Dude I always like very much your videos. You are very good to unraveling stuff that is difficult to spot. I will not spoil the series but some of your ideas are really spot on. We will see how this will turn up. You also mentioned Bakker's greatest writing skill in my opinion. His uncanny ability of choosing the perfect select words to describe stuff. Especially abstractions, immensities, dread, awe, weirdness etc. He is the master of that. Inrilatas, Nil'Giccas and the White Luck Warrior were big highlights for me in this book. Such great, original presences. Such great writing and ideas behind these three characters. I cant wait for your video of the last two books. I weird to see what details will you spot on them. They are much darker than the rest and really weird. Especially the Great Ordeal. But they are my two favourite and most powerful reading experiences
Thanks, man. I'm so excited to see how The Aspect-Emperor will end, but I'm also looking forward to reading the appendices just as much. I still read The Thousandfold Thought's appendix every now and then to refresh my memory, and I just know TUC's will be jam packed with even more history and lore.
Awesome review my man. Inrilatas is one of my all time favorite characters. I think he is Kelhus with out restraint. I also read Men at Arms as a palate cleaner after reading TWLW. lol. The Great Ordeal is the one I still think about the most and I can't wait to hear your thoughts. I'm planning my first reread of this series before the end of the year because I feel this is a series that one can reread and find so many things they've missed after the 1st read. Cheers.
Same! I loved every single scene that Inrilatas was in. I couldn't help it, and started reading The Great Ordeal along with Men at Arms lol That's good to hear, man! I already know I'm missing quite a lot in Sorweel's chapters in TGO. 😂
What timing! I just finished this book earlier this week, and I’m having a book hangover. “Love is for lesser souls” broke me. I don’t know why I thought that maybe Kellhus cared for Esmenet in some small, subtle, Dunyain-weird way, but that hope was crushed. Great hearing your overview thoughts!
Tell me about it! I couldn't help myself so I immediately started the next one. 😭 Kellhuss is so tough to figure out especially without his POV chapters. One moment he seems so capable of caring for others, and then the next, pure indifference, as if he's one of the 100.
@@hewhospeaksoftales Wow! What an interesting theory! 😮 Sorweel asked Moenghus some interesting questions about whether the gods can be wrong, and whether they can be deceived. On the one hand, you have these Dunyain who have 4D-chessed the heck out of everyone’s motivatons and future actions. On the other hand, there is constant conversation about the myth of certainty. I can’t wait to see where this goes!
@@Johanna_reads That's true! I can't wait to learn more about the nature of the gods in this world, and what that means for the judging eye. The story has so many layers!
Awesome review. People reading and discovering this series always brings a smile to my face Looking forward to The Great Ordeal. That book is...something and probably my 2nd favourite of the series.
Thanks! I wish more people would give the series a chance. It's truly one of the best fantasy series that I've ever read. I'm so excited for the next two!
I'll check it out soon! It has been recommended to be multiple times, so it must be something that's right up my alley. Moving it up my list for sure. Thanks!
I've been alternating between Aspect-Emperor and City Watch 😂. The Road is a fantastic novel, man. I appreciate you putting Swan Song on my radar, it sounds like something I would 100% read.
Great answers! My favorite for the year's The Spear Cuts Through Water. Though in two more weeks, after years of waiting, there's a new China Mieville to enjoy, so let's see . . .
I gotta get to The Spear Cuts Through Water soon! I’ve been hearing so many great things about it. Also, I haven’t read Mieville yet, but I might try Perdido some time this year.
@@hewhospeaksoftales nice! Both are books that are just built different. I'd love to see your take on The Spear Cuts Through Water, it's an incredible book. Mieville's more accessible by comparison.
I hated System Collapse. I went in excited for more Murderbot, but I got a book that feels like as though the series is spinning its wheels past its expiration date (Network Effect). Part of it probably had to do with me not knowing it essentially picks up nearly immediately after NE, so I was lost for a while. But, I kept asking myself, why is this book the one that gets the extra word count? It all felt like unnecessary padding. I might have been more charitable if the book had been 60-80 pages shorter. But, I felt like it wasted my time in general.
That's fair. NE was teasing a lot of potential interactions between characters that this book ultimately failed to deliver. I guess the corpo politics in here may set up the future books, but I just didn't find it interesting.
