked the book as I read it. 2. I totally agree with your feeling, re: Named Men, that the idea of Named Men in this book seems different and less "cool" than what it had been implied to be in the past. And one question of my own: did we ever find out what Jolly Yon Cumber wanted Craw to tell his sons if he died? I was reading kind of quickly by the end and might have missed it. For some reason I was thinking it would be something like "kids, your dad was secretly a homosexual", but I don't think there were actually any points at which that was really suggested.
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Mar 12, 2011 02:13
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IRQ posted:Good god why? Perfect Buscemi role. He's kind of funny, kind of a good guy, but everyone shits on him and he can't catch a break. Actually, I guess that makes Forley the Weakest an even better Buscemi role. (And yeah, I like Buscemi in most of his roles)
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Mar 31, 2011 04:47
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IRQ posted:Eh, Merlin in that is still trying to do what he thinks is best for England or whatever. Well, I don't know, it's new-ish. Particularly, the idea that a wizard is fundamentally different than a human, and will not have human interests at heart seemed *relatively* new, or newly employed, with Abercrombie. I have no idea if Merlin in that series has that feel to him as well, but it sounds like not quite. Though "good" wizards aren't usually short-tempered/manipulative/ruthless either.
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Apr 9, 2011 04:04
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Clinton1011 posted:I know this was from the last page but I wanted to point something out. At some point someone asked Bayaz what he would have done if he never found Logen or if Logen had died and he said he had other options for speaking with the dead. This reminded me of another of the little things I liked about the books. You think of Logen as a barbarian, a berserker, defined by his talent for fighting. But his skill for speaking with the spirits is arguably much rarer -- yes, he's one of the best fighters on the planet, but there are many others who are nearly as good... but there are NOT many others who can talk to the dead. And yet, Logen never makes a big deal of this ability, and you only gradually realize how singular it is. In most books, the "magical" abilities are reserved for "wizards" or "shaman" or whatever, but somehow the approach here felt more "real" (for, you know, fantasy novel values of "real"). I feel like I'm having trouble articulating this... did it strike anyone else similarly? I can't decide whether I'd be happy to see whatever spirit the "Bloody-Nine" was show up again (if, indeed, it was a separate spirit), or not... probably not, probably the mystery is good, but dammit I want to *know* what was really happening with Logen.
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May 17, 2011 19:45
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Liesmith posted:I really disliked Best Served Cold, it just didn't work for me. The Heroes ruled though. Because differences in opinions make the world go 'round: I've read two KJ Parker books, The Company and The Folding Knife, and the endings of both felt, to me, like some of the best endings I'd read in fantasy. Completely satisfying, and entirely part of the story.
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Aug 12, 2011 16:54
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wellwhoopdedooo posted:It's surprising coming from someone who has had some of the best titles in fantasy, but (A) Red Country is (A) Terrible Title. Not at all. Gets the point across pretty well. I do prefer it without the 'A' though.
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Sep 17, 2011 14:10
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FMguru posted:Yeah, he always struck me as something of a Pratchett character - a fairly typical-looking big, old, scarred barbarian with nothing (except the missing finger) that really sticks in your memory. Until you think for a moment about how if a barbarian is THAT old and THAT scarred and still up and around then he's probably someone with that you really don't want to gently caress with. I think it is a reasonably common reaction (among Northerners--he looks terrifying to anyone who hasn't seen Northmen before), and certainly this is the image of Logen I tend to carry around in my head. Hey, did Abercrombie ever "reveal" how Logen lost the finger? Per Abercrombie style, I imagine it would be something really small and insignificant, but it's interesting that it's not revealed and nobody asks (if that is, in fact, the case).
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Jun 19, 2013 21:56
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