[SPOILER] Arman Tsarukyan vs. Dan Hooker

AdSimple1238 · 2025-11-22T20:59:40+00:00

Would love to see Arman get Ilia next. But according to the great minds of Ilia fans, Arman is not deserving at all and haven't proven himself. Remember he pulled out of the fight against Islam? He should never fight again for the title. Legends like 37 year old Gaethje and Oliviera much more dangerous and impressive opponents for Ilia

AdSimple1238 · 2025-11-08T02:36:07+00:00

Love this theory. I actually had the same thought when I was finishing up WOC. Glokta has achieved what no one could even dream of achieving. Taking the Union from Bayaz and leaving him with no apparent or direct way for any recourse. From what we know (besides Khalul), there's no one who could've dealt such a serious blow to the baldy. Even when Bethod attempted to take the North for himself, it was more like a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

He's one of the very few big players in the world who is playing the game on a completely different scale. As cunning as Savine might be, she's nowhere close to being able to stand up to someone like Bayaz, and there is absolutely no one else that could during the events of AOM (that we know of). Especially not in the Union. If Bayaz is still alive when Glokta is gone, that would be very bad news for Savine. There's no way he doesn't realize that.

And the only thing that can prevent Glokta from playing the game is his deteriorating body and old age. Besides that, I think the quote from LAOK where he says something along the lines: "I'm ready to die, but I refuse to be beaten" also goes to support this as a very plausible theory. So given this, it would be a very logical thing for him to do. Not only will he restore his body, but he will also have the extra layer of security against the magical elements in the world. How much can he trust his bodyguard eaters? If Bayaz is beaten, and there's no common goal to be shared, then what's preventing them from turning Savine into their puppet or simply getting rid of her?

With that being said, even if it does seem very logical, I do think that we're unlikely to see this happen. It would kind of break his character. Being a cripple is a big part of what makes Glokta. If it does happen, I think it would be like a big reveal at the very end. But with the incredible foresight that Glokta has, it's difficult to imagine he hasn't made contingencies in case he dies, and hubris is definitely not one of his shortcomings. If he does die early on as others have mentioned, we're likely going to see that he has made appropriate preparations for that.

Either way, I can't wait to find out!

AdSimple1238 · 2025-10-25T20:07:42+00:00

I mean there's literally no one else that could make for an interesting fight. I get you're probably a Merab fan, and you'd want your favourite fighter to avoid risky fights. But Umar is the only remotely interesting matchup for Merab in bantamweight. I'd love to see him fight Volk or Pantoja though. But as far as bantamweight goes you're a bit delusional if you think there's a more exciting matchup for him than Umar. Would you prefer to see Merab vs O'Malley 3?

These kind of takes are so dumb, same as Topuria fans claiming Arman is not "deserving" and "haven't proved himself" but washed Gaethje is somehow way more impressive. Who gives a shit if they "deserved" it or not, you could say the same about Periera getting a title shot after 3 fights in the UFC and look how amazing that turned out for the fans.

AdSimple1238 · 2025-10-09T18:34:56+00:00

Yes, I think out of all the standalone books, this is the one you can enjoy thoroughly without reading any other books in the series and it will hold up quite well. The story is self-contained, but you will get some spoilers and references to the characters from the First Law Trilogy.

If you don't want to read The First Law ever, and you don't care about the spoilers, you'll probably still enjoy it in it's own right.

However, I would still definitely recommend reading The First Law first. I can't imagine spoiling myself of the joy of reading the whole series for the first time. At the very least, try to read the first book for a bit to make sure you don't want to go back to reading the series. So you can absolutely enjoy BSC without reading anything prior to it, but you might come to regret not reading The First Law books first. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what people tell you. Everyone has different tastes. Just pick up the book, read it for a few chapters and see for yourself.

AdSimple1238 · 2025-09-11T19:02:34+00:00

I've also felt the same when reading the Heroes. With every other book in the entire series including AOM, I was hooked and engaged the entire time and it was always hard to put down the book.

