Malazan Empire: The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - Malazan Empire

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The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson SPOILERS warning SPOILERS

#41 User is offline   stone monkey 

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Posted 12 November 2009 - 08:10 PM

I finished reading this yesterday. I wasn't blown away by it. It was okay, diverting even in parts, but it was only of real interest to find out what happened next...
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#42 User is offline   Terez 

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Posted 12 November 2009 - 08:40 PM

View PostIlluyankas, on 12 November 2009 - 06:28 PM, said:

2. DEMANDRED IS WEIRAMON GUYS YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST

Someone asked RJ if we had seen Demandred's alter ego on screen, and he said no. This was after Crossroads of Twilight, before Knife of Dreams. So he can't be Weiramon.

Weiramon is definitely a Darkfriend tho.

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#43 User is offline   lobo the wolfman 

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Posted 14 November 2009 - 04:42 AM

Read this the other day and l enjoyed it. Being a long time fan of The Wheel of Time, it was good to feel like the story is moving forward again.
I reckon that Sanderson did a good job of this, and l didn't even mind the Mat parts of the book.

Major spoilers below:

Spoiler

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#44 User is offline   EsotericForest 

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Posted 17 November 2009 - 05:23 PM

I read the first book in The Wheel of Time series several months ago, and my reaction was...meh, it was a decent story but somewhat cliche'. Is there really much point for me to continue the series, or is this just a popular series for most, because it's what a lot of fantasy readers grew up on, so they just want to see waht happens in the end?
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#45 User is offline   Sixty 

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Posted 18 November 2009 - 04:24 AM

Just finished.

Overall I was pretty satisfied; I definitely enjoyed this more than anything after LoC.

I really enjoyed the Egwene chapters more than the others this time around. I found myself skimming through the other chapters (except maybe Rand's) because, frankly, I didn't care all that much about what they were up to. Even Mat's, who
Spoiler


Biggest disappointment:
Spoiler

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#46 User is offline   Tsundoku 

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Posted 19 November 2009 - 09:03 AM

Finished. Easily the best since Lord of Chaos. Moved the story along nicely, at a PROPER pace. Stuff actually happened (gasp shock horror).

Although:

Spoiler

"Fortune favors the bold, though statistics favor the cautious." - Indomitable Courteous (Icy) Fist, The Palace Job - Patrick Weekes

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#47 User is offline   Euler 

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 06:47 PM

I liked the book, pacing was way better then some of the previous book. Was good to finally have the book be about Rand again(been like forever since it seems). I have to say it was one of the best books in the series.

To be honest I grew bored with this series after reading crossroads of twilight and knife of dreams, just kept adding more and more minor characters that I couldnt care less about so I was glad it got back to where it needed going.

I have never really enjoyed reading about egwene, elayne, nyn etc as much as I have enjoyed reading about Matt and Rand (no perrin is to whiny and goofy for me with the faile part) but I found myself really enjoying the parts with Egwene in this book, good work there Sanderson. Also Rands parts were fantastic and found myself wanting to read more and more about his condition gettting you know what...

Now I only hope we will continue to see alot of Rand in the last two books and that he wont go back to emo boy state with how the ending played out in this book.
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Posted 26 November 2009 - 09:27 PM

View PostSombra, on 01 November 2009 - 11:22 AM, said:

I bought Dust of Dreams 2 weeks ago and am only up to page 60. I bought TGS yesterday and am up to page 200. You figure it out...



View PostTerez, on 01 November 2009 - 09:59 PM, said:

...*looks at Dust o Dreams, sitting in the corner getting dust on it*

*looks at page 200 of TGS*...


Honestly, it's like we don't even know you any more.

Please kindly present yourselves to the clinic for invasive re-education.

Posted Image

View Postjitsukerr, on 03 November 2009 - 10:08 AM, said:

See, I just don't get the hate for Cadsuane. She's my favourite Aes Sedai. I love her relationship with Sorilea ...


I'm with you on this one. Cadsuane and Sorilea's first meeting was one of the few great bits of the last six books or so.

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#49 User is offline   MecnunK 

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Posted 30 November 2009 - 01:31 AM

Good book overall, I think Sanderson did better than a fair job of it as a 2nd writer coming in. The starwars-esque thing was a bit cheesy but blegh it was still good. Felt like it was one of earlier books and thats a good thing. Cant wait for next one.

