Yohn

There are hints that something odd is going in TBI when Glokta visits the University the first time and is later warned off investigating the cause of death of the partially eaten human remains by superior Goyle.

Guess I'll just have to buy the books....

Wasn't expecting to see Shivers or Brint again. Wonder if Shivers' character has developed at all?

Our heroes have just arrived in Crease in Red Country, and Shy sees a couple of the Fellowship speaking with Zacharus. What's he up to in the Far Country then?

I'd agree they all do terrible things, but that doesn't necessarily make them terrible people, but certainly not admirable either. I'd argue that the only truly terrible people in the series are Bayaz and Khalul. Anything the other characters have done pales into insignificance when put beside those two.

I see what you did there...

Grim, dark humour.....

Excellent characters, morally very ambiguous, lots of political intrigue, epic battle scenes. What's not to like?

Not sure. Shivers doesn't experience any of the physical symptoms that Ninefingers does when the Bloody-Nine manifests.

He is good, but he'll forever be Dr Bashir for me....

Had a lot of sympathy for old Cosca in BSC. It disappeared in RC though.

Might be worth a punt that....

Was thinking the same....

Latest progress report on the new trilogy : April comes, the buds open, my garden is filled with green, etc. etc. Had a lot of bits and pieces going on over this most recent period – spent most of march working on an unrelated project, plus we had easter holidays, and I’m going through a major upgrade and redesign of the website (which is looking great and will hopefully be installed in the next couple of months). Then I was asked to write an introduction for the Folio Society’s new ultra-nice hardcover edition of A Game of Thrones, which I was very pleased to do, as (probably to no one’s surprise) it was a hugely important and influential book for me. It fairly blew my mind when I first read it back in the 90s: it showed you could do something character-focused, gritty and shocking while still staying very much within the sandbox of epic fantasy. I might never have started writing seriously without it – certainly what I wrote wouldn’t have been the same. The upshot of all this is that there haven’t been huge strides forward with the new trilogy, which we’re now calling The Age of Madness. But work has continued, nonetheless. Mostly on re-writing the last quarter of the last book, which needed some re-thinking, a couple of new scenes and one big new chapter. Plenty of work still to do to smooth it all off but hopefully the basic shape is there now – it brings the main characters back together in a more satisfying way than the original draft, mirrors the end of the first book and gives more space to take stock of how they and their relationships have changed. The UK cover for A Little Hatred is now done, and the US cover is definitely getting there, hopefully to be revealed in the next month or two. I also wrote a little short story to go in the Waterstones hardcover edition of the book as an exclusive. Nothing at all essential but hopefully a pleasing confection for those that get it, and that kind of thing definitely does help retailers to give a book a push. And then I read the page proofs of A Little Hatred over the last few days. It’s always interesting seeing a book properly typeset – it gives it a new level of polish and authority. It’s also, at least for me, the first time I just read a book of mine through in order without being constantly distracted by what needs to be changed or tweaked or rewritten. I find one’s feelings about a book don’t really crystallise until some time after it’s come out, and you have the chance to process all the many different things readers have to say, but I think I’m about as pleased with it as I’ve ever been with a book at this point. Time will tell whether that continues… With the first book fresh in my mind it’s now time to look back at the second – which I think is now in pretty good shape but could certainly do with another go over in a couple of areas. Then I’d like to go straight onto the third and really crunch through to make a strong 2nd draft. Thereafter I can hopefully work on books 2 and 3 together as a unit, looking at the details of character, setting and language. That kind of work is something I can pick up and put down a bit more easily, which is just as well as by that point we’ll probably be getting close to the release of A Little Hatred in September, and there’ll be all kinds of other demands on my time…

She's ruthlessly ambitious, which is not particularly attractive IMHO.

"It ain't ever as simple, is it, as a man is just good or bad? Not even you. Not even Bethod. Not anybody." - Caul Shivers to Logen, LOAK, The Fourth Day.

Ardee doesn't seem the 'marrying off' kind to me.

Does that explain why Bayaz is so old? What about Cawneil, Yulwei and the other Magi? Are they all eaters or is it something else in their case?

When Glokta takes the remains of a body (Quai's?) to one of the Adepti at the University, it's pointed out that the injuries on the body look like human bite marks. It's only Superior Goyle who insists that it was the work of dogs.

Joe's latest progress update on the new trilogy Two months into the new year already and the new trilogy is rapidly coming together… A Little Hatred is now copy-edited, so finished apart from the final proof-read, and some advance copies are already in the hands of authors, reviewers and other lucky persons, including translators in a few languages. The book will be out in September in US and UK in hardcover, ebook and audiobook. Meanwhile, a second draft of the second book in the trilogy, The Trouble With Peace, has now gone off to editors on both sides of the pond. There was a fair bit of work to do to that book. I really smashed through the first draft as fast as I possibly could, which was the right thing to do, I think, but meant that a few events, plot lines, character movements were a bit skeletal, and needed some fleshing out. Every point of view needed at least one significant extra scene, plus a couple of major new chapters, which meant the whole thing got some 25,000 words longer in this round of revision – very unusual for me, usually I cut some, add some, and end up around the same. Still, it was the book that needed the most serious work, and I’m a lot happier with it now. Then I read through the third book, The Beautiful Machine, just to get a sense of where it’s at and how much work might need doing. Generally when I’m writing a book my first draft gets a lot better towards the end as I work out where I’m going. So it proved with this trilogy as a whole. By the time I was writing those final parts I knew the characters and where they were headed, so most of this final book’s already looking pretty good. The usual work of tidying, refining, and replacing the bland with the specific and the detailed in all kinds of ways but I think it’s only the last quarter of it that needs major work. I slightly mismanaged a plot line at the end, so a character had to move about a lot after the main climax – all a bit lumpy. I’ve now worked out a more elegant way of doing it, I think, which has the added advantage of bringing all the central characters back together right at the end so we can take stock of how they and their relationships have changed. More effective and climactic in all kinds of ways, I hope… I’d forgotten how much work is involved in putting a book out there. Briefing art and interviews and videos for the sales conference and etc. Not that I resent it – it’d be crazy to put years of work into writing something but not the extra few days into giving it the best chance to succeed – and I’m actually really enjoying the thought of getting a new novel out there after a fair hiatus. But you forget how time-consuming it can be. Plus I’ve got a couple of little side projects that need some attention. Which means progress on the trilogy may be a little fitful over the next couple of months. But then we’re very much in the home stretch, I hope. Looking back at the blog it was September 2015 when I first started giving this series serious thought, so we’re coming to the end of a long old road… Next thing will be a second draft of the last book, with a particular eye on sorting out that final section. Then I guess send it to editors so we can consider all three as a series, make any necessary changes to books 2 and 3 together. Then it’s 3rd draft of those two, trying to get more richness and detail into character, setting and language, which’ll take a while. Still, my guess is that by the time A Little Hatred comes out in September, the whole trilogy will be very close to complete. Better start thinking about what I’m doing next, I guess…

UK

Body found floating in the docks, bloated beyond recognition?

Well, wasn't Bayaz developing canons in The Heroes? These developments have no doubt moved on and you'd expect the Gurkish to have made their own progress. Maybe any resolution of their conflict will be more 'industrial' than 'magical'.

Thanks - thought that was it.

After Yulwei delivers Ferro to Bayaz, they are discussing their strategy to combat Khalul and his eaters and Yulwei mentions that there is something far worse than eaters. He says something along the lines 'the Tellers of Secrets are always listening...' Anyone know what, or who, Yulwei is referring to?