nicoreads - Tumblr blog

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i’ll only make a couple of characters and they’ll all have something important to do with each others plot!

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guys

guysguysguys

I FOUND THE NAME CHART AGAIN

and I’m about to head off to 10 days vacation so when I come back, steel yourselves for spam!

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1 - When Last Sounds

aw man that intro. it has been a while, hasn’t it… gninnigeb, hello again. where are you going to carry us this time?

oof. starting out with a sulphur hurricane. that certainly bodes well for everyone involved, right? right?

oh my god i’m so out of it. maybe i should have read my old entries to catch back up… right. egwene and leane are captured, everyone thinks they’re dead, she hasn’t gotten a dream message out yet? i think? oh right she did get one to siuan. okay. proceed.

aw siuan. so petty. really? you’re ruining poor gareth bloody bryne’s shoes? that’s just immature. remember you being leader of the aes sedai? that was something that happened… oh well, i guess it’s nice to relive your teens now that the responsibility is gone, eh? aw maaan i want my list i totally don’t remembered who is untrustworthy anymore… except for sheriam. i do remember her plight. IS LELAINE EVIL oh god i forgot everything why did i take such a long break o.o

cross arms under breasts counter: 15 / 2

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so. i think i’m back again. sorry about the very long break, but life was happening and in addition to actually getting gigs for my chosen profession (seriously. acting? what the hell was i thinking.) but anyway - as a summer of doing a job that is not as fun but does earn me money to, you know, live, looms ahead, i find myself drawn again to the Books Of Noteable Girth.

i can’t find the namechart anymore though. i’m doomed, aren’t i.

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Why did you stop liveblogging WoT? Have you taken a break from reading it? i know it's a gigantic series, I wouldn't blame you if you did. But you're so close to the end! The last four books woosh by! The story threads long forgotten get pulled back into the pattern and SO MUCH awesomeness happens! I hope you haven't given up when you're this far in and so close to the end! Love your blog, btw. my likes are from this act but my reblogs all go to thewindwasabeginning. yay sideblogs.

hello sweetie! gosh you’ve given my activity quite a spike in the past few days, I’m flattered ^^

and yes I’m taking a bit of a break. I’ve bingeread most of the series in a relatively short time and felt like I needed some time away with other authors. not to mention my days have been kinda cluttered lately - I actually came back onto tumblr for a little bit today because I was thinking of restarting again soon and was greeted by all your sweet comments : )

so, I will continue. that much is certain. maybe even relatively soon.thanks for being a darling, and I’m glad you enjoyed yourself reading my ramblings!

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How To Tell If You Are In A High Fantasy Novel

[via The Toast]

The Elders would like a word with you.

The Ritual is about to begin.

Something that has not happened in a thousand years is happening.

You are going to the City. There is only one City. It is only said with a capital C. No one needs to bother saying the name of the City. It is the City.

Certain members of the Council are displeased with your family’s recent actions.

A bard is providing occasional comic relief; no one hired or invited him and his method of earning a living is unclear.

The High Priest is not to be trusted.

Someone is eating an apple mockingly.

There is one body of water. It is called the Sea. The Great Sea, if you are feeling fancy.

You live in a region with no major exports, no centralized government, no banking system, a mysteriously maintained network of roads, and little to no job training for anyone who is not a farmer.

You have red hair. You wear it in a braid. Your father was a simple man, and you don’t remember much about him – he died when you were so young – but you remember his strong hands, as he fished or carpentered or whatever it was that he used to do with them.

You’re going to have to hurry, or you’re going to miss the Fair – and you never miss the Fair.

There is trouble at the Citadel.

Your full name has at least one apostrophe in it.

It is the first page, and you are already late for something. Your mother affectionately chides you as you gulp down a few spoonfuls of porridge; she will be dead by page forty-two.

There are two religions in your entire universe. One is a thinly veiled version of Islam. It is only practiced by villains. The other is “being a Viking.” You are a Viking.

There are new ways in the land that threaten the Old Way. Your grandmother secretly practices the Old Way, as do all of the people of the hills.

The real trouble began the day you arrived at court. Every last nobleman hides a viper in his smile. How you long for the purity of life in your village, which is currently on fire or something.

