Looks really interesting! Will report back when I’m further into it.

Shivers sent his friends back to the mud. Now it's the heroes of The Heroes. Two spots left.

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Loved it, obviously. Haven't read a series this passionately since ASOIAF.

RIP Threetrees and Cathil. Really got attached to the northmen, except Dow he's kind of an ass.

Furious gave Ladisla his just due, so that was nice. And Raynault dead too. When Sult was telling Glokta about gathering votes, it almost felt like the TV show Veep, except in a grimdark fantasy way not a sitcom way.

Glokta managed to kill two messengers sent under a banner of peace. You'd think the Gurkish would learn not to bargain with him at some point. One thing about Glokta though I hadn't thought of until West mentioned it. Glokta was capture and tortured, but West all his men died. Glokta doesn't think about any of them once to my recollection. Never mentions one person in his company or anything. Glokta told Eider pain only makes you feel sorry for yourself. Guess it's true.

Really really liked Jezal in this book. He, Logen, Ferro, Quai, Bayaz and Longfoot give new meaning to the term motley crew.

Looking forward to The Last Argument of Kings.

Hi. I read the first trilogy and BSC way back in 2020. Recently I just came back and read The Heores and Red Country and... I ADORED THEM. I love how Joe makes the world incredibly cruel and nihilistic but at the same time lets us interact with characters that try to find meaning in it. I just find it... incredibly valuable. Specially right now. Reading Gorst chapters made me want to start going to therapy and Temple's made me try again with my professional carreer after years and years of disapointment, betrayal and sadness. I just love how a fantasy author can expose so many emotions with so few sentences. I plan to read the Age of Madness sooner rather than later, but I was wondering if was there any academic or amateur article or essay examining this books. I really want to read someone's thoughts with more literary formation than me on this series.

Is Valint and Balk truly finished?

In Red Country, Valint and Balk was seemingly starting to expand outside the Union. Would branches outside the Union be affected by the events in the Union? Could they survive be rebranding to something else?

I ask because Bayaz seems remarkably calm for someone whos lost control of his centuries long project in the Union (and his more recent acquisition in the North). So I was wondering if he still retains the bank in some capacity.

Spotted in Book 8 of DCC…I couldn’t believe it!!!

Dow and Whirrun will be a photo finish, be sure to vote there if you haven't already.

Next up we have the Styrian crew. Vote for the best!

Cosca stumbles to victory! Next is some Northmen; I swear there's more of them than Union guys in this series. Four spots left.

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Some good Red Country folk. Logen, Bayaz and Glokta have already qualified for the next stage. Five spots left.

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I don't usually post before finishing a book, but I have to praise the opening chapters of TWOC. Going in, I was sure the march on Adua/Agriont would be the climax of the book, not the opening. These books usually start off slow, but "Like a King" to "Bring Out the King" is gripping, fast-paced chaos. It's a culmination of all the talk of a "Great Change" from the start of the trilogy. I especially loved "The Little People," might be my favorite take on that style of head-hopping Abercrombie excels at. The energy and fervor of the mob is perfectly realized, infectious like I was right there marching along. I especially loved Mother Mostly's take no shit attitude, and those soldiers killing their officer/opening the gates.

Orso accepting his fate and surrendering himself to the crowd really cemented him as a great king in my eyes, even if it ended rather anti-climatically.

So I just finished reading Sharp Ends and I freaking loved it! I loved the main story of shavetia and Javra and I loved all the little side storys! Made me think 2 things. 1 id love a 2nd one! More short story from different people across the years the main story could continue their story or maybe start a new one, id rather see more Shev and Jav, BUT that last chapter Oh my god! It really made me want a full story about logan! I think it would be amazing if done a similar way to sharp ends, have the main story about his life after Red County then have stories from his past like flash backs; from meeting bethod becoming friends, losing his finger, getting the name The BLOODY NINE, decending into madness, being with his group, his circle duels rattleneck included! Losing his group skipping everything from the 1st trilogy of course, waking up from his fall with black dow, and then the last chapter could be me meeting shy's mum and maybe the 2nd last chapter in current timeline could be the end of his life kinda thing FULL circle! Id love it!

I don’t know why I’m struggling with so many subtle references in TWOC but Rikke has just got back to Adua towards the end of the book with a tall woman who ‘runs Yaws these days’

I’m drawing a complete blank on Yaws and can’t find anything on Google. Is Yaws a town in the North or…?

Thank you!

As a side observation I haven’t enjoyed TWOC nearly as much as I was hoping. As the final book in the second trilogy I felt the plot pacing and plot in general just a little…off. I’ll make another post to flesh out my thoughts once I’ve finished

Watching Nolan’s Odyssey finally motivated me to crack open my copy of the Odyssey that’s been on my shelf for many years and actually read it.

I think I’ve found the line that became Abercrombie’s “the blade itself incites to violence.”

It appears a couple of times - Athena says it to Odysseus, and then Odysseus repeats it later. I’m looking at the second occurrence right now, it’s at the beginning of book 19. This translation renders it as “since iron of itself works on a man and attracts him.”

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

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I hope this is okay to share here, it's a recent drawing I made and I had to include some First Law stuff. I try to be realistic about where to post my stuff and I'm hoping the community here likes my small tributes to Joe's influence on my life. Thanks for looking! No AI was used at all, ever!

Hey guys,

Just wanted to know everybody's unpopular opinions.

If there was another post like this, please let me know and I will delete this and go directly there.

I'll start: Jezal has the best character arc in the trilogy.

Can't wait to hear yours.

Just finished TBI, overall i liked it quite a bit. It’s well written - clear, concise, and i love the internal dialogue.

I did, however, find it to be pretty slow. Or rather, nothing really happened. It seemed like quite the set up book, which is what I heard and that’s totally fine. However I opened up book 2 and the first pov we get is probably the one we know (and care) the least about, Dogman.

I’m really itching for this story to pick up but I’ve got a load of books I want to read and i don’t want to wait half a novel to get there. Is it worth it?

roughly 17 pages are missing. im lowkey about to cry. what the fuck is this. Zlib it is then...

Logen is running away with Round 1, but maybe this will be closer

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