[Abyss]

There are many many threads in the TtH forum i have yet to get caught up on, but here's my initial reactions post first read-thru of TtH....


BEST NEW CHARACTER: I have to give it to Spinnock Durav. There was just something innately cool about Rake's all purpose go to guy. He survived Assail. He stopped Kallor for hours. How can we not like this character? Seerdomin was close - he built on the hints in MoI and really wound very nicely into the wider Dying God/Redeemer/Black Coral plot. His motivations were interesting, from just visiting the Redeemer's grave because he though the guy might like the company to stopping the plot against the Andii because humans should clean up their own mess, this character was solid.

BEST EXISTING CHARACTER(s) IT WAS A KICK TO SEE AGAIN: hands down, from the poetic chapter opener to Quell and Gruntle's initial visit, the Whiskeyjack/Bruckhalian/Toc trinity was jaw-droppingly awesome. I got shivers. Real shivers. And now we know why Hood sent Gethol to try and recruit the Grey Swords in Capustan.

BEST CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: Gruntle joining the TTG - perfect. So perfect.

THE AWARD FOR ALMOST TURNING INTO THE MHYBE BUT NOT GOES TO: Endest Silann walked a fine line with this one. His overall contribution to the history of the Andii kept him in the game even when his existential internal monologues stretched, but i have to give the award to Nimander - up until Bastion, he was whiny, he was doubtful, his kin were almost as 'bad', and then Nenanda dropped the hint that Clip didn't understand why they lived while everyone else on Avalii died, and then in Bastion the gear came out and they started killing and it was like 'nicely done again SE, i get it - they don't LIKE what they became to survive Avalii.'. Throwing Kallor into the mix was a nice touch.

BEST MOMENT THAT MESSED WITH THE FANS: Hounds of Light. Hands down, i read that first passing comment by Cotillion re Pallid and Lock and just thought 'Steve, you're fucking with us.', and then in the finale it ALL went down and it worked HUGE.

BEST SUMMARY OF CUTTER'S PLOT LINE: Holy fuck i just beat Rellick in a fight - waaaaaahhhhh - die Gorlas die - waaaahhhh - are those Hounds? - waaaaaah. I have to admit, Cutter started STRONG. The scene when he took out Rallick was beyond anything i was expecting but it totally worked. His moral and existential whining for most of the rest of the book very nearly soured me on the character, but taking out Gorlas and then standing with Karsa against the HoLs saved him.

BEST HOLY FUCK MOMENT - pretty much every page of the last 150 pages or so, altho i got an extra kick out of Hood's Armies showing up in Dragnipur, answering the question of where the BBs and those others have been marching since HoC.

BEST LINE: While nothing on the level of "Fucking dragon!", i have to give equal props to Hood re the wagon: "...turn it around!" and Rake to Dassem: "...come and get him!".

BEST OTHER LINE: "I shall call him Tufty." BBBWWWWWAAAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAAAAHAHA
HAHHAHAHAAAHHAHAHAHAHeeeewheeeEEeeee....

BEST BIT THE FANS ARE GOING TO CALL A MISTAKE FOR NO GOOD REASON: Look, it's Hood's House. He can do whatever he wants with it. If he wants to switch Baudin to Soldier and make the Second into Knight and make Toc into Herald and make Tormsy a temporary Mason he bloody well can and no one is going to argue with him. Just accept it.

BEST SE GIVETH AND SE TAKETH AWAY: Confirming Dessembelackis was split into/inside the last seven Deragoth but then having Tulas Shorn tell us the Hounds of Shadow were WAY older than we ever knew.

BEST FIGHT WE NEVER GOT TO SEE: Karsa and Traveller - it just worked out so perfectly that i was totally happy this Ho'd Win never played out. Samar Dev's perspective on these two was priceless.

BEST I'M STILL CONFUSED ABOUT THAT BIT: How many undead dragons escaped Hood's warren? Because the undead dragon Kallor chatted with really didn't seem to be Tulas Shorn based on Shorn's subsequent chats with ST/Cots and others...

OVERALL, i loved what SE did with this book. Historically, he's typically given us a few major points throughout a book - battles, sorcery moments, etc, to break up the development pace. This was all steady build. Even the odd action bits, Nimander & co at Bastion, Cutter and Rellick, the attack on KRul's Bar, it was all just buildup to the big finish and omg, that finish was BIG. HUGE. THE BIGGEST. Like in a 'did i actually just READ that' sort of way big.

Kruppe's narrative voice came and went but overall it worked for me.

With TtH, SE closed a few long running major plots, opened a few new ones, moved the story beautifully along and gave us a solid installment in the series. Different from what we'd come to expect, but in a good way.

I'm totally looking fwd to the forum chatter on this, and to RCG in a short while.


- Abyss, satisfied customer.

[Aptorian]

You know that thing about how many undead dragons there was had me wondering aswell. Tulas Shorn did not come over as the type that would serve Kallor willingly.

I could how ever suspect the undead edur of pretending. Just so that he could stab Kallor in the back, Edur like that kind of thing dontcha know.

[Ammanas]

Yeah, I agree with most of that. Cept, I was hoping for a Traveller/Kallor clash. It was too obvious Trav and Karsa had become friends.

Biggest disappointments--
1) that we didn't get more ST and less Pust.
2) we didn't get an answer to what Paran promised Hood unless it was to die and Hood was too scared to ask Rake or something.
3) the Tyrant didn't actually appear
4) that the Hounds didn't eat Draconus daughters


Biggest surprise--yes, Malazan fans, Hounds of Light do exist and there are a fuckload of em.

I'm beginning to like Cot more and more.

[Abyss]

Ammanas;354512 said:

...
2) we didn't get an answer to what Paran promised Hood unless it was to die and Hood was too scared to ask Rake or something.....

