The Not a Book Club Club discussion

This is the third 106 pages or so (in my edition).

Please keep all discussion to the events and speculation from the chapter: The First Day to the chapter: The Number of the Dead.

No spoiler tags required.

Please do not discuss events from later chapters/books. Referring back to events from a previous section is fine.

It seems like all of the women in this series are unbearable or dead. Ardee is a sloppy, grouchy drunk. Ferro is an angry murderer, Cathil is dead and now Terez is obnoxious.

I had a feeling the Bloody Nine would be back but I didn't think Tul would go down like that. I liked the Thunderhead.

Glotka is being stretched too think - something is bound to give.

Poor Jezel. Poor Tul.

Not a big fan of Abercrombie's handling of the big battles in this series but maybe everything is a let down after reading Erikson. The battle from the northmen side was ok but the the Union side was a let down.

The women in this series are pretty boring besides Ferro. I feel like I am not as engaged by any of the characters like I was in the previous books.

The Bloody Nine finally showed his true nature with the killing of Tul and Crummucks kid. Guess I didn't pick up on it as much before since it was only ever Ferro with him.

I still like Ferro, but I'm disappointed at how Ardee has developed. I'm not sure if we're meant to pity her, but I don't.

I don't really feel bad for Jezal. I think Terez is good for him. He was starting to get full of himself. She's knocked him down a peg.

I don't get her plan though. Is her father going to betray the Union? She's refused to consummate the marriage. Normally with royal weddings, having a heir as soon as possible is important.

I was OK with him skipping over the Union's part of the fight. Battles are fine and all, but I don't think their part would add much to the story.

The Bloody Nine's come awfully close to killing allies before, we finally see it happen. I didn't put together who the kid was though. It seems like maybe Dow saw him do it.

It's tragic. Logen has no control over the Bloody Nine. He has to live with the consequences. I wonder what will come of it.

Ferro has finally got her wish to fight the Gurkish, or at least part of their army. Even if it's a reluctant part. We see she has just as little mercy as the Bloody Nine at times.

I'm really enjoying this so far, but I think there is a lot more tragedy in store.

Rob I thought the same thing - Jezal's new wife did come in a threatening warship decked out like a party boat, and her two-faced behaviour might be her way of coping with having to do her distasteful royal duty, but I am also wondering if maybe there is a betrayal coming.

Heartbreaking watching the Bloody Nine spin out of control, killing indiscriminately, even children. Horrifying for Logen, horrifying for his friends. It seems he's given up hope now of ever being the better person he wants to be.

Linette wrote: "Heartbreaking watching the Bloody Nine spin out of control, killing indiscriminately, even children. Horrifying for Logen, horrifying for his friends. It seems he's given up hope now of ever being the better person he wants to be. "

Yeah. I don't think is going to be a story of redemption. I mean, you have to be realistic about these things..

Truth, that. Once you've got a task to do, it's better to do it than live with the fear of it.
^^

Say One thing about Logen Ninefingers, say he's not likely to come out of this adventure very happy.

Still alive?

Linette wrote: "Still alive?"

I've run out of catch phrases. You win. :-)

Good because I couldn't think of any more either. ^^

say one thing about Abercrombie, he's very "quote-able"

I also had this feeling that the Bloody Nine might be responsible for a few friendly fire kills, after Logen told the story about attacking his father.
An of course it is tragic, that it had to be Tul, the first friendly face he saw at the reunion. And on top of that in a situation, where Tul just helped him up.

For Glokta, the air is getting thin. Severard can't be trusted anymore as ist seems, Vetari already left. That leaves Frost as his only protection at the moment.
I wonder how Abercrombie will deal with him. I mean, he's going to be part of the Seed plotline, needs to uncover what Sult is doing and also needs to find out, who is behind the bank.

Jezal's parts were amusing, but I hope that he will still be more involved. At the moment it seems, he has served his purpose in becoming king.

And I agree upon the women in Abercrombie's world. The only decent one died in the last book.

Finally catching up. All I'm going to say is that Jezal needs to grow a pair and I was really sad about what happened to Tul. I think you were supposed to feel that death and I definitely did. Tul always seemed to be the most mellow of the group and was very likable. In hindsight, I should have realized Abercrombie was setting him up...