Perrin-still a numbskull
Fail still a beeatch although a much subdued one
Mat was a bit weird.
Gawyn- how to turn him around from being a total ass but he seemed out of character a bit (to be expected with minor characters though I guess).
I think for the the first time I felt some empathy for Egwene, she was one of my least fav characters along with Fail. :D
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#50 User is offline   Paran 

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 08:51 AM

Yeah, it was great to have the main character back in focus, but I found that on the whole the women weren't anywhere near as annoying as the previous books, Mat wasn't anywhere near as rougish, and the forsaken were really dropped a few nothes in the bada$$ scale. I enjoyed the read, but as stone monkey stated, not jonesing to find out what happens next.
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#51 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 04:24 PM

Ok, so done.

Liked. Didn't love but definitely liked. I paid about $20C and am not feeling ripped off, as opposed to say, the last 3-4 WoT books i bought at hb clearance prices of about $5 and still felt ripped off by.

In case anyone's not done yet SPOILERS

SPOILERS
SPOILERS
MASSIVE PLOT DETAIL CLIMAX REVEAL HOLY FUCK MATT WAS A DARKFRIEND THE WHOLE TIME SPOILERS YOU MISERABLE FUCKS SPOILERS RJ IS ROLLING IN HIS SPOILERS
GRAVE AND IT'S ALL YOUR SPOILERS FUCKING SPOILERS
FAULT
SPOILERS.

Egwene shone through on this book. Finally, finally they closed the White Tower plotline and did it in a satisfying way. Finally. The bit where she's linking the Novices and blowing Seanchan out of the sky was just awesome. I especially like when the Aes Sedai who is rallying the lower floors looks up and realizes that the figure standing at a hole in the wall single-handedly holding the novice levels is Egwene.

Rand was interesting. I liked his various steps through the story, especially dealings with people. The way he dealt with Semirhage and Graendal were great. i have to admit his whole I-AM-HARDER-THAN-HARD thing didn't turn out the way i thought it would (thankfully), with a massive intervention and group hug. Otoh, having him retreat to a mountaintop and think his way out of split-personality-depression by virtue of the power of love was a bit... meh. It worked, i was just left a little nonplussed.

I really liked that the meeting between Rand and Tuon went off the rails. I was expecting a fairly tidy 'and they shook hands and went off to conquer evil', so having Tuon push back and declare war was a nice turn of events. I do like how the Seanchan have become a major factor in the series, not just a side plot.

Perrin was sort of dull but he did get some big action last book. Faile taking out the prophet for him but secretly was a nice touch.

Nyneave was less annoying. I actually really enjoyed her role as Rand's advisor and conscience.

Aviendha's plotline was devastatingly trite. Two sentences into her first useless task and it was obvious where it was going.

I can't be the only one who likes how Min keeps stabbing Foresaken in the face, can i? Posted Image

Mat's Village of the Damned thing was a decent action piece but really felt tacked on and again, trite.

I tend to agree that the Foresaken have become less impressive but then it's been hinted for ages that they and Rand were going to winnow each other way down before the end. I'm not so sure Graendal is actually dead tho'. She may have been just clever enough to see what Rand was doing. It was a nice WMD plan tho', as was Nyneave's reaction.

Overall i did like the book and i'll stay in for the rest of the series. While some things were dissappointingly obvious there were enough twists i didn't see coming and enough interesting developments that I'm comfortable with sticking around at hb prices to see where the series ends up.


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#52 User is offline   Terez 

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 06:26 PM

View PostAbyss, on 01 December 2009 - 04:24 PM, said:

Spoiler

Spoiler


Abyss said:

Spoiler

Spoiler


Abyss said:

Spoiler

Spoiler


One interesting thing that Brandon has said at book signings is that Rand's and Moridin's souls are often woven together in the Pattern. He compared them to Birgitte and Gaidal, lol. But it's good to know that Ba'alzamon wasn't lying about that.

This post has been edited by Terez: 01 December 2009 - 06:26 PM

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#53 User is offline   Illuyankas 

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 08:01 PM

Reread a lot of the series, getting utterly, profoundly sick of the phrase woolheaded. I'm surprised Rand hasn't murdered every single person who starts to say 'woo-' by now.
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#54 User is offline   Terez 

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 09:16 PM

I happen to be fond of that phrase.

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#55 User is offline   Illuyankas 

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Posted 02 December 2009 - 07:00 AM

Well, you're a nylonskulled woman.
Hello, soldiers, look at your mage, now back to me, now back at your mage, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped being an unascended mortal and switched to Sole Spice, he could smell like he’s me. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re in a warren with the High Mage your cadre mage could smell like. What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s an acorn with two gates to that realm you love. Look again, the acorn is now otataral. Anything is possible when your mage smells like Sole Spice and not a Bole brother. I’m on a quorl.
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#56 User is offline   Blend 

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Posted 02 December 2009 - 05:19 PM

View PostIlluyankas, on 01 December 2009 - 08:01 PM, said:

Reread a lot of the series, getting utterly, profoundly sick of the phrase woolheaded. I'm surprised Rand hasn't murdered every single person who starts to say 'woo-' by now.