Or Hood was putting a contingency plan into place with that exchange.... hmmm...


BEST SAD DEATHS: Murillio.... awww. And Mallet... aw, fuck.

BEST CHARACTER WHO WENT NOWHERE THUS PROVING SE LIKES TO TOY WITH US: Harllo's miner Imass with the sabretooth legs.

BEST TIMELINE PROBLEM EVEN THO THE TIMELINE IS NOT NOT NOT IMPORTANT: Harllo was how old?

- Abyss, still notes the timeline is not important, the timeline is not how the fuck have five years past since Coral nevermind not important not not not....

[Tiger_sword]

The point I made elsewhere as well is that the dragon that 'talked' the Kallor seamed to have first hand knowledge of the battle against death something I'm not sure the Edur were either around for or would take part in, not to mention Kallor continuously refers to him as Elient, one would assume that he would notice the difference between a true elient and a soletaken Edur. Hmm...

[Optimus Prime]

Welcome to the club Abyss

Did anyone, for a moment, think Tulas Shorn was Edgewalker and SE was screwing with us?

[Abyss]

Optimus Prime;354532 said:

....Did anyone, for a moment, think Tulas Shorn was Edgewalker and SE was screwing with us?

Well i do NOW, DAMN YOU OPTIMUS PRIME DAMN YOUUUU!!!!!!!!!

- Abyss, will rep you for that eventually.

[caladanbrood]

Ammanas;354512 said:

2) we didn't get an answer to what Paran promised Hood unless it was to die and Hood was too scared to ask Rake or something.

Seems like it was obviously something to do with getting into Dragnipur. When Cartographer drew that gate to get the Trygalle into it, it seemed a lot like when Paran draws his cards, don't you think?

[Abyss]

BEST NEW PET CRAZY THEORY: the time traveller in the leopard that gruntle met in his dream from from gruntle's future, not his past. 'New Morn' doesn't exist yet, but it will.


- Abyss, ooooooooooo.....

[Optimus Prime]

I thought the Spite and Envy showdown was....anticlimatic....true to SE's ways.

[Abyss]

I took that as deliberate - basically yet another in a series of pointless albeit property damagin spats between the sisters which resolved absolutely nothing.

I did, however, enjoy Envy's internal monologue when she hit Spite with everything she had post Spite lava-bombing her estate.

- Abyss, wonders if Thurule made it out...

[Aptorian]

I found it disappointing that these two extremely powerfull elder sister didn't manage to do more damage than leveling a few houses. The big lava blob alone should had started a giant fire in that quarter and then made the gas deposits go boom.

I wanted to see big waves of magic, ala Tay and Rake at Pale, shreding through buildings and streets a mile around. Not just coblestones getting hot.

[HoosierDaddy]

Optimus Prime;354549 said:

I thought the Spite and Envy showdown was....anticlimatic....true to SE's ways.

Yes there should have been hair-pulling, bra-slapping, finger-nail gouging fun.

It makes you wonder if their heart was really in it, although Spite did try that Crippled God Bomb sneak attack. It makes me wonder why Envy couldn't have then destroyed her with her sneak attack that obviosly caught Spite unawares.

[Quick~]

yay I'd been waiting to read something like this from you xD congrats on finishing!

Quote

BEST FIGHT WE NEVER GOT TO SEE: Karsa and Traveller - it just worked out so perfectly that i was totally happy this Ho'd Win never played out. Samar Dev's perspective on these two was priceless.

Definately one of my favourite parts of the book, the way they interacted, the way they were almost kindred spirits and the way Samar Dev got more and more exhasperated with them hehe.

[Aptorian]

She was surrounded by wards?

[HoosierDaddy]

Aptorian;354563 said:

She was surrounded by wards?

But wouldn't surrounding herself with wards have tipped off Envy? I don't remember this part all that well as I was literally flying through the ending. Do we know there were wards around her, because that would explain why she isn't leveled by Envy.

[Aptorian]

She's going into Darujistan to pick a fight with her sister. I don't think she came unprepared. As for Envy sensing her because of the wards... They can sense each other if they're on the same continent it seems, wards don't make a difference.

[Dolorous Menhir]

Optimus Prime;354532 said:

Welcome to the club Abyss

Did anyone, for a moment, think Tulas Shorn was Edgewalker and SE was screwing with us?

Doubt it. We saw Edgewalker doing his thing in Shadow at the start of the book. And we then saw Tulas Shorn escape from Hood's Realm later. They're two different people. It just doesn't match up.

[Abyss]

@Apt - The Envy Spite spat burned a big frikkin hole into the city where whole estates used to be. Not exactly a few burned cobblestones.

The damage was minimized only because Rake's presence pushed down the fires.
That said, hey, big frikkin hole in the city.

@Quick~: I totally agree. SE did a sweet job of leaving it open that Karsa and Trav were going to throw down based on an misunderstanding, then has Trav find out that no, Karsa doesn't have the CG's sword, and at that point, we still think it might be a fight just based on sheer ego, and then just like that they're buddies and Samar is pulling her hair out. Perfect. The way Karsa was determined to cover Trav in Darujhistan was amazing.

Oh, and hey, random war bear!


- Abyss, because as Smokey says, "Only you can prevent forest fires and witches from being eaten by Hounds of Light."...

[Optimus Prime]

Dolorous Menhir;354595 said:

Doubt it. We saw Edgewalker doing his thing in Shadow at the start of the book. And we then saw Tulas Shorn escape from Hood's Realm later. They're two different people. It just doesn't match up.

I know now...but when he first appeared...I thought....that's what I'm saying.

So where does Edgewalker fit into this? We have no more info on him...except that he is important enough to mitigate between Hood and ST.