Last Argument of Kings [Dec 27, 2017]

[Laura Tenfingers]

Haha! Same! And I was hoping to BR Mistborn #1 on the 15th and Cibola Burn on the 17th! Right! Plus some impulse library checkouts that are calling me... 😂😂

[Anni]

I feel you, I've got too many books to read this month without adding KotW :D I still need to finish Heir of Novron, A Trail Through Time, The Bands of Mourning and The Waking Fire (wich is great by the way, I think you might like it as well ;) ). And I would like to read To Green Angel Tower, Part 2, Calamity and Furies of Calderon... Oh boy!

[Laura Tenfingers]

We'll sleep when we're dead! 😂😂

You've got some goodies there! Riyria Revelations and The waking fire are on my tbr, and I'll have to check out the others. The ever-growing tbr!

[Anni]

Sleep is for the weak anyway :D

I don't know if you're doing audiobooks, but in my opinion Mistborn is a great series to do on audio, maybe this will help you with your tight schedule?

[Laura Tenfingers]

Ooooh, interesting! I don't usually do audiobooks but have been wondering if I should, for that exact reason. I'll look for it at the library. Thanks!

[Laura Tenfingers]

@Zaara, hanging in there?

I've just realized that I started Last Argument on August 1st and since then have started and finished 5 books. That's just not nice. Joe is so much better than half of what I've been reading instead. So enough of that foolishness. You with me?

Say one thing for Zaara and Laura, say they're multitaskers... 😂😂😂

[Laura Tenfingers]

Sacrifices (chapter 45 & 78%)(view spoiler)[ I like how he did that with ending PoVs with one line and starting the next PoV with the same line. I wonder why he did it and only in that chapter?

Feels like we're getting closer to the big hurrah but I have no idea where we're going. (hide spoiler)]

[Anni]

Laura wrote: "Say one thing for Zaara and Laura, say they're multitaskers... 😂😂😂"

😂♥

[Anni]

Laura wrote: "Sacrifices (chapter 45 & 78%) [Spoiler]"

I really like this as well :) He also did this in at least one other book.

[Laura Tenfingers]

Answers(view spoiler)[

Hmmmm... Still alive, still alive... Really wondering how this is going to end... Battle's over, they're alive, Bayaz is the mastermind of the kingdom, he's leaving Glokta in charge (?!?!) and...?? 🤔🤔🤔 and still have 90 pages to go! (hide spoiler)]

[Zaara]

Laura wrote: "@Zaara, hanging in there?
I've just..."

Haha no Laura, I'm here and DEFFO still reading. Apos for the late reply....
Been feeling a bit phlegm-y + I decided to copy Shallan and Fin be very disciplined in August...try to read 11 books in 30 days, one of which is Anna Karenina. So this means I currently have 8 reading logs going 😳😂😱
+ As you can see from my reading pace 😳😳😳 this is a tough challenge I set myself. In addition, I do not log on too much bcuz

1. Immediately I get distracted and spend two hours on GR.
2. Also I am on a shared system and kinda feel delicate/sensitive about cornering it too much for "frivolous purposes" my hosts are very nice but still...
3. I am on "parole" (FBR parole not real life) so I must be good and suppress my latent Oonaghery (which if this is obscure, I'm sorry #longstory) which always anyway backfires.
😂😂😂