I 100% agree with you on this... So sick of the words woolheaded...

I'm about 100 pages off from the end, and though I've gone and spoiled most of the end by reading this thread, I figure I'll finish it tonight and get my mind into DoD... Anyway, I started reading the WoT novels about 1.5 years ago, and have read almost all of them back to back to back until about three months ago when I ran out of books. Anyway, in my opinion, Sanderson did a wonderful job. I don't really agree with everyone who says he massacred Mat. I read about that before starting the book, and honestly, I think that Mat is much more interesting in this book. I agree on the Talmanes front though... He seemed like an entirely different character.... Oh well, guess we'll see where things go on this front.

I think that Sanderson did a better job at writing the Aes Sedai in general. I mean, all of them were less annoying, spent less time tugging their braids or fixing their clothes nervously, and most of them are starting to realize that they're the biggest dipshits in the series, so they're starting to act properly.

It made me sad that we didn't get more Elayne storyline in this... She's one of my favourite characters in the series, and though I know she has finally won her throne, I still really always enjoyed here storylines... It will be interesting if Gawyn ever makes it back to Andor to see how his split loyalties will affect him.

Egwene has always been easily my favourite character in the series, and she just fucking rocked in this book! I love the whole "I'm going to take down the enemy from the inside" trope, and I thought that Jordan and Sanderson did an excellent job at getting Egwene through her imprisonment. I kind of feel gross saying this, but it reminded me slightly of Faith of the Fallen by Goodkind where Richard is kidnapped by Nicci and eventually turns an entire city in on itself simply by providing hope... All words and a few actions... Same as what Egwene did in the tower, though Jordan and Sanderson easily wrote a better story.

Also, hooray for Elaida's eventual fate. I was so happy to see what happened to that bitch.

I am also unconvinced that Graendal is dead... It will be interesting to see if we're right on that front...

I thought the whole Male A'dam thing was cool, but Semirrhage's death was kind of cheap... I worry about the use of the One True Power by Rand... If we all remember Moridin, he has that black thing that goes through his eye that shows he uses the Power often... Rand has the dark aura about him now... I worry about what effect the blood of the Dark One, or the essence of the Dark One, or whatever the One True Power really is, will have on Rand... I understand that something's going to happen on Dragonmount, so maybe I should reserve judgment on that front until I've actually finished the book, but if I remember correctly, it was stated in previous books that only one use of the power was enough to destroy a man... So I'm worried for Rand!

At any rate, I think this one is probably my favourite of all the books, excepting MAYBE Knife of Dreams.

This post has been edited by Blend: 02 December 2009 - 05:20 PM

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Posted 02 December 2009 - 05:42 PM

I thought Mat was in character, it was his storyline that wandered.

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#58 User is offline   Terez 

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Posted 02 December 2009 - 06:22 PM

<---this is my laughing face, at the 'One True Power'.

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#59 User is offline   Blend 

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Posted 03 December 2009 - 04:52 PM

So I finished it last night... Holy crow, what a great ending... The Tower reuniting scene was absolutely astounding... With half the tower's wall missing, Dragonmount on the horizon behind the Amyrlin... Sent shivers down my spine!

Spoiler


Anyway, I look forward to the next book. The title implies that we will see quite a bit more of the Seanchan, who are my favourite race in the series! ;)
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#60 User is offline   Terez 

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Posted 03 December 2009 - 06:06 PM

LOL Taimandred lives! Brandon confirmed on tour that we have seen Mesaana on screen as of Knife of Dreams (RJ confirmed it as of Crossroads), but NOT Demandred. I figure he probably doesn't really need an alter ego, but based on the BS and RJ quotes, a lot of people think he's either a) in Shara organizing the Ayyad, or ;) Roedran, king of Murandy (who united all the nobles, becoming Murandy's 'first real king', and who made a deal with Talmanes and the Band). I figure he's probably got his finger in a lot of honeypots, and we know from Sammael that Demandred is fond of using proxies. Taim might well be one of them - it would fit a lot of evidence, such as the fact that Moridin apparently wasn't around when Taim was freed, and when the Black Tower was founded, and the fact that we know Demandred gave direct orders to some of Taim's Asha'man.

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