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Inspired in the wot liveblog of the lovely #neuxue (you guys should follow her if you aren’t already)

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Knife of Dreams

Prologue - Embers falling on Dry Grass

oh my gosh it’s galad. HI honey! how long’s it been? of all the people to start with - oh. OMG TRIAL BY COMBAT let me get the popcorn real quick I LOVE trials by combat no matter which direction they go wow valda is an asshole. I guess he’s trying to make galad angry to goad him into doing something rash, but still. what a douche. GO GALAD GO AWESOOOOOME so. speaking of skyrocketing through the ranks - is galad effectively commander of the WCs now? I gotta say I like how he treats his men; giving them free choice on if they want to follow his new radical outlook of “seriously guys there’s bigger shit to do than stalk aes sedai who would be of help during the apocalypse” oh wait - he’s with the seanchan that were hunting the aiel that perrin is stalking, yes? that means they might ally with perrin. that would be amazing. but I’m guessing they’re probably going to leave for WC civil war instead soon.

oooooh it’s the Huralde guy! the little wolf is back and being badass! haven’t seen him since the last book’s prologue if I remember correctly?

and shit, it’s Liandrin. Liandrin with Suroth. IS suroth a darkfriend? that would suck - oh shit she is. well. yay.  and she has the dragonholding mcguffin too.  SEMIRHAGE! oh bloody hell... seandar in chaos? the empress dead? how could a country filled with as many rigidly honorbound and prideful people as the seanchan be reduced to chaos so quickly? or did all the rigid ones get sent overseas? or is the rigidity only something the highborn have and the common folk don’t give a shit? whatever the case, the things going on in Suroth’s brain now are fascinating. in the end, powerhungriness and greed trumps all, but the amount of effort it took before it won over the respect and worship the empress gets was kind of amazing. HOW did this culture collapse so quickly? did it at all? is it even important? what is life?

oh my goodness perrin captured galina.  it is fascinating to see perrin through someone else’s eyes.  dammit RJ, why are you making me feel sympathy for galina? it’s only a tiny little bit but it’s there, and that takes some doing. therava is terrifying. 

EGWENE! also hello nicola, so that’s where you went. right to elaida. pff. she’s gonna play a major role later on at some point, isn’t she... otherwise she wouldn’t be mentioned so often.  at least I get the cuendillar plan now. good way of blocking the harbor, I approve of this a lot. didn’t think turning it into cuendillar would have fused the chains, but good thing that it did. that’s a fine pickle they’ve got egwene in. mild forkroot and shielding at night. very smart. I hope leane turns out to be okay : ( egwene is being so badass. I love it.

this was an excellent prologue.

cross arms under breasts counter: 15 / 1

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kellyclowers

>blue knockout arrow? (that’s never gonna be explained, is it) What is that about? I don’t remember any blue knockout arrows??

oh crap I’m actually gonna go back and look for it aren’t I.... gimme a sec. cause that’s a thing that still bugs me.

Crown of Swords, chapter 24. “ Blinking, she turned away angrily. And something struck her a glancing blow on the back of  the head. Staggering, she rounded on Elayne in astonishment. Why had the woman hit her? Only, Elayne lay in a heap, eyes closed and a nasty purple lump rising on her temple. Groggily, Nynaeve fell to her knees and gathered her friend into her arms. [blah blah bystanders being nosy] Her head still swam enough to make embracingsaidar difficult, but if all those nattering folk had not fueled her temper, what she saw lying in the street would have. An arrow with a blunt stone head. The one that had grazed her or the one that had struck Elayne.”

oops. blunt, not blue. STILL.

I don’t THINK that was ever resolved. then again, I might have skimmed over it. any of you guys know?

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+

that general from arad doman who’s gonna fight some seachan those mysterious murders and attempted murders that COULD be Isam/Luc the Slayer but I doubt he’d leave anyone even remotely alive so perhaps someone else gawyn tuon’s deathwatch guards 50 bloody darkhounds food spoilage and all that fun stuff ghosts? zombies? whatever that stuff is? waygates and all that crap inside them egwene getting knocked out and being ?betrayed?taken prisoner? fuck if I know.

women/men are weird/odd/complicated/incomprehensible counter: 6 this time, staying nice and low! alltogether 49 now, not including the first four books. cross arms under breasts counter: slightly up, at 3. now at 15.

Crossroads of Twilight Summary

seals still breaking/cuendillar crumbling tower still split whitecloaks (plus whatever galad’s up to) seanchan FAIN oh and gaidal’s supposed to have been reincarnated, right? black ajah shenanegans the darkfriends within the asha’man, also logain MASEMA THE GODDAMN PROPHET gholams elayne still doesn’t have the crown all of rand’s emotional problems / sickness and whatever cadsuane can do against it blue knockout arrow? (that’s never gonna be explained, is it) whatever the borderland leaders are planning VERIN shaido running around everywhere, now with 100% more oath rod Sevanna taking Faile captive frickin arangar leeching off egwene Masema the goddamn prophet upcoming attack on Caemlyn mat kidnapping the highest seanchan noble here and befriending another who’s a wanted… er… criminal in their eyes adeleas’ murderer still at large elayne’s darkfriend captain of the bodyguard dreamworld spies! one of them looking like a relative of rand’s! whoever noal charin is and if we can trust him dragonleash mcguffin in suroth’s hands Isam/Luc the Slayer Aludra the fireworks lady