Nice stuff. I need to get to Aspect Emperor at some point - wanted to do it this year but I don't think I'm mentally ready for that anymore. Looking forward to your thoughts on Steven Brust, Vlad Taltos is one of the few remaining highly recommended series I have that I haven't gotten to as yet.
Take your time with Aspect Emperor, man. Definitely need the right head space for it. It's emotionally and mentally taxing, so I try to mitigate it by reading Pratchett in between 😂.
@@hewhospeaksoftales those two must be about as far across the spectrum in tone as you can get to experience at the same time, ha. Almost definitely leaving it for 2025 at this point.
I may say I love the little but suportive comunity you keep going on in here. Hope you just dont burn out by reading books, the rhythm the booktubers are follwing on their chanels is sick.
My ears were not ready for that intro 😂 I will forever maintain Carrot's the best dwarf in all of fantasy. Amy and Boyle in Terry's Body is something I can't unthink of now 😂 Glad you're enjoying Discworld! The humor varies wildly over the course of the different books, I suspect you're going to really love what he gets up to in the later books.
I had to take into account those exclamation points. 😂😂 I don't even know why I waited so long to start Discworld. I can't wait to rip through the City Watch series soon.
Do you mean you've only read the color of magic or guards, guards? Because I would say those first few books aren't as good as the rest of the series. If the latter, yes the entire nightswatch series is brilliant. It's absolutely worth it. My personal favorites are the Moist von Lipwig and Tiffany Aching series
To be fair in terms of the anger part....if theyre bound to a dragon (pure rage) it kinda makes sense why theyre going from 0 to 100. But yeah the other characters should have had more nuance to the anger
I read this when I took English (aka American) back in the 1980s. Now that I am retaking English I am stuck reading poorly written books like Ruined and Broke Back Mountain. I tad too filled with cliches and tropes.
The sheer amount of detail, imagery and richness he fits into one book is insane. I cry withcraft! This was also my first GGK novel. Then I read The Sarantine Mosaic and my mind was blown
GGK describes his stories as "historical fiction with a quarter turn to fantasy" in true GGK prose style, so that's how I describe them 😂 I've been watching out for your video on this since you mentioned it, glad you had fun with it! Sounds like you're really going to have a blast when you get to Tigana.
Sounds like Macbeth's on the horizon whether you accepted it yet or not 😂 Looking forward to your thoughts on Lions of Al-Rassan! That's probably my favorite GGK at the moment.
One thing the WoT fandom loves to do is make parody songs. This is one of the most Epic ones. (Spoilers through Lord of Chaos only) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mJbArV81Fmg.htmlsi=lq0Cos_03V2MDZNk
This one is my absolute favorite WoT Parody #LittleBoxes (Spoilers through Lord of Chaos only) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-As_c4JpQM7E.htmlsi=QQiFnRQvHOBELKR4
If you like those, I have the parodies from 2022 and 2023 sorted by Book Spoiler Level for first time readers. Have fun. 😊 youtube.com/@wotidolforfirsttimers?si=-Wmz4QuTbu6oczL3
I’m loving how much of the deeper story and character developments you’re picking up on. I have a feeling you’re going to enjoy playing around with the WoT Fandom.
There are 2 kinds of WoT fans. The book readers that don’t know how to pronounce anything and the audiobook listeners that don’t know how to spell anything. 😂 All reasonable pronunciations and spellings are generally accepted.
I consider Books 1-3 as the baby books. The kids are just such Kids. 4 is usually where people actually get hooked and is generally considered a favorite among fans. Just like you, while I was reading, I Needed to read more and find out what happens. I just Lived in the audiobooks for 3 1/2 months. I haven’t moved out yet. Thanks to Robert’s amazing foreshadowing, these are so much fun to reread. The characters and the stories have a lot of ups and down. You’ll constantly go back and forth between hating and loving them. That’s part of the fun.
True! I think I will appreciate 1-3 a lot more on a reread, especially Eye of The World. I love that about the characters, despite me ranting about them sometimes, they feel like real people. I'm 100% invested in their journey.
