[nacht]

Mark Lawrence, on 12 August 2013 - 08:16 AM, said:

nacht, on 10 August 2013 - 09:39 AM, said:

@Amphibian
You absolutely must spoiler tag your post.

Spoiler tags appreciated - it's really a book that spoilers damage.

If you've read all three - which is 'best'? Vote here:

http://www.easypolls...4b0dc6104ade77c

What would the world be without the @Abyss. Somebody has to maintain order :-)

Mark, the series was awesome. Delicious blend of sci-fi and fantasy. In terms of crazy inventiveness, one of the best.

Would really love to read a new series (or at least a book) with the Builders backstory and a POV from Builder Ghosts.

[Malaclypse]

I can't reply to amphibian properly without further spoilers but...I didn't mean what he thought I meant

[Vengeance]

Mark Lawrence, on 12 August 2013 - 08:16 AM, said:

nacht, on 10 August 2013 - 09:39 AM, said:

@Amphibian
You absolutely must spoiler tag your post.

Spoiler tags appreciated - it's really a book that spoilers damage.

If you've read all three - which is 'best'? Vote here:

http://www.easypolls...4b0dc6104ade77c

That is a tough question. I ended up choosing Emperor mainly because it was still so fresh in my mind. However I would put both King and Emperor at the same level.

[QuickTidal]

I'm nearly done, and I'd just like to go on record...

...

Spoiler

That I think the Dead King is William. Which is somehting I've thought for the whole book when they started talking about "two Ancrath's" making us think it's referring to Jorg and Olidan....but my thought was, what if the dead King is Dead William and thus the two Ancrath's are Jorg and his dead brother? Anyways, Just throwing that up here before I finish the book to see if I'm right.

[QuickTidal]

Just finished.

Gods. That is probably one of the very finest trilogies of fantasy material I've read ever. It's right up there with Erikson, Abercrombie, Martin et al.

I am literally on board for whatever Lawrence chooses to write in future. That was as enjoyable a finale to the series as I could imagine I wanted and more. Loved it.

[champ]

QuickTidal, on 12 August 2013 - 01:50 PM, said:

I'm nearly done, and I'd just like to go on record...

...

Spoiler

That I think the Dead King is William. Which is somehting I've thought for the whole book when they started talking about "two Ancrath's" making us think it's referring to Jorg and Olidan....but my thought was, what if the dead King is Dead William and thus the two Ancrath's are Jorg and his dead brother? Anyways, Just throwing that up here before I finish the book to see if I'm right.

Aye...

Spoiler

It was the way William was spoke about early in the book that got me thinking that it was him, though I have to admit that it wasn't until this book that I did start to suspect, I am on a full reread now though and am interested to see if there are hints in the text in the earlier novels where maybe I should have suspected earlier.

The text that really made me think it was him in Emperor, something along the line that the Dead King had it in for Olidan or a special interest in him about a third the way through, that was when I was sure it was William.

It was a great book, a great ending, at first I thought that I didn't like it - the ending - but that was only because I wanted to read more about Jorg, when I sat back and worked my head around it that was when I really appreciated it.

And I also have to mention...

I was grinning from ear to ear with the shout out to Bruce Lee! Fuck yeah!

This post has been edited by champ: 12 August 2013 - 08:51 PM

[Mark Lawrence]

Briar King, on 14 August 2013 - 02:10 AM, said:

@Mark I ll be PMn you soon to get shipping info for sig.

I ll prob get another HC of Prince though. I'm the one that got it from Amazon and it had the Sharpie marks on it.

Email me at empire_of_thorns@yahoo.co.uk

The two-way postage US-UK (oddly 50% more expensive on the return leg) means it is ridiculously expensive to send books and actually cheaper to buy a whole new signed book from VJ Books. I'll do it - but be warned!

I'm happy to send bookplates (signed sticky white labels) if people paypal the postage ($2).

[Coco with marshmallows]

Mark Lawrence, on 14 August 2013 - 07:50 AM, said:

Email me at empire_of_thorns@yahoo.co.uk

The two-way postage US-UK (oddly 50% more expensive on the return leg) means it is ridiculously expensive to send books and actually cheaper to buy a whole new signed book from VJ Books. I'll do it - but be warned!

I'm happy to send bookplates (signed sticky white labels) if people paypal the postage ($2).

Shit, i've only got Prince on Kindle......

[nacht]

One thing I found to be really funny.

Spoiler

Mathematicians involved in politics.

And they really sucked at it.

It reminded me of this story about Godel, perhaps the greatest logician ever.

Quote

he would eat only food that his wife cooked because he had an obsessive fear of being poisoned.

and guess what logically followed after his wife died;
he died of starvation.