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kellyclowers replied to your post “Epilogue”

I wouldn't say it is disappointing at all.

okay maybe dissapointing was the wrong word. it’s more like... it wasn’t a finale. this entire book is only setup for future happenings. all the others had at least one storyline that went through the book end ended in a finale. this book? nothing of the sort. which I suppose has its place, but if there’s one thing I really don’t like about RJ’s writing style is that his pacing of the story just... isn’t my thing. I guess I’m too used to being served crisp clean short dishes that I’m not used to the things that can happen in longer series?

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Epilogue

just egwene being all plotty and secretive ad riding somewhere

EGWENE what ARE you doing?! where are you going? what is The Plan? can you stop pussyfooting around the issue and TELL us? 

I’m at a loss. so there’s a boat and the aes sedai that were quickest in turning iron into cuendillar, but what does that mean? what possible benfit would turning the harbor’s chain into cuendillar have to anyone at all?

so basically, she’s doing something. I guess. and

wait

what

...

THAT WAS IT?! REALLY, RJ?  You knock her out and that was IT??

most. dissapointing. finale. ever.

I’m sure the prologue of the next book will make up for it, but in the meantime... FUCK. and assorted other curses.

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30 - What the Oath Rod Can Do

wtf is halima DOING? 

is sHe just killing randomly because sHe can? or is there a design to this? is sHe just getting less careful because all the happy over saidin being clean now and not technically needing the dark lord’s protection? does sHe know that the aes sedai can detect male channelling residue now? could this be an attempt to make them especially leery of ashaman?

egwene... whaaat are you doing

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29 - Something Flickers

whoa mat just almost ran into three ghosts? they seem to be a regular appearance now, although from what the so harbor people said I thought the ghosts would be visible to everyone and somehow related to people there, not three random figures mat didn’t know and tuon couldn’t see. looking forward to learning the rules to this.

aaaah a bloody traitor! dammit renna, what was that about? aside from making sure the circus people now know they’re harboring at least one aes sedai - but that’s a plot standpoint, not a reason for renna. oh well. damage done. and she’s dead now anyway.

I want more tuon pov chapters. the fact that we’re in mat’s head watching her just ends up in the reader being as confused about her as mat is and I want answers to her motives, bloody hell.

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28 - A Cluster of Rosebuds

lol mat and tuon. SUCH a weird start to a relationship. I would call stockholm syndrome dysfunctional if it wasn’t so clear that tuon apparently WANTS to be where she is and is following some plan of her own. anyway. mat m'dear, egeanin is RIGHT THERE. why didn’t you ask her about seanchan courtship rituals and just generally about their customs? your blunders really are your own fault, honey.

okay, I like the idea of flowers made of fabric, that is really really cute.

dammit RJ! you tell us tuon made a demand, mat accepted and the dice stopped but not what the demand was? you just end the chapter? so mean.

women/men are weird/odd/complicated/incomprehensible counter: 43 / 6

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27 - What Must Be Done

omg I just realized: there’s a “man in white” in berelain’s future according to min, yes? so… up to now I just always assumed that would be galad, but now we have this poetic situation in which berelain is chasing perrin while faile is being persued by rolan… I mean he’s not in white NOW but if, I mean, WHEN perrin takes the city he could be taken gaishan and those two would be lovely with each other. all the problems solved. in a narrative causality kind of way.

okay back to plot! gross food bugs notwithstanding, 5 prisoners are good news, let’s get the party started!

holy. fuckin. shit. omg perrin. that was SMART. I’m going to have to remember this strategy for D&D. the threat of being a cripple is probably one of the very very few things that would get through to aiel…

elyas is a treasure. and perrin is too. I really do love the reluctant hero trope and how differently it affects mat and perrin. and that perrin is so very aware of how the things he’s doing might affect him endears him to me even more.

he’s LEAVING the axe? but… what will he use instead now? swords that he doesn’t have the training to wield?

ooh ooh ooh tallanvor!! OOOOH. yes, the seanchan are a GOOD way to kick shaido ass! good soldier boy. all the alliances with seanchan!

cross arms under breasts counter: 12 / 3

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25 , 26 - When to Wear Jewels, In So Harbor

25

perrin!

26

“how can we be sure you’re not dead” whaaaa… are there zombies now? the description if this place sure gives me the creeps.

okay, not zombies, but… ghosts. da fuq?

oh right we had this before, didn't we? when elayne was doing her tour, the scared maid thought she saw a dead relative? hm.