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rejutka posted:No. You can tell ICE loves travel journals and such as the book is a pretty interesting travel journal but the story stuff is pretty inconsequential or presented as such. Basically the most interesting part of B&B is the chapter intro blurbs. Those come from actual travel journals. I can't believe a book that heavily features Kallor could have been this boring. I might be the only one but my favorite ICE novel is Stonewielder, probably mostly on account of having only one plotline that goes nowhere and it being a minor one.
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May 31, 2014 22:03
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Spermy Smurf posted:Lostra was the one who killed a bunch of short tails when they busted through the heavies. It was described as a 'Mist of blood' by the guy who was laying on he ground wounded. I think that was it anyway. Wasn't that Cotillion possessing her, though?
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Jun 1, 2014 08:00
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It's not a big problem if you're rereading the series, but it would be a major pain in the rear end for a first timer. I heard they fixed them for the complete release, but the original one was pretty goddamn terrible.
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Jun 4, 2014 10:26
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bucketybuck posted:Unfortunately this isn't a dance-off. The dance is a martial art.
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Jun 4, 2014 20:28
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Yeah, when I read it for the first time I think that was the scene that cemented that I'll be reading the rest of the series. edit: While I'd argue Beak is handled better than The Fall, they serve different purposes - what hit me most about the ending of DG was the sheer pointlessness and stupidity of it all.
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Jun 8, 2014 11:14
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Ynglaur posted:The loss of both Trull and Rhulad affected me far more than Beak, to be honest. Still, this series is the gift that keeps on taking. I just got through the attack at the tavern and didn't realize I liked Bluepearl as much as I did until he passed. I felt the same way about the tavern, but I suspect it is just because I hate everyone else in that plotline so he looks good by comparison. TtH has way too much Blend and Picker who both stopped being interesting by MoI.
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Jun 9, 2014 16:28
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Different strokes for different folks, apparently. Especially since I like Hedge a lot, he's arguably my favorite Bridgeburner, particularly in his post mortem sections in RG. But I also like genuinely Blistig and Nimander's traveling therapy group so my taste is objectively terrible. edit: Antsy is the biggest saving grace of OST, really.
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Jun 9, 2014 22:05
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Levitate posted:Also essentially immortal unless killed with violence, fantastic warriors and magic users, blah blah. It's not perfect one to one but they definitely evoke the classic image of elves I think Hood or someone decently high-up hints that they're some sort of an experiment. Might have been an attempt to create specialist mageslayers.
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Jun 13, 2014 15:58
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Honestly, Jaghut may look like orcs but they're pretty much their polar opposite otherwise.
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Jun 13, 2014 19:03
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Yeah, I read that along the lines of "this culture was on the height of its rule" thing. Mass ascensions are probably pretty rare given all the noise the Bridgeburners get - and that may have quite well been caused by Paran fixing the game. Also I think the Barghast/Moranth split was actually that the Moranth continued to trade with the Edur (before, we can assume, Edur fell into the decline we are seeing when Midnight Tides roll in). I'd love to see a book focused on the Moranth - they seem to have devolved from a seafaring/trader culture to an extremely isolationist and clan-based one - Erikson's take on that could be amazing.
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Jun 13, 2014 21:46
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BobFromMarketing posted:I really think this series in general would be hard to do justice on any sort of visual representation other than perhaps artwork. Well, they used to say that about Lord of the Rings, and that got Hollywooded pretty decently, if you don't mind removing just about everything but the fights. Malazan could get that sort of treatment. Whether it'd end up being any good is another question though.
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Jun 15, 2014 20:58
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Who is it you casted as Coll? Because the picture really reminds me of Louis de Funés and that's pretty much the least fitting match imaginable.
