Shattered Sea Trilogy II - Spoilers of "Half a King", "Half a World" & "Half a War"

[unJon]

Looking at a map I am guessing Ystad or Trelleborg for Bail's Point.

[SeanF]

That's why I'm voting for Karlskrona because it is a naval base. Thought there might be an armory or something else modern and fortified there that could be Bails Point (I've never been, so don't know).  What militates against that is rising sea levels which make me think that you could be looking further inland.
 
I don't think it could be a nuclear reactor meltdown because the lights still work in Stockom, which, as I said above, suggests that a different power source used.  More likely to me is that the radiation has, in fact, dispersed, and that they only take the pills (beans) as a lingering cultural memory (and the pills are wholly useless) - and mormont that fits into not really knowing pills.  Alternatively, it's a different kind of bomb and it's still poisoned and the last laugh will be on Yarvi when he gets some kind of aggressive cancer and dies in horrible pain.

Crew members who don't take the pills still get radiation sickness.

[MinDonner]

Maybe it's not radiation sickness, maybe it's something like anthrax or a similar bioweapon. That shit lasts forever.

[jurble]

Eh, anthrax probably wouldn't last centuries, as time goes on, a random portion of the spores will die.  Bacterial spores can last a long time, especially in cold, dry conditions, but they're just motes of dust after centuries, if they were still alive, they'd be buried or literally dust on the ground and have to be kicked up in order to affect someone.

 

Since whatever the apocalyptic event was, it was called the Breaking of God, perhaps it involved the Higgs' Boson?  But any sort of sci-fi weapon involving a Higgs' Boson would be neat gravity manipulation and there was no strange gravity in Strokom.

 

Perhaps it was the victim of a heavy neutron bombardment - so powerful it actually transmuted the city's materials into heavy radiactive isotopes.  Not individually strong enough that a rock or scrap of metal would kill you, but the entire city would effectively a giant, massive chunk of unenriched Uranium.

 

 

But why would anyone ever nuke Stockholm so hard but leave Kiev and Istanbul habitable?  What monstrous crimes did the Swedes commit?

[Jon AS]

What monstrous crimes did the Swedes commit?

 

Clearly you don't follow the Eurovision Song Contest.

[Westerosi Coast Gangster]

Did anyone have doubts that the traitor was Yarvi? Yarvi=Bayaz

[Consigliere]

I was leaning towards Yarvi from the moment a traitor was mentioned but I also thought that Sister Owd was a good candidate as well.

[SeanF]

Did anyone have doubts that the traitor was Yarvi? Yarvi=Bayaz

 

I had doubts, but I was heading towards the view that he was likely to have been the traitor.  Once he gave Skekenhouse over to be sacked, after taking a peaceful surrender on terms, it was clear that he was a piece of work.  His subsequent conversation with Koll only deepened my suspicions.

 

I think that Thorn is the one person in the world he needs to be afraid of, if the truth were to emerge.  Hunnan is no real threat to him.  His mother would, I think , see the pragmatic sense in what he had done, and Yarvi is very much his mother's son.  But, nothing would stand in the way of Thorn's vengeance if she knew.

[red snow]

Damn it I've just hit the off-page death and I'm very upset. Nice work, Abercrombie (rueful shaking of a fist)

[MinDonner]

For a good portion of the book I actually thought the nameless thrall was the traitor.

[mormont]

Nah, the traitor had to be someone who could send messages: they had to be able to read and write, and have access to birds. (Besides, if it was the thrall, she'd have been a spy, rather than a traitor.)

 

I had suspicions about Mother Owd and Koll, actually. Yarvi... I didn't suspect, but wasn't surprised when it turned out to be him.

[jurble]

Did anyone have doubts that the traitor was Yarvi? Yarvi=Bayaz

I do wonder about this comparison. The arrogance at the end Yarvi displays certainly reeks of Bayaz. But whereas Yarvi has his little breakdown when Skara reveals her knowledge, I imagine Bayaz would react differently.

In fact, I imagine a similar scene probably played out between Khalul and Bayaz, maybe Khalul lacked the leverage Skara had, and had no way to convince the other Magi. Or maybe he did and Bayaz tried killing him regardless and proclaimed him a liar.

That's generally how I see Bayaz acting in Skara's position. He wouldn't shoot her on the spot, but he'd arrange her death and then just claim evidence was fabricated or lies - and kill/crush anyone who attempted to say otherwise.

Perhaps that's what Yarvi will do regardless, a few years down the line, when he's more secure in his position as Emperor-Pope.

In fact, maybe Bayaz would cry if he were in as weak/precarious position as Yarvi, but I doubt the tears would be real and maybe Yarvi's weren't either. He'd use all the tools he'd have available, including appearing weak to an enemy (Skara) in order to convince that person of their security. And then have them offed later.


