Halfway through book three of The Blade Itself by Abercrombie it occurs to me what appeal is left concerns ninefingers and is quite similar to the appeal of professional wrestling. Oh well.

Well into The Blade Itself by Abercrombie. Somehow it's not too dark despite having a main character who's a torturer and whom is in such physical agony he hardly cares if he lives or dies himself. Somehow it's a good book. Just a little bit of magic. Magic is more of an ace up the sleeve of Bayaz that's rarely used. Logen also has his fighting skills ace. It's a pleasant book.

Lately I've spent a lot of time playing Oblivion: Sky Rim. It's the music that does it for me. I was really into the previous game too, although I eventually lost interest. It's quite the time suck and there's quite a bit of repetition just under the surface if you're looking for it. I'm trying to not look for it. Nice music. A silly thing to do though. Spending whole days recently by the fire playing this game. But in the last 20 years I've only played a couple Zelda and Oblivion games, so ultimately not really spending that much time on it. Will move on soon enough and probably not touch a video game for another year or two.

Finished Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons and have nothing additional to say. All in all, definitely not as good as a fantasy ficiton book. With the modern setting it's just fiction, not fantasy fiction, no matter these creatures with their Ability. The creatures aren't really interesting anyway. And there's no mystery.

The Blade Itself (Book one) by Joe Abercrombie
Like the sample. Told from the point of view (first person-good) of a torturer, who's in the middle of torturing someone. What is it about torture that's so nice to read about? Have I ever read a book with torture in it that I didn't like? Geez.

I should make a list of all the books I've read that had torture in it, that I liked. I should probably put a torture scene in the book I'm "writing".

Off the top of my head, Hobb's Farseer, etc series, Vance's emphryio, Leiber's Grey Mouser, Abercrombie's Blade Itself.... eh. It's there over and over again but it's strange how little a lasting impression, something so ghastly leaves. I've surely forgotten it over and over again. Drizzt and Brent Weeks must have surely had it...