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snail goat
Dec 12, 2006

you shouldnt doubt yourself
you know more about goats than you give yourself credit for

Sil posted:

e. What we obviously need is a Jaghut series because they are by far the most awesome characters in all the books. No other POVs. Just Jaghuts. Some Tyrant, Hood, Gothos. Nice and simple.
As long as Bent is with Hood, I'll read the hell out of that.

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02-6611-0142-1
Sep 30, 2004

I can't actually read spoilers tags yet because I'm only half way through, but, topically, Hood appearing out of nowhere and biting a forkrul assail face in half totally owned. The way I picture it in my head, he did it really casually, like taking a bite out of a cheeseburger, and then pausing thoughtfully.

Infinite Karma
Oct 23, 2004
Good as dead





zokie posted:

Still the dude does have the Sceptre of Darkness. Re-reading the scene (p.59-60 in my book) where he re-appears, I get the crazy theory of him being the creation of Draconus and Mother Dark taking souls chained within Dragnipur and chaining them to one body. With the chains and him telling the 'Mother' she could/should have kept him as a child...
I finally got to this scene with Quick Ben, and it seems much more like he is related to the Shake or the Edur with the way he talks about Mother and Father. Someone in DoD (Yedan Derryg?) mentions that Scar Bandaris was the last surviving Edur prince after the original war on the First Shore, which means Scabandari isn't the original Father Shadow. Quick could still be the real Father Shadow, which fits his personality to a tee.

He mentions what Anomander did in TTH, and how Nimander will have to get the Sceptre of Darkness from him if he wants it, and the phrasing makes it sounds like he's not an Andii himself. Yedan also mentioned that the Edur were somehow the Andii's way out of Kurald Galain after MD/FL turned away, so his involvement on the side of Shadow fits. Maybe he stole the Sceptre (or used it legitimately) to make a way out.

He also mentions how he almost finished them off, which seems to be referring to the K'Chain races, who were the first target of Tiste aggression on Wu.

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!




Morbid Hound
I'm thinking about finally picking up this series for plane flight reading. Two questions: is it available on kindle, and, after looking at that graphic at the start of the thread, is there a "best accepted" reading order? Just go by the numbers?

snail goat
Dec 12, 2006

you shouldnt doubt yourself
you know more about goats than you give yourself credit for
Just go by the numbers.

Transistor Rhythm
Feb 16, 2011

If setting the Sustain Level in the ENV to around 7, you can obtain a howling sound.

Yes, go by the numbers no matter what people tell you. Just accept that your favorite characters might disappear for entire books at a time.

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!




Morbid Hound

Transistor Rhythm posted:

Yes, go by the numbers no matter what people tell you. Just accept that your favorite characters might disappear for entire books at a time.

I can deal, I've been reading Wheel of Time since the 90's.

Decius
Oct 14, 2005

Ramrod XTreme

Infinite Karma posted:

I finally got to this scene with Quick Ben

Quick Ben has most likely a Tiste Andii soul in him, but that shouldn't be much of a suprise, he used Kurlad Galain in GotM.

Vanilla Mint Ice
Jul 17, 2007

A raccoon is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.
He also had access to their warren in the first book to do that soul shifting stuff.

VanillaGorilla
Oct 2, 2003

Wow. Just finished, and I was bawling like a kid with a skinned knee the entire way through the epilogues. This whole series was amazing, but TCG really felt like Erikson's masterwork. I hope we don't have to wait too long for whatever comes next from him.

Oh, and my pet theory from the end of it all : I think that, like the Bridgeburners, the Bonehunters have become aspected, and the manifestation of that godhood is none other than...Nefarious Bredd

Morbleu
Jun 13, 2006

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I'm thinking about finally picking up this series for plane flight reading. Two questions: is it available on kindle, and, after looking at that graphic at the start of the thread, is there a "best accepted" reading order? Just go by the numbers?

I can't see in what life you'll finish this series if it's for "plane reading," just sayin.

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!




Morbid Hound

Nigulus Rex posted:

I can't see in what life you'll finish this series if it's for "plane reading," just sayin.

I've got two 30 hour plane flights coming up to New Zealand and back, and I read ~1000+ pages a day when I'm reading pulp fiction. So I need something with enough bulk to keep me occupied :P

Illuyankas
Oct 22, 2010

VanillaGorilla posted:

I hope we don't have to wait too long for whatever comes next from him.
He's writing the first Kharkanas book now, and he's said that he's going to write at his relaxed casual speed of a novel every 18 months, instead of his previous focused speed of a novel a year. So, still ridiculously fast.

