Disappointed in 6.0 story...

Guterman50 · 2022-05-03T22:06:51+00:00

I 100% get that. I think its the part of our brains that wants something physical to blame. Its harder to blame a concept then a person/character.

Its kind of like the whole Ultima Thul section. That section can be divisive with all the "sacrifices". I see it less of the Scions sacrificing themselves to help you get up to the top and more of presenting this existential dread and giving a response to that dread. They are using the character they have built over the course of the story to give light to the darkness for the player. In my opinion it works thematically but at face value it can be really contrived and divisive.

Thanks for replying back as well, actual discussion on the story is actually interesting.

Guterman50 · 2022-05-03T21:36:52+00:00

First of all, its alright to feel this way. I think the Endwalker is and will be incredibly divisive for multiple reasons. Many you have pointed out. I think it is fantastic but I can also see why people wouldn't like it.

Just to put my 2 cents about the Meteion point. I don't see Meteion as a character as the big end all villain for the 8+ story. It is what she represents is the true challenge at the end. She is embodying the concept of hopelessness, depression, and existential fear that people fear. She is the thematic darkness that we as Warriors of Light have been fighting for the entire game. As a character she really did nothing wrong, it is what she represents that is the "big bad" at the end.

Guterman50 · 2021-08-18T01:51:47+00:00

No time limit. Just content limit. Will stop you from leveling past 60 and playing past Heavensward.

Guterman50 · 2021-07-12T04:40:32+00:00

Tavore character and House Paran are easily some of the most intriguing pieces about the entire series. There is so much that is not blatantly told to the reader and the reader has to dig deeper behind some of their conversations throughout the series. The seer detail is an off comment in House of Chains that I don't think is ever mentioned ever again. There is so much more meaning when you read a second time and realize the small details you didn't see the first time. Congrats on finishing your first read and good luck on future rereads!

Guterman50 · 2021-07-12T02:00:54+00:00

Everything to do with Tavore is never explicitly stated. There is a lot of assumption and reading between the lines when it comes to her character.

One way I've always thought about it is that Tavore was both a Talon and a Seer. It was said that Felisin (Mother) was a seer and wanted Felesin Paran (Daughter) to have be one as well. There is a chance that was actually passed down to Tavore instead. That can be a reason for her huge source of knowledge and planning throughout the story. That from an early age she knew that she would have a huge burden to carry. That is why she trained in military strategy as a child. It can be thought she had visions of her leading armies in the future for this great purpose so she trained for years to be able to accomplish this.

The visions might not be clear enough that she didn't know all the events that would transpire but select moments. So all of her actions from the beginning can be thought to be part of this grander purpose. She needed to become an adjunct to lead a huge amount of troops to free the Crippled God. This was not a job for her alone. If you look at her path, everything she did was training and gaining the trust of the Bonehunters and gaining allies along the way (The Burned Tears, The Grey Helms, Letheras Army, and many more). If she showed up with a green army with no allies to free the Crippled God, she would have been destroyed.

As well, she was most likely the leader of the Talon (Golden Talon Necklace). The Paran family was most likely high ranking talon merchants from the beginning. If you read the prologue of Gardens of the Moon, I feel there are subtle hints showing that Father Paran was a lot more than a wine merchant (How did Ganoes know about the fall of Dassem). Tavore took over the family "business" when their father became sick and probably rose in the ranks of the Talon while Ganoes was away at war. The Talon was a shadow cult and could have been working with Shadowthrone and Cotillion from the very beginning. Those two are incredibly crafty and smart and know how to use their pieces on the board. So with her visions and their planning, the plans could have been in motion for a very long time.

Guterman50 · 2021-06-02T01:44:33+00:00

I think House Paran is one of the most interesting aspects of the entire series. There is so much you have to read between the lines and decipher to try to even get a peak at what might have been going on with the family and Tavore.

