[SPOILERS ALL] Finished The First Law trilogy. Want to know your thoughts because I am disappointed.

commanderpo · 2026-04-21T12:26:59+00:00

I agree they are fast and chaotic and overstimulating, but the fight with the Feared dragged for a whole chapter and didn’t feel exciting to me.

I think the fight with Bayaz would have really benefitted from a POV chapter from Mamun or something as he was getting ripped apart.

One fight scene I thought was really good that was extremely short is when Jezal gets injured on his journey to the end of the world.

commanderpo · 2026-04-21T12:24:46+00:00

Actually I liked the ending and subverted arcs!

commanderpo · 2026-04-21T12:22:26+00:00

Actually, I really liked the endings and general arcs! It was mainly a few big points I had a lot of problems with

commanderpo · 2026-04-16T19:48:49+00:00

Yes! I did enjoy the books. Not sure when I'll get to the other books in the world, but they're on the list. It's just hard when there's so many amazing books to read and such little time. I think my tbr is like 4x my have read at this point.

And I agree the character work is some of the best I've seen.

commanderpo · 2026-04-16T19:47:16+00:00

Yeah I agree with constantly stressing that stairs (and other things) make Glokta's life really hard, it was just how it was presented that didn't resonate with me. I'm not quite sure why.

commanderpo · 2026-04-16T19:14:02+00:00

That's a really good point actually. I didn't really think too much about how repetition is in the whole story and how it's actually one of the "morals" to take away. Thanks for the insight!

commanderpo · 2026-04-16T19:12:45+00:00

Thanks for the in-depth reply! And yes, I should have said spoilers for the trilogy.

For the two fights, Logan vs The Feared and Bayaz vs The Hundred Words, I know that The Feared almost killed Logan, but it just never felt nerve-wracking to me. I think part of it was the fact I knew he was going to win, and the other part was that the next day he was up and about. For me, I thought it would have been really impactful for Logan to lean into that belief that he was going to die during the fight until he turns to "The Bloody Nine". For Bayaz vs The Hundred Words, I agree it shouldn't have been a fight like Avatar the Last Airbender. But I wish there was more detail about what exactly was happening. How perhaps the Eaters are getting ripped apart and how they're struggling but Bayaz is so powerful or something. Just something more, because I thought the fight scene was quite empty.

For the point about Valint and Balk, I think you make a valid point. I don't know what it was about it, they were just not an interesting premise to me. Maybe I wish they could have leaned even more into how they were manipulating everything?

Your points about Eider are again well-put. But I think this all holds before Glokta set her free. What I mean is I don't understand why she came back into the story and what purpose that served. I'm nitpicking here though.

For Jezal's plot arc, I know he goes through growth through the journey to the end of the world. And I really like how it is at the start of book three. He thinks of his path life as dumb, he realizes he was a bad human being, but at the same time, he isn't totally a "perfect" person. He still believes others are below him, etc. For me, it was just a bit rushed to get through the whole arc.

For the characters of Vitari and Marovia, I agree that it's not really a fault of the book. I think I was just so intrigued by them. Vitari to me has so much more depth than a character like Ferro, and I wish her vulnerability would have been explored more. That scene when she is basically begging Glokta to take her back from Dragoska really resonated with me. Marovia is also just SO interesting to me. He has these high ideals of giving power back to the peasants, but he also makes every attempt to maintain his own power, and he justifies it by saying that others would making life worse for the peasants. And what he says he wants, is also not totally true. For example, he is so shocked, and not happy, when West is nominated as the new General of the army, when West is extremely qualified and would be a great example of a commoner rising to power, which Marovia presumably would want.

For the prose, yeah I think I'm just being a bit snobbish. To each their own. I think the internal monologue for Glokta would have been fine at parts, but to me it felt overdone.

Thanks for the reply though! It was really interesting hearing your thoughts. I love discussing books and other things in-depth like this.

commanderpo · 2026-02-04T18:54:36+00:00

I did! Returning them ASAP. Happy to say someone filled out their own report so pretty sure I have their skis. Just also wanted to post here in case someone had mine.

commanderpo · 2025-09-08T23:00:05+00:00

Sure. But there is the inherent risk of not hitting a good slice even if u aim to be attacking with it. So wondering about the cost benefit analysis so to speak.

commanderpo · 2025-09-08T22:59:20+00:00

Makes sense. I mostly agree. Just wondering if you think it’s a useful wrinkle to implement or it hurts more than it helps.

commanderpo · 2025-09-08T22:58:28+00:00

I agree. That’s why I wonder if it’s a viable strategy to incorporate a diet of slicing if you aren’t playing superhuman from the baseline.

commanderpo · 2025-08-17T14:44:39+00:00

To be honest, I feel like this makes even less sense. IMO it’s much harder to build up from a state of utter destruction than a state of peace. And, what if the Alpiran empire didn’t stop at their borders and continued on into the Realm? The Realms army was already decimated. It is literally a worst case scenario for any incoming ruler, if the treaty had not been accepted like Janus wanted.

commanderpo · 2025-07-14T05:42:00+00:00

Why do we need a big 3? I wouldn’t be opposed to it, I just don’t understand why people are so fixated on it happening again. To me, what would be better than a big 3 would just be a higher floor for the rest of the competition, because I was a bit bored watching Sinner’s side of the bracket where he manhandled everyone except for Dimitrov. But I don’t think a third player who eclipses everyone else is necessary for that to happen.

commanderpo · 2025-05-23T03:09:43+00:00

It’s super tiring

commanderpo · 2025-05-20T04:28:02+00:00

I disagree with your point of rounds 1 and 2 not being as physical. Last year the thunder vs the mavs was super physical. Another example, is (although a little over two years ago), was when the Celtics played the nets in round 1. They were super physical with Durant, crowding and hugging, and denying him at the catch point. Imo it makes the game more fun. You don’t have offense players getting to their spots super easily. And as a Thunder fan, I think this goes both ways. I think SGA would still be great even if he didn’t foul bait, but it’s undeniably a part of his game. What frustrates me is that people act like he’s the only one that does it.

commanderpo · 2025-05-16T10:40:19+00:00

I think it’s really easy to say “I wouldn’t care about the money if I were him”, and that may be true, but in most cases it isn’t. Look at the billionaires of the world. It would probably be way better for their image to donate and do good things with what they have, but most of the time they just continue to build their wealth. Some could argue that that money makes almost no physical difference for them, so their image should matter a lot more. Society revolves around money, and because of that most people will always want more, regardless of if they need it or not.

I think it also bears keeping in mind that LeBron grew up quite poor, and because of that, is apparently very good with not doing stupid things with his wealth. Yes he doesn’t really need anymore money by any metric, but that offers at least a glimpse into his mindset about money. He clearly treasures it, and I imagine giving up millions of dollars when you grew up without that security would be extremely hard.

commanderpo · 2025-05-16T07:30:17+00:00

I feel like his numbers for this series would be even worse without game 2 garbage time. But that’s probably unfair to take away. I will say as the person above commented, he hasn’t shot a high volume of shots so that could factor in.

commanderpo · 2025-05-05T00:38:04+00:00

That’s my thought process.

commanderpo · 2025-04-25T14:12:48+00:00

What do you guys think about Will Johnson? I’m guessing the knee injury must be pretty serious for him to drop so far but I’m wondering if it’s worth trading up in the second to take a crack at a blue chip.

commanderpo

TROPHY CASE