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Best Served Cold SPOILER THREAD


Werthead

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I got mine with 10% off because of superficial damage.

me 1 credit crunch 0.

the paragraph where friendly was pouring the stew was brialliant. can't remember the last time i laughed that hard at a book. had to call my girlfriend to read it to her.

loads of things i didn't like about it though. but then it was so entertaining i forgave the faults.

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I read it. Found it a chore to get through. I don't know really. I liked his first trilogy but this was Meh. 3/5 and a plot that could have been wrapped up in 300 pages rather than 539.

That being said. I could picture almost everything in my head, which is a sign of good descriptive writing.

Anyone else have similer thoughts?

Anyone else think Shenkt was Logan?

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I finished it late last night, and you can add me to the list of drooling fanboys. Abercrombie is really muscling his way to the top of the list as far as favourite fantasy authors are concerned. It takes the bleakest themes from the First Law, and shits on them, them chops them up a bit, then molests the corpse. But, there are a few odd moments of hope as well, I thought. I fully expected Cosca to die, and was surprised he didn't. And I felt like Monza's story held the possibility of hope for the future. Shivers story arc was almost painful though. Seems like Joe took one of the few good optimistic moments from the First Law - Shivers rejecting the path of violence and vengeance - and totally destroyed it. I enjoyed the ride though, I thought it was interesting to see how a psycho monster is made.

I was surprised at the number of cameos. I knew Shivers and Cosca were going to be in it, and I expected Vitari would pop up, but Carlot dan Eider I didn't expect, nor did I think Jezal would show up. And Yoru Sulfur of course, popping up all over the place. Anyone else catch the reference to Ferro? Ishri, the Ghurkish emissarry to Duke Rogront, says she must return home because a "woman seeking vengeance" just killed her brother.

Favourite character changed throughout the book. Shivers, Friendly, Cosca, Monza. In the end I think Cosca takes the prize, because I have a soft spot for unreliable drunkards.

Funniest/most bizarre moment? I never thought I'd read about a handsome Grand Duke asking for a golden shower :wideeyed:

Timeline stuff - I'm guessing Best Served Cold takes place around 3-4 years after LAoK? That's roughly what I figured, since it mentions the Union is at war in the North again, and Jezal and Terez are expecting their third child. Glokta is well established as the power in the Union, and it seems like he barely bothers to hide it. Likewise, Black Dow is said to rule half the North, and the other half are "feared of him". No mention of Logen's fate either way, but I prefer to leave that unresolved. I was surprised there was no mention of the Dogman though. Now that the Union and the North are at war again, I wonder what he's up too?

On the incest thing - the cloest thing to confirmation we get from Monza herself is when she's thinking about Ganmark and his sexual proclivities, and how Orso doesn't care about such things in his servants, as she and her brother prove. I think it's possible they weren't actually incestuous though, and rather just preferred to sleep in the same bed sometimes, like they used to as children just after their father died. That starts the whole incest misconception, Benna chooses to feed it because he's a total dick, and Monza doesn't care to correct it since she doesn't like to explain herself at the best of times. I don't really know if I buy that, but it's possible.

Shenkt - I haven't reread the First Law yet so I'm a little hazy on the mythology - are we meant to know who he is? A former apprentice of Bayaz obviously, I got that much (and it was a nice twist too, setting the reader up to think Shenkt is a rogue Eater), but did we hear about him at all in the First Law? His connection to Vitari is interesting. It makes me wonder if Vitari was in the Union in the first place on his business, keeping an eye on Bayaz and his machinations. It seems too much of a coincidence that a minor but important character from the First Law just happens to have a relationship with an enemy of Bayaz.

All in all I thought it was fantastic. I love that it's a stand-alone, but still ties heavily into the last trilogy, and whatever comes next. We get a continuation of the endless war between Bayaz and Khalul, but we also get the introduction of a third faction. And since the next book is set in the North, IIRC, I wonder if we won't see Shivers again?

