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A WHEEL OF TIME COMMUNITY

Kadere

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Posts posted by Kadere

  1. Reading Forge of Darkness which I'm finding to be really really good. Can't wait for Fall of Light. It's really putting an interesting spin on the whole Malazan series, and I love learning more about these characters who I loved, but were so mysterious in the main series.

     

    Need to finish it up though cause I have 14 WoT books I have to plow through and a little over 2 months to do it. Jesus, January's right around the corner!

  2. Finished the Fallon Trilogy by Robert Jordan, then read Four Past Midnight by Stephen King, now on The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. I'm going to go back and forth between King and Dickens till I finish every book by Dickens, then finish off King.

  3.  

    Sigh.. I guess you're gonna tell me the Shake storyline is super important as well? :sad:

     

     

    The Shake plotline is more important than the Perish plotline, soooooooooo yes. The Shake plotline in TCG is one of the best parts of the whole series, you just have to tough out the journey section. Once they get to their destination things pick up.

  4. DoD spoilers follow:

     

    Did anyone else find that the parts in the Wasteland with the Snake and the K'chain Che Malle were pretty boring? I mean I absolutely love the parts with the Letherii and Malazans, and the Perish parts to an extent. The Barghast parts are also quite interesting but my god the Wasteland stuff drags.

     

    The K'chain Che Malle and Snake parts are incredibly important, so pay very close attention to everything, cause in TCG he's going to pop quiz you like a sledgehammer to the face. In fact he'll quiz the hell out of you about the K'chain at the end of DoD as well. You really have to think of DoD and TCG as one book. There's nothing in either that's not vitally important.

  5. Faile is very, very young, the youngest of the main characters. I think you have to take that into account when reading her.

     

    She is brave, she is clever, she is loyal, she is hot, and she is at least slightly kinky. What's not to like? It's not her fault her husband got all emo when she was missing. (Not really his fault, either, but that's a different thread.)

     

    I don't even find the jealousy irritating; it's realistic. And, let's remember, it's not like she was imagining things where Berelain was concerned.

     

    What I do find irritating is the hypocrisy. She's always insisting that Perrin step up to his responsibilities, right? From practically the first moment we meet her? But what did she do? She ran away, abandoning her own responsibilities, to seek adventure.

     

    Her reason for running wasn't to get away from responsibility per se but from a life she didn't want. Had staying in Saldea satisfied her I am sure she would have jumped in with both feet.

     

    That's pretty much the definition of running away from responsibility.

     

     

    Well by your definition so did Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Moiraine, Nynaeve, Loial, Elayne, Min, Davrem Bashere, Logain, Mazrim Tiam, Renald Fanwar, Tuon, Almen Bunt, Gawyn, Galad, Gareth Bryne, Morgase, etc. Pretty much every character in the series has abandoned their home and responsibilities for adventure or a greater role in the Pattern. Faile just wants Perrin to stand up and be a man, but I guess it would have been more fun to read about him staying in bed all day and moping.

  6. Just read Gardens of the Moons from the Book of the Fallen series. Are all the books in this similar style? I had a hard time reading this. Just when I felt I was getting to know Whiskyjack and the whole gang, it shifts over to a total different set of characters that I had to get to know. Then I had a hard time figuring out what was actually happening in the end.

    Specifically the parts where Paran fights a tree. Somehow a house is made out of it. What's an Azath? Suddenly Vorcan is the major antagonist but is saved. A major antagonist (Tennshyn) throughout the book doesn't even appear in the end. I'm not trying to complain. The storyline after retrospect was very good. It's just frustrating to read the first time through.

     

    Although I'd have to say, Kruppe is very fun to read.

     

     

    I assume you mean Tayschrenn? Why does he have to appear towards the end of the book? It's a series, his status as an antagonist and whether he's a bad boy or not is addressed in later books. And an Azath is a being that strives for balance. In essence its a "house" that serves as a prison designed to lock up extremely powerful entities, such as Raest the Jaghut Tyrant. Oh and yes there are a shit ton of characters in MBOTF, get used to it ;)

     

     

     

    Tayschrenn, yes. I totally annihilated his name lol. I see your point. Thanks for the explanation on an Azath. I just have this feeling that I'm gonna get frustrated with this series. The only things that are keeping my interest are the Paran/Tattersail storyline and Tayschrenn. And I want to see what Quick Ben's powers are. Since he was good enough to win that cage match thing a while back. Meh...I'll give the next book a shot.

