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The First Law Re-Read Volume II - rereads are a dish best served cold


HexMachina

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1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

That was my reading of it.  Also I prefer this explanation, showing what happens to good men when bad choices are made is much more satisfying than some supernatural bullshit.  Also, he clearly holds Monza to blame for his decent, brother fucker.

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

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We know that Shivers had seen the Bloody Nine in action, since he was the Battle of the High Places.  So I just interpret it as Shivers imitating B9 because he knows how scary and effective that is.  Now obviously based on the POV this is happening at a subconscious level, but that still seems more likely than assuming that the Bloody Nine took him over just because he thinks a couple of thoughts that sound like something B9 would say.  All of Shivers POVs come across as more standard battle-induced bloodlust, and that is definitely the simpler explanation. 

I think that Abercrombie made a quite intentional callback to the Bloody Nine with the "great leveler" talk, but highlighting the similarities between battlerage and the Bloody Nine is not the same as saying that everyone who experiences the former is possessed by the B9. 

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Going back to our Cosca discussion... he just described himself as a “mature forty eight” where I am.  According to the timeline in the other thread, that means he was born in about 532 and was about 58 when he died in Red Country.

Guess I thought he was older in RC. :dunno: 

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2 hours ago, Rhom said:

Going back to our Cosca discussion... he just described himself as a “mature forty eight” where I am.  According to the timeline in the other thread, that means he was born in about 532 and was about 58 when he died in Red Country.

Guess I thought he was older in RC. :dunno: 

His liver was about 97. 

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6 hours ago, Rhom said:

Going back to our Cosca discussion... he just described himself as a “mature forty eight” where I am.  According to the timeline in the other thread, that means he was born in about 532 and was about 58 when he died in Red Country.

Guess I thought he was older in RC. :dunno: 

Joe confirmed that according to his timeline, Cosca was 58-59 when he died. Check in the comments.

https://www.joeabercrombie.com/2019/02/28/progress-report-february-19/

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7 hours ago, Kafka's Coat said:

Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread...

Someone sell Abercombie to me. I'm looking to add another fantasy series to my summer reading list. Abercombie's TFL and Aldiss's Halliconia trilogies are currently duking it out. 

Do you like books?  If so... you will like @Joe Abercrombie:lol: 

Seriously though, ten years ago when these books were hitting their first release, there was no hotter up and coming name in fantasy circles.  At the time, what he was doing was new and distinct.  I don't know that I had read anything that subverted the traditional fantasy tropes quite like The First Law.  In the subsequent years, that seems to have become the trendy thing to do.  So if you have read some of the more recent fantasy, it may not hit you quite as hard as it did some of us that were reading them on release.  You could also see the improvement in each successive release in his trilogy coming to a conclusion that sticks the landing better than any other trilogy that I can think of.  Then he released his three "stand alone" novels that are really just three stories independent of each other that continue the story of the world and its overarching conflict.  

In short, pick up The Blade Itself... take it to the checkout counter and get started.

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18 hours ago, Ser Kafka said:

Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread...

Someone sell Abercombie to me. I'm looking to add another fantasy series to my summer reading list. Abercombie's TFL and Aldiss's Halliconia trilogies are currently duking it out. 

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

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