[Cyphon]

http://www.tor.com/s...-steven-erikson?

http://www.tor.com/b...-steven-erikson

You need to have an account there to get in.

It's the first ten pages of the book. An extension on what Abyss posted up.

Enjoy.

This post has been edited by Cyphon88: 01 February 2011 - 05:25 PM

[Aptorian]

Is this a prologue kind of affair or is it a cold open picking up straight after the final page of DOD?

[anothevilbadguy]

Hasn't this already been posted on here? Like months ago.
Not sure about the two poems, but the Cotillion and Edgewalker scene I have definitely read.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

It says directly chapter one. I'm presuming that just as DOD didn't have an Epilogue. TCg doesn't have a prologue.

Anyway it's all very interesting.

Calm is drawing power from the CG and from an unconscious Icarium

A bunch of Tiste Liosan have given up on Osric and Father Light and are drawing power from one of th spiked Eleint.

Krul wants to ressurect or at least talk with the soul of a dead guy and is sitting in Mael's realm.

Karsa, and Nimander and Paran all seem to be having a role. The latter is besieged by Forkrul Assail and has made a pact with ST.

Cotillion has decided to free the dragons chained in Shadow and it seems that the voice who spoke to Seren Pedac in RG is actually Eloth

The Azath of the Refugium is dying and Kilava has told Udinaas to guide the Imass in the real world.

This post has been edited by Bauchelain the Evil: 01 February 2011 - 05:45 PM

[Salt-Man Z]

 anothevilbadguy, on 01 February 2011 - 05:37 PM, said:

Hasn't this already been posted on here? Like months ago.
Not sure about the two poems, but the Cotillion and Edgewalker scene I have definitely read.

There are 10 pages up. Cotillion/Edgewalker is only the first.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Oh, I just I noticed that according to the poems at the beginning of the chapters, the MBoTF is a poem of Fisher kel Tath.

[Cyphon]

It's a little bit of awesome in the first ten pages.

Also worth remembering, that pat & co have said it only kicks in in the second half of the books. Even that little tidbit bruised my shins a bit, so reading the actual thing may require splints.

[Ceda Cicero]

That is... a LOT of ground covered in ten pages... My brain hurts now.

[amphibian]

 Bauchelain the Evil, on 01 February 2011 - 06:02 PM, said:

Oh, I just I noticed that according to the poems at the beginning of the chapters, the MBoTF is a poem of Fisher kel Tath.

Goddamnit - I recall asking so long ago in I think the Deadhouse Gates forum exactly who was telling the MBotF. I speculated at times that it was Duiker, but that it didn't make sense for him to have knowledge of everything.

Fisher makes so much more sense. Fucking brilliant. He's bee convincingly established all along too.

[Ceda Cicero]

So can we start asking questions and making postulations here? Right now I'm just massively confused by a lot of that, particularly the Paran and Liosan passages. I suspect a reread of those pages will clear some things up but in the meantime, I'll throw these out (and spoiler tag them just in case anyone hasn't read the excerpt/doesn't want to read it before the release):

Spoiler

Who are the Shriven and Watered that Paran refers to?

Where exactly is Paran and /what power surrounds the keep that Shadowthrone says he "cannot breach."

What exactly is going on in the Liosan passage (besides cyphening power from a dragon?) and how does it involve the Crippled God, who gets a lot of mentions towards the end?

What is Calm referring to in her internal dialogues early on? Specifically, when she refers to the twelve "Pures" what is she talking about? I read that as possibly the 12 "original" FAs (offspring of Killy?) of which she thinks of herself as the foremost.

What does Paran want from Shadowthrone that we can't see at this point?

I have more... But I'll start with those.

This post has been edited by Ciceronian: 01 February 2011 - 07:02 PM

[Sinisdar Toste]

i think my brain is going to explode.

I NEED TCG NOOOOOWWWWWW!!!

[QuickTidal]

I got brain and awesome on my shoes....what a crazy awesome excerpt!!

