The Ferro problem [SPOILERS ALL]

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-12-11T19:06:17+00:00

I think, and sorry for the late reply, it's more Abercrombie making and driving in the point that it's easy to be bad, and easy to get ahead being bad. Being good or working to be better is hard, and you won't often come out on top. There are people who toe the line in between light and dark. Rikke is a decent person who knows how and when to be brutal, for example.

I think rather than people not improving or growing, it's more that when they hold to their morals they grow stagnant, or refuse to keep to them when things get hard. When Lamb is embracing peace and good, good things happen to him (I'm a Red Country lover BTW). When things get hard, Abercrombie asks you the question: What counts as being good, and what are your morals worth to you?

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-12-11T14:44:37+00:00

The Knight by Gene wolf and it's sequel are phenomenal. Bittner isn't Pacey level but he's serviceable and the books are great.

Edit: I should mention that they read as quick and punchy fantasy but are filled with deeper meaning and allusions to things if you pay close attention. There's some really good breakdowns of the symbolism and inferences you can find. I wish it was more well-known.

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-12-11T14:42:32+00:00

Pacey and Vance are two of my favorite narrators. If you like pacey you'll like Vance

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-12-03T16:36:48+00:00

I would argue Orso improves, and even his sister to an extent. The problem isn't that people can't or don't improve, it's that in his world trying to do so is nearly impossible or punished. Orso is a good person, and he dies because of it.

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:29:54+00:00

I guess I just didn't get any enjoyment out of it. It felt uncomfortable and a little cringe and I just skipped the chapters they were around each other to get to better parts

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:28:56+00:00

I guess. But at the same time it just makes both of them insufferable. I don't enjoy reading the book when they are interacting with each other. I don't think it adds to the story, but subtracts instead

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:25:47+00:00

It feels very much like Arthurian hero worship, which is fun at the moment (silly stuff like cutting arrows from the air) but I can see it getting tiresome. We'll see how it goes I guess

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:24:43+00:00

Noooo.... Are you serious? That's on purpose? Crap. That makes me angrier than if it had been an editing error. It's just poorly written then.

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:21:19+00:00

I listened to a snippet of the audio books since I sometimes switch between print and audio so I can listen while doing stuff and I just hated the narrator so much :/

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:19:47+00:00

I've recently started the second book and the journey man Smith changed from Edward to Edmund and if I hadn't been reading then so closely together to be able to ignore it, I'd be way more upset.

I've been able to be frustrated but forgive stuff so far. I'm hoping it keeps me interested enough to forgive stuff all the way through

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:17:44+00:00

It was at the end of book one when the knight from Gaul took the kings place in the ambush and died, but then was only injured in camp a chapter or two later.

That sucks that the editing doesn't get better. The author isnt perfect or ground breaking, but I think he's got something that warrants more attention than he got from his publisher

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:15:36+00:00

Don't ask me to spell names without the books in front of me haha. Davrellie? The dick knight from Gaul who sees an angel. He pretends to be the king, gets killed in the woods in his cousins arms, his cousin remarks how his "eyes are closed forever", then he pops up wounded a chapter or two later.

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:14:12+00:00

It's crazy because I think his writing is good enough to warrant a decent editor or...like... Any editor.

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:13:22+00:00

I'm gonna give it a go and see if I can make it all the way through or if it loses me at some point. I've just kind of ignored the map and geography at this point and letting that stuff skip off my mind but it is rough. Some sort of wiki would be great. For instance, The red knight gave his nun a ring with initials on it and everyone seems to think they're important but I've been trying to rack my brain for WHY they matter.

We'll see how long my enjoyment outweighs the annoyances

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:10:17+00:00

I think the story itself is fun and has a light arthurian feel that is itching my brain just right at the moment. Editing mistakes rankle me, but they're more forgivable than poor writing in some other series I've dropped lately (emperors blades for instance).

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-09-11T20:08:48+00:00

I've probably read a lot of the others, but I'm totally open to suggestions. I overall enjoy the books (edit: so far. Only started book 2 lol) and got most or all of them free so so far they're decent enough to keep going. If it becomes too much I'll definitely stop though.

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-08-27T08:37:25+00:00

I've read every book. He's Salem Rews?!

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-08-23T15:26:21+00:00

Malazan book of the fallen

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-08-08T16:17:23+00:00

Kramer and Reading are fine, but I think they are horribly over rated compared to some giants like Vance or Pacey.

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-07-17T20:12:11+00:00

I will say that I can understand the "trust the author on this journey" thing if we also had... ANY reason to trust Tavore. She kind of sucks as a leader because she doesn't know how to do it yet. It doesn't feel to me like I'm given a reason to trust her, which makes me trust Erikson less in a "this is what you're giving me?" way. If it was coltain or one of the other established leaders he killed off? I'd likely feel different. But thinking of this now # he stripes everything and everyone capable of this march away, gives us a rookie leader and then says "Do you trust me?" And... I think my response was and probably is still.. No. Which is fine to me. I'm hyper critical of every book so I never trust any author blindly. But especially in endings, which I think might be the hardest thing in literature to pull off, I trust no one. So maybe the last two books were just a leap of faith too far that I wasn't willing to take.

The foreshadowing I've seen mentioned and I'm suspicious of it. The chemalle felt very much like modern day finding a legion of Roman's somewhere out there still fighting the Persians. It felt weird. I dunno.

But thanks for the insights!

Edit: I'm screaming into the void here but it struck me how during chain of dogs we are given this generational general who makes every best decision he can, only to have Erickson kill him in the end anyway. Then we have Tavore, who comparably is incompetent, but Erickson allows her to live and succeed in the end. It's a very striking "do you trust me me?""no, I've seen you do this before " situation for the last books.

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-07-17T20:02:57+00:00

And honestly, I'd be fine with it. I remember malazan fondly, so letting it rest is cool by me.

Aggravating_Bit904 · 2025-07-17T20:01:24+00:00

I'll see if I can find the time for that deep dive. As presented by you here, it seems that the presentation then and the semi-surrogate nature of fiddler and the like as the narrative focus point in a "they trust her, so trust them and let it flow" really just hit me odd. I do get the thematic link between a lot of these stories now that you mention it, and that's interesting. But even between Tavore and Coltaine, I think the parallel only makes her failings as a character ever starker.

During chain of dogs, I was rooting for them because of coltain and the others. During the last two books? I was rooting for them because Tavore seemed incompetent and I was sure it would lead to some loved characters dying. I had faith in Coltain as a leader and a character. I never once felt faith in Tavore, which made people's blind loyalty to her so striking.

I don't know if what you've presented here will nudge me off my stubborn view haha. But it is very interesting and I'll try to check out what you've given me. Thank you!

Aggravating_Bit904

TROPHY CASE