[Traveller]

Ok, Stonewielder wasn't a great example - just checked, it was The Screaming Range and Blood Isthmus I might have been thinking of. Although I'm sure that while reading SW, whenever a place was named, I'd check the map, and be unable to find it.

And yes, I like the way you can pick out the line of 3 circular holes across the continent

Spoiler

which are most likely impact craters from the three CG parts

Just finished the second book last night - brilliant, brilliant stuff. The whole Marron Shed story arc was such a good read. The organic, 'growing' castles are like the Azath. This book is just full of those great moments in MBotF, like when QB blows Bauchelain through the wall in MOI.
They just happen more frequently.

Spoiler

The image of the huge, shadowy Dominator rising out of the smoking castle, seen from miles away at sea, is just begging for a picture to be done...

This post has been edited by First Tiger: 10 February 2011 - 08:43 AM

[Steel General]

I recall reading an interview with Glen Cook where a questions was asked about the lack of maps. IIRC he said he did it purposely.

[busy monster]

drinksinbars, on 07 February 2011 - 10:28 AM, said:

currently reqading this and although i see the influence i have to say its not as engaging or entertaining as erikson as too much happens off the page and is mentioned in passing. the focus is firmly on the characters but at the expense of the story sometimes. Maybe it gets better, but it really does suffer from tell not show.

Oh, it's really awesome in the later half of the Books of the South. Oh, where'd they go? Two hundred pages later, ohsnap. Why's their ghost here?

I love how peoples deaths in Cook aren't glorious affairs (well, there is a particular flying carpet ride ZOOOOOOOOOOOMM CLIFF. FUCK! BOOM! that is awesome), and they aren't even necessarily on the stage. It applies a level of reality to it-- not everyone dies on stage, in the center of the action, sometimes people go missing in war, and you are lucky if you even find out if they died.

[Stradivarius]

rhulad, on 07 February 2011 - 03:36 AM, said:

I read this while I was on my honeymoon... I have to agree that it was indeed a great read and there are many similarities to be found between some of the characters. I would recommend it to anyone that hasn't yet read it.

you had time to read on your honeymoon?! WTF!!!!! the pair of u should have been wearing out your genitalia!

[Stradivarius]

oh and the books? epic, just epic!

[Sinisdar Toste]

busy monster, on 22 May 2011 - 01:07 AM, said:

drinksinbars, on 07 February 2011 - 10:28 AM, said:

currently reqading this and although i see the influence i have to say its not as engaging or entertaining as erikson as too much happens off the page and is mentioned in passing. the focus is firmly on the characters but at the expense of the story sometimes. Maybe it gets better, but it really does suffer from tell not show.

Oh, it's really awesome in the later half of the Books of the South. Oh, where'd they go? Two hundred pages later, ohsnap. Why's their ghost here?

I love how peoples deaths in Cook aren't glorious affairs (well, there is a particular flying carpet ride ZOOOOOOOOOOOMM CLIFF. FUCK! BOOM! that is awesome), and they aren't even necessarily on the stage. It applies a level of reality to it-- not everyone dies on stage, in the center of the action, sometimes people go missing in war, and you are lucky if you even find out if they died.

i agree, but it can certainly make one angry, lol! the worst instance of this was when

Spoiler

sahra (i assume) died. no closure at all, and after she's finally got her husband back after all those years? man that was a tough one.

This post has been edited by Sinisdar Toste: 23 May 2011 - 09:04 PM

[McLovin]

I read up through Silver Spike, then kind of lost track of the series as I couldn't get the Books of the South where I lived. I thought they were good but not great. I didn't like that the POV shifted from Croaker to Phil, plus I thought Silver Spike was a bit of a throwaway.

[McLovin]

Traveller, on 09 February 2011 - 10:30 AM, said:

One of the main points about the style that i like, and compared to SE, is the lack of uneccesary detail.

Oh, and this.

[Salt-Man Z]

McLovin, on 24 May 2011 - 01:09 PM, said:

plus I thought Silver Spike was a bit of a throwaway.

