Erikson's Reaper's Gale book review

[drza]

SPOILER: trull

I don't have the books with me either, and in fact only read them once, so this is definitely more from my memory and opinion than canon. But I had thought it had been pretty well established that becoming a Mortal Sword leads to a power-up. And out of all the many (hundreds?) people/edur/Imass/etc. present in that clearing, the only ones that gave Icarium any kind of pause were Quick Ben, Trull, and the Eres...two of which we know to be extremely powerful magically, with Trull as the third of which we had just been told within the previous 50 pages that he was now in the Deck of Dragons.

::Shrugs:: In my memory it was a pretty open-and-shut case that Trull had been powered up and standing off against enraged Iccy (unlike Karsa, who knocked out calm Iccy) was a symptom to show that. Until this discussion I had never even conceived that there was a dissenting train of thought or that it was up for debate. After talking with you, though, I'll definitely be paying more attention to it when I finally get to do my re-read before tackling RG.

[DemiNymph]

I'm with Ran, I can't accept the level of Karsa's power. I don't even understand the warren thingy. Also, why the heck does he know how to make a super duper stone sword when he has been using the wooden sword all his life? Why does he do it better than the Imass?

For Paran turning into a hound, well, at least it's explained by him getting some blood onto him, and he set the hound free, so there's some kind of link. Since Karsa killed the dark hounds, it means it puts his lvl of power above Paran. So that's not acceptable! Unless Karsa is an ascendant himself, else I really can't believe this story arc.

For Aspalar, I don't like her having the memories of Dancer's. Ok, it's not an old concept, it's been used in other stories, but in Bonehunters this point was milked too much. It's weird. The physical skills, I can accept as some kind of gift + practise, but the memory part was overdone in TBH.

I think the main problem is that Karsa was introduced as a bully. He is a superior species, he goes around killing "children" who can't defend themselves effectively. It didn't seem that he needed superior fighting skills in the introduction, the perception in HOC was that any Toblakai could just walk into a human town and start killing w/o getting hurt, that is, if there was no mage around. So as the story evolves, and we find out that Karsa is a special Toblakai after all, well, that transition in power level is just not smooth for me as a reader.

[Ran]

Harry,

Yeah, I know that's what we're led to believe, but I'm still hoping there's something alchemical or magical going on to, err, enhance that. Isn't the Seguleh First supposed to be ancient?

[Galactus]

I always assumed that simply beinga "card" in the Deck meant you were given powers.

Eg. Trull is Knight of Shadows (?) and Karsa is Knight of Chains. That gives them power-boosts. (To different degrees depending on what power is supporting them...)

[IheartTesla]

Yeah, I think humans can lvl up through training itself and be better than Ascendants. Rake is only Seventh among the Seguleh, if I recall correctly.

Also there is no reason for Itkovian, for example, to be able to share the grief of bajillions of T'lan Imass after his god left him, but there you go. Humans can do unpredictable things. This anthropocentric bent bugs me somewhat in the books, to be honest.

[Arakasi]

Yeah, I just don't see Karsa's power gain as anything more than just the norm in this series. Compared to Paran, Itkovian, Apsalar, Trull, Gruntle, Heboric etc he just to me fits right in. I think the thing is that he annoys some people quite severely.

[Werthead]

Yeah, I think humans can lvl up through training itself and be better than Ascendants. Rake is only Seventh among the Seguleh, if I recall correctly.

Rake's only Seventh because he stopped of at Seguleh Island on a whim, wandered down the city's main street without realising the etiquette and ended up getting into a massive free-for-all with the entire city. Not wanting to wipe out the populace, he legged it. He'd bested the Seventh just before he escaped. He's probably a lot better than that, it's just he didn't get a chance to fight the Sixth or Fifth or anyone above that.

I must admit this did make me crack up. When he's on form, Erikson does do humour quite well.

[IheartTesla]

The way I read it (dont have the books on hand, but Envy was describing it thusly) was that he had to hide, heart pounding, and take pause to consider the situation. I took that to mean he had a hard time against the Seventh, and would have found it increasingly difficult to deal with better swordsmen. Presumably even the Second and Third are near his equals.

[Arakasi]

Well yeah, but that's because he had just fought a lot of people. Give him some time to rest though and I think he'd be able to move up a few more ranks.

[Quijote Light]

Actually the First works for Hood. He was looking for Skinner and was pissed that he was sidetracked. Anyone recall the Crimson Guard who whooped Tiste ass in GotM? Or have we even seen Skinner yet?

[Arakasi]

Corporal Blues is the one who kicked ass in GotM. He also took out Lorn, well defeated her anyway pretty handily.

[Xanrn]

Yeah Corporal Blues is the one people think is the missing 2nd. Cause he wields 2 Swords, Skinner is the one who held of Dassem Ultor for awhile or rather actually survived.

Basically the 3rd Mok from MoI can't move up, because the 2nd is missing.

I am pretty sure the 1st is not missing, cause he would be the one in charge if not then Mok was in charge.

Also the fact this Seguleh was female was odd, because Mok and his 2 friends in MoI won't challenge the Female T'lan Imass. So maybe two different Rankings for male and female.

I waited 3 books for the return of Onos Tool'an and he barely does anything.

I am now confused at where the storylines for the Bonehunters, Letherii, Tool, Onrack, the Barghast, Grey Helms plan to go wtf did they come all this way for?

Also what was the point in Redmask's whole plot?

[kcf]

Corporal Blues is the one who kicked ass in GotM. He also took out Lorn, well defeated her anyway pretty handily.

According to the latest interview with ICE - Blues will get some good filling out in Return of the Crimson Guard. I'm gettin more and more excited about this one.

[Calibandar]

New review of Reaper's Gale here:

http://www.sffworld.com/brevoff/360.html

[Maltaran]

Actually the First works for Hood. He was looking for Skinner and was pissed that he was sidetracked. Anyone recall the Crimson Guard who whooped Tiste ass in GotM? Or have we even seen Skinner yet?

That was the Second, not the First. He's the Soldier of Death (or was it the Knight? Can't remember.) Anyway, he seems to have a vendetta with Skinner (who IIRC we haven't seen). It was Corporal Blues who killed the Adjunct in GOTM, and Iron Bars was the Avowed we saw in MT.

Anyone else think Skinner might be the First?

[Lord Baelish]

He was the Soldier of Death. Baudin is the Knight (hope we see more of him in Book Eight).

And I don't think Skinner is the First. Whoever the First is must still be on the Seguleh's island, because s/he sent Mok to deal with the Pannion Domin in MoI.

[delete this account pls]

Hoping to pick RG up next week. It really sucks living in Australia sometimes, I went to order it from amazon uk but the price of shipping was more than the book itself, plus it would take about a month to get here.

[Arakasi]

Annoying living in the States too, especially since I'm not the best at resisting spoilers.

[DemiNymph]

I've asked the Borders in my country, they're still indenting this book. What is up with this publisher, they are not helping Erickson to push the book sales!

[Caligula_K]

All right.. I have reached my breaking point. I live in Canada, and I'm going on a trip may 30th which will involve 12 hour plane rides. I've never ordered from amazon.co.uk before, so if I order by credit card, can I expect to get the book by the 30th?