The Core [Mar 15, 2020]

[Siobhan]

Hope all is ok with your wife and you're both doing well.

[Shannon]

I'm about halfway done with chapter 26, and I'm still really enjoying it. I'm very curious to see what happens!

(view spoiler)[I'm really curious about Renna's baby! What the heck is it going to be like? I couldn't believe she ate the demon brain, lol! (hide spoiler)]

Hope everything went well with your wife, Rob! They wouldn't let you go back because of Covid? It's so frustrating! I can't wait for this damn virus to be gone! I was telling my daughter the other day that it's going to be so weird to actually go out in public again without a mask on.

[Siobhan]

Shannon I couldn't agree more! So sick of it. I want life to get back to normal :(

[Anni]

I finished it yesterday. Sadly there were to many things I disliked, so I was too annoyed to really enjoy it. But I'm glad you like it more than I did!

[Rob]

Shannon wrote: "I'm about halfway done with chapter 26, and I'm still really enjoying it. I'm very curious to see what happens!

[spoilers removed]

Hope everything went well with your wife, Rob! They wouldn't le..."
Yes, Covid reasons. I had to drop her off and then I was only allowed in to pick her up.

We're trying to figure out what to do in the fall for school. our school district has tentatively planned, pending New York State approval, a scheme where kids pre-k to 6th grade go physically to school in all of the district's buildings while 7th to 12th does some sort of remote learning. My oldest who many in the group are familiar with is on the spectrum and has other medical issues too and trying to get services provided for her (we were in the process of getting exams and evaluations done when covid broke out which has delayed everything) while balancing the need for the kids to socialize (the younger two boys really need it) but then my wife has an immune disorder, so she's high risk. We might end up having to keep them all at home which is hell on our work productivity. On the brighter side our vegetable garden has taken over our deck and our yard. Anyone need a tomato? :)

And I'm in the home stretch, up to page 630 or so. I need to find a shady tree somewhere ....

[Shannon]

Rob wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I'm about halfway done with chapter 26, and I'm still really enjoying it. I'm very curious to see what happens!

[spoilers removed]

Hope everything went well with your wife, Rob! ..."

Wow, Rob!! Yeah, this whole thing is such a frustrating mess. I hope it gets easier for you all! My kids are a bit older so it's not affecting them quite as badly. My youngest is 14, but my other two are 18 and 20. I think this has been the most stressful year for everyone. I'm glad your veggies are growing like crazy though! :)


Sorry you weren't too crazy about the book, Sir Anni! That's always a letdown when you've invested so much time in a series. I hope the next book you pick up is extra amazing to make up for it! :)

[Anni]

Rob wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I'm about halfway done with chapter 26, and I'm still really enjoying it. I'm very curious to see what happens!

[spoilers removed]

Hope everything went well with your wife, Rob! ..."

Rob wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I'm about halfway done with chapter 26, and I'm still really enjoying it. I'm very curious to see what happens!

[spoilers removed]

Hope everything went well with your wife, Rob! ..."

That sounds really exhausting! I thinks is quite interesting how much you are affected by the crisis depending on your country, your job and the general living situation. So far I'm lucky that I'm only mildly affected. Of course there are some new safety rules to follow and I don't go out as much and don't see friends and family as often as I want to, but my jobs are actually a bit more busy (I work at a stem cell collection center and on the weekends in a residential house for the elderly), so it won't get boring. I'm really thankful that no one of my friends or family was infected.

I hope you can enjoy your extra family time, as taxing as it might be sometimes! And I would love some tomatoes! :) Ours aren't ripe yet...

[Anni]

Shannon wrote: "Rob wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I'm about halfway done with chapter 26, and I'm still really enjoying it. I'm very curious to see what happens!

[spoilers removed]

Hope everything went well with your..."

No need to feel bad, I really wanted to like it, maybe that's why I stubbornly continued with the series 😂

And I really enjoy my current other reads so I'm fine :) Maybe that's a problem as well, I'm currently reading Deadhouse Gates (really slow progress, but still reading), plus I reread The Way of Kings. Maybe it's not fait to judge The Core against those two...

[Rob]

Way of Kings and Deadhouse gates are probably among my favorite all-time books. Stick with Erikson Anni! This book is fantastic and heartwrenching!

As far as the US of A, and not to do much of a political digression less I get a reaction from others in this group, but I voted for a certain lady and will be voting for somebody else again this fall (not shocking to anyone really though as a New York-based urban planner who is doing a housing needs assessment for his county). It is a bit embarrassing to be an American lately. I feel like I'm in a constant position of "face-palm". Oh well :) Hopefully, 2021 and 2022 are better years.