Well, it is, to be honest. It's more of a "Hey, remember those guys we left behind up north? Yeah, here's what happened to them" than a part of the main narrative. I thought it was fun, but probably the least memorable book in the series.

[DeuceDrizzle]

I LOVED the Black Company books... Initially it was kind of hard to get into the 1st person perspective narrative, but after a while I really liked the way it flowed. It was also a bit difficult when the books would switch narrators, but as I got into the later books I really, really liked it. I thought it was so interesting how the different narrators would disagree with each other and talk about how they saw or experienced things differently... It really lent an amazing sense of perspective to the entire series.

I also have to say that the way the series developed was absolutely incredible. The sense of scale in how you are introduced to and experience more and more of the world as you progress through the series was fantastic. Finally, the way it all wrapped was just perfect. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the books and I look forward to reading them again in the future.

[Abyss]

I enjoyed these books up until (The Book of Lady), She is the Darkness iirc. After that it sort of falls apart into retelling of the same events from different perspectives and a hell of a lot of sitting around waiting for something to happen or someone else to do something that matters. And walking. Everyone seems to do a lot of walking and Cook seems to need to write about it step by step.

Worth a read, but not re-read worthy to me.

[Slow Ben]

Abyss, on 24 May 2011 - 04:48 PM, said:

Worth a read, but not re-read worthy to me.

I think the Books of the North are always worth a re-read.

The rest....meh.

[T77]

I'm reading She is the Darkness and it is great so far. I really enjoyed Bleak Seasons and like where he is going with the Glittering Stone. He changes things up a bit in each book and does not follow the same formula and he makes it work. I can't wait to re-read this as I think it is an incredible series.

And there are still two more books planned. Let's hope we get to see them as he's not getting any younger.

This post has been edited by T77: 25 May 2011 - 02:11 PM

[Silk]

Finished the last of the books last night... Soldiers live and damn was that quite a curve ball ending.... Did not see it coming though come to think of it it was the only real way to deliver on the promise of release.

the ending has however left me wanting more ....

[amphibian]

That talented a-hole Cook has been promising more for a decade now. I wouldn't hold my breath, as it seems he's working on the Garrett books instead.

[Salt-Man Z]

I haven't heard anything about another Garrett book, but from what I have heard, he's been working on the next BC book (Port of Shadows?), the long-awaited final Dread Empire book (hence Nightshade's recent reprints of Reap the East Wind and An Ill Fate Marshalling) and the final Instrumentalities book (Working the Gods' Mischief).

[amphibian]

Salt-Man Z, on 24 October 2011 - 03:18 PM, said:

I haven't heard anything about another Garrett book, but from what I have heard, he's been working on the next BC book (Port of Shadows?), the long-awaited final Dread Empire book (hence Nightshade's recent reprints of Reap the East Wind and An Ill Fate Marshalling) and the final Instrumentalities book (Working the Gods' Mischief).

Last Black Company book - July 2000.

Garrett books in 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2010.

Instrumentalities in 2005, 2007 and 2010.

It's probably safe to say that the Black Company book is not as high a priority as the Garrett or Instrumentalities books.

[Salt-Man Z]

Obviously it's not as high a priority, since the Black Company series came to a successful conclusion. (Compare with the quadrology-in-progess Instrumentalites, or the serial Garrett books, or the last Dread Empire book that fans have been waiting 23 years for.)

On the other hand, he's written two Black Company short stories in the past two years.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 24 October 2011 - 09:15 PM

[amphibian]

Oh, I agree with the general conclusion to it - but he's been talking about two more books for a decade now.

At least Cook is not like Gene Wolfe who left Latro up the Nile with a dream ape god and all kinds of stuff left unresolved while he continues to write kinda crappy (for Wolfe) books about random one-shot characters. Wolfe's like 80 too. Ain't going to be much coming out of him soon.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 25 October 2011 - 02:09 AM