[Soletaken Toblakai]

Just finished reading DoD, and here's what I learned:

01. Towards the end there Mr. Erickson developed some serious GRRM tendencies, I seriously don't know how I feel about that slaughter, I mean WTF man!?!? Did everybody really die? Are the Perish the only ones left, along with Firehair and Spax of course... But something tells me Quick Ben is still alive and kicking, also considering the way Sinn and Grub reacted when Ges told them about the Bonehunters was very peculiar, they didn't even flinch or show signs of mourning, I mean I could understand Lostara, Tavore and Hestar surviving, perhaps several other Bonehunters during the retreat, but a large number of them perished yes?

02. Tool is a real piece of work, I just don't get how a person who was so sensitive and highly emotional towards community could instantly become such a c*nt muscle, and since he's decided his enemy's no longer Olar Ethil but Humanity, will we see a battle of T'ian Imass vs T'ian Imass? Since Urugal and his posse have obviously joined forces with humans (atleast Masan for now) plus Nom Kala was showing signs of Defiance during the senan slaughter, perhaps others could follow?

03. Where in the world is Karsa Orlong damn it!?!?

04. Gooseneck! It must needs be strangled.

05. HAIL THE MARINES!!!! *my favourate part in the entire book*


Oh, and I just purchased TCG, not even sure I should read it yet, can't process what those damned Nah'ruk did man, ai.

This post has been edited by Soletaken Toblakai: 06 November 2013 - 01:55 PM

[D'iversify]

Soletaken Toblakai, on 06 November 2013 - 01:44 PM, said:

03. Where in the world is Karsa Orlong damn it!?!?

On Genabackis still. I don't think its much a spoiler to tell you that he's in tCG but only has a bit part. Apparently we'll find out about what he gets up to next in the Toblakai Trilogy which Steve says he'll write after he's done with the Kharkanas Trilogy.

This post has been edited by D'iversify: 06 November 2013 - 02:15 PM

[Spoilsport Stonny]

You absolutely NEED to read the Crippled God next. I can't believe that you haven't. I started it immediately after I finished DoD. You know, right after I cleaned myself up.

[Abyss]

Soletaken Toblakai, on 06 November 2013 - 01:44 PM, said:

...
05. HAIL THE MARINES!!!! *my favourate part in the entire book*

Boo. Yah.

Quote

Oh, and I just purchased TCG, not even sure I should read it yet, can't process what those damned Nah'ruk did man, ai.

Stop that crazy talk and start reading now. NOW. NOW DAMMIT NOW.

[Tarthenal Theloman Toblakai]

Soletaken Toblakai, on 06 November 2013 - 01:44 PM, said:

Oh, and I just purchased TCG, not even sure I should read it yet, can't process what those damned Nah'ruk did man, ai.

Read fellow Toblakai, read. It will become clear. The last book is SO awesome. I was in awe for every page

[Soletaken Toblakai]

Sold and Sold! I'm on it gentleman, i'm prepared to have my mind blown.

[Zuzu Bolin]

Just finished. I could barely read through the slaughter towards the end. I too feel QB will be OK but am concerned about Bottle.

One thing about the Author, he really doesn't play to the crowd does he. When Lostara started her Shadow dance it would have been awesome if that had been a summoning and Cotillion had shown up ready to kick some Nah'ruk ass.

[judaskiss]

okay so I'm not completely sure how to use the spoiler alert but I'm guessing for this topic it doesn't matter as much b/c we're discussing thoughts about the book

I'm still a bit confused about the ending of the book and that messy battle between the Che'malle(sp?) and the Nah'ruk (sp?)…. so its my understanding that Icarium sacrificed himself and the Sky Keep to the plug that warren the Nah'ruk created? Anyone else have another thought?

[Spoilsport Stonny]

He used the Errant's eye, taken by feather witch, who was breath, and then who became caught up in the sorcery that was icariums machine at the end of reapers gale, as a finnest to close the breach. An azath house used the finnest as power to establish itself and grow, with the help of sinn and grubb and their control of icarium's new warrens.