Dude, I can't wait for that email from amazon.co.uk saying my copy of TCG has shipped!!

[Sinisdar Toste]

 Ciceronian, on 01 February 2011 - 06:47 PM, said:

So can we start asking questions and making postulations here? Right now I'm just massively confused by a lot of that, particularly the Paran and Liosan passages. I suspect a reread of those pages will clear some things up but in the meantime, I'll throw these out (and spoiler tag them just in case anyone hasn't read the excerpt/doesn't want to read it before the release):

Spoiler

Who are the Shriven and Watered that Paran refers to? i think the shriven and the watered are different classes of humans who are serving the FA

Why is Paran in Aren/what power surrounds the keep that Shadowthrone says he "cannot breach." i don't think paran is in aren, i think it's kolanse. stick-limbed kids coming out of caves, one of them, "up from the south", shriven and watered and two boney, pale figures standing among an army. sounds like kolanse to me. ST even mentions that paran sat around in aren, ignoring mallick rel, then opened a gate.

What exactly is going on in the Liosan passage (besides cyphening power from a dragon?) and how does it involve the Crippled God, who gets a lot of mentions towards the end? i also wondered about this... who is the 'servant' that is referred to? is it kessobahn? and who is speaking? aparal forge's memories, or something else? and just how many have drank of kessobahn's blood? how many are now soletaken?

What is Calm referring to in her internal dialogues early on? Specifically, when she refers to the twelve "Pures" what is she talking about? I read that as possibly the 12 "original" FAs (offspring of Killy?) of which she thinks of herself as the foremost. i think you've got this one correct. the last twelve pure-blood assail, spawn of kilmandaros, or even sechul lath, or maybe both. keepin it in the family and all that. also, how cool is calm showing up at this point?

What does Paran want from Shadowthrone that we can't see at this point?

I have more... But I'll start with those.

i've responded in bold.

also, the italicized quote in the last paran passage has gotta be karsa and samar finally gettin it on. how does paran know of that? MotD mojo?

[D'rek]

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

 Ciceronian, on 01 February 2011 - 06:47 PM, said:

So can we start asking questions and making postulations here? Right now I'm just massively confused by a lot of that, particularly the Paran and Liosan passages. I suspect a reread of those pages will clear some things up but in the meantime, I'll throw these out (and spoiler tag them just in case anyone hasn't read the excerpt/doesn't want to read it before the release):

Spoiler

Who are the Shriven and Watered that Paran refers to?

The Shriven seem like lanky children. The kid flying the kite is one, but the attacking army has them too. Looks to me like the army is lead by a small number of FA, with lots of human slaves, including at least two types - Shriven and Watered. Shriven maybe is malnourished shrivelled types and Watered is clammy, pasty FA-human-mixes (they might not be slaves) like the secret FA girl that was on the Snake?

Why is Paran in Aren/what power surrounds the keep that Shadowthrone says he "cannot breach."

I think he was in Aren but has since re-located. Not sure what power surrounds the keep, but imo it might be a kind of seal on the Crippled God's heart-fragment? Especially since ST seems to be indicating the notion of Tavore coming to Ganoes...

What exactly is going on in the Liosan passage (besides cyphening power from a dragon?) and how does it involve the Crippled God, who gets a lot of mentions towards the end?

Well they've used the Hounds to trap Kessobahn and some have drank its blood (13 of them?). The leader seems to be leading them in a new faith, renouncing Osserc and FL. Since the PoV is the friend of the leader, not sure if the CG influence is just for the PoV character or for the whole group.

What is Calm referring to in her internal dialogues early on? Specifically, when she refers to the twelve "Pures" what is she talking about? I read that as possibly the 12 "original" FAs (offspring of Killy?) of which she thinks of herself as the foremost.

What does Paran want from Shadowthrone that we can't see at this point?