Abercrombie Log 3
SPOILERS THRU END OF PART 1

This was a heavy action portion thru to the end of this part. Not much to post.
1. At some points all the graphic descriptions of gore (them First Day, Fourth Day, Seventh Day) made me feel mildly grossed out...normally I love fight scenes and gore and action movies where things go splat but sometimes too I was wondering what is the point of writing it all so graphically (I am a very visual reader, aural too for the cadences) but (view spoiler)[ the place where Logen trips and has his face mashed in the brains of the guy he just uhh....brained...yeah...eeeeeww (hide spoiler)]
2. Having said that, I really think Abercrombie saves something special in himself to write the scnes where the Bloody Nine emerges and goes mental. He always does fabulous fight scnes and epic battles but those ones are always pure poetic warsong. Sad that
The Seventh Day (view spoiler)[ Logen killed one of the very few friends he has and doesn't even know it for sure...esp given the conversation they had way back in TooMany Knives
(hide spoiler)]
3. Crummock's scrappy little kid is still my fave among the minor chars #cuteness she reminds me of that wild baby in the Croods.
4. Ardee, Bayaz, Jezal (view spoiler)[is not just floundering, he is drowning! Haha, payback for his thoughtless Casanova days that now he lost the woman he "loves" (see how he internally is still so "judgemental" about Ardee's peasanthood and so damn sure she'd be totally ridiculous and wrong as queen) + his wife can't stand him...king of the hill sure makes for one cold bed in his case! Poor Ardee. I never really liked her much, xept feeling a stronhot surge of anger on her behalf when she got slapped in Book 1...ok she has jagged unlovely edges and there's the booze but its saddening that she never even expected to be truly loved. She totally expected to get brutally dumped and for once, I expected Jezal would step up, be a man and prove that she is worthy of a revaluation of herself, at the very least. Who knows, she might have sobered up and become quite a good queen, coming from peasant stock and the provinces she would certainly understand the ground realities more....
But nooooooo, Jezal has to be Bayaz's mostly obedient puppet.
Bayaz! *hisssssss*
HE the architect and manipulator of all this. I love and admire the grand scope of his villainy but can't help disliking him more and more. Wonder what will happen to Quai and Ferro and oooooouuuu....the Seed...bet they will find A VITAL KLUE in the Uni. (hide spoiler)]
5. Meanwhile Glokta seems almost sidelined in this part of the book, relegated to dead end investigations + snapshot meetings and conversations from all the old side chars.
If he were here he'd say....Good cripple, go tie up all the lose ends...
😂😂😂😂
My fave of these is still the (view spoiler)[pigsty murder (hide spoiler)] I posted about from way back tho' it was also marvellously entertaining and cackling excellent to see how nonplussed my gal Ferro made him!

With ya on how we are such a pair, aren't we? Btw I'm so glad you decided to carry on this series with me and not the wait for the next big reading cycle.
👊 *fist bump* gaaaaaaal...

EDIT: Also you should totally chk out @idiffer's personal thread/tracker bcuz I am in the process of writing a huge First Law post there. Well, ok Stormlight + First Law. Lately I seem to be mashing these two series a lot....😂😂😂

[Zaara]

Sorry for the late reply and here are many spoilers for you!

[Laura Tenfingers]

👊 right back at ya 😉

I loved (view spoiler)[the pigsty scene (hide spoiler)] too, classy Glotka.

I'm really loving Abercrombie's writing, it blows my mind. I've been reading other books in tandem with this and when I come back to him, the other ones seem so flat!

I would get SO MUCH more reading in if I didn't get on GR, good on ya! Might have to take a page out of your play book 😁

[Zaara]

Will read a chunk more and will post moro ok...you would've finished, yes? I remember you said your library loan expires on the 15th. I am juggling too many books. One BR (DOSAB 2) started on the 12th and I haven't even checked in, I don't think....
Well, Mayim and I will bring up the rear on it like last time...

You can open my spoiler since you're ahead of me. Later I will edit with the chapter name...
I'm at the place where (view spoiler)[ Logen is challenging Bethod.... (hide spoiler)]

[Laura Tenfingers]

Zaara wrote: "Will read a chunk more and will post moro ok...you would've finished, yes? I remember you said your library loan expires on the 15th. I am juggling too many books. One BR (DOSAB 2) started on the 1..."

Ooooh! You're at a good spot! I haven't finished yet, I'm juggling too many books too... and the result is wanting to read none of them! 😂😨 A bit bored with Kings of the Wyld and was going to start Mistborn#1 and then Cibola Burn but really just want to mood read... Going to finish Last Argument between tonight & tomorrow!

[Zaara]

Great...I'll just tailgate...

[Anni]

Laura wrote: " A bit bored with Kings of the Wyld"

Ooooh noooo :(

[Laura Tenfingers]

Just finished, couldn't have loved it more! Now to open old spoilers...

