u/pfassina

Just finished RC, and that ending was unexpected.
I spent 2/3 of the book looking for shivers on every single corner!

At some point there was this thug without an Eye back in crease after they came back from the mountains, and I was 100% sure it was him, but it wasn’t making any sense!

Then when they get to the farm at the end, I knew that Shivers would be there, but it was Cosca! (Oh my… he’s dead!)

Finally, they arrive at square deal, and I knew that Shivers would find them, and he actually does! I look at the remaining pages, there is not enough pages for a fight! Joe would never rush such an important fight! What is going on? I don’t understand!!!!

And he smiles and goes away? What? What???

Oh wow!

I’m reading RC for the first time, and I just finished the chapter that Lamb admits to had felt joy to see the farm burning down.

That scene hit like a truck!

No spoilers beyond that!

Im around the midway point of the book, when Shy gets kidnapped by Cantliss. Please, no spoilers beyond that. This post also contains spoilers for the original trilogy, BSC, and TH.

Ok, so this has been a slow burn for me. I wasn’t very excited at the beginning, and I honestly got a little confused when we had so many new characters introduced in a relatively short amount of time.

The book’s premise isn’t very clear on my mind yet. While BSC explored the nuances of revenge and TH explored what it means to be a hero, I’m quite not sure yet what are some of the major themes in RC.

I can see some topics like escaping your past (Temple, Lamb, and to some extent Shy), and the hurdles in your way preventing you from becoming a better person, but other than that I’m still trusting Joe to deliver.

That being said, I’m curious to see how each character’s arc ends in this book. Especially Lamb. I’m also wondering whether we will learn more about what happened with Logen, so that he would become someone like Lamb.

At the end of BTAH, I was pretty much of the opinion that Logen was an unreliable narrator who despite seeing himself as the good guy, all his actions led him towards TB9. However, here we see him living as a peaceful lamb for decades (?), so something really changed from the last time we saw him to the events in RC.

Well, let’s see how this book ends!

I’ve read around a 1/3 of RC, and I’m having a trouble following all the characters in the Fellowship that Lamb and Shy join.

Is there any spoilers free character reference that I could use to quickly remind me who is who?

For reference, I’m just past the chapter where Temple proposes to write a contract to use Sweet’s name on the bridge they need to cross.

Losing around 1.1 lbs per week, I’m at 191 lbs, and aiming for 170 lbs. Almost no side effects other than the occasional heartburn or slower bowel movement.

Leaning to stay given that it is working for now.

What are your thoughts?

I heard before that TH was one of the favorites in the series for many people here, and now that I’ve finished it I can see why.

The pace, the characters, and story are all top notch. I also really enjoyed thinking through all the nuances about being a hero.

It goes beyond the cliche of “our heroes are someone else’s villains”, and gets into a much more personal level. Is there such a thing as being a hero? Is it even a good thing to be a hero? What is a hero after all?

Hero in this book almost feels like a terrible thing for you and all around you. The weight of a name, the blood cycle, the cheapness of life, the power games, are all the bread and butter of being a hero. Every character’s arc hammers this concept down.

Finree insults Gorst by calling him a hero. Black down dies by the weight of his name. Craw can’t find peace outside the black business, Calder finds out that heroes are just discardable pawns in the game of power, and beck performs what might be the only truly heroic act in the book by being a coward.

Amazing stuff. Looking forward to reading Red Country.

Edit: how could I forget about corporal Tunny? He, who has done everything in his power to not be a hero, but in end is a hero through and through.

We are traveling with a 18 mo toddler, and we are wondering what we should do regarding diapers.

Should we take all the diapers we will need with us? Are you able to buy diapers throughout the cruise?
If so, are prices reasonable?

Have you cruised with a baby/toddler recently? If so, did you bring all your diapers? Any tips on cruising with young ones?

I’m reading TH for the first time, and just read the “Spoils” chapter where Gorst and Finree look for Brock after the explosion at Osrung.

