[duckman]

pat5150;170613 said:

Hmmm, I did say no spoilers...

I will say this, though. I did answer that question on another board, somewhere...:angel:

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Finally registered at the site. I'm eagerly anticipating RG as much as the rest of you. As a possible answer to Pat's comments and the Rake question, here's what he said at the ASOIAF board. I'm assuming that's what he was referring to.

Spoiler

Understandably, I cannot tell you which character from Memories of Ice is part of the story. But just to make sure that you guys don't go mad speculating wildly, I will concede that it's not Anomander Rake. Having said that, we do learn a whole lot about Rake in Reaper's Gale, which makes me eager to see him again in Toll the Hounds!

[duckman]

Bottle;170664 said:

One can only wonder what happened to Icarium... O_0

That quote, along with this one, has got me thinking...

Quote

From the first few lines of the prologue, as we witness Kilmandaros beating the crap out of Scabandari Bloodeye, all the way to the end, when Rhulad faces the last Champion, Reaper's Gale is a fantastic read!

[Dag]

Bottle;170664 said:

Can I have a quick page reference to that bit? HoC is the most "fuzzy" book in my head :

Yeah. I have it on the HoC pages 206-207.

[Dolorous Menhir]

It is curious, how Pat frames it as "the Last Champion". Does this mean that one of Karsa or Icarium have already gone down in defeat? Or that one of the two never ended up in the position to fight him (more likely in my book)? I would guess it is Karsa, since he was the one who actually wanted to fight Rhulad.

"The Last Champion" could even be someone totally unexpected.

Like Trull.

Bottle;170664 said:

Can I have a quick page reference to that bit? HoC is the most "fuzzy" book in my head :

To summarise: Karsa killed a bunch of Edur on the Silanda in the Nascent, in HoC, in the company of Torvald Nom. He impaled an Edur sorcerer in the captain's cabin with a spear/harpoon. Heboric & company find this sorcerer's body totally preserved in DG. Then, in BH, Tomad Sengar is devastated on seeing the Silanda among the Malazan fleet, and it comes out that he sent Binadas on a secret mission on that ship to find one of his brothers (either Trull or Fear, probably Trull since he was searching in the Nascent). So the sorcerer was Binadas, which I think is an amazing example of the forward planning SE shows in the books (to show us dead Binadas in DG, his death in HoC, and finally his introduction as a living character in MT).

[flea]

So, Pat, what did you really think about the book?

[Werthead]

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For the shocking death of the title, I'm thinking...Fiddler, Quick Ben or Ganoes Paran.

I'm going for Karsa. It would be unexpected (since Karsa seems to have a destiny to return to the Laederon Plateau and raise the Teblor against humankind) and given that Rhulad must face both champions (if he doesn't it will be a lame waste of the set-up in TBH) and kill one before he faces the other, we're kind of down to two options here.

Of course, Icarium's death would be far more shocking and would send massive reverberations through the Malazan world. And given we've got three more books to go (so the Crippled God's plans cannot be defeated and undone altogether), Icarium's death would seem to have the more consequences of the two whilst his future role in the remainder of the story is more difficult to judge at the moment.

[pat5150]

Ah Duckman, you're no fun at all... If you win a copy of REAPER'S GALE, you're getting a Goodkind instead! That'll teach you!!!

For the rest, I will not discuss or clarify anything, because that would end up being spoilers. My objective was to whet your collective appetite, and I guess that it worked just fine!

And who said the last Champion had to be either Icarium or Karsa??? Rhulad is mowing down the competition, after all. . .

Harmless stuff: Yes, Triban Gnol is still the Chancellor.

Cheers,

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

[blewin]

a lot of IMPORTANT characters are gonna die?! uhhhhhh!!!

[Hume]

Cheers for that one Pat!

Muchly appreciated.

Good to know some more people will die as well I think. Makes it less Robert Jordenesque

[g_forcez]

Great review Pat!!

I think that the last champion is going to be Icarium. I think Karsa kills Rulad and leaves because he has no other reason to stay. It would be interesting to see one or both of those characters die.

[Dancer+]

The last champion could be a whole host of people/gods, the possibilities are long in my eyes as the book is so long and we know little about the rest of the champions on their way to letherii

I'm wondering personally if Traveller, Any of the Shadow Realm participants (including Trull or Cotillion), Or any other ascendants get involved. Assuming one can enter at any time.

[CoD] is wondering what the most unusual challenge of the Errant is.

[Whelp]

Pat, the review is very good...but you are a complete, utter bastard for being so lucky :folken:
We still have to wait two more months...

Imho, Werthead is right about Icarium's death - he will allow someone to take his life (just my guess, mind you).

[Porus Reign]

After reading that review, if I had the choice between spending a weekend locked in a 6 star hotel room with with only room service and the models of this month FHM for company or spending the weekend locked away with Reaper' s Gale.... I'm not sure which way I'd go.... There were no spoilers in that review, it was like seeing the outline of areola through gossamer....

[Bottle]

I think its pretty clear in the review that Karsa will be the last champion;

Quote

Among that elite group, two Champions nevertheless stand out from the others: Icarium Lifstealer and Karsa Orlong, slayer of the Emperor's own brother.

Quote

Rhulad Sengar must face Champion after Champion, until he can finally step into the arena to meet his brother's murderer.

Though I don't think Icarium will die, not at Rhulad's hands... I like Whelp's idea that he'll give up his life, but only first if he goes and discovers his past, which the review also suggests : D (Unless of course this series spanning plot line is to have utterly no closure.. : ) , My guess is he wont take part in the tournament, I think Mr. Veed will have a change of heart as he was pretty shaken up at the end of tBH.

[Mithfanion]

Pat

Quote

And who said the last Champion had to be either Icarium or Karsa???

Well, as Bottle pointed out in the post above, first you identify Karsa as the killer of Rhulad's brother and then you say that Rhulad has to kill the champions until he finally steps in the ring with his brother's killer.

1 plus 1 is still two in my book, so this does lead one to believe he faces Karsa at the end. Whether this means he has faced and killed Icarium before that, or has not faced Icarium at all ( which is possible), is obviously unclear.

[Dolorous Menhir]

pat5150;170706 said:

Harmless stuff: Yes, Triban Gnol is still the Chancellor.

Cheers,

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Ta. Nice catch on the "brother's killer" thing there, Bottle. Though if we want to cover all bases, it's possible someone could kill Fear or Trull during RG and then Rhulad faces that brother-killer at the end of the book...

[Hume]

I would think it would take someone with a lot skill to take down either Trull or Fear though.

[Battalion]

I'd thought that Ruin would end up killing Fear from the start. This would make him ripe for a fight with Rhulad ... meaning that the Emperor would have all ready killed both Icarium and Karsa. Not such a stretch when you remember what Iron Bars said about him after they fought ... "In fives years he'll be good enough to beat Skinner" ... or something like that.

[Dolorous Menhir]

Now I'm worried about Karsa. It seems more and more likely that Rhulad could take him...

[Zale]

Damnit, why does this have to be released a month before my finals? Nothing will test my willpower more... The Contest will be nothing compared to this.