Edit: the reason I thought it was bleaker in ways than the First Law, was the whole tragedy aspect of it. All these betrayals and vengeance, massacre and war, continually prompted by basic misunderstandings and paranoia. Essentially every act of violence in the book was precipitated by Benna's actions, and as we found out, Benna was a total prat. Literally thousands of people were killed in order to avenge Benna, and the guy was a slimy piece of shit.

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Having thought it over more, it's especially nice (in a horrible way) to see Shivers' transformation because by the end he's practically channelling the bloody nine at points, which brings up an interesting character arc parallel with Shivers and Logen.

I think I mentioned it but I did notice the Ferro mention ;) And what is Shenkt if not a rogue eater? I mean it seems that he was originally Bayaz' eater and not Khalul's but that's hardly the point really?

-Poobs

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Having thought it over more, it's especially nice (in a horrible way) to see Shivers' transformation because by the end he's practically channelling the bloody nine at points, which brings up an interesting character arc parallel with Shivers and Logen.

I think I mentioned it but I did notice the Ferro mention ;) And what is Shenkt if not a rogue eater? I mean it seems that he was originally Bayaz' eater and not Khalul's but that's hardly the point really?

-Poobs

Yeah, there's not much difference, I just meant the way his character is setup, you just kind of assume he was once one of Khalul's disciples. Even his name sounds vaguely Ghurkish. I never expected the reveal that he was actually a former comrade to Sulfur, and apprentice to Bayaz.

ETA; He also talks about God in his first appearance, another typical trait of the Ghurkish.

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I read it. Found it a chore to get through. I don't know really. I liked his first trilogy but this was Meh. 3/5 and a plot that could have been wrapped up in 300 pages rather than 539.

Anyone else have similer thoughts?

Joe is the Jilly Cooper of fantasy - the complete opposite of being a chore to read.
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I really want to see his reaction to being compared to Jilly Cooper - I'd imagine it'll be funny. You do have a point though. They both are easy to read.

I liked it a lot, though I guess I could have done without quite so many mass brawls / fights. I tend to skim those.

I loved the nods to the First Law. I also thought Shenkt was a renegade Gurkish eater. I'm now going to have to reread tFL looking carefully at Vitari, and also Bayaz's reaction to Eaters. For some reason, I thought he wasn't a fan, though given how much of a b*stard he was, I really should have realised that he simply doesn't have any scruples, whatsoever.

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I really want to see his reaction to being compared to Jilly Cooper - I'd imagine it'll be funny. You do have a point though. They both are easy to read.
He seemed to take it pretty well last night. He didn't burst into tears or stab me anyway.
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I finished this last night and it was pretty damn good. Had many of the same reactions others have already mentioned. I would agree that BSC had a bit of a happier ending than LAoK. All the cities are back to squabbling again but they've been doing that for years and there isn't any destruction quite on the scale of Adua. The characters were great; Monza and Cosa were awesome and Shivers' descent was bloody depressing.

I was surprised by all the cameos and also how much background got tied into the story. It was rather interesting how Monza's revenge ultimately got subsumed by Shenkt's against the Magi. The war between Bayaz and Khalul doesn't seem to be abating at all. In fact, it seems to be picking up a bit.

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I think I mentioned it but I did notice the Ferro mention ;) And what is Shenkt if not a rogue eater? I mean it seems that he was originally Bayaz' eater and not Khalul's but that's hardly the point really?

-Poobs

I doubt he's an Eater. I think he's just a wizard. Bayaz said: "We specialise" in The Blade Itself, so its maybe Shenkt's speciality is manipulating time.

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I doubt he's an Eater. I think he's just a wizard. Bayaz said: "We specialise" in The Blade Itself, so its maybe Shenkt's speciality is manipulating time.

he is an eater he cuts that woman's leg off while thinking about how he is going to cook it.

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I'd have thought that scene was a bit of a giveaway...

Somehow I missed that bit.

I thought that the eating was uncontrollable? That chick in the first law said something like: "we can't stop eating". I figured that once you ate you had to get a fresh supply every few hours otherwise you'd start, I dunno, chewing your own face or something.

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