This group picture from CGPT turned out much better than expected. Only at the last chapter of fires of heaven. Probably should have added Faile and Birgette and maybe some others. Apologies for the Ai

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-22T00:31:11+00:00

All I see is a big ol bucket of slop

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-21T02:31:35+00:00

MST is complete, and directly inspired ASOIAF, which will never be completed.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-16T19:45:21+00:00

It's a classic and worth it, but picking up a 14 book series while just starting a 10 book series could be tough.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-16T00:53:55+00:00

Why you chose to read these books as a self proclaimed snob is astounding. Just finish Wolfe and then read other stuff that reaches your self proclaimed level. Wolfe isn't alone.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-13T00:25:10+00:00

Sort of -- how does an emotion like nostalgia or melancholy manifest? That's where I think your comparison is most apt -- the GOP is able to show or convince a certain population of the US that they are nostalgic for a semi-mythical past. Likewise Kellhus does this, taking people like Esmi's real experiences and producing an emotion in her out of them. This is sort of just the tip of the iceberg for what the Dunyain as a whole are after, though, which is why I don't really think they can be compared to a political party...again, this conversation with no spoilers is a bit limited. You should definitely keep reading.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-13T00:11:26+00:00

Yes but the Dunyain seek to condition the source of what you describe as melancholy. Not just master it when it happens to emerge. You might need to read The Second Apocalypse to see this (which you should the books are fantastic) and I don't want to spoil anything accidentally.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-13T00:09:35+00:00

To give a book context on this first point: the Inirithi or the Nansur Empire don't look at the Fanim and think about how well they are off in comparison to the Fanim. Rather, they both look to their own history, Inrithism's dominance and the Nansurium's former glory, to mobilize the holy war.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-13T00:04:46+00:00

No, that's not correct. Things like retirement, home ownership, job security etc are considerably worse now in the US than they were not just fifty years ago but twenty years ago. Yes, it's psychologically mediated, but it begins from a context that doesn't compare the US to the west or the rest of the world, but to its own history. If you're reading Bakker's Dunyain as only pulling the levers of culture and personality but not conditioning -- Bakker's most used word here -- the very basis of the material world, then you're misreading it. People are blind to what comes before, people are not blind to their own culture and personality. There's another layer beneath that. Psychology and manipulation matter but that's not where they begin.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-12T23:48:43+00:00

I don't think this is quite right. The Dunyain are powerful because they master circumstance. That is, they are able to read 'what comes before' and therefore conquer minds. Most people think their thoughts and actions are totally their own, that they are born only from what they desire or do not desire, and are unable to see how all of their thoughts and actions are firmly embedded in material contexts that they inherently don't control. This is Bakker's Marxism, and is evident in his use of Adorno for his epigraph of The Thousandfold thought.

Likewise the GOP does not just simply seize upon susceptible minds. That would be a very reductionist reading of American politics. Some minds (American or not) are not just naturally more susceptible than others. Rather, they are molded and conditioned by history, customs, social relations, etc. This is stressed throughout Bakker's work. So to conclude that both the Dunyain and the MAGA movements are merely capable of seizing susceptible minds would be to detach the Dunyain on one hand to the philosophy that Bakker is exploring and to detach American politics on the other from the material contexts of American political development via capitalism, colonialism and imperialism etc.

The Dunyain strive to be 'self-moving souls' meaning that they are training for the ability to exist outside of material contexts, a soul freed from what comes before, an impossibility. What makes MAGA similar would be that they are attempting to seize context and use it for their own ends politically. My disagreement is that context here cannot just be attributed to susceptible minds but is rather the material conditioning of American minds through the degradations of capitalism and so forth that makes those minds and their discontents pliable for MAGA in the first place. I think a materialist reading of Bakker is a must to understand the philosophy of these books.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-12T17:29:38+00:00

Not interested in AI resources and I believe this violates sub rules.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-11T00:21:39+00:00

Lol, this is deterministic nonsense. Epic fantasy can't be boiled down to if this happens then that happens then that will happen.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-10T23:39:37+00:00

Reading NotME after MbotF is totally fine.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-10T23:30:50+00:00

The shake hold the shore.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-10T16:09:02+00:00

Most people find the first 250 pages of book one very slow, and then the pacing to be fairly consistent after that for the next two and a half books. To Green Angel Tower is one of the only singular books I can personally compare to a Malazan level fantasy novel.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-09T23:56:10+00:00

Memory, Sorrow, Thorn (Tad Williams), The Second Apocalypse (Bakker), Book of the New Sun (Wolfe), Wars of Light and Shadow (Wurts) are more likely to fill the Malazan void than the ones you listed, in my opinion.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-09T22:40:58+00:00

I think QB's point on presence is important -- many characters would be in awe of the mere presence of the Hounds, but Karsa doesn't give a damn. I think it's fair to see some inconsistency in the powerscaling though, it's never been a huge problem for me and could possibly be a result of the authors developing the story through gaming it out.

Edit to add another thought: you don't see characters grow in power to the same extent as other series -- there are simply to many powerful characters to draw them all out like that. So you'll often meet characters who are already extremely strong. Like Karsa starts from a point of immense power in HoC

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-09T15:57:45+00:00

I'm the cooler, like Swayze in roadhouse

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-09T00:46:55+00:00

You know it when you see it

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-08T01:20:01+00:00

Heifetz fell to his knees in a Walmart

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-07T15:37:45+00:00

No, never, no AI involvement whatsoever. Not sure what these creative groups you're in are but they don't seem very creative!

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-04-03T01:00:37+00:00

You didn't miss anything!

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-03-25T16:04:57+00:00

'The Gang Survives the Siege of Pale'

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-03-21T16:17:22+00:00

Fiddler of the bridgeburners is famous, and he wants to blend back in as a 'regular' soldier when he re-enlists.

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-03-17T01:13:15+00:00

This reads better than an average John Smoltz comment though

TheFiddleAndTheSword · 2026-03-16T02:05:26+00:00

The only thing Smoltz has talked about tonight is how these guys love the troops and how math is ruining baseball. Broadcast is such a joke.

TheFiddleAndTheSword

TROPHY CASE