Fantasy Book Club Series discussion

Almost there! I really wish I had more time to read...

I like how the first chapter is called "The End" and the last chapter "The Beginning."

hey, i didn't notice that! I don't think i ever read chapter titles actually.

I thought that was cool too David

Well what a read. Unbelievable.

I loved that series and very happy this group got me on to the story. Simply the best books I have read since Malazan and the best character development I can think of.

Here is my review

I love how "The End" and "The Beginning" both end the same way with (view spoiler)[ Logen going over the cliff (hide spoiler)]

There's a lot of room for additional stories here. We could have a book on Logen (he's going to be saved by The Bloody Nine right?), then we could have a book on Ferro's adventures, and there's still the couple trapped in the Tower of the Maker right?

I was also particularly impressed with this 'all over again' idea. The part on Logen and the cliff, but actually even more than that: it's a whole part of history that repeats itself again. Bayaz has another nitwit king the people adore, and another advising puppet in the council to make sure his commands become reality. (I forgot the names of the previous nitwit king and advisor though)

For those interested, my original review is here http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I am so excited to get into Best Served Cold now! Be interesting to see who comes back! :)

okay, in all fairness I already read it and know, but it is interesting!

so it's good? i'm still making up my mind whether i would continue with the next book. i often find myself dissapointed when reading a book that is set in the same world, but not with the same characters...

yes, I enjoyed it. As the title implies, it is about revenge, the MC tried to settle a debt, which of course brings up all sorts of questions about what is enough, etc. There are a few characters from the trilogy who appear in it.

I am going to read it. In fact I may even listen to it on Audio.  

I am still stunned how this book ended. With all the torture, maiming and death through the story, the biggest shock for me was the ending with Bayez and Jezal. What a finish. Abercrombie gave us some hints on Bayez's dark side when he would just obliterate people without second thought. Gods I loved that ending.

I'm 15% into the audio version of Best Served Cold and its excellent. The one thing Abercrombie was really good at was communicating pain. Every time Glokta moved or had to get out of bed I groaned with him. But Steven Pacey the narrator, just ups the ante. There's another narrator, Michael Page, who gets mixed reviews for this book, so I can't vouch for him. I think he's the US version.

This book we follow one of our characters,(view spoiler)[Shivers, to Talins after he walks away from killing Logen (hide spoiler)]

lol David-Spoilers dont bother me but we have been being careful about not saying who is in the next book!
This is still Last Argument of Kings after all

i'm being a good girl, i didn't peek into David's spoiler! (so proud of myself).

Sorry, I've shifted the spoiler tag left a fraction.

@ Hanne LOL me neither. But I did go and get the audio book.

The one disappointment I have is that in the first book Logen does that magic where he sucks in the fire when he breaks camp and stores it under his tongue so he can make fire at his next camp. And then he sets that bandit on fire by blowing on him. We never explore or expound on that again in the whole trilogy :,

God-I am really despising Bayaz right now. :|

yeah! Nasty bugger ain't he. Remember at the start when you kinda thought he was Gandalf like ;)

What I like best, in the last scenes with Jazel, you can just picture his utter contempt.

yes not a fan at all! i loved how abercrombie wrote that last piece though. Just in case anyone still thought Bayaz had at least good intentions doing what he does, he throws in the final stab, when Bayaz refuses the hospital.

Brilliant how everyone lines up behind him (Glokta etc) and everything carries on as was before. Not only does this really show off Bayez well, but gives me a greater appreciation at the role he played in book one.
Say one thing about Bayez; he is a brilliant actor.

Now what about this Sulfer dude? He drops in at the end and seems to be a pretty powerful character, I wonder if we will see more of him in future books.

Just finished a few minutes ago.

That was really amazing. Incredibly dark ending to an incredibly dark series. Jezal left thinking his queen has warmed to him because of something he did and not because Glokta is holding her lover hostage with really appalling threats. Logen's exit isn't so much glorious as just plain desperate (love the way it loops back to the beginning of the trilogy). West just...dies. Most of the Northmen die, and Abercrombie is "merciful" in having them at least die in combat. Ferro's wish is granted in a terrible way, and I get the sense that nothing can stop her from exacting the revenge she seeks, but it will ultimately leave her empty while leaving Bayaz with one less enemy.

And Glokta. He always was the hero of this story, wasn't he? And he even gets the girl at the end. Too bad about all the old friends and colleagues he had to horribly destroy to get there, though. *shudder*

And Bayaz... Just wow. Hubris writ large and he doesn't even care. The whole speech about "who is going to judge me for breaking the First Law?" was chilling and terrible and terrifying. Twist ending, folks: the good guys lost in this story. Bayaz makes the tyrannical emperor in Mistborn look like a tin horn dictator by comparison.

I've often said that every fantasy author must either explain why wizards aren't in charge or show that they are, because there's no reason a powerful sorcerer would sit back and let mundane kings make all the decisions. Abercrombie makes it pretty damn clear which way his world works. This whole trilogy - all the battles, all the Eating and enslavement, all the awful things that happen to people who don't really deserve it - is the direct result of a feud between two powerful wizards.

I've been listening to the audio on all of these, and I agree that the narrator makes every oof and argh come to life in a way that would probably just look pretty silly on paper.

It took me a long time, but I finally dragged my way through this book.

I'm not really sure why, but I just didn't get into it. I really don't mind the depressing grittiness. In my review I said we were left without anyone to root for... but really... I'm not sure I cared about anyone, whether they lived or died.

I thought the twists of the location of the Seed and Quai weren't very well integrated with the series. How was the Seed hidden without anyone knowing about it? Why did she need Bayaz to find the Seed for her?

But... Joe comments on his blog that many people were left unsatisfied by the ending. That wasn't my problem. I was never happy with the pacing throughout the book. I don't think it was uneven, just consistently too slow for me. But I kept reading because I wanted to see the ending. But the last book, while it resolved a lot of conflicts, didn't really speed up the pacing. And with that, I lost interest.