[judaskiss]

Spoilsport Stonny, on 04 February 2014 - 10:31 PM, said:

He used the Errant's eye, taken by feather witch, who was breath, and then who became caught up in the sorcery that was icariums machine at the end of reapers gale, as a finnest to close the breach. An azath house used the finnest as power to establish itself and grow, with the help of sinn and grubb and their control of icarium's new warrens.

Oh that's fairly complicated. Thanks for the reply

[Spoilsport Stonny]

Yeah, for sure. Nothing is easy in the MBotF, but it becomes much clearer on subsequent re-reads, if you get the opportunity. That's the give and take with this series; things may not be fairly clear the first time, but the rewards for patience and devotion are bountiful.

[Takko]

Who was the apparition again who hunted and killed the group in Icarium's machine?
Not all the characters were fully explained in there right?

I felt very confused by this plot line.

This post has been edited by Takko: 17 November 2014 - 11:07 AM

[worry]

I believe it was Taralack Veed. But in all actuality it was Icarium, who was everyone, more or less ("We're the stains on your soul"). Everyone gets some background or some level of internal monologue, IIRC, but several of the characters weren't in previous books so you get what you get in a few glimpses and make do.

[Takko]

ah ok thanks!

I'm still not quite sure what this storyline was for. After RG Icarium disappears right? As far as I recall it is unclear where he goes to?
The transition from his last appearance to the mysterious setting in the dragon city and the slaying of the "projections" in said storyline is something I can't really put together.

[Abyss]

Takko, on 19 November 2014 - 02:49 PM, said:

ah ok thanks!

I'm still not quite sure what this storyline was for. After RG Icarium disappears right? As far as I recall it is unclear where he goes to?
The transition from his last appearance to the mysterious setting in the dragon city and the slaying of the "projections" in said storyline is something I can't really put together.

It was pretty existential...


Nutshell version.. in RG Icarium activated his old machine in Leth. He didn't know it was broken. Instead of restoring his lost memories, the machine absorbed a bunch of random bystanders and slammed their minds into Icarium.

At the same time, Iccy tries to replicate Krul's trick of fashioning new warrens, but instead of blood, he uses his own power. It seems this was always what the machine was supposed to do, possibly o fashion new warrens out of Iccy's mind so that he stopped losing his memories.

When we see him wandering around the desert in DoD, we also see the trapped minds who have overwritten Iccy and don't know what has happened to them. They see each other because he sees them.

because power draws power, Iccy's wandering takens him to the dormant KChain Chemalle Dragon City. There's an old connection between Iccy and the KC... we don't know what it is exactly, but we know he knows their tech. So as his body more or less starts repairing the city on reflex, his mind starts to heal... and in order to draw back the disparate arts, it manifests a new personality... Taralack Veed, his last Guardian. We know from the series to date that Iccy is very influenced by his Guardian, so even tho Veed apparently died when a wall fel on him, not by the memory machine, his presence makes sense. Not-Veed walks around Iccy's brainspace, 'killing' the remaining personalities but really just removing the foreign minds. Iccy keeps healing and fixing the city ... I can't quite remember whether the city's nanites healed him as well. By the time Iccy is almost fixed, the Chemalle and Nahruk are fully engaged and when the last matron's city flies to the fight, Iccy's city is also activated.

Here's where things get REALLY fucked. Icarium is already amazingly powerful. His attempt to heal his mind by making new warrens works... he gets a huge power-up. And then Featherwitch, whose ghost was one of the personalities Iccy absorbed, gives him her link to the Errant's power before the Veed personality can get to her. Boom... more power.

All this lets Icarium fly the city into the Nahruck rift, shut it permanently and fry most of their skykeeps in the process.



As for where Iccy goes next... that's RAFO.