[Siobhan]

Rob the rest of the world feels your pain and it's so lovely to hear your point of view! ❤️ I would have voted the same, wish I could help!!

Let's hope 2021 is a better year for all of us.

Glad you're doing well Anni! You must be so busy working two jobs! We need a catch up. :)

[Siobhan]

Shannon wrote: "I'm listening to this one on Scribd as well. Almost done with chapter 19. I find myself getting sucked back into the story pretty easily, and there is so much that I still love about it. I still ge..."

I'm wondering the same at this point, Shannon!

[Siobhan]

I think I'm at chapter 23 (view spoiler)[ Still not a great deal happening. Someone is looking for Aban (is that how to spell his name? Our khafit friend who Hassik is currently torturing). Briar is sneaking around following her I think. Jardir came back to see Inevra, that was nice. Arlen went to say hello and goodbye to his family which was nice too.
Yeah, I'm plodding along! (hide spoiler)]

[Rob]

ch 39(view spoiler)[Jasik controlled by a mind-demon. I am just wondering for how long it has been going on? Hoping since before he killed Ahmann's son as the rest of the level of atrocity is....well demonesque. The visual of what he did to the women serving him could only have been perpetuated through demon-inspirtation one hopes. (hide spoiler)]

[Shannon]

Yes, bring on 2021 and much better things! :)

I'm slowly plodding along too, Siobhan. I'm almost done with chapter 27. I haven't had much time to listen to it lately, but I'll eventually get it done!

I'm embarrassed to say I've never read Erikson or Sanderson!!!! I need to fix that! :) Everyone says the Malazan books are so confusing. Is that true or should I just ignore all that crazy talk?

[Rob]

Shannon wrote: "Yes, bring on 2021 and much better things! :)

I'm slowly plodding along too, Siobhan. I'm almost done with chapter 27. I haven't had much time to listen to it lately, but I'll eventually get it d..."

Malazan isn't confusing so much as the first book just drops you right into the thick of things and you're constantly playing catchup in a world with an established history and characters who aren't "coming into their own" for the most part with few notable exceptions. Erickson can get pretty deep and I think he's actually said he's not interested in spoon-feeding readers, but he also has a great sense of humor, so he knows full well to mix it up. The first book takes about 2/3 to get really into it and start to get into it and IMHO, the second and third books are some of the best of the series. I was thrown at the fourth (new character and his back story) and fifth (essentially a prequel within the scope of the series) books a bit, but upon rereading the series I adore them now too. (It is definitely a series that gets better on the reread and one I can say I'll read again down the road, but it is a bit of an all-consuming effort since they're all tome-like. Took me a year to re-read it. The series stares at me while I watch TV with my wife every night and tries to call me back.

Sanderson is MUCH easier to get into and very good at advancing the plot and planting seeds for things to come later on. Excellent job on characters too. He does a great job of throwing twists your way you don't see coming (so I'd probably recommend diving into him first since its actually doable to churn through in a shorter time period. Also, Sanderson is way different from Brett - very clean, while violent, not bloody or gruesome or grotesque. PG Or PG-13 at most compared to..R to unrated. Erikson is...R-rated, but mostly just because its for adults and not written for kids, not that is explicit or gratuitous like Brett.

Ok time to go back to some extreme violence as I try to finish off this book. I'll probably fall asleep first :)

[Rob]

I stayed up and made myself finish. I'll be curious what you all think. (view spoiler)[I felt like the ending didn't explain everything and left a lot open for more exploring. I'm still interested enough to pick up the new trilogy when it comes out. I thought it was out already, but apparently its not? Not sure I'll read the short story that takes place after this series. (hide spoiler)]

[Shannon]

Rob wrote: "Shannon wrote: "Yes, bring on 2021 and much better things! :)

I'm slowly plodding along too, Siobhan. I'm almost done with chapter 27. I haven't had much time to listen to it lately, but I'll eve..."

Wow, thanks for all the info, Rob! This really makes me want to read them! I'll probably start with Sanderson like you mention. I always see his books pop up on Goodreads, and I've been meaning to try him for years. I'm very curious about the Malazan books too, though! :)

Glad you got it finished! I'm going to finish as soon as I can!

