[Macros]

Finished Traitors Blade.

Excellent book. Couldn't put it down, the three main characters interplay is fantastically fun to read. Like the good three musketeers film, the one with Keither Sutherland in it.

Almost non stop action, and the backstory is neatly thrown in through short flashback sequences. Cant wait to start book two

[QuickTidal]

Properly started Ben Aaronovitch's 5th Peter Grant novel FOXGLOVE SUMMER. Love this series more every time I read one. And this one is cool cause it's out in the country.

Also, head-casting is solidified now.

Peter: Noel Clarke

Nightingale: Paul McGann

[worry]

How is the "good" Three Musketeers film not the one with Oliver Reed and Michael York?!

[Macros]

Im a young buck.

I grew up with alan rickman as the sheriff of nottingham and Sutherland as a musketeer
Now go read the traitors fucking blades, it. Is. Superb.

[worry]

Definitely in my TRP. I don't think I've read a real swashbuckler (unless The Princess Bride counts), so it should be a pretty cool experience.

My immediate timeline is:
Lord of Chaos (~100 pgs left)
Forge of Darkness rr
Fall of Light
Purge of Ashes
WoT #7
____________

So I'll stick it in the blank. If I burn through FoD too quickly maybe I can sneak it in after, since it's relatively short. Otherwise it might take a while. I'm a decent paced reader next to regular humans, but next to Malazan Empire I'm a snail.

[Mentalist]

2 chapters to go in FoD re-read. Once I'm done, I'll post my noted summary in FoL forum, keeping track of all the things that jumped out as "different" from the MBotF "canon", as well as generally where each chapter takes KG politics.

almost half-way through "The Shadow Throne", and things are boiling up nicely. I'm 90% sure I know who the mole is, and every time I get off the bus on the way home there seems to be a cliffhanger--which means the pacing is good, since I stop not just at the ends of chapters, but anywhere, and I always want MOAR.

Sadly, I really fell behind in "Gunslinger", b/c work is hectic this week. Gonna put some time into it on Sat.

[Andorion]

 Oponn Relationship, on 15 April 2016 - 12:25 AM, said:

Definitely in my TRP. I don't think I've read a real swashbuckler (unless The Princess Bride counts), so it should be a pretty cool experience.

My immediate timeline is:
Lord of Chaos (~100 pgs left)
Forge of Darkness rr
Fall of Light
Purge of Ashes
WoT #7
____________

So I'll stick it in the blank. If I burn through FoD too quickly maybe I can sneak it in after, since it's relatively short. Otherwise it might take a while. I'm a decent paced reader next to regular humans, but next to Malazan Empire I'm a snail.

When are you going to start the FoD reread? I want to, but I am afraid of my own speed and Amazon's punctuality so I wont touch it till after the 20th

[Andorion]

 Briar King, on 15 April 2016 - 01:05 AM, said:

I'm slower then a snail compared to Puck and Ando. Unless it was a old Star Wars EU bk. I'd blow through those in 2-3 days. I was also rather proud of myself on WoT 11&13 both of which I did in 8-9 days

WoT last 3-4 books can be read pretty fast as they are very very good. What confuses me BK is your Outlander speed. Why are those books so slow?

[worry]

If I finish LoC tonight (which seems likely), then tomorrow. And I probably will finish early now that I think of it, cuz I did super saver shipping on Amazon for FoL, which means some delay.

With your speed, holding off is a good idea. I'm sure you could slip something in before then.

[Andorion]

 Oponn Relationship, on 15 April 2016 - 01:52 AM, said:

If I finish LoC tonight (which seems likely), then tomorrow. And I probably will finish early now that I think of it, cuz I did super saver shipping on Amazon for FoL, which means some delay.

With your speed, holding off is a good idea. I'm sure you could slip something in before then.

I still have two Dune books left to go. I may not even touch FoD till Amazon tells me the book is dispatched. They have messed up their deliveries before

[Andorion]

 Briar King, on 15 April 2016 - 03:13 AM, said:

A lot of what slowed me down on Out 2 was choosing to read 4 other bks during it. Also for a week each month I do nothing but play Iron Banner on Destiny so my dvr fills up and almost zero reading takes place. Then it didn't help that I had started a new game called Dark Souls that absorbed even more reading time. I was reading only about 2-3 pgs a night when I started that game.