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Jun 27, 2014 13:34
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There was a cult of Shadow (Rashan) before the Malazan takeover; in HoC, Bidithal who used to be a high priest refers to the Ammanas/Cotilion duo as "usurpers". We also know that Quick Ben used to be a part of that cult and played a part in its downfall from Lostara's flashbacks.Inspector Gesicht posted:Having finished Memories of Ice, and unwisely skipping Deadhouse Gates for the time being, I have questions. What happened to that Buke guy? Did those two necromancers have any real impact on the main storyline? Was the Crippled God on any character's minds before now? Because he seemed to come out of nowhere and nearly everyone was aware of his presence. Buke I think either dies in Capustan or gets off the radar. Necromancers have their own series of short novels. Anything on Crippled God - read and find out, he's kind of a big deal. As for him having come out of nowhere, there's a reference to his Chaining(s) in the very first book, it's just pretty well hidden in plain sight. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Jul 3, 2014 14:20
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Khizan posted:Don't the Moranth just throw them off of their giant flying birds or whatnot? Not like they can really train them in that. Yeah, the Moranth probably threw the things into some sort of treaty as a bargaining chip thinking the Malazans can't possibly use it on account of not having quorls. Besides, as TCG and TtH reveals, they keep the best munitions to themselves. Of course, they couldn't predict the creative insanity of Hedge and Fiddler.
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Jul 4, 2014 10:52
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An accurate representation of the average Esslemont character.
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Jul 9, 2014 22:00
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Cardiac posted:Which is kinda interesting, since the Malazan empire is also inspired by Rome.
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Jul 11, 2014 09:11
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amuayse posted:I think the fact that Letherii focusing on holds could have brought up an interesting plot point if they had otataral and the Malazan army had to fight them without magic. Isn't that what they did, pretty much? In RG, Malazans have exactly one usable mage and they blew him on defense. Although this does raise an interesting point - considering what we know about the origins of otataral and the power of Letherii magic, how come they don't have it?
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Jul 11, 2014 17:04
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On a slight aside, I just finished Crack'd Pot Trail for the first time and it's my favorite necromancer story so far, you can tell how much the author enjoyed openly writing about writing. It's probably the funniest of them too. Now for Wurms of Blearmouth.
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Jul 17, 2014 08:27
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I'd like to think that Erikson's response to book awards is Crack'd Pot Trail.
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Jul 20, 2014 08:58
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Explains more than one ascendant, too.
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Jul 22, 2014 16:46
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JagGator posted:To be fair, Kallor's curses didn't necessarily spell out the specifics. For example, "Draconus, what you create shall be turned on you."
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Jul 23, 2014 11:00
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ChickenWing posted:Hnnnnnnnnnnnngh I'm re-reading the series for the first time and I'm almost done Memories of Ice. It's amazing how much more you see when you've already read the series once - there's a particularly clever bit when a Tiste Edur washes up on the shoreline dead of massive overpressurization, and Paran and Quick Ben talk about how it must have been a High Ruse mage. Meanwhile, a bunch of books later in Bugg/Tehol land (I don't remember specifically which book), Bugg/Mael gets super mad at one Tiste Edur and warrens him into the deepest bit of the sea. It's a really neat example of just how well Erikson had all this stuff planned out, or at least how he makes winging it seem planned out My favorite bit of foreshadowing in the series is the whole plotline related to the ship Silanda. It's spread over three or four books and it's just amazing when you put the whole story together.
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Jul 24, 2014 17:31
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CaptainJuan posted:They're allied with the Malazans, and the Black Moranth are i guess capable ground troops as well an air force. They're kin to the barghast, and I think that's revealed somewhere in book... 5 or 6? idk Actually, the alliance is falling apart (to the point of some Moranth (RotCG) fighting against the empire and there's some heavy renegotiations going on. Again, the ICE books have more information on them.
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Jul 27, 2014 11:05
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Decent fantasy, nowhere near Erikson's level though. The series is definitely worth a reread, so much more will make sense to you (and then get disproved in FoD).
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Aug 11, 2014 13:50
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That's pretty much it. You read them in order to take a peek at the places Erikson only mentions and the ideas and setting are usually solid enough to get you over the writing. Well, if you can stomach the "liberties" ICE takes with the characters - I can't stand the way he writes Kruppe, for example. All in all, we're probably lucky he only did six books and they don't have much of an overarching plotline without much effect on the world.
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Aug 14, 2014 15:41
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Spermy Smurf posted:Doesn't he specifically say "mother dark gave me the name son of darkness" ?? He's clearly Silchas with a suntan.
