Toll the Hounds

With all due respect to Wert's (and pat's) reviews, I do not see this book as slow. I think it works very well as a standalone book (just with many things you learn in earlier books not re-explained, obviously), hence why some might call it slow, I think... it's not a typical mid-series book, certainly. Personally I see this as yet another demonstration of the astonishing depth and detail of Erikson's books. There are threads and storylines that were set up way back in Gardens of the Moon and Memories of Ice that haven't been revisited since that are suddenly major parts of the book. These extra arcs aside from the main storylines are what makes tMBotF so damn good :D
 
Whereas I agree with Pat and Wert that it's slow. Too slow. In fact, I'm struggling to give much of a toss about the series any more... which is a massive shame, because until the Bonehunters, it was by far the best thing I'd ever read.

And he still can't let dead men stay dead. Even when he says he will.
 
Wellll... those that are dead still aren't really alive in TtH, are they? The obvious like
Toc
and
Whiskeyjack under his real name
are still technically dead.

I don't think the first is actually coming back alive, either, but is rather an animated corpse more than anything.

You've got to give him credit for killing off a few characters which I really didn't think would die until they did (especially the really big death... well, both of the really big deaths, actually).

Do we know yet whether
Hedge
was the one Erikson said would be the last, if he was the penultimate? If the latter is the case, then I'm very hopeful for
Kalam
.
 
Just because they're dead, it doesn't stop them walking around and talking and getting involved, does it? So the fact that they're technically dead (or that they have a new name, Jesus) actually has very little to bear.

It cheapens the time and any emotional investiture the reader put into that character's death in the first place if death actually means very little. I think that's one of the reasons that the death towards the end lacked the impact of Whiskeyjack's. Who cares if "insert character" is dead? How many times have people died in this series only to come back (in some form) two books later? And even if Erikson comes out and says that "insert character" is staying dead... well, he's said that before, hasn't he?

I'm not saying the book was bad, only that it was slow (650 pages of slow) and lacked the punch of earlier books. I'm not even disappointed any more, 'cos it was still better than Reaper's Gale and I expect the last two books to be pretty run of the mill as well.
 
Ah well, at least some of us still enjoy it. People seem to think that because his books have some awesome crash-bang-wallop in them, that it needs to be that the whole time.

Meh, I can't agree.
 
I don't think the whole book needs to be crash-bang-wallop, but 650 pages of snail's pace is a lot of snail's pace. He should balance it out more, spread it throughout.

Think of MoI - that was a big book, and it had two major set-pieces. One in the middle (Capustan) and one at the end (Coral). TtH has one, at the end. It made the rest of the book somewhat dull.
 
Why is it a silly comment? It's what I thought of the book. The majority of it was slow, and dull. We obviously disagree about the book, but there's no need to say I'm making "silly comments".

I am a big fan of Erikson's. But I do believe that his series is bleeding away, and it's nowhere near the heights it once reached.
 
Kruppe to me is steven Eriksson's jar-jar-bing. Really annoying at times. But then I haven't read the latest book, and I intend to take my time.
 
He is a hack so my expectation of this book is perhaps more honest and true than what some of you lesser opinioned people might puke onto various forums about genius and talent. He is just Terry Brooks but with a little more about him. Glen Cook's Black Company is worth a read for those suffering yet another long drawn out epic fantasy slush. He does not have the skill or artistry of Erikson but he has a far greater imagination than most other writers out there. It was not enough that Erikson mentioned Cook as being an inspiration, he should have apologised to the man and set fire to all of his books before throwing himself upon it.

I will read this book once I have read all of Cook's works.
 
Broken record much?

If you can't get over this Lacey, then go and puke your opinion on people who care about it.

Incidentally, I mentioned to Steve that he has been called a Cook hack, and he laughed, but said he would consider that title an honour. Ah well...
 
Anomander said:
Kruppe to me is steven Eriksson's jar-jar-bing. Really annoying at times. But then I haven't read the latest book, and I intend to take my time.
Click to expand...


I thought that at 1st but no mate Kruppe is awesome,

Great book really really enjoyed it have to say one of his best so far, almost can't get over the end.

Naaaaa mate he not that much like Glen Cooke I have to say I have enjoyed black company and read them, off the back of Erickson talking about him, but they a different read I feel, although Black Company is cool.
 
I cant believe people got this book before the release date! Why do amazon always send it to me on or after!!

Green said:
I don't think the whole book needs to be crash-bang-wallop, but 650 pages of snail's pace is a lot of snail's pace. He should balance it out more, spread it throughout.

Think of MoI - that was a big book, and it had two major set-pieces. One in the middle (Capustan) and one at the end (Coral). TtH has one, at the end. It made the rest of the book somewhat dull.
Click to expand...

Rane Longfox, i agree with you regarding this comment. It can be said that there are two types of people in the world: those who like erikson, and those who do not. Needless to say that people who do not like erikson would/should not read his books, and so all reviews are from people who like him (if not, the word contradiction comes to mind). That said, I have come across reviews from people stating that they have scan-read this book because it is 'sooooo' slow and boring, but give it a bad review. And there is people's mistake. There is such much information in those 'slow' chapters that if you pay attention, it should keep your, ahem, attention.

This seems to be the case with Green. Like i said: so much information to keep you going until the end. For example (SPOILERS): gruntle's entrance and the implications. Am I the only one who is wondering about his capabilities. Then theres Kruppes scene with Baruk, the moon, bridgeburners, the dead segulah (not to mention the alive ones).

There is as much going on in this book as there is in the others, if you but look. It leads me to think that people like Green didnt give this book the attention it deserves/warrents, and indeed are only in it for the 'crash-bang-wallop'.

Oh and 'The Black Company' books are soooo good.
 
So the reason I didn't like it is because I didn't give it the attention it deserves? Thanks for clearing that up for me.
 
Well it seems that way. You are a fan of erikson, yes? So I can only surmise that you rushed the first bit of the book in your haste to finish? I apologise if I am wrong, however I found that (and I took my time reading it) there was plenty in the first three quarters of this book to keep the reader interested.

In your defence: I suppose it didnt help that previews compared this to MOI, which is anything but slow paced.
 
On trial? How melodramatic. How about explaining WHY you think it is slow instead of stating it. It is just I struggle to fathom why up to the Bonehunters you thought it was the best series you had read, only for the following books to have so utterly broken your liking of Erikson's series.

You do make a good point about the dead not being dead though, that tends to happen alot in fantasy nowadays. Erikson should take Martin's lead on that front.
 
[FONT=&quot] I have studied the maps then read the Dramatis Personae. So many of my favourite characters have returned, says Rosie, including that 'little round man'! :D

Now if you will excuse me, I have a book to read :cool:


[/FONT] [FONT=&quot][/FONT]
 
Trying again. It's driving me to distraction the POV shifts every two to three pages, and there are so many POVs.
 
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