I wish I could play as many games as you or others here do. But no gaming laptop or pc, plus games are really hard to get here.

[worry]

I've got your back, Ando.

http://www.neopets.com/

[Mentalist]

Okay, "The Shadow throne" 2/3s in- VERY good.
Now I'll actually have to pay attention when vol 3 streets in mmpb.

EDIT: and apparently it's not a just a trilo, since there's a Bk 4 coming out this year! me likey. Much better effort at musketpunk than the Powder mage.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 16 April 2016 - 02:31 AM

[worry]

Finished Lord of Chaos.

Spoiler

I'd say it's been my second favorite so far, after book 4.

Issues: It may have broken his previous record of "she might have been pretty if..." descriptions. Going into this I knew that people liked to joke about his descriptions of clothes -- and it turns out they weren't exaggerating. But frankly it's his descriptions of people's looks that bother me. Everyone from this place has a blade nose, everyone from the other place has an axe nose, or a hawk nose, or a button nose. I don't care. He also likes to describe everyone's skin color, but they always turn out to be white people with various shades of sun-darkening. Or they're coastal people with olive skin (presumably of the north of Mediterranean hue rather than south). I expected this, but the Aiel just being suntanned white people was a disappointment. The first proof that black people exist at all DID appear in this book, but they were sex slaves of Graendal. Good try? (Not so much really). On another note, I think RJ broke Min. She started out kinda Arya-ish, but now she's total early Sansa with her fawning over Rand. Also I think the spanking women count was low, but the *thinking* about spanking women count was high. Starting to think RJ is less Ricky Ricardo and more James Spader in Secretary. That dirty dog!

Also, this more of a minor issue, but the Forsaken just drop in and out with no sense of pacing. The first half of the book was stacked with them, and then the second half ignored them completely (except for the epilogue and slave-Moghedien). I also don't think he's great with Prologues. SE is masterful -- he introduces concepts that are going to inform the novel and somehow shape the climax, but even more traditional authors do that too with some purpose. With RJ the Prologue is just a long first chapter w/ a few surprise POVs, but doesn't necessarily cohere meaningfully for that particular novel.

Lastly, the Glossary in these books is totally useless. It has entries for like Moirane, who we've seen in huge amounts in every book so far, but it doesn't have an entry on like the Aes Sedai who bumps into Min a couple times in previous books but suddenly becomes prominent in this one. It should remind readers about characters or terms that have been used but are easy to forget, but instead it's a minor list of the most basic concepts. I don't need a glossary entry on Rand al'Thor, dummy. I need one on Bobekka Sedai who appeared in Book 2 and then this one.

Good stuff: Everyone had something to do, and it was relatively complex (not Malazan standards, but still). I liked pretty much all the storylines. Despite all the goofy sex stuff, the books do tend to pass the Bechdel Test with flying colors too. Women have many priorities, at least SOME are deeper than average, and their power is genuine. Benadryl (not actual name, but the sexy Mayene Queen) manages to do the femme fatale thing rather well, but it's getting less clear if RJ has a handle on that w/ Perrin around. The Aes Sedai leaders can get a little samey but they're treated seriously. The leader of the Salidar delegation who gets usurped by haughty higher up Aes Sedai was some pretty good writing & character work. Verin gets more interesting with each book.

The book actually tackles cultural appropriation! In an early 1990s fantasy novel! I dunno if it does it perfectly, but the Aiel annoyance at Cairhienens making a mockery of Aiel customs was actually pretty cool. I don't know where he'll fall eventually, but if the Aiel weren't actually just white people w/ honeymoon tans, I might think RJ had a proper grip on something like the Redskins/Braves/Indians controversies.

It was great to finally have Perrin and Loial back. Definitely beats another Mat "I hate all this but I'm doing it anyway" POV.

No idea what other people think, but I like Lews Therin in Rand's head. His constant nihilism. Ending one scene with Lews asking Rand "Are you real?" was sweet, even kinda Malazany.

