Fantasy Book Club Series discussion

Finished and ready to share?

Feel free to place your thoughts here

hi Maggie - there was already a topic on book 1. did you intend this one to be for book 2?

Maggie is getting too busy, she is starting to make mistakes, can't have chaos making mistakes, that would cause .......?

utter chaos? yup-I am too busy! lol

thanks Maggie!

finished book 2 about a week ago, and now i'm biting my nails until the third book is available for me at the library. ooo the wait... why doesn't the previous person read faster!

but more about this book: i liked book 2 and i'm glad that things got really moving. don't get me wrong, i liked the first one too, but i was ready for some real action. and wow, action we got!
i'm glad that Abercrombie is not always choosing the easy route: killing entire armies, not actually allowing Glokta to save the city and a nice Fellowship with a failed mission and only a few additional scars to show for it.

but most of all, i'm adoring these books because of the character building. rarely do i care about almost all of the characters in a book. I adore West (i have been screaming, i have been in agony and i was strangely proud when he killed the crown prince). also love Logen, Ferro, Glokta, even Vitari!

Finished this book and looking forward to the final piece. What I enjoyed about the second book was the three plot lines of Glokta in Dagoska, West and the war against the Northmen, and Bayaz and his mismatched troop. I would have been happy with a book just about Bayaz's adventures but the different story lines really gives the book depth.

My favourite story line being Bayaz's group. The characters here are the most interesting and oddly matched. I love how they are forced to interact closely with each other. I like the 'fellowship' feel to the whole group.

I love how Glokta is being developed too. I haven't had enough of his pain, pessimism and plotting.

I loved the surprise ending to Bayaz's quest. I really didn't see that one coming and found it almost refreshing.

Ok I couldn't wait. Was on a plane, finished the book I was hoping would take me to the 15th, but.....alas, the flight was long and I had to start book three and now I can't put it down. I didn't want to get ahead because I wanted to discuss, but, but.........you know it is.

lol Lee-I was thinking about you and decided I should just put up all the posts at once this next time....lol Guess I was right!

I started book 3 too. I only read the first few chapters so far. I really like Jezal, but I'm not a fan of Ardee - at least at this point.

I started as well on book 3. Once i started a series, i like to continue fast (i'm just too curious to wait)! It's really good, there are a few fabulous and surprising turns on its way... :D

Finsihed! Loved it - on to book 3

My review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....

Logen's my favourite character still, but I think I liked Glokta's story arc best this time. Cosca was right, Heads on spikes never goes out of fashion!

I really felt it when Threetrees died. A good sign I'm connecting with the characters.

@ Lisa, I am with you on that one, I don't like Ardee but I like the way she is written. I am hoping that she is going to cause more trouble and not become a happy simpering wife.

Look at us discussing book three in the book two thread. Maybe you should start the new book thread in 14 hours Maggie as it will be the 15th here in Australia ;)

This is by far the best series I have read post Malazan, this blows Mistborn away by far. IMHO

Lee wrote: "This is by far the best series I have read post Malazan, this blows Mistborn away by far. IMHO"

Its definitely my new favourite since GOT. I've actually just started listening to the audio version of Mistborn.

I do have one issue. Not really a complaint but rather "I want to see more." In the first book Logen does the magic trick where he sucks up the fire and stores it under his tongue, and then blows fire on one of the bandits that ambushes him. We see nothing like that this book from him. I hope we get to see this magic side of him more.

Book 3 - (view spoiler)[I'm happier having Logen back in the action with the Northmen than in the love scenes with Ferro. (hide spoiler)] Don't get me wrong, I like Ferro, but I like her better when she's fighting than in her love scenes. I'm also really enjoying Jezal's growth and change in attitude toward Logen by the end of Before They Are Hanged.

You are right David, I had forgotten about the fire trick. I also expected his ability to talk with the spirits to play a bigger part. But it appears not. Although, it didn't appear they had much to offer anyway when they appeared.

Having Ferro glancing over her shoulder to see if Logan was watching was a kind of weird read eh? I agree with you Lisa, Jazels opinion of Logan was an important part of his development of a character. I like that it took a long time in the story for it to transpire, like Logan got to him a bit at a time. Rather than an epiphany moment.

Lee wrote: "Having Ferro glancing over her shoulder to see if Logan was watching was a kind of weird read eh? I agree with you Lisa, Jazels opinion of Logan was an important part of his development of a character. "

And Logen was deliberately working on them both bit by bit. Though with Ferro the payoff for his efforts was slightly better - weird, but better . . . I think.

Lol yes, I guess you are right. I am sure he enjoyed both his conquests.

I just finished book two last night.

I thought that the use of profanity was better balanced than in book one.

I thought there was more action than in book one, but there wasn't enough of a conclusion.

And I was annoyed as heck by the mathematical error in "Among the Stones." In the second part, as Ferro is preparing for battle, she has, "her bow in one hand, an arrow nocked and read," and "seven arrows stuck into the earth in front of her in a row. Seven arrows was all she had left." What happened to the arrow she had nocked? Doesn't that make eight? And if you read the following pages, she fires five arrows from her position, picks up the remaining two, moves to a new position, and fires the last two. Clearly seven arrows. Someone forgot the arrow she had nocked...

Those types of errors always bother me far out of proportion to their importance. Did anyone else notice?

Nope. I was concentrating too much where the arrows went.

"I was annoyed as heck by the mathematical error"

It is a shame that it had such a big impact on you and effected (yup, i did that on purpose) your enjoyment of the story. I make errors every day, I don't expect authors or editors to not make an occasional mistake here or there either.

Matthew wrote: "And I was annoyed as heck by the mathematical error in "Among the Stones." In the second part, as Ferro is preparing for battle, she has, "her bow in one hand, an arrow nocked and read," and "seven arrows stuck into the earth in front of her in a row."

Ferro can't add. She's just feral.

Ferro can't add. She's just feral.

Ha ha ~ good one!

LOL

Running just a wee bit behind on finishing this one, but it's done, now. I'm really glad Book #3 was out long before I finished Book #2, because holy crap. I haven't seen a surprise ending like the one with Bayaz and company since maybe The Two Towers. That was a very, *very* long time ago.

Abercrombie is just as capable of delivering the huge twists as GRRM without having to kill off all his best characters just to shock us. Not that I dislike ASOIAF, mind you, but this series is a different kind of interesting. The theme I'm seeing emerge is that people often suffer even if they don't deserve it. I think the stifled cheer when the crown prince dies is sort of the result of this kind of unrelenting tendency for bad things to happen to innocent people. And for once someone seems to get the fate he actually deserves, so maybe we can't be blamed for giving three cheers for cold-blooded murder. Abercrombie set us up emotionally for that response.

Eric wrote: "Running just a wee bit behind on finishing this one, but it's done, now. I'm really glad Book #3 was out long before I finished Book #2, because holy crap. I haven't seen a surprise ending like the..."

You think this is a surprise ending? Wait till you finished book 3. In fact, you won't have to finish before everything turns on its head.