[Laura Tenfingers]

Sir Anni wrote: "Laura wrote: " A bit bored with Kings of the Wyld"

Ooooh noooo :("

Not sure if I'm going to make it... ☹️☹️ I think it's a perfectly good book but I may not be the target audience. *shrugs*

[Siobhan]

Laura wrote: "I'm really loving Abercrombie's writing, it blows my mind.
..."

We are kindred spirits you and I! I'm so glad he affects someone else in this way! 😅❤️

Enjoy opening old spoilers!

[Siobhan]

Zaara, I love reading your spoilers too! The Seventh Day was so so sad.
Hope you're enjoying this too :)

[Laura Tenfingers]

Siobhan wrote: "Laura wrote: "I'm really loving Abercrombie's writing, it blows my mind.
..."

We are kindred spirits you and I! I'm so glad he affects someone else in this way! 😅❤️

Enjoy opening old spoilers!"

❤️❤️❤️

[Zaara]

Laura wrote: "Say one thing for Zaara and Laura, say they're multitaskers... 😂😂😂"

@Laura...I see what you did there...*broad grin* well, yeah!
Buuuuuut I read a big chunk more, so I'm into the home stretch...only a hundred (and twenty) odd pages now so I will finish it in another full day sitting. Same with N&S.

Laura wrote: "Just finished, couldn't have loved it more! Now to open old spoilers..."

And hey...opeming old spoilers from all the ppl is THE BEST PART..That is why me and Shivron we love to recycle the old threds. Too I cunningly go in the archives and see what the older batches sez abt a book...but only the very few series I really love + only when I have random time to waste.

@Anni/@Siobhan...thanks for sticking around to siscourage us both. You read this in Decmeber! Wow, you guys came back 4 us...you are such wonderful friemds...😘

@Siobhan...yeah our supreme love for Abercrombie and his style + language + chars + basically ALL his ways...heh...he is too good! I even went and wrote a whole series review trying to bring @idiffer to the Cosmere-First Law worlds. Haha...it failed miserably...😂😂😂
I thought of (and tagged) Laura there, I think...but should have told you(?) also since you love Abercrombie and all the First Law analyses/spoilers...actually guys...thought I may cut and paest it as a review, if you both think it may work...or not! Haha my reviews/review writing habits are such lackadaisical sh!t.

*Yerk* ohkk...end of my reading update/style comments...always I start typing for y'all 👍 & it grows long 👎 and bothersome.
But the actual log is coming NOW....

[Zaara]

TLAoK LOG 4
SPOILERS THRU 75%

1. Getting a bit tired of the endless battling now...will it never end? In the North...in the Agriont...the Shanka...the Gurkish...the internal squabblings with each POV...😞 I think I mentiomed (once or twice 😜 *KICK*) that every book in my CR is gloomy...

2. Leaves in the Water...image is 💪 so universally kickass...sometimes I guess everyone feels like this...that events are carrying you on their back...that's some heavy fatalistic philosophy right there...

3. The Circle What did you think of (view spoiler)[ the duel between Logen and the Feared?'
Very beautifully-crafted sentence/image to go with the chapter title...
"The circle of men flexed with the movements of the fighters, never still, bowing out and sucking in as the champions came forward or fell back."

With that sentence you actually feel like you're watching from above, yes?

I actually felt sad that Ninefingers has so few ppl left that he can trust to hold shields for him...he has to ask West...do you think Shivers may turn on him suddenly? Or maybe Black Dow...such a cold bastard...the way he killed the witch + he did challenge Logen once and slink back down like a kicked cur so there's murder in his heart...
+ that hillchief Crummock dude is as loony as a coot...😂😂😂
(hide spoiler)]

4. Greater Good The scene where (view spoiler)[ Ardee gives Glokta the idea to court a third lover...i.e. open a third front of negotiations with wily taskmasters and play them off against each other...immediately I guessed Glokta will go to the Gurkish and cut a deal...but (Addendum:after reading 20 more pages) he isn't that low apparently...he has gone to the High Justice instead. Still, I hope Sult is taken DOWN somehow...the way he treats ppl...selfish thunderkunt!
(hide spoiler)]