Climax was pretty rad. A lot of different factions having an actual battle. Sorcery flying. Rand severing three Aes Sedai at once and then taking out a bunch more. Taim and the Asha'man exploding whole lines of Shaido was sick and awesome. Didn't think RJ had it in him. Looking very much forward to seeing Logain meet Taim. I just wish it had a few more POVs. Aram going crazy with battlelust for instance, or even some Aes Sedai POVs. Just like the previous book, where Rahvin got zero POV during the final fight, the limited Rand POV here didn't serve the scene quite well enough.

I don't want a direct (ie story info/spoiler) response to this, just musing: I know one complaint this series has is that it seems stretched out. I'm really not getting that sense. The books are all too long individually, for sure, but each one seems like a reasonable building block for the overall story. So books 7-10: if he resolves one issue per book, it'll seem reasonable to me. If he keeps pushing resolutions off (some here have stated you can even read the Wikis on a few and get all you need) then I suppose that validates the complaints. I just don't see any cash-grab/artificial fluffing so far. RJ just happens to be a wordy guy who enjoys describing nonsense page after page.

Lastly, just to confirm, this book didn't have an orgy. So that's still on the horizon.

[Andorion]

 Oponn Relationship, on 15 April 2016 - 10:55 PM, said:

Finished Lord of Chaos.

Spoiler

I'd say it's been my second favorite so far, after book 4.

Issues: It may have broken his previous record of "she might have been pretty if..." descriptions. Going into this I knew that people liked to joke about his descriptions of clothes -- and it turns out they weren't exaggerating. But frankly it's his descriptions of people's looks that bother me. Everyone from this place has a blade nose, everyone from the other place has an axe nose, or a hawk nose, or a button nose. I don't care. He also likes to describe everyone's skin color, but they always turn out to be white people with various shades of sun-darkening. Or they're coastal people with olive skin (presumably of the north of Mediterranean hue rather than south). I expected this, but the Aiel just being suntanned white people was a disappointment. The first proof that black people exist at all DID appear in this book, but they were sex slaves of Graendal. Good try? (Not so much really). On another note, I think RJ broke Min. She started out kinda Arya-ish, but now she's total early Sansa with her fawning over Rand. Also I think the spanking women count was low, but the *thinking* about spanking women count was high. Starting to think RJ is less Ricky Ricardo and more James Spader in Secretary. That dirty dog!

Also, this more of a minor issue, but the Forsaken just drop in and out with no sense of pacing. The first half of the book was stacked with them, and then the second half ignored them completely (except for the epilogue and slave-Moghedien). I also don't think he's great with Prologues. SE is masterful -- he introduces concepts that are going to inform the novel and somehow shape the climax, but even more traditional authors do that too with some purpose. With RJ the Prologue is just a long first chapter w/ a few surprise POVs, but doesn't necessarily cohere meaningfully for that particular novel.

Lastly, the Glossary in these books is totally useless. It has entries for like Moirane, who we've seen in huge amounts in every book so far, but it doesn't have an entry on like the Aes Sedai who bumps into Min a couple times in previous books but suddenly becomes prominent in this one. It should remind readers about characters or terms that have been used but are easy to forget, but instead it's a minor list of the most basic concepts. I don't need a glossary entry on Rand al'Thor, dummy. I need one on Bobekka Sedai who appeared in Book 2 and then this one.

Good stuff: Everyone had something to do, and it was relatively complex (not Malazan standards, but still). I liked pretty much all the storylines. Despite all the goofy sex stuff, the books do tend to pass the Bechdel Test with flying colors too. Women have many priorities, at least SOME are deeper than average, and their power is genuine. Benadryl (not actual name, but the sexy Mayene Queen) manages to do the femme fatale thing rather well, but it's getting less clear if RJ has a handle on that w/ Perrin around. The Aes Sedai leaders can get a little samey but they're treated seriously. The leader of the Salidar delegation who gets usurped by haughty higher up Aes Sedai was some pretty good writing & character work. Verin gets more interesting with each book.