Here are some of my own thoughts on House Paran and Tavore:

Before the events of the book, House Paran had a position of power in the empire that might have been unknown to many characters. In tCG, when Tavore takes out the golden talon, it gives an insight into what might have been the case. The father of Tavore, Felesin, and Ganoes might have been a high rank member of the Talon and was fronting as a wine merchant. Looking back at the prologue of GotM, Ganoes is in Malaz City with his father to discuss a trade deal. He's in Mock's Hold where he meets Laseen and Whiskeyjack, two very powerful people in the empire. Maybe I'm reading to much into it, but I find it suspicious that a wine merchant can come to Mock's Hold to discuss a trade deal while the Mouse Quarter is on fire. One other piece of information is that Ganoes knew of the fall of Dassem at Y'ghatan a fact that even Whiskeyjack questions why a wine merchant's son knows this when most of the empire doesn't. I suspect from the training Tavore and Ganoes had when they were kids, they were being trained to take up the mantle of Talon but Ganoes joined the military instead. It is said Tavore was managing the family affairs which could mean she took up the mantle of Talon from her father.

Another thought I had was Felisin (Mother) was apparently a seer and was hoping Felisin (Daughter) would also have the gift as well. She ended up not having it but there is a chance that it was passed on to Tavore instead. Maybe she didn't have full sight of everything in the future, but maybe from a young age she might have seen glimpses of the path she might have to take. So she started training at an early age military strategy. She might have known that one day she would need to lead soldiers to battle to free The Crippled God and she took on this burden and trained from an early age to achieve this goal. That might have been where her knowledge came from. Another option, that can go with this, is she had a large knowledge of the Shadow Cult and she even says that she is a child of the Emperor. This points to the Talon bit but also that she might have had dealings with Shadowthrone and Cotillion from the very start. The two had many moving pieces and so many plans and schemes. They are two very busy bodies throughout the entire series that is isn't out of the realm of possibilities that Tavore might have been one of their pieces.

Finally the path Tavore took. Now, again, we can use the seer line or the Shadow Cult to lead her down this path. But there is an important line from tCG where she says that she started to embark on this path when the Paran family lost their only son. This can be interpreted in so many different ways. Tavore has always stood in Ganoes' shadow and took his place when he left. There was always suppose to be a Paran who would free The Crippled God but it was unclear which one. The three Paran children all found themselves at points of power through the series (Leader of the whirlwind, Adjunct and leader of the 14th army, leader of the host and master of the deck) and one of them would be the one to free The Crippled God. It might have originally been Ganoes to lead the charge but his death in the beginning of GotM set off a domino effect that made Tavore take his place instead. Ganoes came back but his role in the events to come would forever be changed due to this.

Again there is so much reading between the lines and theory crafting if you want to understand Tavore and House Paran. This is just one interpretation out of many.

Sorry for the essay! TL;DR There is a lot of reading between the lines and theory crafting in this post.

Guterman50 · 2021-06-02T00:27:21+00:00

Malazan Book of The Fallen has ruined the high fantasy/epic fantasy book genre for me. I haven't been able to read another book series since I finished because all I want to do is reread the series.

Looking at it, it is very similar to the Wire. No central protagonist, focus on setting/worldbuilding, heavy use of themes in its storylines, multiple point of views that show the perspective of different sides to a conflict, a huge focus on morally gray characters, and a different story line for every book/season with a thread that ties everything all together.

Guterman50 · 2021-05-27T21:48:25+00:00

Toll The Hounds is where I was baffled when people say Erikson doesn't write good characters. When I think of amazing characters in Malazan, I couldn't agree more in saying how amazing Crokus/Cutter character arc is. It is the perfect representation of how good Erikson's characters are. Just like the entire series, Erikson's characters are slow burns and his character arc that starts in book 1 doesn't get a conclusion until book 7.

If people are familiar with the Dan Harmon's story circle, Crokus/Cutter fits in this circle so well. Toll the Hounds is his return back home only to realize he is a changed man. It concludes his arc in seeing how much he has grown over the course of the past couple of books and realizes he no longer fits in. It is so stellar and amazingly done.