[Takko]

Abyss, on 02 December 2014 - 04:37 PM, said:

Takko, on 19 November 2014 - 02:49 PM, said:

ah ok thanks!

I'm still not quite sure what this storyline was for. After RG Icarium disappears right? As far as I recall it is unclear where he goes to?
The transition from his last appearance to the mysterious setting in the dragon city and the slaying of the "projections" in said storyline is something I can't really put together.

It was pretty existential...


Nutshell version.. in RG Icarium activated his old machine in Leth. He didn't know it was broken. Instead of restoring his lost memories, the machine absorbed a bunch of random bystanders and slammed their minds into Icarium.

At the same time, Iccy tries to replicate Krul's trick of fashioning new warrens, but instead of blood, he uses his own power. It seems this was always what the machine was supposed to do, possibly o fashion new warrens out of Iccy's mind so that he stopped losing his memories.

When we see him wandering around the desert in DoD, we also see the trapped minds who have overwritten Iccy and don't know what has happened to them. They see each other because he sees them.

because power draws power, Iccy's wandering takens him to the dormant KChain Chemalle Dragon City. There's an old connection between Iccy and the KC... we don't know what it is exactly, but we know he knows their tech. So as his body more or less starts repairing the city on reflex, his mind starts to heal... and in order to draw back the disparate arts, it manifests a new personality... Taralack Veed, his last Guardian. We know from the series to date that Iccy is very influenced by his Guardian, so even tho Veed apparently died when a wall fel on him, not by the memory machine, his presence makes sense. Not-Veed walks around Iccy's brainspace, 'killing' the remaining personalities but really just removing the foreign minds. Iccy keeps healing and fixing the city ... I can't quite remember whether the city's nanites healed him as well. By the time Iccy is almost fixed, the Chemalle and Nahruk are fully engaged and when the last matron's city flies to the fight, Iccy's city is also activated.

Here's where things get REALLY fucked. Icarium is already amazingly powerful. His attempt to heal his mind by making new warrens works... he gets a huge power-up. And then Featherwitch, whose ghost was one of the personalities Iccy absorbed, gives him her link to the Errant's power before the Veed personality can get to her. Boom... more power.

All this lets Icarium fly the city into the Nahruck rift, shut it permanently and fry most of their skykeeps in the process.



As for where Iccy goes next... that's RAFO.

That is a very good explanation! thank you for that. a lot of that evaded me to be honest. Was all of that clear to you on the first read or did you figure it out during the reread?

I was also surprised that the Nahruk just drop out of nowhere. I couldn't recall them being mentioned before. Interesting notion though. For me DoD was a really good read.
During the foreword Erikson said we shouldn't expect answers in DoD since it was basically the first half of a whole book. To me although it posed a few new questions it also answered quite a lot.
Amazing how we still figure things out about the first few books the further we get with the series. truly remarkable.

[Gorefest]

Takko, on 03 December 2014 - 09:48 AM, said:

I was also surprised that the Nahruk just drop out of nowhere. I couldn't recall them being mentioned before.

There have been references to the Nahruk throughout previous books. We hear about them already in Midnight Tides, we see one in the Bonehunters (Karsa kills him), and we learn even more about their background and history in Reaper's Gale. So they definitely didn't appear out of nowhere, we've even seen their Skykeeps amass in the Imperial Warren, ready for invasion (QB and Kalam see these when traveling through that warren in the Bonehunters).

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 03 December 2014 - 10:01 AM

[Takko]

all right. I always misread that for K'chain Che'malle probably :-/

[Gorefest]

The main distinguishing difference is that the Nahruk walk on their hind legs and have short tails (hence their nickname 'short-tails', which is used several times by various characters). The Nahruk were originally engineered by the Che'Malle to act as (slave) workers, but they rebelled, which led to a civil war. The civil war was ended/halted when the Tiste invaded the Malazan world and for a long time after that, the Nahruk (and the Che'Malle) were thought to be vanished. Which is why we mostly hear about the Nahruk as myths or historical accounts.