Malazan Book of The Fallen

Jumping into the thread so that after I finish books 5-10, I can discuss. So see you all in 2014? Hello future peoples!

I finished Toll the Hounds (book 8) two days ago. The ending was crazy but I'm still not really clear on what happened with the portal. Have book 9 queued up but haven't started yet.

Finished book 9 last night. Stayed up to 2am to do so.

Happy to report that about 20% in on Memories of Ice, I'm more into it. Still not super solid on everything that's going on, and I suspect that there's a plot line that he hasn't spent time with in a while and that I'm forgetting about, but I'm definitely interested.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Finished book 9 last night. Stayed up to 2am to do so.

You'll blow through 10 in no time then, like I did. It's shorter, but it was definitely the fastest read for me.

Reading Orb Scepter Throne. The last couple Esselmont books are great books in their own right and are vastly better than the last several Erikson books. Esselmont is both expanding on and resolving many of the threads that Erikson left hanging. He doesn't quite do battle scenes as well as Erikson, but he's a far better plotter.

Spoiler:

Since it's come up in the thread, I'll go on record saying that almost none of the deaths in Erikson's books had much impact. A major reason why is that almost nobody in his books actually stays dead. Even Whiskeyjack reappears as a ghost several times. About the only interesting character who never made a reappearance after dying was the dude who was Felisin's bodyguard in book 2.

Also, Hetan's fate jarringly, discordantly brutal. To me, it read like Erikson was just getting sick of his characters. It all felt cheap.

polq37 wrote:

Reading Orb Scepter Throne. The last couple Esselmont books are great books in their own right and are vastly better than the last several Erikson books. Esselmont is both expanding on and resolving many of the threads that Erikson left hanging. He doesn't quite do battle scenes as well as Erikson, but he's a far better plotter.

Spoiler:

Since it's come up in the thread, I'll go on record saying that almost none of the deaths in Erikson's books had much impact. A major reason why is that almost nobody in his books actually stays dead. Even Whiskeyjack reappears as a ghost several times. About the only interesting character who never made a reappearance after dying was the dude who was Felisin's bodyguard in book 2.

Also, Hetan's fate jarringly, discordantly brutal. To me, it read like Erikson was just getting sick of his characters. It all felt cheap.

Hate to break it to you but...

Spoiler:

Felisin's bodyguard - Baudin - reappears as the Knight of High House Death. He's the one who is sent to kill/send off the Mhybe in book 3. It's a bit part, though.

That being said, I think there are a lot of interesting, dead characters who don't re-appear - though a lot do. The thing is, most of those die later on in the series - like Anomander Rake - so it's less impactful. Others are implied to be ressurected - like Coltaine - but we don't actually see them. That being said, Erickson establishes pretty early on in the books that, in the Malazan world, death is far less of a permanent thing than we make it out to be - one of the first mysteries to be resolved, for example, is how Kellvaned/Dancer died and became Shadowthrone/Cotillion. I treat the lack of permadeath to be part of the mythos, and while it's less impactful from an emotional standpoint, I do find it interesting from a worldbuilding perspective.

Well. Finished book 10 today.

Did you start re-reading the series like I did?

Dysplastic wrote:

That being said, I think there are a lot of interesting, dead characters who don't re-appear - though a lot do. The thing is, most of those die later on in the series - like Anomander Rake - so it's less impactful. Others are implied to be ressurected - like Coltaine - but we don't actually see them. That being said, Erickson establishes pretty early on in the books that, in the Malazan world, death is far less of a permanent thing than we make it out to be - one of the first mysteries to be resolved, for example, is how Kellvaned/Dancer died and became Shadowthrone/Cotillion. I treat the lack of permadeath to be part of the mythos, and while it's less impactful from an emotional standpoint, I do find it interesting from a worldbuilding perspective.

Esslemont follows up on a lot of the mysteries Erikson leaves hanging.

Overall I like the Erikson books a bit better. He has a way of making characters and scenes epic, in a way that Esslemont doesn't quite reach. At least, Esslemont's not there yet. Looking forward to his future books.

garion333 wrote:

Did you start re-reading the series like I did?

Nah, I think I need to let it settle in my brain a bit.

I tried that. Hell, I read Old Man's War in two sittings and decided that the things I was trying to read just weren't...epic enough or something.

Finished up Orb, Septer, Throne this weekend.

Spoiler:

Didn't feel as "big" as the last Esselmont book, which isn't shocking since that one dealt with some bigger issues. In fact, some of the book like the whole Antsy arc read like a D&D campaign which is fitting given that the world was born out of their own PnP campaign from way back when. I enjoyed it and liked delving more into the background of the Seguleh and the Moranth. That said, Esselmont is still not as tight a plotter as Erikson is and his characters tend to be a bit more shallow. Could just be he's still working with quite a few actors long since established by another author. Hopefully he can bring more of his own into the fold in further books.

How has this not been mentioned? How did I miss this coming out?

http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Khark...

I believe Certis yelled at us on a previous page for not reminding him that was coming out.

Just finished the first book in the Kharkanas trilogy. Won't spoil any major plot but ...

Spoiler:

Bleak. Expectedly so, given it tracks the fall of the Tiste, but man, this gets real dark. Really enjoying the deep dive into things only alluded to in the main series. Anomander's relationship with Brood, Sandalath's first appearance. Lots of great stuff in here.

That said, I'm finding his characters are bleeding into one another quite a bit so he can get his philosophical views out there. The style is definitely a bit more lyrical and less grounded than his earlier stuff. Not good or bad, just different.

