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I remember Quick Ben's sister being in one of the books but not much about how she was described or acted, maybe details about her might clarify it either way.
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Mar 3, 2011 02:24
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Azure_Horizon posted:I just finished The Crippled God and while I found the series to be pretty mediocre, there's one thing about the ending that bugged me:
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Mar 28, 2011 06:55
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Calde posted:I'm interested! Hearing Malazan compared to Bakker's books is the reason I read this thread.
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Mar 29, 2011 01:30
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The Gunslinger posted:Yeah I'm in the middle of a series re-read before I donate it to the local library and just get Kindle versions for archive. The series hits a high at Memories of Ice and seems to level off until Reaper's Gale. Post Reaper's Gale is too convoluted, it's hard to discern intention and meaning when everything is so muddled. That's all despite having a ridiculous amount of filler that should be fleshing things out too but instead feels wasteful. Toll the Hounds and Dust of Dreams in particular were really hard to read, I had to push myself through them at times. I thought Dust of Dreams suffered from the same thing plus the addition of the Snake and the Shake subplots. The shake story just took way too long to make sense, although I liked some of the characters involved. The Snake storyline made less sense than the Shake and it was just way too late in the series to introduce a whole new subset of brand new characters and their motivations, especially if they're not even going to be antagonists. I just couldn't get invested in either of those parts(the Snake moreso) and they took up too many pages. I really liked the Crippled God though. I think it being the final volume helped a lot because he had to start tying up loose ends and couldn't start new side plots that wouldn't wrap up in this book. One of Erikson's strengths that a lot of fantasy books don't deliver on are his epic climaxes and he even made the payoff to the Shake storyline, which I was doubtful of leading to anything good, really kick-rear end.
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Jun 9, 2011 22:05
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Electronico6 posted:
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Jun 9, 2011 22:23
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The Ninth Layer posted:
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Oct 22, 2011 04:59
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I'm currently reading Glenn Cook's first Dread Empire omnibus and there's a character in it named Mocker that has to be Erikson's main influence for Kruppe. It's also a really good book, if you're looking for some good fantasy to read you should check it out.
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Oct 29, 2011 13:35
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victrix posted:Guys... I just finished Crippled God.
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Dec 10, 2011 23:58
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Yeah, I don't think Bakker was trying to copy Erikson at all. I said I like him for some of the same reasons as in both series have very deep world building and lots of philosophy. While Bakker doesn't have humor in his books like Erikson, I think his characterization and prose are better.
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Dec 12, 2011 07:09
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Conduit for Sale! posted:Would I be missing/spoiling anything if I read Midnight Tides before House of Chains? I can only afford to buy one or the other at the moment, and Midnight Tides is sounding more interesting to me right now than HoC. Also the cover of MT is way cooler.
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Jan 27, 2012 03:24
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Srice posted:Rothfuss in particular is a great example of this because when he was writing The Wise Man's Fear, his editor told him that the only restriction he had was that he could not make the page count so obscenely high that it would be impossible to physically keep the book bound.
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Feb 7, 2012 06:01
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I also just finished Orb, Sceptre and Throne. I really enjoyed it and thought it is I.C.E's best novel so far. He has improved significantly in his pacing and plotting and while Erikson is still a much better writer overall, it was refreshing reading a new Malazan novel without the overkill of philosophical rambling that has plagued Erikson's most recent entries in the series. I agree with what Decius said about the Segulah being overpowered compared to their previous depictions and how the Malazan army reacted to them getting bombarded with munitions just doesn't fit with them gleefully using them to cause as much death and destruction as possible in previous novels. One weird thing I noticed was how he described Stonny and Blend as being heavy. I don't think either of them were described that way before and I always pictured them both as skinny. Masonity posted:or our old friend [spoiler]Karsa, who was apparantly in the Darujhistan area during all this, yet didn't actually take part, or even appear, in the story. I'm also struggling to remember what part Brood played in the finale. He was built up as a major player in the convergence, but having just put the book down I can't actually remember him doing anything in the finale. Brood was ready to walk in to Darujhistan and put an end to the tyrant, but in the end Kruppe set up the guards to wound him, then pretty much finished him off himself didn't he? Yeah, I was disappointed that we still haven't gotten a Karsa/Torvald reunion when they were both in the same book/area again.
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Feb 8, 2012 19:01
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coyo7e posted:^^^^ Power Attracts Power. Stew Man Chew posted:Once he got murdered I started cutting him a bit more slack, but it's still a bit bizarre that the most white-collar prick all of a sudden becomes someone we need to care a gently caress of a lot about as the Master of the Deck .
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Feb 16, 2012 23:28
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I hope that in the Tiste Andii prequel series we get to see a lot of young, arrogant Anomander using his powers indiscriminately.
