[Soma]

Not really a dissapointment but more a "why do people like this character so damn much?" observation.

Anomander Rake. Seriously. When i started reading these books and lurking around the forums people where all "Omg omg Anomander Rake is my favourite character, so awesome, I cried when he dies, etc etc". And now, 9 books in (I havent finished DoD or read TCG yet) I cannot help but wonder: Why? Why is he so awesome? He stands around in a couple of books, and then dies.

[Devaney]

I originally didn't care one way or another about Rake, at least in GotM. I respected his obvious power and abilities, but he seemed too built up as an amazing being for my tastes. That kind of build up tends to push my attention away for some reason.

However, over the course of the books I did grow to love his character. Not because of his awesome skills but for his personality. There are a number of characters with a lot of tragedy in their lives, but Rake stood out because he pretty much invited them to himself. Not from wrongdoing on his end really. He took the pain onto himself because someone had to, and he choose it rather than having others take it onto them.

It takes a very strong person to see horrible but necessary burdens and accept them without complaint.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

I think most of these disappointments arise from the fact that there is such a large cast of characters, there is not going to be enough screentime to devote to many of them. As a result, we merely get some offscreen backstory about their awesomeness, i.e. we're told to care, rather than being shown why we should care. Others have storylines that just peter out rather than soaring to new heights. So, for reasons that have already been well-stated above: +1 on 1) Dassem Ultor, 2) Itkovian, 3) Redmask, 4) Tool (liked him better when he was dead...ish).

And now my unpopular opinion of the day: 5) Coltaine. Sorry, I just don't get why so many readers fawn over this guy. It's clear from the story that SE wants us to care, but again we're told to care rather than being shown. We're told he's a great leader, and then we see a couple of scenes where he's charming with his troops... Granted, his death scene is one of the most awesome scenes in any of the books, but at that point it's the opposite of anticlimactic - all climax with too sparse of a buildup to provide the emotional payoff that SE obviously intended. As charismatic as you supposedly were, Coltaine, the flock of crows that carried your soul away provided me with more entertainment than the combined total of all the other snoozeworthy pages you found yourself on...

[fievelgoespostal]

Tattersail/Silverfox

Seriously..one of the first characters you truly meet in the series and you get the impression she is going to be important and from the looks of it, she wont be seen again..at least not in the main novels.

[worry]

There are no main novels.

[theocean]

fievelgoespostal, on 06 December 2015 - 10:28 PM, said:

Tattersail/Silverfox

Seriously..one of the first characters you truly meet in the series and you get the impression she is going to be important and from the looks of it, she wont be seen again..at least not in the main novels.

I feel like i just kept waiting for tattersail to do something ANYTHINg at all, nothing at all for me.
Iron bars was a let down to after his early explosion onto the scene. Still awesome but was hoping for much more.

[Egwene]

If I say who was disappointing, I don't mean badly written - SE, as always, is pretty good at reflecting human traits... some people live up to the promises they show when they are young, others don't. There is a good variety of character development. Some characters steadily climb to reach the maximum of their ability, others are like meteors - they have their moment and burn out and many who, like most of us, just steadily plod along.

Spoiler

I thought Silverfox would have more of a role to play in the main series. I was disappointed that she didn't have more interaction with the Malazans, although, from a realism point of view there was no reason that she should want to go back to them. Later, her re-appearance in Assail came as quite a shock. Given her rapid aging and some small observations in the main series, I should have expected it but nevertheless, to see her re-appear as an old woman - I had not seen that coming. Just when I though she would come into her own, her life was in fact almost over. Definitely a shock.

This post has been edited by Egwene: 10 December 2015 - 10:59 AM

[theocean]

Egwene, on 09 December 2015 - 10:02 AM, said:

If I say who was disappointing, I don't mean badly written - SE, as always, is pretty good at reflecting human traits... some people live up to the promises they show when they are young, others don't. There is a good variety of character development. Some characters steadily climb to reach the maximum of their ability, others are like meteors - they have their moment and burn out and many who, like most of us, just steadily plod along.

I thought Silverfox would have more of a role to play in the main series. I was disappointed that she didn't have more interaction with the Malazans, although, from a realism point of view there was no reason that she should want to go back to them. Later, her re-appearance in Assail came as quite a shock. Given her rapid aging and some small observations in the main series, I should have expected it but nevertheless, to see her re-appear as an old woman - I had not seen that coming. Just when I though she would come into her own, her life was in fact almost over. Definitely a shock.

too far ahead... so never mind

This post has been edited by theocean: 10 December 2015 - 06:01 PM

[worry]

You should only be talking about Silverfox up to and including Dust of Dreams.

[Nevyn]

worry, on 09 December 2015 - 09:39 PM, said:

You should only be talking about Silverfox up to and including Dust of Dreams.

Yeah, I tried to think of my top 5, didn't even get to 5, and 2 of them I was like "part of the reason for this happens in later work"

[Egwene]

worry, on 09 December 2015 - 09:39 PM, said:

You should only be talking about Silverfox up to and including Dust of Dreams.

Oophs. Thanks for the heads-up, Worry.

[BlackMoranthofDoom]

worry, on 09 December 2015 - 09:39 PM, said:

You should only be talking about Silverfox up to and including Dust of Dreams.

Maybe this thread should be moved to the general book topics forum since it isn't specific to Dust of Dreams. I think the main reason it was created on this page, was that DoD was the latest published book back then.

[worry]

Nah, it's for people who are only up to DoD, whether that's in 2010, 2015, or 3532 A.D.