5. Better Left Buried Wow...the scene with (view spoiler)[ Ferro & The Seed. Quai is just killed...just like that? Wha.....what was he going to say or do? I hope his death isn't meaningless...Bayaz is such a...o god, he's unstoppably manipulative and powerful and evil and heartless and megalomaniacal. Yulwie can change his FACE? Wtf...that was a vital clue...I think...slipped in casually...haha then immediately I doubt myself bcuz its so Mission Impossible cheesy 😝 still...hereby I note it!
That other Magus dude is too trusting of Bayaz I think but he is having doubts and questions. But soon he will "realise" and defect. I can't figure what is the actual BIG lie here yet...hmmm....👀
*reads a few more limes*

WTF, so that's why Quai was all so 'changed' in Book 2...it was Tolomei! I totlaly forgot abt the fly-ridden bodyvorpse in the Agriont garden but looking at my old notes I did put a question mark...oh poor Malacus!!
(hide spoiler)]

6. Its funny how in Nightfall the Dogman is depressed abt life and all the pointless violemce and Logen cheers him up and then in Day of Judgement its exactly the reverse.

7. @Siobhan I agree. Also the chapter I found really wracking in this portion of the book was when Questions (view spoiler)[ Glokta realises they both betrayed him...both Frost and Severard....and he's all..."Truly, life is the misery we endure between disappointments."...my heart did a sympathy flip....oh Glokta...I hate that everytime he trusts someone he is disappoimted and betrayed...want him to catch a break. Don't expect it tho' 🙈 Abby is Lord Grimdark, after all. (hide spoiler)]

8. Ferro...poor unilateral Ferro with her blind hate and her focused rage...she is so fierce and unthinking with all her simple black & white certainties that she can be easily manipulated with a word or a carrot. She'd prolly gut me and spit on my corpse but I want to protect her 😂😂😂 and swaddle her in eiderdown quilts and bring her lemon tarts...ok...immediately I admit it is ME who am actually cravimg the lemon taste...my mouth is so yucky with meds...haha sorry to gross y'all out compleatyl.

9. @Laura...opened your comment...*nods* that was a cool style flourish with the transitions in Sacrifices...I think it was just Abby having some fun on the job...trying out a "thing." Good he didn't...otherwise I know we would have quickly got annoyed...😂

I stopped at the end of that chapter. So Arch Lector Sult is (view spoiler)[ Cryo-nuking his enemies with demoms...😨 wtf, Glokta just came to arrest Goyle...and found...*freezesplatterTHUNK* haha 😬 too GORY! I love when the bad guys get rotten ends.




Doolin to Hag's Head in County Clare, i think. (hide spoiler)]

[Zaara]

Isn't it so stupid that I am still logging this stuff when I am the last one? Should I just shaddup and call it a buddy read? I am soooo ethical 😜 in a dumb way.

EDIT Such a Good Munky 🐒
SECOND EDIT well, more spoilers for Oz here to open...I hope you will stick arnd, ppl, to chat for my last hundred pages.

[Laura Tenfingers]

Zaara wrote: "Isn't it so stupid that I am still logging this stuff when I am the last one? Should I just shaddup and call it a buddy read? I am soooo ethical 😜 in a dumb way.

EDIT Such a Good Munky 🐒
SECOND ED..."

I'm here! I love reading your comments Good Munky! Carry on 😁

I haven't opened old spoilers yet, my brain's a bit fried. Need some brainless reads but instead am reading Locke Lamora. Love him though. I might need some Georgette Heyer or something?

Circles (view spoiler)[Logen vs Feared (hide spoiler)] was great. It is a shame he has (view spoiler)[so few friends left... In part because he keeps killing them of course, but still sad. 😅 (hide spoiler)]

The Quai revelation was perfect!! I love it when light bulbs go on, ping!

I'm scared of spoiling something so I'll wait til you're done. But I'm here 😊

[Zaara]

Finished a few days ago...it is a magnificent trilogy, of course and a fully worth the money finale to my eight month long journey with this arc of the story...but the last hundred-odd pages (which is when I last posted) made me feel bleak and angry and wanting.
(view spoiler)[
When the dust settled over the hypocrisies of winning (and the hollowness of the victory)...the same old games...what has changed, really?
Some people got a partial redemption arc but not one a fully happy ending.
And the way it ended, as it began, as if to emphasize what I put in bold.
If this is all there is whether you win or lose, why play?
Some existential commentary, that...