While I still haven't read The Crippled God (Finishing my second readthrough, about halfway through Dust of Dreams)

Spoiler:

I find that his style transitioned to the lyrical and became more philosophical and less grounded as the series went on, and was hugely evident in Toll The Hounds and Dust of Dreams, so I'm not surprised. The Andii / Elder Race components of the Malazan series always drove this, as opposed to the Glen Cook style military narrative of the Bridgeburners/Bonehunters, so I can see how without some human characters to ground his story, it would dive a lot into the philosophical. I can also see how it could get difficult to tell one depressed, poetic Tiste Andii from another. After all, can you get any more emo than calling your mom "Mother Dark"? Still, I'm glad Esselmont seems to have taken up the cause of driving the human stories forward.

Certis wrote:

Just finished the first book in the Kharkanas trilogy. Won't spoil any major plot but ...

Spoiler:

Bleak. Expectedly so, given it tracks the fall of the Tiste, but man, this gets real dark. Really enjoying the deep dive into things only alluded to in the main series. Anomander's relationship with Brood, Sandalath's first appearance. Lots of great stuff in here.

That said, I'm finding his characters are bleeding into one another quite a bit so he can get his philosophical views out there. The style is definitely a bit more lyrical and less grounded than his earlier stuff. Not good or bad, just different.

Just finished Crippled God. Loved the series and will definitely re-read at some point.

Spoiler:

A couple (or many) of questions.

Did Leoman of the Flails never reappear after going poof with the God of Dreams?

What happened to Silverfox?

Just who the hell is Kruppe?

Ruthan Gudd, where did he come from, what/who is he?

Draconus kills Kilmandros and then....?

Did I miss Edgewalker reappearing in the last two books?

I'm still mad at Erikson for killing Trull. Speaking of which, who were the soldiers that Seren Pedac traveled with?

Twice for truthiness!

Badferret wrote:

Just finished Crippled God. Loved the series and will definitely re-read at some point.

Spoiler:

A couple (or many) of questions.

Did Leoman of the Flails never reappear after going poof with the God of Dreams?

What happened to Silverfox?

Just who the hell is Kruppe?

Ruthan Gudd, where did he come from, what/who is he?

Draconus kills Kilmandros and then....?

Did I miss Edgewalker reappearing in the last two books?

I'm still mad at Erikson for killing Trull. Speaking of which, who were the soldiers that Seren Pedac traveled with?

Spoiler:

Leman makes an appearance in one of Esselmont books.

Silverfox left with the Imass to save the tribes trapped in Assail where Esselmont newest book is set. Haven't read it yet so don't know if they appear

Ruthan Gudd - a Malazan soldier who fought in Koreli and somehow got Stormrider armour

No idea

Edgewalker had a brief appearance at the start of the final book

The soldiers were the Crimson Guard who are dealt with in the Esselmont books

Aww, why aren't there audio books for any of these? I could get through them so much faster like that.

Yeah, but you'd probably be even more lost.

Actually, I'm doing much better at keeping track now that I'm 75% through the third book. Honestly, I think my biggest problem is that I don't get a ton of sit down with a book time. When reading in small bursts spread out over a long time, I lose track.

On the other hand, I listen to 2-4 hours of audio books per day.

Well that's immensely frustrating! Books two through ten are all on the Google Play bookstore, but the first is nowhere to be found! I'll have to borrow a physical copy from the library I guess...

So I finally finished book 10 on my bus ride into work this morning. What a ride.

Spoiler:

I was really surprised at how many of the Malazan's survived at the end, and even Hetan came back. I guess after "killing" so many characters through the series, Eriksson had a soft spot for them at the end. I was sure Tavore would bite it.

Overall, I liked the ending, and was impressed how he tied all the plotlines together into a final epic battle, making every character seem important. Was overjoyed that Kalam finally came back and kicked some serious ass, him and Quick Ben were my favorite Bridgeburners. Though I was a bit bummed that Bottle had such a minor role to play at the end, he was one of my favorite Bonehunters. Karsa's minor role was a bit of a letdown, too.

While there are of course still many mysteries and loose ends left unresolved, I thought he tied the major threads together well enough. The only thing that still really bothers me is the disconnect between the Crippled God of books 9-10 and the Crippled god of books 2-8. They basically seem like two completely different characters, with totally different motivations. At one point, Mael is going over to his island to kick his ass, and then at the end of book 10, Mael is gently guiding him towards Heboric and salvation. How is this the same character that created the evil sword that basically ruined the Tiste Edur and almost destroyed Letheras? His transition from villain to good guy worth saving was very abrupt and not well explained. Did anyone else feel the same way?

I did feel the same way, Dys.

I felt it was fairly consistent

Spoiler:

I don't think the crippled god is ever portrayed as a good guy. The crippled god is an adversary, who's desperate to escape his torture and willing to do most anything after eons of pain and imprisonment. As the story progresses we learn more about how he came to be as he is. At the end he is pitiable and the powers of the world, compassionate or just pragmatic/opportunistic as they are, want him out/gone. It's a somewhat recurring theme in this series that people do seemingly evil things, and later as their character is further explained their actions become more justifiable. Tayschrenn is one example of that that comes to mind. There are other characters that seem to be good but do evil things, such as Icarium.

I haven't re-read the entire series, but it's very interesting to go back through the books and see how your perspective on certain events changes when you know more about the cast of characters. The siege on Pale from the first couple chapters of the first book is a pretty good example of this.

I am in the middle of book 9, I need to remember to check this thread when I eventually finish.

Bullion Cube wrote:

I haven't re-read the entire series, but it's very interesting to go back through the books and see how your perspective on certain events changes when you know more about the cast of characters.

I'm in book 2 again and I'm loving it so much more the second time through. So many more connections, so much more understanding.

That said, I agree with the spoilered text in that 9&10 struck a different tone.