Morbleu
Jun 13, 2006

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I've got two 30 hour plane flights coming up to New Zealand and back, and I read ~1000+ pages a day when I'm reading pulp fiction. So I need something with enough bulk to keep me occupied :P

Good luck. Malazan doesn't read as quickly as your typical pulp fiction.

Illuyankas
Oct 22, 2010

Oh yeah, that reminds me:

What's worse than finding a D'rek in your apple?

Finding a Demidrek

qbert
Oct 23, 2003

It's both thrilling and terrifying.
I just finished Reaper's Gale last night. Really fantastic throughout, probably one of my favorite of the series.

Some of the stuff that happened at the end just wrecked me.

I don't think I've ever rooted as hard for a character to survive as I did for Trull Sengar during that confrontation with Silchas and Clip. After that scene I decided that Trull is my favorite character of the series. Erikson is such a bastard. As soon as he survived that, I actually thought "Hey, maybe two characters in this series will actually get a happy ending!" Then when he told Seren he had to leave I thought "Oh poo poo. There's only 15 pages left in the book. Surely he can survive that long!"

Welp. Now I want to kill myself.

Other highlights:
- Everytime an ancient badass thought they could just wreck poo poo up, only to get swatted down before they started (Quick Ben holding back the three sisters, Fiddler and Hedge shooting Silchas out of the sky)
- Onrack and Kilava reunion
- Tool showing up a minute too late (does any character in this series suffer more than Toc?)
- Tehol becoming Emperor
- Beak's sacrifice (very reminiscent of Itkovian)
- Brys coming back

Yeah, pretty much the whole climax was awesome.


Now to read...sigh...Return of the Crimson Guard.

qbert fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Mar 15, 2011

A Nice Boy
Feb 13, 2007

First in, last out.
RotCG ain't bad, don't fret.

Morbleu
Jun 13, 2006

qbert posted:

I just finished Reaper's Gale last night. Really fantastic throughout, probably one of my favorite of the series.

Some of the stuff that happened at the end just wrecked me.

I don't think I've ever rooted as hard for a character to survive as I did for Trull Sengar during that confrontation with Silchas and Clip. After that scene I decided that Trull is my favorite character of the series. Erikson is such a bastard. As soon as he survived that, I actually thought "Hey, maybe two characters in this series will actually get a happy ending!" Then when he told Seren he had to leave I thought "Oh poo poo. There's only 15 pages left in the book. Surely he can survive that long!"

Welp. Now I want to kill myself.

Other highlights:
- Everytime an ancient badass thought they could just wreck poo poo up, only to get swatted down before they started (Quick Ben holding back the three sisters, Fiddler and Hedge shooting Silchas out of the sky)
- Onrack and Kilava reunion
- Tool showing up a minute too late (does any character in this series suffer more than Toc?)
- Tehol becoming Emperor
- Beak's sacrifice (very reminiscent of Itkovian)
- Brys coming back

Yeah, pretty much the whole climax was awesome.


Now to read...sigh...Return of the Crimson Guard.

I enjoyed RotCG. It's not bad at all as nice boy said.

snail goat
Dec 12, 2006

you shouldnt doubt yourself
you know more about goats than you give yourself credit for

qbert posted:

(does any character in this series suffer more than Toc?)
No.

VanillaGorilla
Oct 2, 2003

Waddley Hasselhoff posted:

No.

To be fair though, his ending pretty much owned. Know he's partying it up forever with his buddies the Bridgeburners, and all he had to do was go through several cycles of pain and suffering to get his invite into the club. How is it possible that Whiskeyjack continues to be one of the best characters in this series after being half rotted and dead for 7 books or so

Tooter
Nov 12, 2003

I'm still on Tides and I read spoilers because they don't really seem to bother me knowing what's going on. But drat if TCG stuff doesn't piss me off that I'm not there yet. Not that I'm going to mind reading the rest of the series but I want to see what happens!

Vanilla Mint Ice
Jul 17, 2007

A raccoon is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.
I would say the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths suffered quite a bit.

Masonity
Dec 31, 2007

What, I wonder, does this hidden face of madness reveal of the makers? These K'Chain Che'Malle?
I don't think anyone in the series can come even close to Kallor when it comes to suffering. Other than perhaps The Crippled God himself.

Not that it isn't deserved, but still.

Habibi
Dec 8, 2004

We have the capability to make San Jose's first Cup Champion.

The Sharks could be that Champion.