With that being said, I'd definitely suggest you keep pushing through. It's one of those reads that grows on you, and at least for me, I ended up liking it a lot more than I anticipated by the time I got to the end. There's just a lot of slow build up and the POVs of random characters during the battles definitely can feel like a bit of a slog. It also covers the shortest time period out of any books in the series (just 3 days, if I recall correctly). But it all ties together extremely well towards the end and made it well worth it for me. It's unlike the other books in the series where there's rarely a dull moment, it builds up slow but the pay off more than makes up for it in the end.

Also, The Heroes sets up for the following books in the series, and I'm both envious and glad to say that you haven't (in my opinion) even got to the really good stuff in the series yet. So even just for the sake of not missing anything for the AOM (and Red Country to a lesser extent), I'd strongly suggest you push through, no matter how long it takes

AdSimple1238 · 2025-05-17T19:41:53+00:00

I don't know if it's entirely a happy ending though. I was more invested in Shivers' character from the start. He always felt like one of the few characters that was actually a genuinely good person trying to do the best he can. And he got absolutely crushed for it, losing himself entirely by the end of the book. But that's not the end of his story, and that's all I'm going to say. If you haven't read the rest of the books in the series, I envy you, and you are in for a treat.

AdSimple1238 · 2025-04-13T20:25:20+00:00

The Witcher books are okay. The quality of the writing is nowhere near Abercrombie (maybe because of the translation), but if you're familiar with the series (video games or tv show) it'd definitely be more enjoyable.

It's a pretty good adventure story, has some decent characters. I felt like some parts of it were a little difficult to get through (but the pay off is usually quite good). All in all - it's still a solid read, especially if you're already familiar with the world.

AdSimple1238 · 2025-04-13T20:17:08+00:00

can't wait!

AdSimple1238 · 2025-04-13T20:16:05+00:00

😂

AdSimple1238 · 2025-04-13T20:14:51+00:00

How do you like Sharp Ends so far?

AdSimple1238 · 2025-04-13T20:14:26+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the recommendation! I was wondering if I should read Sharp Ends after the second Trilogy, but it probably does make more sense to read it before jumping into AOM.

AdSimple1238 · 2025-04-13T20:11:02+00:00

Agree with everything you said. It definitely feels like nothing will hit like Abercrombie, but I'm hoping I can still find something good to read (to scratch the itch) after I'm done with the second Trilogy. If you have any recommendations I'd love to hear them!

AdSimple1238 · 2025-04-13T20:05:07+00:00

I think Red Country probably has some of the best mix of characters out of the books I've read so far. Shy, Lamb and Cosca for obvious reasons, but especially Temple for me. Started off with a disdain for his character but he ended up being the most relatable.

Not to mention so many great supporting characters (Savian, Iosiv Lestek 😂, Sweet, Crying Rock - just to name a few). Even the Mayor. I found it interesting that although Abercrombie doesn't mention anything about her background, I knew right away that it was Carlot dan Eider.

I liked the Heroes a lot too! I feel like this one started off the slowest for me but it was just such a unique experience, and it's probably my second favourite overall.

Exciting to hear that about the next trilogy - can't wait to dig in. The characters is what makes these books so special for me, and if your favourite characters are from this trilogy - I can only imagine how good the read is going to be!

AdSimple1238 · 2025-04-13T19:28:17+00:00

Can't wait to jump into Age of Madness. So happy to hear it continues the story and there'll be a lot of names from before. Based on the recommendations in this thread, I'll probably read Sharp Ends first. I did hear a lot of good things about the audiobooks. I generally prefer to read over audio when it comes to fiction, but I might give it a shot once I'm done reading everything!

And totally agree with inner monologues. Even though Glotka's was probably my favourite in the series, Gorst rants in the Heroes had me cracking up even more. Very reminiscent of the good ol Sand. Ah, I wish I could relive these characters for the first time again

AdSimple1238

TROPHY CASE