[Anni]

I will definitely continue, I really enjoy Malazan so far. To be honest I was a bit scared as well, but it isn't as confusing as I expected. Yes, it takes a bit to get into and to understand what's going on. But I think Erikson's writing style and his way to describe sceneries and events is amazing.
Still for me it's not a book to read in the evening as an easy entertainment (especially when you're tired and don't want to think too much). You need to be attentive. Maybe it's also due to me not being a native speaker... By now I feel relatively secure reading and listening to english books, but sometimes I still struggle with sayings or certain phrases. And I think Erikson's wording sometimes is more complicated than other authors (not in a bad way). So I'm listening to the english audiobook and re-read the chapters afterwards in my german paperback.
That's why I'm only making slow progress... You know, there are always way more books than time to read them 😂

Oops, I'm rambling... What I wanted to say: don't let the comments stop you! I'm still only at the beginning, but I see why it's such a well-loved series. As for the violence, I think it's quite dark (which I really enjoy right now) and has a lot of gritty and bloody scenes. A few chapters ago a horse crushed down someones face with his teeth... Grewing up with horses and knowing what their jaws could do painted a very vivid picture in my mind 😅


I also second Rob in starting with Sanderson, I think his books are way easier to get into and also amazing! I could write a lengthy text about his books as well, but I really need to go now 😂 I would suggest starting with the Mistborn series with The Final Empire

[Shannon]

Thanks for all the info, Sir Anni! I was wondering where to start with his books! :)

I'm so jealous of your bilingual powers! :)

[Rob]

Yes, definitely start with Mistborn :)

I did Mistborn (both series), Warbreaker somewhere in between, and then Stormlight Archive and Elantris and his collection of short stories in between. I would definitely read Mistborn series and Warbreaker before Stormlight.

[Rob]

oh and Anni -saw this on reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/Malazan/comm...

[Shannon]

Awesome, thanks for all the info! :)

[Anni]

Rob wrote: "oh and Anni -saw this on reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/Malazan/comm..."

Oh wow, that's really ambitious. Learning german (which I guess is ambitious on it's own, as we have a lot of really stupid grammar rules 😂) and choosing Malazan as the first book to read in a foreign tongue.

I also thing that the translation is one of the better ones, but I really hate when names are translated, changed... It makes Buddy Reading extremely difficult and most of the times the names sounds really strange.

[Anni]

Shannon wrote: "I'm so jealous of your bilingual powers! :)"

Awww, thank you! But don't be, my englisch was horrible after I finished school and I only worked on it because it's simply necessary nowadays... Therefore I think it's much easier to learn, I'm still a bit jealous of nativ speakers, because they can just talk without feeling like a fool, I'm always afraid my pronunciation and my grammar is terrible. 😅

[Shannon]

Sir Anni wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I'm so jealous of your bilingual powers! :)"

Awww, thank you! But don't be, my englisch was horrible after I finished school and I only worked on it because it's simply necessary n..."

I bet your pronunciation is wonderful! :)

The funny thing is that Americans tend to really love accents. I can't speak for everyone, of course, but it always seems that way. I think accents sound so pretty, and I always wonder if other countries feel the same way about Americans who try to speak their language. And grammar mistakes? Most people don't care at all about things like that. We're too busy being impressed that you're communicating in a second language, lol! I really wish second languages were pushed more in America. I had to take two years of Spanish in high school, and it was an absolute joke. I barely learned a thing. I studied German for a bit in college, and, man, your language is tough! :) I think it sounds so cool though!

[Shannon]

Rob wrote: "ch 39[spoilers removed]"

I know!!! How did I not see that one coming?

(view spoiler)[I know what you mean! I hope he's been controlled for quite some time. He's a horrible person, and I really hated his character! I was so shocked when it was revealed, but then I was like, well, duh, lol. (hide spoiler)]

[Shannon]

Finally finished!

(view spoiler)[Overall, I really love this series and the world that Brett has created. I loved learning more about the demons in this one and the ending with all the babies. I'm very curious to see what the new book is going to have in it. I didn't want to read about it because I didn't want to accidentally see spoilers. I wish Arlen could've walked out of there with Jardir, Renna, and their son.(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Siobhan]

Shannon wrote: "Finally finished!

[spoilers removed]"

I finally finished too! Phew that was a bit of a slog for me!

(view spoiler)[ I teared up a bit at Arlen's death. So even though the middle of the book was tedious, the end grabbed me and made me feel emotional. I wish he could have walked out with Renna and Jardir too, but that probably would have been quite cheesy considering the threat they faced. Those queens were terrifying!! I felt sick at Brett's descriptions of them! 🤢
I liked the way it ended with all the children together. Leads nicely to the next trilogy! (hide spoiler)]

[Anni]

You made it, well done! :)

[Siobhan]

Sir Anni wrote: "You made it, well done! :)"

Thanks Anni! I'm proud of us all 😁

[Rob]

Well done :)

[Shannon]

So glad you liked it, Siobhan!!

Yay, we all did it!! :)