The book actually tackles cultural appropriation! In an early 1990s fantasy novel! I dunno if it does it perfectly, but the Aiel annoyance at Cairhienens making a mockery of Aiel customs was actually pretty cool. I don't know where he'll fall eventually, but if the Aiel weren't actually just white people w/ honeymoon tans, I might think RJ had a proper grip on something like the Redskins/Braves/Indians controversies.

It was great to finally have Perrin and Loial back. Definitely beats another Mat "I hate all this but I'm doing it anyway" POV.

No idea what other people think, but I like Lews Therin in Rand's head. His constant nihilism. Ending one scene with Lews asking Rand "Are you real?" was sweet, even kinda Malazany.

Climax was pretty rad. A lot of different factions having an actual battle. Sorcery flying. Rand severing three Aes Sedai at once and then taking out a bunch more. Taim and the Asha'man exploding whole lines of Shaido was sick and awesome. Didn't think RJ had it in him. Looking very much forward to seeing Logain meet Taim. I just wish it had a few more POVs. Aram going crazy with battlelust for instance, or even some Aes Sedai POVs. Just like the previous book, where Rahvin got zero POV during the final fight, the limited Rand POV here didn't serve the scene quite well enough.

I don't want a direct (ie story info/spoiler) response to this, just musing: I know one complaint this series has is that it seems stretched out. I'm really not getting that sense. The books are all too long individually, for sure, but each one seems like a reasonable building block for the overall story. So books 7-10: if he resolves one issue per book, it'll seem reasonable to me. If he keeps pushing resolutions off (some here have stated you can even read the Wikis on a few and get all you need) then I suppose that validates the complaints. I just don't see any cash-grab/artificial fluffing so far. RJ just happens to be a wordy guy who enjoys describing nonsense page after page.

Lastly, just to confirm, this book didn't have an orgy. So that's still on the horizon.

Loved your reaction!

Now, what do you think of the attitude of Aes Sedai in general? Also what of the Seanchan? At this point in my read these two issues were very important to me

Dumai's Wells is a great battle but RJ still preferred Fog of War to tactical overview, thus constricting the epicness of a truly great scene

Regarding things getting stretched out, reading the books back to back reduces that a bit, but remember your speculation about Perrin? Keep a hold on that.

[worry]

Spoiler

I think I'm having the proper reaction to the Aes Sedai, which is that they're well-meaning (mostly) but extremely haughty, and that this is an evolution that makes sense given history. I'm actually quite impressed with how complex their place in the world is. A monopoly on sorcery, ruthlessly guarded, but as a seeming necessity (some might consider it a necessary evil, some just think it's necessary period) after the Breaking. I think it's pretty clear they've (d)evolved even since the Breaking, and there's a defensiveness about them in their not-quite-acknowledgement of this. They've become a political unit and a policing unit, with all the good and bad that entails, and internal strife it causes. That's all putting aside the Black Ajah (I'm still not particularly impressed by the motives of any Darkfriends, which still strikes me as spontaneous devil-worship). The AS are RJ's most impressive stab at shades of grey in the series so far. They have a lot of drivers, as a group and as individuals.

Also, their attitude -- on top of the history that birthed it and defensiveness over their fading -- is also being shaped by current events. For one thing, it turns out they don't have a monopoly on sorcery. Wise Ones and Seanchan have surely rocked their worldview more than a little. The Dragon Reborn means a channeling man AND the coming of Tarman Gaidon, so natural human panic is setting in as well. With some of the Aes Sedia, there's an air of not denial of the big picture, but of what it means for them. Like picture a nobleman putting on his finest clothes and walking with his nose in the air right up to the gallows. It's not the noose he's denying, it's the shuffling (or breaking) of the hierarchy. That's what he can't accept.

Seanchan, still mostly a mystery I suppose. They have a social structure that is so extremely top-down that I'm curious about seeing it function more close-up. I suppose I have the advantage of knowing one of the final books is called Tower of Midnight, and that's in the Seanchan continent. If the characters actually go to that continent at some point I'm excited to see that. I think now that I've seen Ebou Dar, we've mostly done the Belgariad-style tour of every single country on the map (some of the northern ones haven't been hit, but as we know, they are all hawk-falcon-hatchet nosed warriors).