Masonity posted:

I don't think anyone in the series can come even close to Kallor when it comes to suffering. Other than perhaps The Crippled God himself.

Not that it isn't deserved, but still.

Well if we're going to go in that direction, I might point out Draconus, who for hundreds of thousands of years got stuck into his own contained little invention.

Illuyankas
Oct 22, 2010

I think Pannion's sister wins this one. Stuck inside a rent in a warren, having her soul hideously tortured for over four hundred thousand years? Yeah, that's going to suck.

snail goat
Dec 12, 2006

you shouldnt doubt yourself
you know more about goats than you give yourself credit for

VanillaGorilla posted:

To be fair though, his ending pretty much owned. Know he's partying it up forever with his buddies the Bridgeburners, and all he had to do was go through several cycles of pain and suffering to get his invite into the club. How is it possible that Whiskeyjack continues to be one of the best characters in this series after being half rotted and dead for 7 books or so
Yeah, you're right. His ending made me cry happy tears for the first time (for him.)

I think there are other characters who may have it worse, Hetan for example, but Toc is different. You get to know him better. You get to REALLY like him. And before he ever actually does anything, he starts getting hosed over. And over. And over. And over. In my opinion, he was simply the most tragic. (And the second I say that I start second guessing it... Coltaine, Dukier, hell, even Rake.) Whatever. I feel for Toc the most.


^^Yeah, her story is tragic, but we never get to know her, so I think it's easy to just shrug off and say "that sucks."

Morbleu
Jun 13, 2006

Waddley Hasselhoff posted:

Yeah, you're right. His ending made me cry happy tears for the first time (for him.)

I think there are other characters who may have it worse, Hetan for example, but Toc is different. You get to know him better. You get to REALLY like him. And before he ever actually does anything, he starts getting hosed over. And over. And over. And over. In my opinion, he was simply the most tragic. (And the second I say that I start second guessing it... Coltaine, Dukier, hell, even Rake.) Whatever. I feel for Toc the most.


^^Yeah, her story is tragic, but we never get to know her, so I think it's easy to just shrug off and say "that sucks."

I feel like if Rhulad had books in his perspective during his countless times being killed he would be more tragic, but for the reason you listed that Toc is so fleshed out, we feel for him more.

qbert
Oct 23, 2003

It's both thrilling and terrifying.

Nigulus Rex posted:

I feel like if Rhulad had books in his perspective during his countless times being killed he would be more tragic, but for the reason you listed that Toc is so fleshed out, we feel for him more.

Well the thing with Rhulad is that he chose to get killed over and over. Sure, he didn't choose to be immortal, but no one was forcing him to fight champions and get killed over and over. The Crippled God gave him the means, and then relied on his inherent greed to do the rest.

A Nice Boy posted:

RotCG ain't bad, don't fret.

I hope you're right. NoK was so painful to get through, and the only reason I did was because it was relatively short. I can't take 700+ pages of that same quality of writing/characterization.

Junk Science
Mar 4, 2008

qbert posted:

NoK was so painful to get through, and the only reason I did was because it was relatively short. I can't take 700+ pages of that same quality of writing/characterization.

Then don't do it. It is a step up from NoK, but it's still barely on par with a mediocre Forgotten Realms novelization, only less entertaining. You will likely regret the time wasted.

Vanilla Mint Ice
Jul 17, 2007

A raccoon is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.

qbert posted:

Well the thing with Rhulad is that he chose to get killed over and over. Sure, he didn't choose to be immortal, but no one was forcing him to fight champions and get killed over and over. The Crippled God gave him the means, and then relied on his inherent greed to do the rest.

Theres two issues with that. One is that he wanted to die for reals, and the other is that he probably was addicted to the power the way someone would get addicted to I dunno, like coke or something. It wasn't something he could stop with his own willpower and the tragic thing is he was pretty alone with no help because everyone close to him either 'betrayed' him or really betrayed him. Getting someone to end him once and for all was his only solution for the way out.

A Nice Boy
Feb 13, 2007

First in, last out.

Junk Science posted:

Then don't do it. It is a step up from NoK, but it's still barely on par with a mediocre Forgotten Realms novelization, only less entertaining. You will likely regret the time wasted.

This has been a subject of debate for awhile. Personally, I liked it enough to include it in my reread when I went through the series a second time. There are a few b-plots that go nowhere(the girl whose rescued by the swordsmaster is pointless) but it has major ramifications in the Malazan world and even effects things in books 8 and 10.