     

     

    Just keep reading. Deadhouse Gates is easier to understand, yes it has an almost all new cast, but it has a much bigger climax and the whole book is written much better, and with the background info from Gardens of the Moon you have enough ground work to move forward with it. Hang in there. By book 4 you'll have all your basic cast known.

  7.  

    "Shadowmarch" is good, but by no means Williams' best. If you're already a fan you'll want to read it, but if you're just starting to read Williams' you'd be much better off starting with his "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" series, or reading his "Otherland" series which, I believe and is certainly my feeling, is considered his best series to date. "Shadowmarch" ends up playing it a bit safe and conventional, which is sad because his other fantasy series "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" broke from a lot of conventions of it's day. But my recommendation, if you haven't read Williams' before and you want to see him at his best, is go buy "City of Golden Shadow." If you're not hooked by the end of the Prologue, you should just move on to another author. But I can practically guarantee you you'll want to keep reading.

     

    Hm- interesting you say this... I started reading City of Golden Shadow recently, and yea, I thought the prologue was awesome. It got me really excited for the book! But then the actual book started and it was a completely different tone... couldn't really get into it. I've never been much of a sci-fi, virtual reality person, and that's what this seemed to be. Does it return to prologue-y goodness?

     

    Every 7 chapters we get back to Paul and his adventures inside Otherland, and by the end of the first book everyone's in there. The mystery's of it get bigger and more complicated, the villians more evil, and by the end of Sea of Silver Light Williams has brought everything together beautifully in one of the grandest climaxes I've ever read.

  8. Currently re-reading Brian Lumley's original "Necroscope" series, for me the ONLY vampires that matter! I reread them regularly!

    Before that I read Patrick Rothfuss "The Name of the Wind" which I did enjoy but is no classic.

     

    Can't seem to get into Stan Nicholls' "Orcs" or Tad Williams' "Shadowmarch" - are they worth the effort?

     

    "Shadowmarch" is good, but by no means Williams' best. If you're already a fan you'll want to read it, but if you're just starting to read Williams' you'd be much better off starting with his "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" series, or reading his "Otherland" series which, I believe and is certainly my feeling, is considered his best series to date. "Shadowmarch" ends up playing it a bit safe and conventional, which is sad because his other fantasy series "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" broke from a lot of conventions of it's day. But my recommendation, if you haven't read Williams' before and you want to see him at his best, is go buy "City of Golden Shadow." If you're not hooked by the end of the Prologue, you should just move on to another author. But I can practically guarantee you you'll want to keep reading.

  9. Just finished Midnight Tides by Steven Ericson. Man that was a slow read. Not that I didn't like it, some of the characters were amazing (Bugg and Tehol anyone?) and the end was certainly dramatic enough, even if it didn't explain how Trull is shorn from his brothers and family.

     

    Going to purchase Bonehunters today and start reading that.

     

    You thought MT was slow? Oh dude. RG and TtH are going to kill you! :laugh:

     

    Both are really good though. It just become even more apparent then ever before that nothing happens until the last 200 pages.

  10. Picking one is SO HARD! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Can't I pick like, I don't know, five from each book? I could easily just say "All of them" cause really there are parts in every chapter I just LOVE which is why I reread it so much. But I guess if I have to pick ONE CHAPTER, just ONE, then I'd have to go with...

     

    The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 52: Choices

     

    At that point in the series it was the biggest twist, the most emotional scene, and the most climactic battle I felt I'd come across in the series. At the time I didn't know Moiraine would be coming back, and to lose her in that manner, taking down yet another of the Forsaken, sacrificing herself to save Rand, was just so flipping amazing. Rereading that scene, starting with Lanfear blowing out the wall of the wagon and flinging Kadere's skin in the air, still gets me pumped. The torment that Rand goes through there, unable to bring himself to kill Lanfear, watching his friends get hurt unwilling to bend to that level, really made the series that much more incredible. Since then there have been a lot of chapters I've felt equal it, but it's one that I get excited for every time I start TFoH. Just so flippin' cool.

