[Dust of Dreams]

@Imperial Historian: Lazar is an Avowed although he's primarily described as a Guardsman. Despite this it's very heavily implicitly implied.

(This is the part where he is deemed part of the guard)

Larkin said:

Then another guardsman came out of the night. I'll never forget the way he stepped from the darkness . . . like some fiend out of Hood's own paths. His surcoat shone in the flames like fresh blood. Lazar, it was, with his visored helm and black shield.

Temper then goes onto criticise Larkin and call him a liar, stating 'Fought Lazar!' and going onto to say, 'It was said the Avowed were unstoppable.' No way would he be able to survive such an encounter...

Lazar is alive as far as we can hazard.

Also, to clarify matters; There were 20 Avowed left in the Ninth Blade, not the entire Guard. This holds with Iron Bars vague assertion. I can search for a quote on this if you wish.

[Tarr]

Earlier on in another thread people were talking about traveller and his companion could greymane meet up with traveller in this book or be that companion mentioned?

[Abyss]

magicrealist;303292 said:

Hmm, it is mentioned that only 20 of the original avowed remain ....

Didn't Iron Bars say there were a hundred or so left in MT?
Tho admittedly that's speculation on his part, post the debacle on Assail.

As of NoK, Lazar was not identified as dead.

Someone remember whether it was Skinner or Blues who faced Dassem and lived?

- Abyss, still waiting for Cobra Commander to make an appearance...

[Mentalist]

Skinner, I believe..

[Quick~]

It was said the Avowed were unstoppable, but Dassem had slain every one who had challenged him: Shirdar, Keal, Bartok. Only Skinner, they say, had come away alive from their clash." ~ Temper / NoK

Quote

Didn't Iron Bars say there were a hundred or so left in MT?

Dust of Dreams's clarification at the top of this page clears up the avowed numbers :3

Dust of Dreams said:

Also, to clarify matters; There were 20 Avowed left in the Ninth Blade, not the entire Guard. This holds with Iron Bars vague assertion. I can search for a quote on this if you wish.

[Mithfanion]

I have the prologue and first chapter in front of me. Traveller's companion is called Ereko I believe.

Anyone still interested in getting these two very short chapters should just get the MMPB edition of "Knives" that just came out, or wait for August.

a) It's apparantly not going to be publsihed here on Malazan after all, because if it was, that could have been done a long time ago.

They're not really special chapters, and very, very short.

[Quick~]

My local waterstones finally got it so I skimmed through in the shop.

Thoughts on the prologue:

It felt really well written actually and read very nicely. Seems slightly maturer than the NoK style, or perhaps thats just a case of having a bit more time to tell tales. Anyway Denuth is pretty entertaining, stone hands and all, their reaction to Draconus's (consort/suzerian of night) arrival was pretty interesting as well, they seemed rather deferential and averted their eyes and stopped themselves from looking at him (I say they, I can't remember a gender mention).

Oh the aftermath of Liossercal vs the Azath is pretty intense, the descriptions of the damage were rather vivid and Liossercal took a beating in the progress, he sounds pretty mangled! Lacerations all over him and he has problems sembling.

And rambles on the prologue:

Having read the Crimson guard stuff very quickly, Cowl is pretty impressive and the guard themselves sound rather interesting. Seems like theres some doubting of Greymanes rumoured skill. On the subject of avowed numbers, its mentioned there are 20 left in the company, but company seems to be used in the chapter to describe both the 9th blade and the Guard as a whole. The general structure and politicking of the guard is also setting up to be interesting (+ their names are awesome on the whole) though I did find the line

'There are those in this Crimson Guard who have wandered the land a very long time indeed. They have amassed power and knowledge. And I don't believe they intend to let it go. It's an old story - one I had hoped to leave behind.'

to feel as though it was somewhat forced out at the end of the chapter. Might have been a side effect of the quick read but it sort of felt like Cam had come up with an awesome line (don't get me wrong, its a great line) he wanted to use and found somewhere to put it.

all in all though it looks like an awesome start to the book, want more? yes, yes I do D:

[pat5150]

I'm about 100 pages into it and I have to agree that ICE has matured as a writer. This one reads more easily than NoK.

I'm not going to reveal anything, but the book says that 600 men and women originally took K'azz's vow. And it seems that there are many of them who are still alive and kicking. But as with the rest of the Crimson Guard, the Avowed are spread around the globe at the moment...

Greymane is cool, and Traveller and his companion are an interesting pair. ICE has already shown that he has a few surprises up his sleeve, and I can't wait to read the rest.