Esslemont basically took over the happenings back in the Malazan Empire itself while Erikson moved back to Genebackis in book 8 and Lether/surrounds in 9 and 10. So if you care about what happens with Laseen as well as tons of other characters like Urko, Toc the Elder, etc, it's worth reading. He improved in every aspect of his writing fron NoK to RotCG, though he's still not even close to Erikson.

This post was aimed at qbert, no Junk, by the way.

Juaguocio
Jun 5, 2005

Oh, David...

Junk Science posted:

Then don't do it. It is a step up from NoK, but it's still barely on par with a mediocre Forgotten Realms novelization, only less entertaining. You will likely regret the time wasted.

That's massively underrating ICE's writing in my opinion. Even second-rate Malazan is superior to any of the garbage spewed out under the Forgotten Realms name, and ICE did a much better job with RotCG than NoK, so much so in fact that I would consider it his proper debut. It's akin to GotM in many ways, being pretty rough around the edges and a bit slow to get going, but once the action picks up you won't be able to tear yourself away.

Ghelel is horrible though. Christ almighty, what was he thinking?

Junk Science
Mar 4, 2008

A Nice Boy posted:

Stuff.

That's a drat nice avatar you got there.

Opal
May 10, 2005

some by their splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame of burning sulphur or of fire quickened by oil.

Juaguocio posted:

That's massively underrating ICE's writing in my opinion. Even second-rate Malazan is superior to any of the garbage spewed out under the Forgotten Realms name, and ICE did a much better job with RotCG than NoK, so much so in fact that I would consider it his proper debut. It's akin to GotM in many ways, being pretty rough around the edges and a bit slow to get going, but once the action picks up you won't be able to tear yourself away.

i disagree, i honestly think he's a pretty bad author by any standard. i gave RotCG an honest shot but 400 pages in and he still hasn't made me care one whit about anything. i'm going to spoil myself on the highlights of the rest of his books unless somebody comes along and says that a given book is actually on par with the rest of the series.

edit:
thank you god you got a different avatar this time around A Nice Boy, i was getting sick of looking at the retard kid

edit 2:
in TCG the scene where Silchas meets Tulas again was amazingggg, i giggled like a child at their banter.

Opal fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Mar 16, 2011

Spermy Smurf
Jul 2, 2004
I finished TCG, and the epilogue where Fiddler wants a spot to fiddle, and tells Silchas to get the gently caress outta my seat was pretty funny.

A Nice Boy
Feb 13, 2007

First in, last out.
Haha yeah, I've been meaning to get this one for awhile, but I've been lazy about it. I used to have a much higher quality version of this picture, but for the life of me, I can't find it anymore.

Also wanted to get WJ and Ganoes in there, but when shrunken down enough to fit the 125x125 and zoomed out, it looked crappy.

VanillaGorilla
Oct 2, 2003

Spermy Smurf posted:

I finished TCG, and the epilogue where Fiddler wants a spot to fiddle, and tells Silchas to get the gently caress outta my seat was pretty funny.

Messing with Fiddler has to be a pretty daunting prospect, considering he's best friends with an entire pantheon of heavy metal warrior gods of death, and his platonic life mate is a crazed sapper with a penchant for levelling entire enemy forces/ex heavy metal warrior god of death. Oh, and Fiddler is also a heavy metal warrior god of death in waiting/the reason the entire Bridgeburner unit ascended (with help from Grandpa Tanno Spirit Walker, who respected Fiddler so much he made all his bros into baby gods). Not to mention that if Silchas didn't get up he'd be cockblocking Iskar Jerak. That just sounds like a really bad idea.

I mean I guess what I'm saying is that when Fiddler tells you get to off his stump you just get off the fuckin' stump.

A Nice Boy
Feb 13, 2007

First in, last out.
Speaking of Fid, I love the part when someone asks who the toughest BB was, and WJ responds with Fiddler. drat straight.

The Gunslinger
Jul 24, 2004

Do not forget the face of your father.
Fun Shoe
Just finished up with TCG and it was pretty amazing. He managed to fit more into it than I thought he would in terms of character closure. Anyways I'm sad its over, one of the best series I've ever read :( Some great sendoffs for most of the cast but I'll post more on those when I've had a bit of time to digest everything.

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Oh Snapple!
Dec 27, 2005

I think one of my favorite Fiddler moments in the series is at the end of Deadhouse Gates, when Shadowthrone is granting his group's requests. Shadowthrone mocks the hell out of every single one of them, but when it comes to Fiddler's he makes it a point to tell him that his request in the only one he won't mock. Did Shadowthrone ever extend that courtesy to anyone else?

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