Paul’s Comments (group member since Dec 15, 2014)

Paul’s comments from the SFF Readalongs led by Kitty G group.

I laughed out loud at Iskaral's comment about the nun's books, that they should be read in bed, and that he has some special ones in his own library.

Hah, yah the whirlwind comment kind of plays right along. Can't wait to find out more about that.

I'm not going to type a whole lot. I'm enjoy the book so far but I'm going slow. Not the book's fault, just mine. One thing I really enjoy about these books so far is how visual they are. Erikson's descriptions, imagery, and settings are just full of visuals. Even though this book is complex, visually it is one of the easiest books to visualize because of Erikson's writing style.

Interesting start to the story. Seems like everyone is converging on Seven Cities, including the non-humans. It looks like Kalam and Fiddler will be major characters, which is great because I like both of their personalities. A good rebellion story against an empire sounds like fun, but I have a feeling it won't go that smoothly.

Not sure what to think of Icarium and Mappo yet. I did really like the idea of a shapeshifter that was multiple wolves though. That's cool.

I'm bad at reading multiple books at once and I had a few to read before I started this. I'm happy I'm here now though!

Hood's Breath, that prologue was awesome and brutal. Some amazing descriptions, just in the prologue that really captured me.

I'm starting a little late on this one, so you'll see me replying to the other chapters now. =0

Got a coupon in the ol' email today, so it looks like I'll be checking this book out too. I probably won't read it until the end of Feb though.

Evan, I think it is the mustache, but I think of you as my Malazan Ron Swanson. Giving advice and help to all of us Leslie Knopes. =) (hopefully you've seen Parks and Recreation)

Looking forward to Deadhouse Gates. =)

You guys should check out Jane's character video. http://youtu.be/0DZQNrQUIKs

She uses pictures of actors/actresses to talk about the story. It is great! Leo will get snubbed again by the oscar committee tho. =(

Haven't decided yet if I'm going to dive into this one as well as Deadhouse Gates but I just have to say how awful the U.S. cover of this book is compared to the U.K. cover. =/

I think if the Acorn magic item(I forgot the name already but I want to say Finnas or something) was told that Lorn planted it in the estate everyone was at before it started to grow instead of a little bit afterwards, the ending would have been more clear. Just explaining that item another paragraph more about what it would do to people would have helped. There is a possibility I missed that info though.

hah, yah that ending was a whirl wind of events.

Here is my final review if anyone wants to check it out:
http://youtu.be/fXFOsS3x_Hs

Question: Was Vorcan's identity someone we knew? I don't think so but I wanted to ask in case I missed it.

Finished the book up today. I really liked it a lot. I'm going to be writing up a review of it tomorrow, maybe I'll post it here when I'm done. It was much better than I expected. I set my expectations low because of what I've heard about this first book being kind of the low point in the series but I really liked it. I will definitely be going on in the series.

Thank you for arranging this book group. I'll join in on the later chapter discussions when people post.

I wonder if the swords having their own power and almost personalities in this book influenced the anime Bleach any?

Great 2 chapters. Paran being able to enter the darkness from the sword cut of Rake and releasing the Hounds was really odd. I guess I don't know a lot about Paran's character but that just seemed out of character. Maybe he just wants to be on Rake's side, so he did Rake a favor. Paran joining Rake and leaving the Empire would be cool if it happened.

It is interesting how things that happen in one scene impact what happens in another scene, i.e. The Rope leaving Sorry because of Rake and Shadowthorn talking.

The more this story goes on the more I like Rake. He's so hard-core.

So everything is pretty cleared up about what everyone's intentions and plans are after these 2 chapters. It's a turning point in the story. Erikson has cleared up a lot of confusion and laid the groundwork for this story and now I expect there to be more contention between all the characters.

Now it is going to be everyone trying to find and want the power with this locked up T'lan Imass that uses the Jaghut power. Whatever that thing or person is, I think it'll really shake things up.

What I find interesting is that I'm not really on anyone's "side" at this point. I guess that is because there really aren't any "good guys" in this story. Just a bunch of factions within factions with their own goals. I would like to see The Bridgeburners leave The Empire though.

I'm going to try to finish this up in the next day or so, so I can move on, but I am really enjoying it, and I'm glad I bought all 10 books way before I even started reading the series lol.

I have a feeling all that history of the races stuff is going to be really important too.

Knowing the names of the rest of the books in the series kind of sucks because they will mention something in GotM that is exactly the name of the later books and I'll know what that book is probably going to be about.

I'm usually intimidated by these nomination threads because I know the majority of the books that I want to read are books everyone pretty much has already read since I just started reading heavily again last year. So I usually just go with whatever has been decided.

But I'll second the nomination for Mistborn: The Final Empire too.
and add a couple older books I want to read from my shelves: Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings and The Black Company by Glen Cook (both are smaller books)

Ok, let me see if I got even a little bit of this correct about Tattersail. She opened herself fully up to the Thyr Warren in order to destroy Bellurdan and her own body but was able to transfer her soul to the dead corpse of Nightchill. Then she was found by Kruppe, Pran Chole, a bonecaster of the T'lan Imass, one of the four founding races, that are now immortal, and a Rhivi woman. I believe Either Pran or the Rhivi woman are from the past. Tattersail, inside Nightchill's dead body, then gets absorbed into the woman's body, and birthed as a new child. This new Tattersail has unknown power because of the circumstances.

What I'm confused about, other than WHAAATTTT THE FFfff..., is the Rhivi woman from the past or Pran? Has Tattersail been birthed into the current time or in the past? Am I missing something vital?

Also, Kruppe's dreams are much more than just dreams, it seems he enters a spiritual world of sorts.

I'm a few pages from finishing 11 but I wanted to type that while it was fresh in my mind.

edit: Yah, with this particular scene, it is hard to know if I missed something, or if the information just hasn't been provided yet.

The thing that I am most impressed so far with this book and Erikson in general is his ability to put people in a room together that really should just be killing each other because all of them are really only looking out for themselves. Not only are they not killing each other but they are having these intense dialogues with so much meaning and hidden meaning in them. Basically, another author would have created like 3 fight scenes during chapter 9, which would be the easy thing to do but Erikson decides to just write these incredibly tense and revealing scenes that have nothing but dialogue in them but it is just so obvious that this entire Empire is held together in tatters.

In a world where war and people dying seem to be the norm, I am just impressed with how well the entire cast is at surviving.

That dinner scene was just great.