For those who were disappointed by NoK, know that RofCG is as convoluted (so far) as any of SE's Malazan offerings.

Patrick

[Dust of Dreams]

Have you plans to read straight through at a reasonably fast pace? When can we expect a non-spoiler review? It sounds very interesting.

[Abyss]

pat5150;304068 said:

I'm about 100 pages into it and I have to agree that ICE has matured as a writer. This one reads more easily than NoK.

I'm not going to reveal anything, but the book says that 600 men and women originally took K'azz's vow. And it seems that there are many of them who are still alive and kicking. But as with the rest of the Crimson Guard, the Avowed are spread around the globe at the moment...

Greymane is cool, and Traveller and his companion are an interesting pair. ICE has already shown that he has a few surprises up his sleeve, and I can't wait to read the rest.

For those who were disappointed by NoK, know that RofCG is as convoluted (so far) as any of SE's Malazan offerings.

Patrick

Brainzzzzz.....

- Abyss, will have to wait til August... unless.... brainzzzz....

[pat5150]

Dust of Dreams;304075 said:

Have you plans to read straight through at a reasonably fast pace? When can we expect a non-spoiler review? It sounds very interesting.

Sadly, I don't have much time to read these days, so my progress is a mere 50 pages a day. And I have to take notes as I go along, as I do for every single Malazan books. So it should take me more than a week to get through RotCG. Fear not, for a review will follow shortly thereafter. . .

Pete told me that the book won't ship for a couple of weeks, so I will likely have my review out before the limited edition begins to reach mailboxes!

More to come. . .

Patrick

[Optimus Prime]

pat5150;304068 said:

I'm about 100 pages into it and I have to agree that ICE has matured as a writer. This one reads more easily than NoK.

I'm not going to reveal anything, but the book says that 600 men and women originally took K'azz's vow. And it seems that there are many of them who are still alive and kicking. But as with the rest of the Crimson Guard, the Avowed are spread around the globe at the moment...

Greymane is cool, and Traveller and his companion are an interesting pair. ICE has already shown that he has a few surprises up his sleeve, and I can't wait to read the rest.

For those who were disappointed by NoK, know that RofCG is as convoluted (so far) as any of SE's Malazan offerings.

Patrick

Pat will you adopt me? I'll move to Canada, I don't care!

Sounds great, I cannot wait for this freaking book.

I think almost every Malazanite has been driven crazy by Greymane and wtf is up with him.

[Elan Morin Tedronai]

pat5150;304561 said:

Pete told me that the book won't ship for a couple of weeks, so I will likely have my review out before the limited edition begins to reach mailboxes!

More to come. . .

Patrick

A few weeks? Was kinda expecting them to start shipping any day now

[vaiski]

Elan Morin Tedronai;304843 said:

A few weeks? Was kinda expecting them to start shipping any day now

Yeah same here, their latest news bulletin certainly implied that.. major disappointment if we don't get our books even in May. I wonder what's the reason for all the delays (Early 2008 eh )

[magicrealist]

for 150 bucks i hoped i'd get it much sooner than the mass market publication...

If i know it would only be a month or so earlier i wouldn't have dished out the dough.

[Optimus Prime]

So RotCG comes out in June (regular version) in the UK?

Sweet!

*runs to preorder*

[pat5150]

Nope, the Bantam edition will be published in August.

As for the PS Publishing limited edition, the ARC says July, but we all know that the book will ship as soon as they receive it from the printer!

Patrick

[Elan Morin Tedronai]

I think this is about the limited edition

July!? :eek: what happened to May?

[ShadowOwl]

In the PS email on May 8, Pete said, "..we're expecting finished copies of this monumental two-book deluxe slipcased set any day now." Unless this is another stretched truth, to pacify those on the waiting list, I'd think the book should start shipping in a week. If however Pat has the truth about this book from Pete, then we won't see the book till June and we were strung along again. Sorry to sound negative, but I would so much rather be told it wont' ship till June than all these stories about March, then April, etc. Just tell me the truth and I can deal with that. But getting our hopes up and constantly being let down is truly annoying. Sorry, just had to have a wee rant on this one.

[Optimus Prime]

pat5150;305098 said:

Nope, the Bantam edition will be published in August.

As for the PS Publishing limited edition, the ARC says July, but we all know that the book will ship as soon as they receive it from the printer!

Patrick

Thanks for the clarification Pat.

Pat, quick question.....any new maps in RotCG?