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Feb 18, 2012 19:11
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^^^^ My worry was that the Kharkanas books would have way more of the philosophizing, as the Tiste Andii seemed like the most inward looking race with the longest internal monologues.
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Mar 9, 2012 19:07
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One character of Erikson's that I think is just as well written as any of Martin's is Kallor. He has an arc that's similar to Jamie's in that I hated him with a passion and thought he was the biggest lowlife rear end in a top hat until I got to know him in later books and see things from his viewpoint, after that he became one of my favorites.
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Mar 13, 2012 08:31
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I think the Snake storyline was totally unnecessary and should have been edited out. It was just too late in the series for me to have large sections of the book be devoted to a completely new and foreign plot with no foreshadowing or familiar characters for reference.
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Mar 24, 2012 01:30
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While Erikson does come off as conceited and rambles too much about the literary concepts of his series in interviews, I don't think it's fair to say that it has no true literary value or isn't art just because it's fantasy.
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May 11, 2012 19:53
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Illuyankas posted:I'd witness a Karsa/Torvald Nom reunion scene if those bastards would only put one in the drat books! I want more Ublala Pung in the upcoming Karsa trilogy just as much as this.
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Jun 26, 2012 19:54
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Yeah I read books. posted:I know this might not be the best place to ask, but does anyone know of any sort of book reading software for the PC that WONT destroy my eyes after a while? The way text is set up in books ruins my eyes on my laptop screen for some reason, and I haven't had an opportunity to get Toll the Hounds yet and after finishing Reaper's Gale a couple of weeks ago, really need to get my Malazan fix. Any suggestions are welcome! When I do read a book on the PC I use the Mobipocket Reader. I don't know if it will help with your eyes but it does have a ton of different options for changing up the font, text size and background color that might be beneficial for you and it's free. Anyway, I just got Forge of Darkness today. I've only been able to read a couple of chapters so far, but I do like what I have read.
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Aug 9, 2012 00:27
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I'd read TCG first just so I didn't forget who everyone is and where everything stands leading into it.
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Aug 18, 2012 01:49
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Robot Danger posted:
Midnight Tides is my favorite book out of the whole Malazan series. I had the same problem as you the first time I started reading it but I got pulled into the story once I got used to the new setting and characters and it just started flying by after that. If it helps, just think of it as a stand alone fantasy novel that happens to be set in the Malazan universe and worry about how it fits into the larger picture later on.
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Sep 24, 2012 00:17
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Blood and Bone, Esslemont's new Malazan novel, is out in the UK. I think I'm gonna have to try finding it on Book Depository.
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Nov 23, 2012 18:53
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bigmcgaffney posted:My favorite part of TTH was the creepy Dying God stuff, it reminded me of the Pannion stuff. And now I remember Gruntle's House of Death and that was awesome. Yeah, I was expecting the Tyrant to have more of a payoff where there would be some kind of really cool reveal of how he fit into the already established Malazan mythology but it never came. Same with the Stormriders in Stonewielder.
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Nov 28, 2012 02:21
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Raygereio posted:From I gather "demon" is a catchall term describing the various beings not from Wu. Some can have whole societies, some may be little more then animals. But as long as it's from elsewhere: it's a demon. I think one factor that can narrow down which creatures are demons is that if they're a race that can be summoned and commanded by sorcerers/wizards then they can be considered demons.
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Dec 15, 2012 08:04
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Fuzzy Mammal posted:
I like it. I never thought the K'Chainne Che'Malle were this huge though.
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Feb 16, 2013 07:55
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02-6611-0142-1 posted:It is kind of daunting to re-read this series because it takes up two entire levels on my bookshelves. But it must be done. Goodbye, six months! Whenever I feel like rereading anything Malazan, I just pick whichever novel of the series that appeals to me the most at the time instead of starting the whole series from the very beginning and reading them in order. I think I've read Midnight Tides the most times out of all the books. I've also read the first part of House of Chains that follows Karsa a bunch of times without reading that whole novel.
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Mar 6, 2013 00:38
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I didn't even mind Nimander, the Andii who dragged the book down for me were the old man, the priestess, and Anonmander himself until he actually left the castle and did something.
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Mar 20, 2013 04:30
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Oh Snapple! posted:
Guy Gavriel Kay. He might even be better than Erikson at this type of thing, he really knows how to get you emotionally invested and hit those bittersweet notes. The majority of his books are stand alone, and I think his two latest, Under Heaven and River of Stars, are his best.