  11. I'm reading the Lord of the Rings right now. I just finished The Fellowship of the Ring and I'm part of the way through The Two Towers. Before that I read The Hobbit.

     

    Now you need to get back to reading.  ;)

     

    And I'm on The Sable Quean by Brian Jacques. Go Redwall!

  12. Finally finished the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Now I have to wait for the TCG. My reaction's been that it's really not that hard to get into the series,  you just have to realize that Steven Erikson will never explain how anything in his world works and that he's making it all up as he goes along. Nothing in his world makes a lick of sense. Also it's incredibly boring as he loves to retell the same event from a hundred different PoV that don't move the story forward in any way, shape, or form, and right when you're about to fall asleep and give up because GOD is this series boring, you'll hit the last 100 pages of a book and he'll suddenly throw in so much action your brain explodes with euphoria and you actually think it was worth it. Plus I actually really like most of his characters, even if they're pretty much all the same person. Karsa Orlong and Icarium Lifestealer are two of the coolest characters I've ever come across.

  13. Rahvin claimed to come from the far west of Andor, which would mean close to the border against Tarabon/Almoth Plain/Arad Doman. Incidently, both Tarabon and Arad Doman are heavily influenced by Arabic (and Iranian in Arad doman) cultures.

    So, in the area he claimed to come from we have people that would seem "too dark"  in a nation that mostly is influenced by England/Ireland. While we do not have a single observation of a black person from Andor, or anywhere on mainland Randland.

     

    None of this connects to WoT. You're associating Randland to Europe as though the two connect. He says he came from western Andor, not that he was "ethnnically" Andoran. There can be black people in western Andor.

     

    First time we see Semirhage, her face is described as charcoal-dark. When Mat later sees her he thinks her face is almost as dark as her black dress. The Sharans we see at Graendals palace are described as very dark-skinned, and the Sharan we see make a cameo in KOD is described as very dark. Tuon has been described as dark-skinned. the Sea Folk have been described as dark-skinned, even very dark-skinned.

    Meanwhile, regarding RJs use of the word 'dark'...in KOD we see Rand thinking that "Not all Tairens were dark by any means", which means that most of them actually are dark. Dark as people in Spain, which is the nation that has influenced Tear the most.

    Seems like RJ did make a distinction between black, and merely dark. But of course, I am only basing this on the books, and not the superiour evidence from a drawing made by someone other than RJ...

     

    The first time we meet Semirhage her face is described as "dark." Not "charcoal-dark." You're still connecting "dark" to "dark skinned" without any reason for us to believe Rahvin isn't black. Semirhage is described as "dark," you've said Tuon is as well. Rahvin too is described as "dark." The Tairen's are also, sometimes, refered too as "dark." So by your definition none of these characters are black. RJ doesn't refer to characters as "black." So you're not proving Rahvin is Spanish. The artistic drawing was overseen and approved by RJ. It shows Rahvin being black, along with Semirhage. Rahvin is black, as described in the book, and the art.

     

    So in a land of pasty white people he could pass as an Arab, but not as a black man?

     

    Have you actually seen an Arab?

     

    Yes. Arab's have darker skin then white people.

     

    Well then, find one, just one mention in the books of him having dark skin.

     

    I did. You still haven't shown how a person being dark doesn't describe their skin, and how that proves he's not black.

     

    You missed the word ethnically. A single word can make such a big difference...

     

    Not really. A person can have an Irish mother or father, and a black mother or father and still be Irish and black. But this again has NOTHING to do with WoT or how races are treated or migrate in Randland.

     

    I love how you compare all this to our own world's racial problems as though the two mix. Rahvin is a black man. He's described as one. Sorry that offends you so terribly.

  14. Tuon and the sea folk are described as having dark skin, Rahvin is just describes as dark. There is a huge difference.

     

    No, there's really not. Semirhage, for insistence, is described as having a "dark face," not "dark skin," yet she is black. If I said that Denzel Washington was "dark," you'd assume I was referring to a man of Middle Eastern descent? You're still contributing the word "dark" to referring to Rahvin's skin color. Therefore, there's no difference between calling him "dark" or "dark skinned." They're both referring to "dark skin." No where in the books is the world "dark" contributed to a character's skin color without that person being black. RJ does not call people black. He says they are "dark" or "dark skinned." Rhavin is "dark" and therefore black.

