[vaiski]

Abyss said:

But if he's Traveller, he didn't seem very godlike in HoC. I wonder if perhaps he hasn't gone all the way with the godhood thing.

Dunno about godhood, but there is this line in HoC:
"Thank your god, mortal", for the sword."

So, ascendant at least.

[Abyss]

Hetan said:

makes me think of Rake spending time as a guard somewhere for a number of years? he probably didn't appear very god-like either

Ahhh, but altho' tremendously powerful, strictly speaking, Rake isn't a god.

Vaiski's Traveller-quote is spot on, but then, i do not doubt whether he was Dassem or not, Traveller was Ascendent.

- Abyss, transcendent.

[Abyss]

But he knew the secret handshake and EVERYthing.

- Abyss, also knows the password.

[Hume]

^^

Talon me thinks.

[Set'alahd Crool]

Hetan said:

anyone else notice the bit about Jaghut coming from another world?

I'd like to know how many others have sat on the Throne of Shadow too...

I thought it was the stormriders that came from aother world. Edgewalker(gotta love that guy) said it was rumoured they came to the malazan world when the Jaghut wrought their sorcery too powerfully.

As for other rulers of shadow, Jhedel is intriguing. What is he? Who deposed him? Edgewalker(gotta love that guy) was about to tell him but he wanted to remember himself....

On the Temper-as-guardian issue, I got the impression that he took over the role(s) left by Faro and Trenech. He did say he thought he'd be staying in the Hanged Man for quite some time. It sounded like he knew what he was talking about.
Maybe when an azath's chief guardian is a prisoner(unlike Moby who chose to enter) the house will choose another, outside, to help keep them a prisoner. So if Gothos tries to escape Temper will be there....

Or not, I suppose.

[Set'alahd Crool]

@Hetan
I don't think Edgewalker was talking about shadowhouse as being alien either. He pointed at a distant green(I think) smudge on the horizon that was somehow connected to the stormriders' approach.

Edgewalker probably could have prevented Kel & Dancer from entering shadow, but he was busy denying Jhena. By the time he was finished with that the two boys were already in. I recall Kiska asking him to stop them but he said there were more pressing matters demanding his attention.

[Danyah]

Could somebody remind me which soldier of the mercenary company/ex-bridgeburners also starred in HoC? And exactly what did he do in HoC?

tnx

[Dolorous Menhir]

Aardvark;189279 said:

Could somebody remind me which soldier of the mercenary company/ex-bridgeburners also starred in HoC? And exactly what did he do in HoC?

tnx

He appears among the dead Bridgeburners at Raraku. Kalam is shocked to see him. He has a burned face, can't remember if he is identified by name. Don't think he says anything, but Kalam takes the opportunity to think that all the Bridgeburners coming back means the return of some unsavoury characters.

edit: and it was the leader of the group in NoK who appeared in HoC.

[Danyah]

Yup, tnx, that would be Ash then.

[Falco]

So I'm like desperately out of date (as per usual), but got NOK last week. Read it. Read it again. Verdict: underwhelmed.

Look I get that ICE and SE are two different writers sharing an universe. Comparisons between them are, however, unavoidable. And reading NoK was like reading a children's book in comparison. The imagery was unsophisticated, the dialogue was drab, the characters were thin. Only the plot (such as it were) stood up to be counted. I can't remember, for example, the last time I read an adult book where an exclamation mark was used outside of dialogue for emphasis. That is just weak.


Here's hoping things pick up in Crimson Guard book.

[Tabris]

Is the new version available in the UK yet?

[Dancer+]

It is, it's been available since the 4th of June.

[Harbinger]

Don't think it is has been mentioned yet, but just regarding the speculation over Kiska's identity in the main series:

The Bonehunters, p.75 (from Kalam's PoV)
"Flanking Tayschrenn were two bodyguards, one an aged Seti with a waxed moustache - vaguely familiar in some distant way, as if Kalam had perhaps seen him once before, long ago. The other was a woman somewhere between twenty-five and thirty-five, lithe and athletic beneath tight silks. The eyes were soft and dark brown, watchful; her hair was cut short in the imperial sashion around her heart-shaped face."

The Bonehunters, p.77 (from Pearl's PoV)
"Anyway, the bald one's Tayschrenn, with Hattar and Kiska this time, meaning he's serious about the risks."

So she is still acting as one of Tayschrenn's bodyguards.

[Abyss]

It has, but worth pointing out anyways. I was rather surpised at the number of NoK refs that showed up in TB - pretty much all the new (ie: not previously seen in SE books) main and supporting characters - Kiska, Temper, Hatar, Agayla, Obo, the Hunchback, Edgewalker - made appearances, some (like Edgewalker) actually significant.

- Abyss, feels all elitist and stuff.

[Flawed]

I like Temper best in this book and hope we will see more of him in the next lot of books. I guess that will only happen if we see an Azath war of some kind instigated by ST etc. He'd have to stand his ground then.

Lets hope Obo doesn't get to upset about it. He seems well mental and extremely powerful too.

If he came near me though id flex a Suplex on him.

" BLOW THAT UP! "