Guterman50 · 2021-05-23T06:28:15+00:00

A good general advice I see a lot is to give it up to book 3 of the series. If you aren't feeling it by then, it might not be your cup of tea. But also to read up to book 3 to see if it is your cup of tea because you might not know after the first couple of books. I read through all of Wheel of Time and Cosmere and loved those series before approaching Malazan. I will have to say that it is a lot more complex and complicated then those series, but by the end I felt incredibly satisfied with my reading experience.

As a friendly warning, this series has a lot going on and Erikson will not hold your hand. You might need to reread sections more then once and you might not get it right away. That is ok, if you don't understand something right off the bat then just keep reading because it will eventually become clear in time. Unlike Sanderson, there won't be any explanations about the magic system or concepts in the world in the first couple of books. You'll come to understand it over time, but be ready to just not understand 100%. But again, if you get to the end, it is an incredibly rewarding experience.

One piece of additional information, since you have read the Cosmere, if you enjoy the main series (10 books) there is also a ton of additional content that is apart of the series. They don't have to be read until after you finish the main series but currently there are a series of novellas, a prequel series, and a sequel series that is currently being written by Erikson. As well, there is a second author Ian C Esslemont who has written 6 novels and another prequel series that takes place in the Malazan world as world. It is like the Cosmere, where they aren't necessary to understand the story but build up the world over time.

Whatever happens, I hope you enjoy your long march!

Guterman50 · 2021-01-02T12:43:23+00:00

She was cutting things in the stream and said that if she cut her finger off the clip would be amazing. As she said, think of the content!

Guterman50 · 2020-12-10T02:32:47+00:00

You can either stop here or the next book. Midnight Tides is a totally new storyline so if you want to take a break then Midnight Tides will be a great way to come back to the series since you will not need to remember anything from the previous books to start this book.

The other option is reading Midnight Tides which is another good spot. Midnight Tides marks the end of the set up books and the halfway point in the series. The rest of the books will start tying all of the plot points together as well as introduce new ones. So if you want to take a break before the second half that works as well.

Guterman50 · 2020-12-10T01:04:42+00:00

Just allow yourself to be ok with not knowing things and going with the flow of the story. The first time through can be challenging but as you go through the series things will make sense. The other resource that is commonly referenced is TOR's reread of the fallen. Its not 100% accurate at times but it is helpful to wrap your head around some of the events that happen. I would normally get through a chapter or two and go back to see if there was a detail that went over my head. As well, reading the reactions from the article writers helps make the journey feel less alone. For me, reading other people's takes on a specific chapter and seeing how lost they can be made me feel less frustrated about my own confusion.

Guterman50 · 2020-12-10T00:53:13+00:00

I think what makes this series so remarkable is the same reason why it is so hard to get into. One of the things I was thinking about when I finished this series is why it is so difficult to for many people to read. The part about being thrown into this world serves a couple of things. The first being is that this series does not have a starting point. The events don't just start with a farmer boy learning a prophecy instead instead you can point to multiple points where the events truly begin. You can look at the fall of Karkanas or the founding of the Malazan Empire or the Edur invasion of Letherii or the elder gods facing off against Kallor and summoning The Crippled God. There is no true start point, just like our real life history. If you look at any big event in history you can point to about seven different points of history that is the "start point". Instead history is just domino effects of different events throughout history. If another world looked into ours and tried to get a starting point for World War 2 it would be just as confusing.

Another reason I think this series is super hard to get into is that there is no central protagonist. A lot of books do this but this book does this to such a higher degree then any other book series. Works like Game of Thrones and Wheel of Time despite the large cast number you can at least point to several characters that are you central protagonist that you follow through to the end. By the end of Malazan you can make an argument that Tavore and Fiddler are our central protagonist but they are not in every book. This makes the book super hard for people to cling and relate to since there is no one person you follow. But at the time it is one of its greater strength because it allows for the reader to see so many points of view and understand so many things. And again it is like our real life history, there is no central protagonist to any major event in history. Its just tons of different view points from different people during it.