Oh my, the moment Gorst put his hand around Brock’s neck, I just had to stop reading for a while. I could see it coming at me, and at the same time I couldn’t believe it. It felt so natural, and so disgusting at the same time.

Gorst’s internal dialog is so crazy well done. Hard to believe we are seeing the same Gorst we got to learn about in the First Trilogy.

Please no spoilers beyond this point.

I currently have an rclone process that uploads backups to Google Cloud cold line storage, and I was hoping to simplify my process by using the native UniFi Drive offsite backup to cloud storage.

The closest in cost is AWS S3 Glacier IR, but I would need to upload it as that storage class for it to make sense. Does UniFi only uploads as S3 Standard? Any rumors on them adding more functionality on this?

Oof…

I don’t think I ever had constipation before. I’ve always had a very predictable bowl, going every morning to the bathroom, and sometimes 2 or 3 times a day to the despair of my wife.

I moved to 2.5 mg a week ago, and just started experiencing constipation for the first time.

Since I started foundayo I’ve been having a bowl of yogurt with chia, granola, and berries every morning to cover for fiber, and I try to have some additional portions of vegetables throughout the day, but with reduced appetite, I might not be getting enough.

Im worried that this might get worse. Anyone going through the same experience? How are you able to avoid or manage constipation? I just started increasing the amount of water I’m drinking, and would like to avoid medications if possible.

I started taking 2.5 mg a week ago, and it feels exactly the same as 0.8 mg.

At the end of 0.8 mg I was starting to get used to the effects, and i was hoping that the 2.5 mg would decrease the appetite even further.

In the end, I can’t feel any difference in appetite reduction, and no side effects either.

Anyone else feeling the same?

Themed Sheets and Winnie the Pooh

We are going on the Alaska cruise in July, and my wife told me that she heard that you can ask for themed sheets. Is that true?

My youngest (18mo) loves Winnie the Pooh, and I’m wondering if we could ask for Winnie the Pooh sheets for him. Does anyone know if that’s possible? If so, how can we ask for it?

Also, would there any opportunities to see Winnie the Pooh aboard? I’ve only seen photos with Mickey and friends. Which characters would we be able to see during our trip?

Looks like our ship arrives at 8 am, and we will have some time to explore Vancouver before our train leaves at 4 pm.

I’m wondering if there is bag storage at the port.
Has anyone used it before? How’s availability and prices?

Do you think magic in the First Law universe Inherently evil?

With it being described as coming from the other side, a place inhabited by devils, and being taught to humanity by people who were half devils themselves, one could argue that magic has a corrupting nature to it.

While we've seen some good uses of magic by some characters, like Yulwei for example, most of the magic users seem to either be outright evil or mad. We also hear a lot about how great Juvens and Master Maker were, but it is hard to sell how much truth there is to it.

Maybe it is used as an allegory of how power corrupts, and magic being the most pure source of power, is corruption in itself.

What are your thoughts?

With Bayaz not bring the Gandalf we wanted, what does that imply of Khalul?

Do you think he is on the right, but has relied on unethical means to pursue justice? Maybe for not having any other option?

Do you think he is as bad, if not worse than Bayaz? Just a different side of the same coin?

I initially thought he was just like bayaz, but recently I have started leaning towards him being consumed by injustice and revenge, and having to rely on whatever he can to stop Bayaz.

It is hard to say though, since we don’t have a lot of info about his side in the first three books.

We are going on a July cruise to Alaska with a toddler and a 5yo on a stateroom with a balcony.

We are worried that the cabin might not get dark enough for kids to sleep with sunset after 10 pm.

Do we need to bring anything to help block the sun? The toddler will certainly not sleep with a sleep mask.

IIRC Mistborn facts, Ruin had the ability to speak to people’s minds while Preservation had the ability to read people’s minds. Harmony could also do both. They also required some strong connection to the person they were communicating with.

That makes me think that one has a pull mental ability, while the other has a push mental ability.

I’m wondering if other shards also have either a pull or push ability of their own. Has this been discussed anywhere? Could Retribution’s time bubble be some sort of push/pull time ability?