Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn/The Heart of what was Lost/The Last King of Osten Ard

[kuenjato]

so what's the word on this? An improvement on the first, or about the same?

[ylvs]

On 5/10/2019 at 6:33 PM, Lord Varys said:

Yes,

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Pasevalles is Akhenabi's pet, and he has basically no clue what Utuk'ku wants to do - just as most of the Norns themselves ;-).

The idea that she lost her mind or Akhenabi or other are doing things she doesn't want to do also seems to be dead, in my opinion. She just doesn't allow anyone to get the full picture to prevent anyone from figuring out that she wants to kill them all along with humanity. Because that was her plan the entire time - if she has to die eventually everybody else will go with her. And that's why she is going to bring 'Unbeing' to Osten Ard.

 

I agree.

[Ded As Ned]

I want to clickety click those spoilers, but I'm only a couple chapters in.  

[SeanF]

On 16 May 2019 at 10:11 PM, kuenjato said:

so what's the word on this? An improvement on the first, or about the same?

An improvement.  Pretty good, in fact.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

2 hours ago, SeanF said:

An improvement.  Pretty good, in fact.

We are definitely beyond the “introduction” phase that can take a while in William’s books.

[Ded As Ned]

I'm still only about 10% in... haven't had much reading time lately but next week I'm going on vacation and plan to devour it.  Liking what I've read so far. I def find Pasevalles to be the character I want to read about more.  (Edit: not sure what's going on with the formatting here)

[Lion of the West]

Damn, I almost missed this. But now I've ordered the book.

[Argonath Diver]

Argh, I said I'd wait to read the first til this one was near release, and suddenly I've a backlog of other stuff I can't find time to finish. The perils of nice weather season, my bookreading goes to shit. 

Glad to hear the vague positive vibes so far. I didnt mind the glacial pace of the buildups to his series. Just love the prose and his characters, while arguably often fitting into some standard archetypes, generally get a satisfying emotional reaction out of me. The finale of the original series may have been a bit saccharine, but screw it, I remember my jaw quivering like I had frostbite when Rachel got to see Simon back. I read my Abercrombie and Lawrence and brutal murderin' antiheroes, but I'm still an old softie underneath. 

Hope to get to it this summer; I imagine I'll have to tread carefully in this thread once more readers finish this new one.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

12 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

Argh, I said I'd wait to read the first til this one was near release, and suddenly I've a backlog of other stuff I can't find time to finish. The perils of nice weather season, my bookreading goes to shit. 

Glad to hear the vague positive vibes so far. I didnt mind the glacial pace of the buildups to his series. Just love the prose and his characters, while arguably often fitting into some standard archetypes, generally get a satisfying emotional reaction out of me. The finale of the original series may have been a bit saccharine, but screw it, I remember my jaw quivering like I had frostbite when Rachel got to see Simon back. I read my Abercrombie and Lawrence and brutal murderin' antiheroes, but I'm still an old softie underneath. 

Hope to get to it this summer; I imagine I'll have to tread carefully in this thread once more readers finish this new one.

As to the saccharine nature of the end of the original series I will only say that while I’m 3/4 of the way through this book

I have read the last two pages.

 

[SeanF]

16 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

As to the saccharine nature of the end of the original series I will only say that while I’m 3/4 of the way through this book

 

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I have read the last two pages.

 

 

Williams doesn't give us wall to wall brutality, but bad things do happen to decent people.

[Ded As Ned]

I'm about 250 pages in now.  Thoroughly enjoying this book and I think this is some of Williams' best work.  I have lots of questions I want to discuss,  but a fear of spoilers leaves me to rafo

[JGP]

I'm about [checks] ...65% in and I'm not really feeling it yet. 

[Lord Patrek]

5 hours ago, JEORDHl said:

I'm about [checks] ...65% in and I'm not really feeling it yet. 

Felt that way throughout TWC, so I'm afraid to start this second volume. . .

[Argonath Diver]

I feel like plenty of posters here and RL pals outside all said the Dragonbone Chair started out dreadfully slow and all that, but I absolutely loved that series. I haven't touched the Witchwood Crown yet. Are you guys saying you aren't feeling it, whereas you were definitely feeling the original trilogy by this point? Or perhaps its on the same very slow burn from that series? 

I enjoyed the original series (and Otherland) enough that I'll absolutely fall into these new books. I'll be a bit sad if the response through two full releases is generally tepid, but I think even then I'll still hope for the best. I hope Williams' patient prose is enough to keep me satisfied, even if these books are lackluster. 

[JGP]

I can't really process until I'm done [no question I'll finish, I loved the first trilogy] but maybe it's bearing the brunt of some nostalgic expectations? Not sure.  

[SeanF]

3 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

I feel like plenty of posters here and RL pals outside all said the Dragonbone Chair started out dreadfully slow and all that, but I absolutely loved that series. I haven't touched the Witchwood Crown yet. Are you guys saying you aren't feeling it, whereas you were definitely feeling the original trilogy by this point? Or perhaps its on the same very slow burn from that series? 

I enjoyed the original series (and Otherland) enough that I'll absolutely fall into these new books. I'll be a bit sad if the response through two full releases is generally tepid, but I think even then I'll still hope for the best. I hope Williams' patient prose is enough to keep me satisfied, even if these books are lackluster. 

I'm quite happy with both books.  Reading A Brightness Long Ago straight after Empire of Grass shows that Kay is in a different league, but that doesn't make the latter a mediocre book, by any means.

[Ded As Ned]

Opinions will differ... I didn't really enjoy TWC as much but it was because the story was not what I expected... although it was what I expected from Williams as a volume to set the table,  and my issues with the Hikedaya culture which I've gotten used to over time.  I'm really enjoying the 2nd book as I've stated above,  Others feel differently of course. 

When I first read MST as a teenager,  when it was first released,  I thought it was the best thing since LotR... on a reread 25 years later... I find it decent and enjoyable,  but not the upper echelons of modern fantasy... yet Williams was one who paved the way for so many other great writers in the decades since, and for that I think it's an important series.  If anyone likes MST, I think it unlikely you'd regret reading these. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

20 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

I feel like plenty of posters here and RL pals outside all said the Dragonbone Chair started out dreadfully slow and all that, but I absolutely loved that series. I haven't touched the Witchwood Crown yet. Are you guys saying you aren't feeling it, whereas you were definitely feeling the original trilogy by this point? Or perhaps its on the same very slow burn from that series? 

I enjoyed the original series (and Otherland) enough that I'll absolutely fall into these new books. I'll be a bit sad if the response through two full releases is generally tepid, but I think even then I'll still hope for the best. I hope Williams' patient prose is enough to keep me satisfied, even if these books are lackluster. 

This one is really good.  Well past the intro that The Witchwood Crown is...

[Darth Richard II]

Well I just finished my reread of To Green Angel Tower and I still love the ever living fuck out of MST. 

[kuenjato]

Picked both this and Witchwood Crown up from the library this afternoon. I really should be focusing my free time on developing my teaching curriculum for next year, but... sometimes one needs a break. I'll give some overall impressions, how the books work (or don't), and comparisons to the original series when I'm done.