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The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie [SPOILER THREAD]

Corvinus85

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Corvinus85 Council Member

Corvinus85

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On 11/14/2020 at 8:08 PM, Zorral said:

Sort of.  kinda a mash-up made out of at least 2 centuries of popular genre adventure fiction of this supposed sort.  That's a big problem in this volume, as far as I'm concerned.  The cultural blahblahblah doesn't convince.

Dislike the 'Gurkish' thing because so ill-disguised "Turkish" without being actually, you know, Turkish.  Even more a genre fantasy adventure depiction of ' Mongols.

I never thought the Gurkish to be similar to the Turkish, more like Persians and Arabs. Now the Suljuk on the other hand... Joe only occasionally mentions them, they are famous for their silks, and have narrow eyes, so that says Turkic tribes.

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Zorral Council Member

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The Seljuks are a Turco group, i.e. one of very many Turkic peoples, out of the Oghuz Turks -- as were, who became, ultimately, the Ottomans.

From language etc. mashups, the Northerners are fairly Gothic - Germanic, it seems to me, not Norse.  But then, the Goths weren't technically Germans either, and the Germans and Goths were not Norse, though they did have much in common.

 

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Consigliere Council Member

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2 hours ago, Mark Antony said:

Ferrro 

Seconded.

 

Although, I doubt Abercrombie will be doing a prequel trilogy. If he continues writing in TFL world then I expect he will follow the same formula i.e. standalone sequels and a collection of short stories (perhaps some highlights of what Ferro was up to could be covered in a few short stories).

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BigFatCoward Council Member

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On 11/19/2020 at 10:01 AM, SaltyGnosis said:

If Abercrombie did like a prequel trilogy or something after this, which would you guys rather see: Young Bayaz, Logen and Bethod, or whatever Ferro's been up to since the first trilogy?

I'd rather it went back to the very start. Euz, Juvens, Kanedias, Bedesh, Glustrod. Up to the fall out between Bayaz and Khalul. A bit 'silmarillion' like.  But better, I fucking hate the silmarillion. 

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polishgenius Council Member

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Just finished it, finally. Very good. Maybe his best one yet? Definitely his best not-standalone, for me.

A broad comment on some of the comments here- I think some  of the nitpicks people have had with it rise from I feel perhaps unfairly expecting a realism from Abercrombie he's never really pretended to? Like the comments about the revolution coming together too fast, and things of that nature. For all his grit and his realistically complicated characters, Abercrombie has always leaned a bit theatrical, his stories having no fourth wall breaking or anything close but always a tiny bit of self-awareness in the story structure and telling itself that this is a fiction. Maybe I'm alone, but I feel like from that angle expecting detailed and realistic explanations for how logistics come together or why exactly those guys fell into this plan is a little unfair.

 

 

On 11/15/2020 at 12:40 AM, karaddin said:

I hope this isn't the case, it felt to me like it was making amends for how she was treated in the first trilogy. He's accepted feedback on this forum about that not being great in the past (Joe's good grace when taking on board negative feedback on this sort of thing is probably the best I've ever seen and one of the reasons I love him).


I read the original comment at the start and immediately thought the exact same. It felt like Abercrombie's apology for the self-acknowledged bad treatment and writing of Terez in the OT and I hope it sticks.


On Savine- I don't actually think she expected to have to kill Orso and her dad, I think she was so arrogant and detached from reality by that stage that she thought she could prevent  it- either that or she was simply deliberately avoiding the question in her head, which is what it felt like from her PoV. That doesn't make her any more forgiveable, but I don't think she was actually out to murder Orso.


On Logen: I seriously doubt he'll be back, but it's not impossible I suppose - I could see him meeting Broad, who in some ways parallels or mirrors him. But ultimately I think his ending in Red Country was less about getting him back into play for later use and more about the 'lonesome cowboy' trope to fit the Western that that story was. In that line, he could cameo saving a village somewhere or something.


On Northmen as Scots/Vikings: I'm pretty sure that they're a melding of both and of barbarian tropes in fantasy in general, rather than meant to lean into anything specific.

On the parentage of Savine's child: I know we already ruled it out anyway via timeline, but (though I can't check) I swear I remember Savine and Orso making sure he didn't, you know, get off inside her anyway. In any case there's speculation about if the kid will be in some way affected by the alcohol and drugs and late ride and that seems likely but also consider Rikke's 'this will change the world' line when feeling the bump. Maybe there's gonna be a 'born braindead and possessed by something' thread going on - but that'd be unlikely to come to fruition in the next book.

My other thought reading this thread is I really need to do a full series reread because I missed so many details and clues. Shame my books are in England and I am for the foreseeable future not.

 

 

 

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Maithanet Council Member

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So did the events of this book change anyone's opinions of the Jezal scene?  After ALH, lots of people (myself included) thought that Jezal was murdered by Bayaz/Sulfur, even if it wasn't entirely clear for what purpose yet. 

But I feel like TTWP actually made it feel more plausible that it was just a random thing that happened.  It still feels a little hard to believe that the King, by all accounts in relatively good health, would die unexpectedly in the night in his mid-50s.  But then, it does happen.

If it was Bayaz, why would he do that?  Jezal was acting as he was expected to.  The rebellion against Orso would not have occurred if Jezal was still king, and that rebellion is definitely weakening Bayaz and V&B.  I just can't really make it add up. 

Likewise the other possible suspects (Sulfur acting independently, Khalul, the Burners), make even less sense than they did after ALH.

So it is looking like the big whodunnit of book 1 was just "natural causes".  Joe definitely isn't above that sort of misdirection or anti-reveal, but nonetheless, it's surprising. 

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