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Aug 15, 2014 12:38
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amuayse posted:After rereading a bunch of the books, it seems that there's a huge technological disparity between the various city states and the other nations. Much of the Malazan army troops mention that they were from rather primitive cultures like the Dal Hon and Seti. I think you're mixing some people up here. Both countries you mentioned were conquered by the Malazan empire and those are pretty picky about their equipment. For example, the prototypical Seti, Koryk, wears all tribal garb and superstitions, but fights with Malazan weapons. e: I think Rome's the best comparison here. They recruited from various conquered countries and used their units to their respective strengths.
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Aug 16, 2014 20:25
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So BnB is a lovely plot in a great setting and Assail is a lovely plot in a bland setting. Seriously, about half of that book could've been axed without any great loss (Orman, I'm looking at you - and your stupid spear). About the only thing I enjoyed about Assail was seeing Cartheron in action (and Possum getting some closure, he was one of the few interesting ICE characters) - and even there you just can't help but wonder how aweseme would that be in Erikson's hands. e: Honestly, is there anyone who even likes the Crimson Guard at this point? They read like Sanderson. This is not a compliment. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Aug 23, 2014 |
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Aug 23, 2014 17:18
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I also think Spinnock and Rake talk about how it's actually Rake playing via Spinnock by planning turns or something.
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Aug 24, 2014 19:24
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You never "get" the universe. You'll have a reasonably clear picture by the end of the series... And then you read FoD and it'll turn it upside down.
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Aug 26, 2014 16:14
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amuayse posted:Eh, maybe. Maybe it's just gradual power level creep or something since I didn't reread the books in the same order. There's also one really weird exception to the case: the Liosan. When they first show up in HoC, they're pretty much comic relief and they only turn out to be a real threat in TCG (with a brief foreshadowing in TtH via hounds of light).
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Aug 27, 2014 17:07
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GreyPowerVan posted:We're talking about the same Kallor right? Burned his entire empire to the ground out of spite Kallor? Yup. Sympathetic and badass.
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Aug 27, 2014 20:50
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rejutka posted:So I'm the only person who cheered - in my head - when (MoI) Kallor killed Whiskeyjack then? No. I never got the love Whiskeyjack gets and Kallor is a huge badass right from the start.
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Aug 28, 2014 16:33
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Actually, Sinn was a human child who got possessed by the fire elemental at Y'Ghatan; remember, she had a brother. Grub, I always assumed to be pretty much war incarnate.
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Aug 29, 2014 17:18
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I think it's something along the lines of TCG having written literally the book you're holding, or at least that's how I always interpreted the sequence.
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Sep 6, 2014 20:52
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Spermy Smurf posted:This is the first time in history Leoman has been called 'cool' and not 'boring and a waste of my time to read' He's interesting enough in Bonehunters; problem is after that he ends up in ICE's filthy mitts. (Although to be fair a lot can be attributed to the fact we see him from the view of Corabb, who is generally a pretty funny character). I'll second the love for Trull, he's one of the reasons why MT is my favorite book of the series.
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Sep 9, 2014 13:47
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Ynglaur posted:I saw him as less manipulating the environment around him, and more just being swept along out of control. Now I'm wondering if I misread him entirely. I think it's both to an extent. A scene which to me characterises his schtic more or less perfectly is when he's leading the escape of the rest of the rebels and cursing the whole drat mess, goddess, book, uprising with every step. The troops ask what he's saying and Corabb tells them he's praying. He's caught in the Whirlwind and tries his drat best to get out, everyone else be damned; but who's to blame, I wouldn't dare say.
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Sep 10, 2014 11:05
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ZombieLenin posted:So it might be that I'm audio booking the books (plan on actually reading them after I finish with the audiobooks); however, I'm about 1/3rd through Midnight Tides and I have no idea where or when in the world the action is taking place. It doesn't help the Malazans haven't been mentioned once. Wasn't Trull in House of Chains? That should at least let you place it in time.
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Sep 15, 2014 21:49
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amuayse posted:Man, Kyle seems like a big dumb baby half the time for a Crimson Guardsman. You can probably chalk it up to ICE's writing, but Crimson Guard... ain't all that great.
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Sep 17, 2014 07:40
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Funnily enough, I had quite the opposite reaction to TtH. I didn't mind the Andii bits (Nimader's group in particular I found pretty good) but found myself skimming through the Darujhistan parts, mostly because I simply can't bring myself to care about any of those characters.
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Sep 23, 2014 09:31
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