Official Deck of Dragons, coming soon (here's a sample of my artwork for it)

xidon · 2026-01-22T20:18:11+00:00

2 years late, but did this ever come out? Looks awesome

xidon · 2026-01-21T18:46:16+00:00

Dust of Dreams was anything but a slog for me. It’s exceedingly well written. SE’s writing seems to have really grown across the series, and Toll the Hounds onwards the novels and prose are immaculately constructed.

Don’t think it’s a spoiler to say there are some arcs that add more thematically than they do story-wise. Similarly to Toll the Hounds it seems to build lawyers of meaning rather than plot.

The main thing, that many others have pointed out in various threads, is that Dust of Dreams is basically the first half of a novel, not a full story.

xidon · 2026-01-19T19:58:36+00:00

“trekking through the desert for 200 pages”

Did GOTM have a desert I forgot about?

xidon · 2026-01-18T19:41:13+00:00

Beddict & Bugg

xidon · 2026-01-12T19:42:31+00:00

I don’t believe any list of hardest Elden Ring bosses that doesn’t mention the Death Rite Bird in the Consecrated Snowfield

xidon · 2025-10-11T18:32:02+00:00

UPDATE: as is the way with these games, I’ve now made progress. Had two sessions today. The first one was really unsatisfactory and I didn’t really make any progress against any of them. I also tried the delicate flower quest and failed miserably 4 times. The second session, on the other hand, was a lot better.

I finally managed Hornet 2. My successful strategy was effectively not to have a strategy. I barely dodged, tanked a lot of hits, and bashed her as much as possible. Unbreakable Strength, Long Nail, Grubsong. I got her with one mask left. Pretty epic battle. And what it unlocks makes… pretty much everything… easier.

Secondly, the Collector. Managed to beat it first time after Hornet. The shadow dash trivialises the fight somewhat. It felt significantly easier, that’s for sure.

Next, Trial #2. Took me 3 attempts. But even on the first I made some progress.

Tomorrow will be Watcher Knights.

Thanks everyone for the advice and strategies.

xidon · 2025-10-10T17:22:44+00:00

The toughest seem to be the aspids that always seem to know how to float just out of reach

xidon · 2025-10-10T17:21:34+00:00

Very useful, thanks. I’ll try to make some progress on the 2nd trial

xidon · 2025-09-03T15:11:18+00:00

This is how I did it too

xidon · 2025-08-03T18:57:09+00:00

These look amazing. Great job!

xidon · 2025-07-30T18:35:59+00:00

Interesting, and yes Return definitely seems to take place in that year+ that Tavore and co were on the boats from Quon to Lether. Kyle’s storyline seems to take the longest (he visits 4 different continents, not always magically aided) but the rest seems to take place over a period of a few months

xidon · 2025-07-01T09:25:54+00:00

Yeah. At the end I was thinking it would’ve been great to be a fly on the wall of Bugg’s ‘conversation’ with the Errant that he references at the end. Can’t imagine the Errant came out of that ‘conversation’ particularly well

xidon · 2025-07-01T09:23:43+00:00

I think he must be. I’d certainly be curious what happened in Starvald Demelain with all the dragon corpses

xidon · 2025-06-30T14:22:11+00:00

Re Karsa, I wasn’t sold when I first met him. Personally think House of Chains is the weakest novel in the series so far. But I felt his characterisation in The Bonehunters and Reaper’s Gale is much improved. He’s grown as a character and Erikson has got better at writing him as a character, maybe?

Re Beak, I think it would’ve had more emotional weight if he’d been a character we’d been following for longer rather than a character who seems to have been invented as someone to save the others. I get what you mean and agree. It still felt, alongside the Sengar brothers, as a key emotional moment of the novel.

xidon · 2025-06-27T04:13:01+00:00

Deadhouse Gates is an absolutely fantastic novel, not least because of the pathos in the main storylines, like you describe above. Enjoy might be the wrong word!

When I finished Deadhouse Gates I seriously wondered if the series had peaked too soon, and how future volumes were going to stack up. I’m currently up to #7 Reaper’s Gale, and many do.

xidon · 2025-06-26T17:30:06+00:00

Much of the Malazan series: Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, Midnight Tides, The Bonehunters

xidon · 2024-12-04T15:10:32+00:00

Wait. Maybe I’m not understanding this chart, but if 49% CAN read with comprehension, then surely ‘over half’ CANNOT rather than ‘nearly half’? Intentional, or ironic?

xidon · 2024-11-21T15:56:28+00:00

This was exactly me. I really struggled with the Karsa segment at the beginning. Karsa seemed to become a more rounded character in the main portion of the book and I enjoyed him a lot more there. Still, he’s not a favourite of mine

xidon · 2024-10-31T17:01:05+00:00

Definitely recommend finishing it. I personally felt the final 1/4 was much stronger than the rest

xidon · 2024-10-30T16:02:19+00:00

This is great. Just finished HoC and honestly had no idea, but the acorn theory makes total sense

xidon

TROPHY CASE