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May 14, 2013 06:47
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Fuzzy Mammal posted:I want to reread Tigana but as far as I can tell there's no ebook version. I haven't run in to that since like 2011... The audiobook version is pretty good if you like audiobooks. coyo7e posted:I've been meaning to start in on Kay as well but always forget to pick one up when I've got cash, or I forget which one to begin with. Since most his novels are historical fiction/fantasy hybrids maybe go with whatever historical period or culture interests you the most from what he covers. There's Moorish Spain in Lions of Al Rassan; Vikings, Wales and Saxons in Last Light of the Sun; Byzantine Empire in the two Sarantium books; Tang Dynasty China in Under Heaven; Song Dynasty China and Mongols in River of Stars; and medieval Italy in Tigana. As vmdvr said, they're stand alone except the two Sarantium novels, and there's some loose connections between Under Heaven and River of Stars.
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May 17, 2013 03:10
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Habibi posted:And by virtue if the reading they can also make themselves vulnerable and / or attract a whole lot of unwanted attention. It's sort of like looking into someone's bedroom window with a telescope, and seeing they've got one trained in yoy, too. I like how the better someone gets with the deck, the more unwanted attention they attract, and how this makes them much more hesitant and careful about using it. Fits nicely with all the other convergence and power attracting power themes in the series.
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Jul 27, 2013 01:00
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Ethiser posted:Forge of Darkness stuff Draconus's son is new but there's speculation that he could be someone we've seen before in the main series. I think some people thought he could be that officer with the ice powers from the battle against the Short Tails at the end of Dust of Dreams. There were some other theories about him and the female Tiste that was with the Jaghut(I'm terrible at remembering the names of all these new characters) that I can't recall the details of right now, but if you look back in the thread around the date when FoD was originally released you'll be able to find some of them. Loving Life Partner posted:I loved Kindly and Corporal Sergeant Liuetenant Pores Yeah, they were great, they were probably my favorite comic subplot that Erikson had going with the Marines.
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Jul 28, 2013 06:46
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Ochowie posted:So I just finished Forge of Darkness and overall I enjoyed it except for the last quarter or so of the book. It seemed to be full of PoV's for characters that I have no reason to care about. Between Rint, Rise Herat, and Haral I found myself skipping large chunks of the book to get to actual plot points. It seemed like TtH but the characters were less consequential so it became a bit of a slog towards the end. There were too many character POVs for me too, and having them always start with the character philosophizing about something made it worse. It really screwed up the pacing of the book for me because it seemed like every time I would start really getting into the story and things would start picking up, there'd be another POV switch and things would slow right down again. I'd love for Erikson to write a book with a small amount of POVs.
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Aug 9, 2013 07:16
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Pokeylope posted:
I don't mind the philosophical aspects in and of themselves, it just seems like in later books that there's a lot more of it and most new POVs introduced later in the series engage in lengthy internal monologues of it.
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Aug 15, 2013 23:23
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Ryoji, you should check out the Malazan Reread of the Fallen at the Tor website. They read each book in the series a couple chapters at a time and discuss it in detail. It's a good resource for trying to get clarification in certain areas with a series this huge, and the way they have it set up makes it easier to avoid spoilers. link:http://www.tor.com/features/series/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen
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Sep 8, 2013 21:06
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Spermy Smurf posted:I agree with this. It was explained away as 'and people think it is haunted so they don't go near it.' Dumb. All of ICE's books would hugely benefit from paring down the story-lines and focusing on a smaller cast than Erikson. It's sort of silly that he doesn't try something at least a little bit different in the setting.
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Sep 16, 2013 10:58
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Levitate posted:Yeah that's basically why I was wondering that. He destroyed an entire warren apparently but I dont' recall we ever seeing him actually use magic I thought he probably commanded some wizards to do that type of stuff for him or to set up the ritual that allowed him to do it.
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Sep 26, 2013 00:18
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Chucullinn posted:In terms of really sad/heartbreaking parts of the series, what book of the malazan series has had the most? And that's not even all the heartbreaking stuff in that book, there's also Trull getting killed right when you think he's gonna have a reunion with Seren Pedac, Hedge's loneliness and alienation, the Finnest Girl, every other member of the Sengar family coming to a bad end, and there's probably more in that book that I can't remember right now.
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Dec 3, 2013 07:02
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Robot Danger posted:I'm doing this on Audible since I have a long commute. Book 4 was just released. They've already done FoD, too! How are the Audible narrators for the books that've been released so far?
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Dec 28, 2013 19:21
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TheLordOfKraa posted:I've just started reading / listening to this series and it is very quickly becoming my favorite series of books. I've just started buying the kindle books now instead of waiting for each successive audio-book to come out. I would have a hard time with a series like this if I just tried listening to it from the beginning. It has such a huge cast and focus, as well as having a lot of weird things happening throughout it that not having the "dramatis personae" lists, glossary indexes and ability to easily reread passages(along with my tendency of not being able to focus as well listening as I do reading) would make it so much harder for me to follow the series. I do love using audiobooks instead of just doing a regular reread for series like this though.
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Feb 3, 2014 23:56
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