@@hewhospeaksoftales ranting about them and then switching to raving about how much you love them and then ranting again about minutes later is pretty standard for this series. Robert knew how to write some fun characters. Also, I’m excited you said “reread”. 😏
A quick heads up read very carefully Kelmomas parts; especially the voice in his head. Also any mention of Ajokli and the Daimos; a lot of people miss these references as they are focusing on other things but these are 2 of the most important concepts in the story. Also your right where something happens to Kellhus on the the Circumfrix; there is a reason we haven't had a Kellhus POV since this scene, Read carefully 'White Luck Warrior' has a lot of subtle clues for the rest of the story. Welcome to the Slog of Slogs.
I tried to finish this book, but I DNF'd it around 40% in. The dialogue and characters were my biggest issues with it, and it was something I couldn't get past. It's a debut novel that FEELS like a debut, but in all the wrong ways. Maybe I'll check the author out after this series is over and he has a new series coming out to see how his writing improved.
Awesome review as always. The dialogue situation sounds pretty terrible, not sure I could manage to get through it. Great to see someone not gushing all rainbows about this book, at least, makes it seem more realistic. I think this is one I'll have to chalk up to wait and see!
‘Serwe being a prop’. You hit the nail on the head without even knowing it. You shouldn’t read Serwe as a character; she is the tool Kellhus uses to control Cnaiur. Every character in the entire series is a prop for kellhus. The ones who ‘know’ what kellhus is doing and believe they have there own ‘free will’ are the ones most deceived. If only they knew their own Darkness that comes before…
Ayyooooo I just read Flowers for Algernon last month and it made me ugly cry.....snot bubbles and all. lol. The part in the video where you stop before getting into it's review is gold brother. I can see your like "damn I'm about to choke up again". I totally felt that part brother. Excellent, Excellent video man.
Lol it definitely has a lot of weight to it for such a short book. I had to regroup real quick, I had flashbacks of the sheer devastation this tiny book brought upon me lmao
The prologues are my biggest complaint it can be a bit much. When you listen to the audio books your like 2-4hrs in in some instances before anything starts and they are almost always a person you don’t immediately have any connection too. Makes each book start at a Slog until you get to the point it becomes relevant usually pretty far into the book proper.
2-4 hours on audio sounds rough. I feel like that would put me to sleep 😂. I like the world building that the prologues provide, but I agree that it can be a bit much. I had to fight through every prologue except this and the Lews Therin one.
Interesting how things I hated you liked and vice versa (such as Rand barely being in book 3 really limited my enjoyment as it felt like a pivotal time for his character and yet we only get a couple paragraphs from his POV in this time) I’m curious to see your thoughts on the series going forward.
Now that he is one my favorite characters, I think I would've also appreciated more POV chapters from the titular character. Thanks for watching these WoT videos!
Book 3 and 10 were my least favorites, 10 by far the worst but man it picks up again for the last 4 in the series. Love the black clover reference too.
Flowers for Algernon is in my top 10 of all time. It is incredible how such a short book can make you feel so much. I remember finishing the book and instead of picking up a new one right away like I usually do, I just kept thinking about it for a few days. And I still do years later since there are some scenes I remember clearly due to their emotional punch.
Great wrap up. I get the feeling about Flowers for Algernon, it's like a gut punch when you're at the end of it. Comedic with deep themes to discuss, sounds like you're looking for either Terry Pratchett or K.J. Parker! If Guards Guards doesn't work out for you, Parker might be a better bet. I'm having a blast with The Company from him right now.
Thanks for the recs! . I already own Guards Guards and The Engineer trilogy, so I'll probably attempt either one of those, but I'll definitely check out The Company.
It's interesting how you spoke of the prologues making it take longer to getting into the books. The prologues in this series around books 8 through 10 were originally ToR online WoT promotional teases, that came out months before release. They are some of the biggest reasons why I think people find those books so hard to get through, as they get crazy long. I would recommend just skim reading those sections the first time through, if they start to feel like they are dragging too much.
That's helpful to know. I'm really digging the prologues in books 6 & 7, mostly because of the Forsaken stuff. Good point. I'll keep that in mind if the prologues start to drag.
I like your theory about the healing not being fully effective. I'm never not going to use Harem Al'Thor moving forward now, lol. This is why I love watching your videos man. Dumai's Wells will always be one of the most insane fantasy sequences of all time. Awesome breakdown!