     

    Rahvin should have a colouring of an Arab, or like some Spaniards or Greek people. Ie black hair, dark eyes, and a skin tone that is darker than people in Scandinavia, Ireland etc (which is the people we can look at for the average people in Andor), but not so dark that he would have to use Compulsion on an entire city to make them believe he could actually be from Andor.

     

    So in a land of pasty white people he could pass as an Arab, but not as a black man? Randland is a multi-racial world where your main character isn't even the same race as those in Andor, yet grew up in Andor. RJ doesn't really ever talk about race relations in his novels, except between Aiel and people in the Westlands. There are black people in his novels, and Rahvin is one of them.

     

    Imagine that you go to Ireland, and see a black guy, claiming to be ethnically Irish. Not adopted, not an immigrant, or descendant of immigrants, but ethnically Irish. Are you telling me you would believe him? Because that is what you are saying if you want to insist that Rahvin would be black, or even brown like people in and around India.

     

    The book describes him as having dark skin, just like all the rest of the black characters in WoT. The artistic renderings of him done by people who were contracted by the RJ and the Rigney estate color him as black. People in Randland don't hate others because of the color of their skin. Rahvin does in fact use Compulsion on the entire court of Andor.

     

    And yes there are Irish black people in the United States, as their are black people in Ireland. And if they told me they were Irish I would believe them because they are Irish. Just as I would believe a white person in the United States who told me he was American despite not having a drop of Native American blood.

     

    But you are perfectly free to think of Rahvin or any character as having whatever skin color you wish. But RJ intended him to be a black man, he's described as being a black man, and he is supposed to be thought of as a man with black skin..

     

  15. Along with Rahvin and all the Sea Folk.

     

    Rahvin is never described as black, just dark, which is usually a very different thing.

    I think it might have raised an eyebrow or two if he had waltzed into aemlyn, claiming to be fron Andor, while sporting a colour of skin only those who had met the Sea fold would have ever seen before...

     

    Semirhage is described as having a "dark face" (LoC, Prologue). Tuon is described as being "dark" (WH, Ch. 14). Rahvin is described as being "dark" (TDR, Ch. 24). The Sea Folk are described as having "very dark skin." All of these characters are black.

     

    In the Dabel Brother's drawings of Semirhage and Rahvin, which RJ looked over to make sure they matched what his characters were supposed to look like, they were drawn as black.

     

    Rahvin is black.

  16. I'm almost done with Midnight Tides. The Malazan books are ok. Not particularly in depth however. I mean it is, you can tell Steven knows more then he's letting on, but that's the problem, he doesn't give you anything. Like nothing at all. Five books in I still have no idea how his magic works, what the history of the world is, how these characters ascend or what ascension really brings them, why these things are happening at all, nothing. I'm sure Steven knows all this, but he refuses to tell me. Plus, while I find all of his characters to be totally BA, all the characters are basically the same. Just one BA and another BA and another BA without much to differ them besides their BAness. I'll keep reading the rest of the series cause I'd like to know where it goes and there are things in the series that I don't understand but find to be really cool, but I wouldn't rank this series above SoT on my personal "Would I ever reread this entire series" list. Plus I've found that every book so far (except maybe House of Chains) has just been 700 pages of snoring nothing followed by big brutal climax. And sometimes that works, like in Deadhouse Gates which has an AMAZING finish, but sometimes I refuse to allow this to make up for 700 pages of nothing, like with Memories of Ice. Overall so far I'd give the series a C, maybe C+.

  17. So the question is now that mb has finally finished the entire main series, what does he think? I mean certainly we've gotten kind of an idea from his posts all over these boards, but I think this is an opportunity for him to just tell us what he thinks of the series as a whole. Does it work? Was he riveted? What parts didn't he like about it? What parts where his favorites? Which book did he think was best? Worst? Why? How does he feel about the major characters now having seen their entire story? Obviously no spoilers of TGS should be posted, but just general impressions. What is mb's review of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time?

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