I spent an entire evening feeling frustrated and anguished and so wanting and SNARLY. Angry with myself for being so affected too.
Ridiculous baby!
(hide spoiler)]
Are you planning to carry on with the singles/standalones? I don't own those in physical but I do have the ebooks. However I think I shall need a bit of a break from Abercrombie for a while, if that's ok with you Oz.
Truly...this was...
Yeah.
Thanks for reading with me.

[Laura Tenfingers]

Isn't that the epitome of grimdark though? End of book spoiler (view spoiler)[

If this is all there is whether you win or lose, why play?

I just love the bleak pointlessness of it all. And Logen going off the edge, well, he couldn't kill him (that would have crushed me) and he couldn't all of a sudden live in a land of fairies and sparkles (i.e. in peace with friends and family around him). And like he says:

"Nothing had worked out the way he’d hoped. He should’ve expected it by now, maybe. After all, things never had before. And yet he kept on pissing into the wind. He was like a man whose door’s too low, but instead of working out how to duck, keeps on smacking his head into the lintel every day of his miserable life. He wanted to feel sorry for himself, but he knew he deserved no better. A man can’t do the things he’d done, and hope for happy endings.”
(hide spoiler)]

It should be depressing but instead it makes me smile. Some twisted sh!t going on in my brain, but Abercrombie caters to it perfectly.

I definitely want to continue but agree that a break is in order. It's been fun reading with you. Thanks Zaara. Let's regroup for the rest. Maybe a break, but not too long... or I may never come back and finish them 😂 I tend to go off on tangents...

[Anni]

If you taking a not-too-long break, we plan to read Sharp Ends in December. It's a collection of chronological ordered short stories from the same world and would be #7 in the reading order. ;) You could join us!

[Virginie]

Counter-offer (😈): if you take a long break, and read Best Served Cold in Jan 2019, I'll join!

[Anni]

I'm not pleased at all by what you're offering...

Not very Fluffer-y...

[Laura Tenfingers]

Oooh lots of offers! 😍 I can't do Sharp Ends in December, sorry. Could do Best Served Cold in January though. What do you think @Zaara? Best Served Cold in Jan?

[Zaara]

Laura wrote: "Isn't that the epitome of grimdark though? I just love the bleak pointlessness of it all. It should be depressing but instead it makes me smile. Some twisted sh!t going on in my brain, but Abercrombie caters to it perfectly."


Yeah Mark Lawrence hits that button for me. VAGUE NONSPECIFIED SPOILERS FOR ENTIRE LAWRENCE CANON. DO NOT OPEN IF YOU ARE PARTICULAR (view spoiler)[ Cities are decimated.
RQW SPOILER DOUBLE NESTED FOR YOU, OZ bcuz I know you and Anni haven't read it yet.
(view spoiler)[Good ppl trek thru a series of hellish Hells only to emerge empty handed. (hide spoiler)]
People you angstROOT for until your belly physically hurts....jezzt die after you have spent enough time with them to have NO hope of recovery... (hide spoiler)]
Yet I'm all glee and joy at the utter ruin and gore. I don't know what happened to me with this series. I was totally fine for the first two books...

Laura wrote: "Oooh lots of offers! 😍 I can't do Sharp Ends in December, sorry. Could do Best Served Cold in January though. What do you think @Zaara? Best Served Cold in Jan?"

Haha @ all the offers...mebbe nobody will evaaarr take me in the 2019 snake draft 😂 but here...this...here is the high point of my career, eh Oz?
Heh...truth told, gals...I make no plams for 2019 until I talk to the Warden about the status of my parole...I think it runs out soon so I may not have even a gate pass for the next round....yeurghhh...I will have to do this sometime soon...I guess...altho' I am rather balking at the task, in a cowardly way.
🙈🙊🙉

[Siobhan]

I kinda thought your parole already ended. Just quietly pitter pattered away.... You're too hard on yourself! 😘 Everyone loves having you here. You light up the metaphorical room! ☺️

[Laura Tenfingers]

I don't know what your parole business is about but I like having you here :)

[Zaara]

:-D