I'm curious if the Whitecloaks will get further greying. They're nowhere near Aes Sedai level of complexity -- perhaps by their nature as an organization -- but there's been good character-work there that could lead to more variation (the guy who caught Perrin early but died in book 2 was a good example). And I'm curious about the Sea Folk now that they're trying to reach Rand. IIRC the Seanchan were trying to co-opt them or something, but so far that was one scene w/ no followup (or I misread it).

[Andorion]

 Oponn Relationship, on 16 April 2016 - 02:09 AM, said:

Spoiler

I think I'm having the proper reaction to the Aes Sedai, which is that they're well-meaning (mostly) but extremely haughty, and that this is an evolution that makes sense given history. I'm actually quite impressed with how complex their place in the world is. A monopoly on sorcery, ruthlessly guarded, but as a seeming necessity (some might consider it a necessary evil, some just think it's necessary period) after the Breaking. I think it's pretty clear they've (d)evolved even since the Breaking, and there's a defensiveness about them in their not-quite-acknowledgement of this. They've become a political unit and a policing unit, with all the good and bad that entails, and internal strife it causes. That's all putting aside the Black Ajah (I'm still not particularly impressed by the motives of any Darkfriends, which still strikes me as spontaneous devil-worship). The AS are RJ's most impressive stab at shades of grey in the series so far. They have a lot of drivers, as a group and as individuals.

Also, their attitude -- on top of the history that birthed it and defensiveness over their fading -- is also being shaped by current events. For one thing, it turns out they don't have a monopoly on sorcery. Wise Ones and Seanchan have surely rocked their worldview more than a little. The Dragon Reborn means a channeling man AND the coming of Tarman Gaidon, so natural human panic is setting in as well. With some of the Aes Sedia, there's an air of not denial of the big picture, but of what it means for them. Like picture a nobleman putting on his finest clothes and walking with his nose in the air right up to the gallows. It's not the noose he's denying, it's the shuffling (or breaking) of the hierarchy. That's what he can't accept.

Seanchan, still mostly a mystery I suppose. They have a social structure that is so extremely top-down that I'm curious about seeing it function more close-up. I suppose I have the advantage of knowing one of the final books is called Tower of Midnight, and that's in the Seanchan continent. If the characters actually go to that continent at some point I'm excited to see that. I think now that I've seen Ebou Dar, we've mostly done the Belgariad-style tour of every single country on the map (some of the northern ones haven't been hit, but as we know, they are all hawk-falcon-hatchet nosed warriors).

I'm curious if the Whitecloaks will get further greying. They're nowhere near Aes Sedai level of complexity -- perhaps by their nature as an organization -- but there's been good character-work there that could lead to more variation (the guy who caught Perrin early but died in book 2 was a good example). And I'm curious about the Sea Folk now that they're trying to reach Rand. IIRC the Seanchan were trying to co-opt them or something, but so far that was one scene w/ no followup (or I misread it).

Interesting.

(Spoilers Not for Worry, only for those who haven't read any WoT)

Spoiler

I was way less forgiving of the Aes Sedai, who I thought were far too narrow minded and petty for people with such long lives, especially considering how widely travelled they are. I mean Alanna's bonding of Rand di them no favours at all

While you say the Seanchan rocked the AS, I thought the AS were not reacting enough. The Seanchan culture is an existential threat to the AS, yet after book 2 this is not even addressed.

The Whitecloaks do get more space later, and I found that part very interesting

This post has been edited by Andorion: 16 April 2016 - 02:23 AM

[worry]

Maybe I've read subtext (or anticipated text) that isn't really there. And I wouldn't say I'm forgiving so much as understanding. Like I wouldn't forgive someone who punched me in the face, but I'd certainly understand why they did it!

[Andorion]

 Oponn Relationship, on 16 April 2016 - 02:30 AM, said:

Maybe I've read subtext (or anticipated text) that isn't really there. And I wouldn't say I'm forgiving so much as understanding. Like I wouldn't forgive someone who punched me in the face, but I'd certainly understand why they did it!

Naah its good to have diverging opinions. BTW Aes Sedai get more exposure as the series goes on. Are you starting the next book now?

[worry]

Nope, FoD.