[Cyphon]

No the book references Drac as the daddy. This is in Udinaas' fish hallucination around the time the Nerek get blessed. Its specifically does mention their mother.

This post has been edited by Cyphon: 13 May 2020 - 11:06 AM

[Cyphon]

Rhulad's resurrection is a excellent bit of body horror...

And then followed up by Ubala's dilemma and Tehol and Buggs visit to the brothel - brilliant.

This post has been edited by Cyphon: 14 May 2020 - 09:10 AM

[Cyphon]

Through this reread I'm finding Udinaas much more... tolerable...enjoyable to read? Just got to the point he meets his son with feather witch.

[Aptorian]

I always liked Udinaas. Strangely, he has less memorable scenes than I recall. I may have merged my memories of him with his role in Reaper's Gale.

[Cyphon]

And in contrast I find Seren more heartbreaking this read through.

[Aptorian]

Yeah, her life seems pretty empty at the end of the book. A person who only lives for a job she doesn't seem to care much for.

[Keysi]

Cyphon, on 13 May 2020 - 08:06 AM, said:

Hang on, Shelthana Lore is Spite and Envy's mother? I thought it was someone else in FoD? Killimandros or the goddess of the Imass?

The goddess of the Imass is how I remember it.

[Cyphon]

That's how I remember it but it says explicitly different in Midnight Tides. GOTMish maybe?

Also, so sad the reunion of the Edur army's and the brothers gathering in the tent. The calm before the storm.

This post has been edited by Cyphon: 17 May 2020 - 05:15 PM

[Cyphon]

Finished, you have to devour the last 100 pages or so. I think I might agree now and have MT as better than House of Chains.

Seren and Trull is slightly foreshadowed but I've never really thought that Erikson's strength was conveying romantic progression and relationships. Korlat and Whiskeyjack never really rung true for me.

Strikes me that the book is about 3 pivotal relationship; Tehol and Bugg, Udinaas and Rhulad and then Trull and Fear. How they contrast and get traction really directs the book.

Very much enjoyed that reread!

[Macros]

Just finished as well.

As above, I recalled Udinaas having far more screen time, but I must be blurring RG into it as well. I did enjoy him more this time, but again, I could be folding both narratives into one, and his grinding pessimism hasn't hit yet.

Tehol and Bugg are fantastic again, really looking forward to the chickens in RG.

I had forgotten how quickly the resolution felt compared to the build ups.

But overall all I'd say MT stays in its place in my liking. It's such a jar from the first four, a total new cast into a massive series, brave as an author, but SE pulls it off well. And it highlights how (in the main) much forthought went into the writing process, when Mael bombs an adult round the world and he turns up 3 books ago on another continent, what 2/3 years later canon? (But 2/3 years earlier in authoring)

[Aptorian]

One thing that annoyed me somewhat in retrospect is how easily The Edur defeat the Letherii. Sure, Lether is arrogant but that amount of power and knowledge should have lent them more warning. Similarly, I'd have expected the kingdom of being able to employ more subtle magical tactics than just big sorcery tornadoes.

The Malazan Empire's Claws would have ruined the Letherii if it had come to a proper war between the continents.

[champ]

I'm gutted to have missed most of this, life got really interesting for a while but it's settled back down now, I hope to catch up at some point.

[Macros]

I think the whole point Apt is they can't do subtle, outside of the cedas trap. Something Carlo said about the whole continent being a backwater, all the mages are using holds and it's raw unbridled power.

It's just a big bash of powers that they expect to negate each other. Look at the ceda v hanag, just pure power being launched at each other.

I think Letheries problem was they had never encountered a force that was equal or greater magically so they expected to either mash with power or swamp with numbers.

[Shalmanat]

Macros, on 20 May 2020 - 07:39 PM, said:

I think the whole point Apt is they can't do subtle, outside of the cedas trap. Something Carlo said about the whole continent being a backwater, all the mages are using holds and it's raw unbridled power.

It's just a big bash of powers that they expect to negate each other. Look at the ceda v hanag, just pure power being launched at each other.

I think Letheries problem was they had never encountered a force that was equal or greater magically so they expected to either mash with power or swamp with numbers.

Yes...as Corlo explains to Seren : "Here in this backwater, all the sorcery is raw and ugly. No subtlety, no refinement of powers. Yours is a land where most of the doors are closed. I doubt there's been any innovation in the study of sorcery in the past ten thousand years".

[Aptorian]

Perhaps but it sort of ignores individual achievement. Maybe if you argued Gothos or The Errants influence was holding the continent back but it still seemed to easy to defeat a massive empire.

[Cyphon]

Isnt that always the case when major innovation comes along though, old powers over thrown 'easily' because they couldn't compensate. I mean the easy example could be the colonisers coming to the Americas and taking on an empire like the Aztecs.

I think its inferred it's Gothos' influence in freezing the whole continent that has stunted the continent.

[Shalmanat]

Aptorian, on 21 May 2020 - 10:37 AM, said:

Perhaps but it sort of ignores individual achievement. Maybe if you argued Gothos or The Errants influence was holding the continent back but it still seemed to easy to defeat a massive empire.

Maybe it is SE's way of arguing that a civilization based on the belief in a god-given right to use and abuse at will is not very civil at all. Pride goes before a fall, raw power will some day meet an opponent that has more of it, and all that.. ;.) The whole book is full of it.

[Macros]

The Vandals burned Rome

[Traveller]

Aptorian, on 04 May 2020 - 03:43 PM, said:

That White Crow. I'm trying to remember. Thee were several animals who had symbolic or direct links to gods in this book.

White Crow was Silchas Ruin, right?

Wasn't there also an owl?

The owl is present in the first scene with Trull - and appears around him at different points through the story. Definitely noticable on a reread. I still dont know what the connection is though.

[Cyphon]

Jumping ahead are we doing Night of Knives then Bonehunters next month?