I have more... But I'll start with those.

answers (what I think anyways) in red in the box

EDIT: crosspost with Sinisdar, oh well


What I'm really interested in is

Spoiler

Who's the body that Mael is carrying. The K'rul-Mael convo really bounces around from topic to topic and it's hard to follow, but it seems the body Mael brought may be relevant to Tavore somehow? My first thought was Felisin (under the sea of Raraku, after all), but then they refer to the body as male. Further: "this one’s flesh is dead, but his soul remains strong, trapped in its own nightmare of guilt. I would see it freed of that."

Also K'rul's "I shall not remain blind. Two children. Twins. "

This post has been edited by D'rek: 01 February 2011 - 07:14 PM

[Ceda Cicero]

@ D'rek and Toste - nice. I just reread the Paran POVs and realized that you're both right - he's not in Aren at all. Kolanse seems likes the most obvious bet. Then again Pat did say in the Ganoes Paran thread here that Paran was "not in Kolanse" and "not where he expected him to be." Who knows what that's really about though.

Toste, I don't get the placement of that Karsa bit either... I mean it does seem very clearly to be from/related to Karsa, but why is it randomly showing up at the end of a Paran POV?

And yes, Calm showing back up at the end game is friggin' great.

[D'rek]

 Ciceronian, on 01 February 2011 - 07:09 PM, said:

Toste, I don't get the placement of that Karsa bit either... I mean it does seem very clearly to be from/related to Karsa, but why is it randomly showing up at the end of a Paran POV?

Well, presumably in the book there will be a section break there, or something.

[Illuyankas]

Same with the CG POV on a previous page, split by the ''s everywhere.

[Varan]

OMG OMG OMG OMG

Spoiler

so that how they make dragons,,


so all the other staked dragons were to make more soletaken dragons!!!?

who were the ones we've seen before? Sorrit in Deadhouse gates iirc i think...


Edit: Paran's caught up with the snake hasnt he?? hence all the children?

He's in Kolanse for the big bash

This post has been edited by Varan: 01 February 2011 - 07:40 PM

[Sinisdar Toste]

reading through again

Spoiler

there is clearly thirteen liosan soletaken created from kessobahn's blood, tall order whoever this fant wants to take on. and one other thing i noticed. aparal mentions that there are only four hounds of light left, thanks to one of kadagars many failures. kadagar, who he calls lord of light. kadagar, who i think ordered the hounds to go after dragnipur, getting half of them killed.

as for the body that mael drops at k'rul's feet, well, who has died recently that has a soul strong enough to live on in a nightmare of guilt? ruthan gudd? quick ben? but then he would say souls, not soul i think. so who? trull? keneb?

edit:

Spoiler

ST also says that Paran has assaulted the warrens with something. what is that? his army? the keep? did he just open a gate on top of the CG's heart and take control from the FA?? WHAT IS GOING ON, DAMMIT!!

This post has been edited by Sinisdar Toste: 01 February 2011 - 07:45 PM

[Lister of Smeg]

That was 10 pages of pure awesome. I'm even more stoked now. The next month is going to draaaaaaag.

My thoughts/wild speculations:

Spoiler

Paran moved his army through warren to arrive right at the keep that houses the CG's heart. The keep is sealed by the FA so no one else can get to it. He's waiting for Tavore to turn up so they can tonk the FA.

Calm is one of the last twelve (thirteen?) pure-blood FA left, at least in that area. The Watered and the Shriven are FA-human crossbreeds and are much weaker, hence why the ones chasing after the Snake were so easily despatched.

I can see what Pat meant about rereads being essential now. Eloth=Mockra, Calm turning up again ... So many great revelations in the first ten pages!

I think the body Mael took to K'rul was Ruthan Gudd's. He's one of the few that has been close to Tavore who has the power to remain within his body even when he's killed. Quick would have more than one soul in there, so it's not going to be him. Interesting though that K'rul and Mael are pinning their hopes entirely on Tavore, but to do what? Do they know of her plan to free the CG? Do they want this to stop Errastas, Setch et al?

And at least we can make a fair guess at who the dragon is on the front cover now.