Wait wait wait... Are we sure Yarvi isn't Bayaz? Hmmm....

[mormont]

I think there are certainly parallels, but Yarvi is a better person than Bayaz. Yarvi seems to genuinely care for people: Brand and Koll and the rest. Justin Landon, in his review, says:

 

Where most of his work is about bad people trying to be good and failing, this new series is about good people trying to do bad things and succeeding.

 

I don't necessarily agree with that in every case, but I think it's true of Yarvi and is the fundamental difference between him and Bayaz (who I suppose is a bad person trying to do bad things, and succeeding!)

[Frank Fitzpatrick]

Really enjoyed this, not quite as much as Half A World, but for me that's arguably one of Joe's best books.

I have to say, I doubt many people can claim that Joe's lost his hunger for "grimdark" after reading that, either. I found them to be just as dark, if not more so, than Red Country at the very least.

[SeanF]

I think there are certainly parallels, but Yarvi is a better person than Bayaz. Yarvi seems to genuinely care for people: Brand and Koll and the rest. Justin Landon, in his review, says:
 
I don't necessarily agree with that in every case, but I think it's true of Yarvi and is the fundamental difference between him and Bayaz (who I suppose is a bad person trying to do bad things, and succeeding!)

The thing is, I don't know if the mini-breakdown at the end was just an act. Or maybe Bayaz in his 20s may still have had a conscience, but it's now long-dead, and Yarvi will be the same. I think Yarvi would have Skara killed, if he thought he could get away with it.

[SkynJay]

The thing is, I don't know if the mini-breakdown at the end was just an act. Or maybe Bayaz in his 20s may still have had a conscience, but it's now long-dead, and Yarvi will be the same. I think Yarvi would have Skara killed, if he thought he could get away with it.

I have no doubt he would. But because he genuinely believes he is doing what's best for the land; Bayaz would do it just to one up his competition.

[awesome possum]

I put off reading this for a while because while I enjoy the hell out of Abercrombie's writing, sometimes I can just do without so much gloom.  So I was pleasantly surprised with Half a King for it's relatively happy ending, and even more surprised when I found out the rest of the trilogy was already completed!

 

And then I had to rush here and read what other people were saying and went and spoiled myself on several major plot points like Thorn losing to Gorm, Brand dying, and Yarvi being the traitor.  

 

Even so, I enjoyed the hell out of this series.  So much so that I read Half a War in one day.  

 

I love the whole "Vikings in a post-apocalyptic world" setting.  The climax of a couple old women and a crippled man taking out an army of 10,000 with freaking bazookas and assault rifles made me chuckle.  

 

I think the elf-technology we do see is supposed to be similar to what we have now but more advanced, so we get descriptions of weapons and tech that looks familiar but aren't the same as we have today.  

[Frey Pie]

I put off reading this for a while because while I enjoy the hell out of Abercrombie's writing, sometimes I can just do without so much gloom.  So I was pleasantly surprised with Half a King for it's relatively happy ending, and even more surprised when I found out the rest of the trilogy was already completed!
 
And then I had to rush here and read what other people were saying and went and spoiled myself on several major plot points like Thorn losing to Gorm, Brand dying, and Yarvi being the traitor.  
 
Even so, I enjoyed the hell out of this series.  So much so that I read Half a War in one day.  
 
I love the whole "Vikings in a post-apocalyptic world" setting.  The climax of a couple old women and a crippled man taking out an army of 10,000 with freaking bazookas and assault rifles made me chuckle.  
 
I think the elf-technology we do see is supposed to be similar to what we have now but more advanced, so we get descriptions of weapons and tech that looks familiar but aren't the same as we have today.  

Ya when you think about it that fight could have been hilarious to watch. Scaer reminds me of a cranky grandmother type. Can't imagine her with a machine gun.

Interestingly I kind of thought Gorm was afraid to face Yilling in a duel. Nice to see that Uthil was still a total badass

Have we met Skifrs family?

For some reason I don't believe Yarvi had Brand killed. I feel like we saw real grief from him when the news came out of his death. Why would he kill him? To have Thorns full support in the war? He had that anyway. As Thorn said (paraphrase) she doesn't know what to do in peace

[Rhom]

I fully believe that Brand's death was an unanticipated consequence of Yarvi's actions.

[Mars447]

I fully believe that Brand's death was an unanticipated consequence of Yarvi's actions.

I'm pretty sure that this is the case.  I'd call bullshit if Yarvi intentionally arranged Brand's death in the middle of a raid on an entire city.  There's just too many moving parts there in a city where sacking an isolated estate, farm, or village to specifically kill its inhabitants is much simpler.