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The Unholy Consult SPOILER thread

kuenjato

By kuenjato,
in Literature

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Kalbear Council Member

Kalbear

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6 hours ago, LuckyCharms said:

Do Eskeles or Zsoronga do anything of significance, or interact with other POV characters?

Eskeles: not a ton, no.

Zsoronga is a bit more relevant. 

40 minutes ago, PapushiSun said:

Is it a satisfactory explanation?

The one that I have decided to accept is I think pretty neat. The one that I haven't accepted I don't think is quite as cool. Both I think are reasonable explanations that fit well with what we've seen in prior books as well as future events. It doesn't feel particularly forced. 

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Kalbear

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10 hours ago, PapushiSun said:

Does Shaeonanra turn up? What about Aurax and Mekeritrig?

Spoiler

Yes. 

 

24 minutes ago, Hello World said:

So I think I know what the ending is just by reading the TSA thread. I was hoping that Achamian becomes the No-God, but I guess this one makes more sense. :dunno:

Which thread? I've been looking at the giveaways and the predictions have largely been wrong. 

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Kalbear Council Member

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5 hours ago, kuenjato said:

Wondering if there's any chance of an excerpt... by this point last year, we'd been given the prologue and two chapters.

If it's the one that was talked about - one of the early Mimara/Akka parts - it's not really worth waiting for. It's certainly nothing like the Sauglish dream or the first part of the Ishual chapter (and definitely not like the second part of it). 

Honestly, I'd do the very first chapter. It finishes one of the stupid cliffhangers from TGO, reveals a couple fun bits, and has some good dialog. The second chapter is also pretty good in that way, though it's oddly vague about things, but at least it's something.

And then you have to go, like, 7 more chapters to get something really good.

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kuenjato Council Member

kuenjato

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3 hours ago, Kalbear said:

If it's the one that was talked about - one of the early Mimara/Akka parts - it's not really worth waiting for. It's certainly nothing like the Sauglish dream or the first part of the Ishual chapter (and definitely not like the second part of it). 

Honestly, I'd do the very first chapter. It finishes one of the stupid cliffhangers from TGO, reveals a couple fun bits, and has some good dialog. The second chapter is also pretty good in that way, though it's oddly vague about things, but at least it's something.

And then you have to go, like, 7 more chapters to get something really good.

Question: Do you feel that TAE was successful in its approach, given the parameters set by TJE? Would you re-read the series again, now aware of the climax/conclusion?

TBH, after my re-read this year, I don't think I'll ever read through the whole thing again from beginning to end. Skip around, browse certain sections, yes... but it feels like too much of a slog, overall.

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PapushiSun Sellsword

PapushiSun

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40 minutes ago, kuenjato said:

TBH, after my re-read this year, I don't think I'll ever read through the whole thing again from beginning to end. Skip around, browse certain sections, yes... but it feels like too much of a slog, overall.

Yes the Prince of Nothing is better written and better planned out. The Aspect Emperor is far more shoddy.

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Kalbear

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7 hours ago, kuenjato said:

Question: Do you feel that TAE was successful in its approach, given the parameters set by TJE? Would you re-read the series again, now aware of the climax/conclusion?

I think that TAE was successful given the parameters set by TTT. As a friend pointed out to me who has also read TUC, if we simply hadn't read TJE and WLW and TGO, chances are pretty good we'd guess entirely what TUC would be about and how it would work, who the principle opponents would be and what even the end conversation would be like. 

In that way it works pretty well, but it makes the rest of TAE kind of wasting time so that you can get to that moment. Really, you could write the entire TAE in one book and probably be okay. This is in contrast to PoN, where all the character's point of views are hugely important to the overall story, the themes, the conflicts and the system.

I could imagine tightening up TDTCB to make it a bit more interesting earlier, but I can't imagine dropping Cnaiur's arc, or Akka/Inrau/Esme, or Conphas from the storyline. That isn't at all the case with TAE. 

I wouldn't reread the series unless there was a very large sign from the next series that many of the plot and theme elements were to be addressed, and at this point I just don't see how that's particularly likely. But again, I'm less interested in rereading really cool battle sequences and training montages; others think those things are the best thing ever, and Bakker does them really well. 

7 hours ago, kuenjato said:

TBH, after my re-read this year, I don't think I'll ever read through the whole thing again from beginning to end. Skip around, browse certain sections, yes... but it feels like too much of a slog, overall.

I'm rereading LotR, and the starting part with Fellowship of the Ring and Tom Bombadil is dragging for me precisely like a lot of TAE does. In that I totally agree with @Werthead's review, in that Bakker shares with Tolkien a love of setting things up in a very base way before going into the real spectacle of the thing.

7 hours ago, PapushiSun said:

Yes the Prince of Nothing is better written and better planned out. The Aspect Emperor is far more shoddy.

That was my conclusion as well - notably, it was far better planned out, and feels significantly better edited and trimmed. PoN, other than the early parts of TDTCB, is really lean and sharp. TAE is much flabbier. 

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Damelon Sellsword

Damelon

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6 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said:

I'm losing the war to buy this book. Anyone want to go dutch with me? I need one night with it, and then happy to ship on. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Unholy-Consult-R-Scott-Bakker-ARC-Proof-Advance-Aspect-Emperor-Book-Four-/192198515221?hash=item2cbfec9a15:g:-M4AAOSwcgNZKLgC&autorefresh=true

Hang on for wat, 5 weeks... no impatience on the Slog!

 

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