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TBA 11: Shadow of Ullanor


veterannoob

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Rob Sanders is MIA so I need a guest to discuss this with me on Combat Phase, an episode that will air the 2nd or 3rd week of January. So many BL interviews still to release. Anybody read it, liked it (mostly) and unafraid to do a Skype interview on a show with a passable command of English (which, c'mon, is all of youtongue.png)?

Guy will return for book 12 Beheading to air in February to wrap up the TBA series. Thanks!

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Haha, the "liked it (mostly)" part is what rules me out by default. I thought it was candidate for the worst in the series and overall disappointing. These are not the positive vibes you are looking for.

Heh, understandable. But thanks for understanding what I'm going for. Criticism is one thing but I don't want to bash another book again on the show. Turns people offmsn-wink.gif Cheers and happy holidays!

By any chance, did you get dried strawberries at a Weihnachtsfestvals?? (Did I completely butcher that?laugh.png ) I frequented the one in Potsdamer Platz fo dried fruit and mulled wine--perhaps a bit too much. Miss it.

It's Weihnachtsmarkt. msn-wink.gif

You were in Berlin? Hopefully not where the truck hit the market.

Nah, this was several years ago. I want to go back so bad. Got to take the trip south to Frankfurt, see old friends, see where I was a lad at Ramstein Air Force Base, go to and get suddenly cast in Rocky Horror Picture Show in Heidelburg, then the rest of the 5-month semester was kinda a benderlaugh.png Especially for the students under 21 who could suddenly drink.

I don't remember disliking it necessarily, just thinking that it was a product of where BL's editorial/lore team wanted it to go. could give it a once over again and give you my thoughts it you want. what's your us timezone? I'm in pst

It just felt like a rehash of The Last Son of Dorn, just with the victory result instead. It left out characters left and right, made factual errors (like Zerberyn lamenting the lack of Librarians in his forces when Honorius was a thing before and after, or talking about the Holy Ordos), had many inconsistencies it did not address at all (the Phalanx specifically), and completely failed to make something off of the 6 Beasts situation - only one was relevant and the rest died supposedly off-screen. The big fight was also very, very similar to that from The Last Son of Dorn..

On top of that, it also had the Deathwatch catch another two psykers off-screen, even though it was explicitly stated before that they had to pull off all captures simultaneously because once the Beast and co got tipped off to what they're up to, their psykers would be heavily guarded and out of reach. Bohemond's oath of vengeance was also left out and he got utterly sidelined.

That's not really the problem if you ask me. The coordination simply flopped. Writing books out of order and changing direction is an issue, but the faults weren't down to any particular author. The problem was at the editorial level. Those inconsistencies should have been dealt with by somebody with project oversight directly. There's bound to be something slipping through sometimes, but Shadow of Ullanor has so many instances of that, I have to wonder who managed the project at that point and greenlit the novel to follow on from The Last Son of Dorn that way.

Agree with comments above. SoU in itself is not a bad book (if pretty short) but it had the problem of following the awesome LSoD with way way too many plot similarities. I think Guymer hot it out of the park and clearly had similar ideas to Sanders but there was insufficient time to change SoU to not be so repetitive of the previous book.

 

I have said on other threads that IMHO the series as a whole would actually have worked better as a 10 book series. If you combine the story elements of LSoD and SoU into a single book and also combine EotLW with tHfV it would have been cracking series...instead of a good series with some awesome books and a few weaker books.

 

Oh and WiD needed to be longer and the task/quest harder!

In my eyes, the series needed a 13th book. The Beheading ends very abruptly and the fall of Vangorich and co needed to be explored, not skipped between chapters. Then there's the whole mopping up of the situation and the various chapters assembling to pick new High Lords after that phase of anarchy.

 

I fully expected the epigraph "Fire sputters" to be a quote from Rogal Dorn and later re-stated by Thane after the whole thing was over. Instead it just ended because Guy had to cram too many things into that final book because the groundwork was missing - or the pages, you be the judge.

In my eyes, the series needed a 13th book. The Beheading ends very abruptly and the fall of Vangorich and co needed to be explored, not skipped between chapters. Then there's the whole mopping up of the situation and the various chapters assembling to pick new High Lords after that phase of anarchy.

 

I fully expected the epigraph "Fire sputters" to be a quote from Rogal Dorn and later re-stated by Thane after the whole thing was over. Instead it just ended because Guy had to cram too many things into that final book because the groundwork was missing - or the pages, you be the judge.

Exactly what DC said.  The Beheading only flaw was a timejump with which we lost the most interesting part of Vangorich corruption and road to hell paved with good intentions.

Hmm yes the time jump was jarring. Personally I would have been happy without that last section. Just finish with Vangorich assuming power leaving it open for a related but separate trilogy (after all the fluff has something like 100 years of anarchy following the Beheading that is finally resolved by a huge 50 chapter force led by the Ultramarines...I think)

Hmm yes the time jump was jarring. Personally I would have been happy without that last section. Just finish with Vangorich assuming power leaving it open for a related but separate trilogy (after all the fluff has something like 100 years of anarchy following the Beheading that is finally resolved by a huge 50 chapter force led by the Ultramarines...I think)

Indeed. Instead we get that horrible timejump, an abrupt ending and an epic battle in 1 page, with devil in the bush surprise - I'M BEAST CRULE!...

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