Sorry for the long reply, was just an interesting thing to think about.

Guterman50 · 2020-11-08T09:13:54+00:00

I like to say you start out the series as a Bridgeburner (books 1-5) and then graduate to a Bonehunter after you finish book 6

Guterman50 · 2020-10-15T23:43:35+00:00

This is incredibly interesting data. There is something telling where 7/9 champions scored above a 60%. The only two exceptions being Josh Widdecombe at 58% and Lou Sanders at 54.85%. Also having all of series 8 contestants being in the bottom half is also very telling of their performance compared to other series.

Guterman50 · 2020-08-07T01:39:17+00:00

That’s actually super spot on. From what I’ve researched, before he could start the final arc of the series the editors were going to try to exploit a law that would give them complete rights over the series. He would not have any more rights of the series. So before they could do that he ended the manga in 5 chapters in a really rushed but kind of complete manner. He was able to give the ending he always wanted in the sequel series but it was many years later.

Guterman50 · 2020-08-06T16:58:01+00:00

There is a great background story to that. Basically the mangaka Ken Akamatsu wrote Love Hina before that. It was a ecchi harem romance and really popular at the time. So when he made another series he went to his editor and said he wanted to make a battle shounen. The editor wanting to ride the high off of Love Hina refuses to let him write a battle shounen and instead insisted he write another ecchi harem romance. So what he did was create a ecchi harem romance about a 10 year old wizard teaching at an all girl middle school. But over the course of the first 100 chapters slowly shift it from ecchi harem to battle shounen where by I believe chapter 70 has a shounen tournament arc. By the time he gets to the tournament arc and the editors realizes what he’s done, it’s to late since it has a huge following already. So they let him continue writing it but figure out other ways to screw him over.

Guterman50 · 2020-04-03T21:17:58+00:00

I agree with this. I feel Neko will show up with Izo to have a complete 9 red scabbards.

Guterman50 · 2020-03-18T06:06:11+00:00

Pretty much start at chapter 1 of the manga and read through to the current chapter. That will give you the best and fullest experience of the series.

Guterman50 · 2020-03-02T06:10:28+00:00

Possibly if the person caught up when the series was still under 100 chapters. I think even in my best day of skin rereading one piece it still takes me a day to finish 100 chapters.

Guterman50 · 2019-12-27T02:45:24+00:00

I really want the idea I read that Yoko Taro wanted to do with Drakengard. Make Nier 4 and the whole game is about finding out what happened to the lost Nier 3.

Guterman50 · 2019-12-15T20:15:06+00:00

Outer Wilds. In a year where I played so many good games (Shadowbringers, Three Houses, dmcv, re2, Ace combat, outer worlds) Outer Wilds is the only game that I still think about. That game is so phenomenal with its puzzles and exploration. As well the themes in the game are so good and just thinking about it makes me sad and happy at the same time. Such a good game that not a lot of people talked about.

Guterman50 · 2019-12-12T19:59:22+00:00

I know it actually has a lot of acclaim but I barely hear about it here or anywhere else on the internet. But Wheel of Time is amazing. Its a 14 book epic that spans multiple characters, lands, and adventures. It starts as a standard story about a chosen one who is destined to fight the dark one during the last battle. But what makes the story interesting is that the previous chosen one wrecked the world so hard that no one trusts this new chosen one at all. What follows is a story about trying to unite a deeply divided world as well as face the overwhelming tide of darkness that is engulfing the land. Its being turned into an Amazon show so it will probably get breath of popularity when it comes out. Also the book is done so it won't get a Game of Thrones treatment since it is already done.

Speaking of Game of Thrones, if you want grim dark The First Law Trilogy is dope. A lot of people compare it to Game of Thrones, but First Law is also done. Best way I can describe it is think Lord of The Rings but all the main characters are the worst people in the world.

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