[champ]

the scene between Whiskey Jack and Dujek is what did it for me where they're talking about everything happened Pale etc, where SE gives us the first true glimpse into how epic its going to be, how its all connected etc, cemented SE as an author ascendent and top of my must reread/buy first pile!

[maro]

WhiskeyJackDaniels, on 23 April 2010 - 06:10 AM, said:

-and finally, the biggest teaser of the entire series, finding out there are human armies somewhere that are so badass they destroy two full clans of T'lan Imass


.

I remember the rest but not this bit. Is it related to Korelri?

[Sinisdar Toste]

assail, actually

[Ulrik]

Assail must be ubersuperbadass... But...if we take whole continent of Seguleh...it shouldnt be so surprising. First Sword was beaten by 3rd...so despite huge losses army of Seguleh-like soldiers should be able to anihilate whole Imass clans.
Yeah, its crappy theory, because medium Imass owns many novice Segulehs, but just imagine that on whole continent is MUCH more people capable of same magic as Mok)... And maybe they have also ubermages...mmm...society where half of them is Seguleh and half Tayscherens...

[Gothos]

It's true enough that worth is measured by one's enemies. If the badassery on that continent continued to escalate throughout the ages, well, you end up with people that are just a match to each other, but own outsiders. Think Australian animals.

[KeithF]

After that, I'm going to assume that Assail is an up-to-eleven fantastical version of Australia until we hear otherwise.

T'lan Imass: Greetings, mortal.
Assailian: G'day mate. Have a tinnie while I throw another shrimp on the barbie.
T'lan Imass: Sadly, I can neither eat nor drink. This is a source of a hundred thousand years of angst to me.
Assailian: A bloke who doesn't drink beer? Get 'im, boys.

[Powder]

ATTN those who do not like Karsa:

WITNESS!

(Did it give you goosebumps, yea I thought it would, stop your h8)

-Powder

[D'rek]

Well I actually like HoC more than MoI, but truly I just love them both to death.

[maro]

KeithF, on 08 May 2010 - 09:59 AM, said:

After that, I'm going to assume that Assail is an up-to-eleven fantastical version of Australia until we hear otherwise.

T'lan Imass: Greetings, mortal.
Assailian: G'day mate. Have a tinnie while I throw another shrimp on the barbie.
T'lan Imass: Sadly, I can neither eat nor drink. This is a source of a hundred thousand years of angst to me.
Assailian: A bloke who doesn't drink beer? Get 'im, boys.

[HegemonWiggin]

For me, because the tragedy of it is so heartbreaking wonderful. Everything in it seems almost symphonic, every note in place. A number of authors try to do tragic brutal irony and fail miserably because you it does not seem sufficiently inevitable; if the irony is due to a character being dumb, you just want to hit them. Robert Jordan is the epitome of this. things screw up, it could almost be emotional, except you see innumerable ways out of it and so you just want to hit Jordan for contriving the situation. Others manage dark irony without the emotional impact (e.g. Glenn Cook), but very few can pull the irony and the emotional impact at the same time. I suppose George Martin kinda manages that, but I don't like his writing very much, so I don't want to admit it. And then Erikson is the only one I've seen who takes the brutality, the death and horror, and makes it human again, makes it understandable, restores meaning to his world.

With all of that said, you can see why the siege of Capustan and Itkovian is singly my favourite passage of any novel. Self-sacrifice and altruism married to empathy and compassion, all to restore hope to utter devastation. Then punctuated with that wonderful image of Buke flying away; it's like a grace note. I've reread that section many times, and then just want to read a little bit more and end up finishing the book again.

The Mhybe is annoying, yes. I can see more wh y she was put in on rereads, but I don't like her. I did like almost all of the plotlines. As others have said, it is what epic fantasy should be all about. There's a grandeur to the Tiste Andii, a grandeur to people so nobly struggling to make some meaning and do something right in the truly horrific circumstances they've been placed in. Even Whiskeyjack killing the Tenescowri women... there's a grand tragedy to it. Almost classical, mythological, but nevertheless modern.

Then there's just the moments of pure awesome, the discovery of the world, the tantalizing glimpses of where the series might go, all from the perspective of characters who we're comfortably familiar with.

[Hellian's Keg Lid]

Not specific to MoI but I love that the "go-team" of deities has been turned around in this series - Shadow, Darkness, Death are the ones out saving the world, or planning to, and generally everything fire, light, or life aspected is an asshole (T'lan, Liosan, QoD I'm looking at YOU).

It was definitely the book to get me hooked after Chain of Dogs though, for all the amazing reasons listed by everyone else