Ser Not Appearing

Shane. Come back Shane. Mommy loves you.

That one I missed definitely felt goofy. Full agree and surprised I forgot them.

I've given myself a day to think about it and I think they (for me) stumbled a bit and didn't stick the landing. The show was still really solid overall but I think the final episode continued a trend where the second half of the season wasn't as good as the first half. It felt like it languished a bit and focused on areas I didn't value, necessarily, and some of the character connections I know they wanted me to value (Mariko and Anjin) didn't come through. I don't know. Just kinda sad about it not culminating in a way I felt happy with.

Yeah, I was confused by that. Especially based on something said in the episode.

I'm gonna have to wait on audiobook but I've got a credit on standby.

I've never read the books and I've enjoyed the show but ...

Finally finished (yay, now I can unhife spoilers and see what people were talking about). Way more even and enjoyable than I had feared. Less of a clean ending than I expected.

100%

I rewatched episode 1 with my wife and then we watched episode 2 today. Episode 2 is much better. More genuine laughs for me, though "that didn't work" in episode 1 was pretty funny on the second watch. Very dumb, very low-key.

I love Abercrombie's work but I agree on the audio books. I feel like it's an unnaturally good pairing and makes the books even better. I think Red Country might be my personal favorite. I won't discuss why because of spoilers but I do enjoy more of a pioneer / wild west feel to things. It's just a different lens and feels more unique. Some of my favorite characters also appear in that one and I feel like it subtly sets the stage for a lot of the upheaval in the second trilogy.

This show really breaks my video game emersion when the characters walk through rooms and spaces without taking the time to pick up literally everything and bring it back to base to stash in a single drawer.

I just realized I had followed the song title too closely and messed up my thread title. I've fixed it but I'm now sad.

I would simply say that general disdain is an accurate descriptor for how I've heard it discussed.

^ regarding that thing that got people upset

It very much is. But it's interesting how, for me, it plays slightly differently when I'm in control and finding the humor and choosing the violence vs when it's all being presented to me.

It has either the best or the worst description I've ever seen. Just a bizarre, inherently humorous mashup: "In a magic-riddled Europe under constant threat of elf invasion, the ten year old Pope occasionally needs services that cannot be performed by the righteous. And so, sealed deep beneath the catacombs, cathedrals and relic stalls of the Sacred City lies the secret Chapel of the Holy Expediency. For its highly disposable congregation—including a self-serving magician, a self-satisfied vampire, an oversexed werewolf, and a knight cursed with immortality—there is no mission that cannot be turned into a calamitous bloodbath…"

First episode ... good but I hope it gets better from here.

Didn't work for me on Amazon but worked on Google, thanks! (I love Joe Abercrombie's work)

They weren't allowed until today, I think. IGN's review is glowing. https://x.com/IGN/status/1778049068737925533

I've tried to avoid it but I've failed. I'm going to be absolutely gutted if the new Fallout show releasing tomorrow on Amazon Prime isn't absolutely spectacular. It's quite possibly my favorite game series and I've gotten fully and irretrievably hyped. Anybody seen (no spoilers) some of the early episodes? Anybody have thoughts or predictions before it drops? (I didn't see a thread for the show, feel free to delete or merge if one exists)

I just read Dune Messiah for the first time. I know this book has mixed reviews and my own feelings are somewhat mixed but I was overall happy with it. I do think it's less than the first book but it's not bad by any means. For me, one of the biggest challenges with the book is that it felt to suffer from a bit of the Harry Potter syndrome in that certain things from this book which were introduced for the first time ... should have impacted the first book. That bit of awkward reimagining aside, I thought it was an interesting example of a book that keeps you in the dark of main character motivations and goals as a means of adding suspense. My other big takeaway, and this one is rather troubling, is that I expected to better understand the whole "Paul isn't a hero / Paul is a villain" talk I've seen in many places and ... I kinda still don't get it. Kind of a strange feeling to feel that I'm excusing his behavior when nobody else does but ... I kinda do.

Never read it. And now I never will. Hard pass.

I struggle somewhat with the juxtaposition of random guy interrupting a meeting and how that was so grievous an act as to result in him killing himself and his young child ... and then the end of episode 4.

So, a few things ... 1. I started watching when 3 episodes were released and, at that time, the episodes listing has those three, plus four and five listed as 'to be released' of some sort (I don't recall the actual wording). Based on that, I thought it was a five episode series and was really confused by that length ... which only grew as I watched the first three episodes and was super confused how they'd possibly resolve it by the fifth episode. And then I watched episode four and was legit angry because the resolution could only be absolute trash if it was going to take a single episode. So I googled it to see if others were up in arms and it turns out I'm just a fool. THANK GOD IT'S 10 EPISODES! 2. On the whole, this show has been pretty dang satisfying. I'd say it's (so far) about the best overall quality I've seen in a show since the early seasons of GOT. There aren't very many things that take me out of the moment and I almost never (excusing the boat stuff at the end of episode 3 which seemed a flimsy premise for an obstacle as well as a somewhat unsatisfying resolution for the main group, followed by a jarringly abrupt edit and then a goofy-feeling escape for Blackthorne) feel the director's / writer's hands on the plot-wheel. The artistry and pacing is excellent and the acting seems pretty even. Just a really good show.