When it comes to predicting people's actions, you can throw mathematics out.

This post has been edited by nacht: 16 August 2013 - 08:09 AM

[amphibian]

Godel died three years before his wife. She was hospitalized for six months due to illness and he starved to death during that period in early 1978. She died in 1981.

Your point still stands, even if the details changed.

[nacht]

amphibian, on 16 August 2013 - 03:04 PM, said:

Godel died three years before his wife. She was hospitalized for six months due to illness and he starved to death during that period in early 1978. She died in 1981.

Your point still stands, even if the details changed.

Thanks for the correction :-)
This is another good example of why humans are unpredictable.

(Brains filled with wrong data) and/or (illogical conclusions) and/or (selecting from choices (quasi?)randomly independent of logic)
It is a miracle (of Mockra?) that we survived so far.

[Mikkelinski]

Aaaaaand done, aaaaand wow! If by any chance you read this Mr. Lawrence, thanks for writing something so not only entertaining, but also satisfying. I feel like I suck at compliments, but thank you, it was a real blast! His Dark Materials for some reason felt somewhat similar with it's ending, if only because they both made me stop and want to wait with reading my next book in line in order to digest it properly. So that makes it in the top two (Price of Spring coming a close number three) in terms of impact, and I a number one for pure entertainment!
I really liked how the Builders came into more prominence in this book and didn't remain as tools for Jorg (and his opponents), but got a will of their own. Despite both them and the magicians being effectively "sci-fi" it meshed really cool with the medieval world and the dynamics of the Empire, church and political power plays. I guess it's part of what made them (the books) unique in flavour and feel. Hmm, don't really know what else to say at this point (like I mentioned, I'm going to let it digest, and cool down on my use of parentheses, then I'll be back!)

I'm not even annoyed at managing to buy two copies on my Kindle, which is a real waste since I cant give it away to someone. Somehow it let me buy it in the Kindle store despite pre-ordering it, so now I have two on it heh - but it was more than worth it! For anyone who hasn't read it, just do it already!

edit: fixed the most atrocious of my spelling. I need to read over before I post stuff because, iRamble (patent pending).

This post has been edited by Mikkelinski: 17 August 2013 - 11:33 PM

[Mark Lawrence]

Mikkelinski, on 17 August 2013 - 09:12 PM, said:

Aaaaaand done, aaaaand wow! If by any chance you read this Mr. Lawrence,

Of course I'll read it! I'm in this thread for the duration

Many thanks for the kind words. Appreciated.

[Abyss]

Am avoiding upthread spoilers but had to post that i'm halfway through KING and it's AWESOME.

Am glad i did the PRINCE reread first because it's adding a whole other level to Jorg's development and refreshed my memory of the supporting cast, which is also getting some great treatment in this book.

So happy i have EMPEROR standing by. Books like these are why i love reading a whole series back to back.

[Morgoth]

Finished the book and it was pretty fantastic. It's a rare skill to write good endings, and the end of Emperor was everything I could have hoped for.

[Obdigore]

Morgoth, on 22 August 2013 - 06:28 AM, said:

Finished the book and it was pretty fantastic. It's a rare skill to write good endings, and the end of Emperor was everything I could have hoped for.

I hope the next book covers

Spoiler

the war between the recorded specters of the pre-fallout past

Even though it is about the Red Queen, iirc.

This post has been edited by Obdigore: 22 August 2013 - 07:03 AM

[Studlock]

I have a question, does the kid ever get more likeable (or redeemable even)? That was my biggest beef with the first book. The actual writing was awesome but the story felt dry to me mostly because I really disliked Jorg. I read half-way through and had to put it down because of it. While I wouldn't goes as far as calling the book nihilistic in it's depiction of justice and compassion (say like the Prince of Nothing) but it's on the far end of the spectrum of idealism vs cynicism.

[amphibian]

Yes, he gets more likable, but the point of Jorg is to be straddling the balance between "readable" and "off-putting".

Lawrence doesn't like violence, but Jorg lives in a world where it often is the fastest method to get things done. There's much more politicking and exploration of the world, as well as increased characterization and interaction with other characters that make you care about Jorg.

But he's still an immense jerk - who is usually right and often evil in his methodology.

[birthSqueeze]

I actually liked Jorg's ruthlessness. He did what he needed to do to win even if it meant killing massive amounts of people at once and he was really clever about it too. It was Lawrence's writing style I couldn't stand. Lack of detail, messy plotting, abrupt endings, and a ridiculous premise sums it up pretty well. Prince of Thorns is a very engaging book, but I don't get what all the praise is about.

My opinion seems to differ from the norm, but I noticed so many flaws to this series.

[Morgoth]

that's just, like... your opinion man.