Malazan II

[aceluby]

Lulz

[Diziet]

mouthing off for three or four pages with insults about one of the co creators, completely ignoring facts, and then admiting the books you are shitting on you haven't even read. These are not jokes.

Complete nonsense. My posts in the last thread were definitely not a joke (and for the record I made no insults, unlike almost everyone else in that thread, and this one.)

[Darth Richard II]

Yes, talk about books you've never read and world creation you know nothing about, then tell us all to lighten up when we call you on your shit. So either we need to lighten up because joke, or you are really, really stupid. Go troll another thread please.

Also, implying that Erickson secretly hates ICE for ruining "his" creation is a pretty clear insult. At least, in normal, English speaking countries.

[Ghjhero]

Ok SPOILER for TBH, read with caution.

I just finished TBH and it was easily one of the best yet. Something that's been annoying me though is, what was the point of introducing Dejim Nebrahl? He was hyped up to be this super powerful villain, but he did nothing really and didn't seem all that impressive at all. He died without doing anything important. It seemed like a waste to write about him.

[Rhom]

That name doesn't even begin to ring a bell for me...

[Toblakai]

I can't get the spoiler code to work right now, so hopefully Ghjhero saw my response. It works for me on Goodreads so not sure what the problem is.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules this will show you how to use spoiler tags, quote, bold, etc, etc. Not trying to be a ass. Just many people cone here for general discussion. And don't want to be spoiled. Cheers.

[Diziet]

I just finished TBH and it was easily one of the best yet. Something that's been annoying me though is, what was the point of introducing Dejim Nebrahl? He was hyped up to be this super powerful villain, but he did nothing really and didn't seem all that impressive at all. He died without doing anything important. It seemed like a waste to write about him.

This reminds me of the Jaghut tyrant in GotM. He was hyped for a few chapters and then ended up getting killed with a poisoned crossbow(?)

[Ghjhero]

Sorry guys I fixed it, my bad.

I can't get the spoiler code to work right now, so hopefully Ghjhero saw my response. It works for me on Goodreads so not sure what the problem is.

No I didn't see your reply sorry.

[Lord_Baelish]

Basically, that character was another iteration of a theme that runs throughout the series - When badass monsters are imprisoned for a while, when they get released they think they are still going to be top dog. Then they come up against Malazan marines and realise that is never going to happen.

ETA: I started reading Erikson just before HoC got released and since bought every book on release date. I love them all, with DG, MT, BH and tCG being my favourites. But with ICE's books I have only managed the first two, and found Stonewielder to be nearly unreadable. Does his writing style improve in future books? I would love to read more stories in the Malaz world but ICE's writing style just put me off.

[Toblakai]

Basically, that character was another iteration of a theme that runs throughout the series - When badass monsters are imprisoned for a while, when they get released they think they are still going to be top dog. Then they come up against Malazan marines and realise that is never going to happen.

ETA: I started reading Erikson just before HoC got released and since bought every book on release date. I love them all, with DG, MT, BH and tCG being my favourites. But with ICE's books I have only managed the first two, and found Stonewielder to be nearly unreadable. Does his writing style improve in future books? I would love to read more stories in the Malaz world but ICE's writing style just put me off.

Well, I found Stonewielder to be much more readable than NoK or RotCG, so you may not agree with my opinion that he improves. OST was his best that I read, but I haven't gotten to B&B and Assail yet.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Stoneweilder had a good plot, one of the best for ICE. Just dont see an improvement in his execution. Just my opinion, and you know what their like.....we all got one. LOL.

[Wilbur]

Ok SPOILER for TBH, read with caution.

I just finished TBH and it was easily one of the best yet. Something that's been annoying me though is, what was the point of introducing Dejim Nebrahl? He was hyped up to be this super powerful villain, but he did nothing really and didn't seem all that impressive at all. He died without doing anything important. It seemed like a waste to write about him.

I agree with Lord Baelish - Dejim is used as an example of how old gods and ascendants who come back are surprised at how vicious, competent and deadly their successors are. Without spoiling, you can probably think of one or two other characters in TBH who receive unpleasant surprises from upstarts.

This theme is important for TBH and also in the subsequent books, where SE inverts the idea that "old age and trickery overcome youth and skill".

[Wilbur]

...I started reading Erikson just before HoC got released and since bought every book on release date. I love them all, with DG, MT, BH and tCG being my favourites. But with ICE's books I have only managed the first two, and found Stonewielder to be nearly unreadable. Does his writing style improve in future books? I would love to read more stories in the Malaz world but ICE's writing style just put me off.

ICE is not a writer for whom I have developed much of an appetite, although I have actually read his books, all of them except Assail.

For me, I found NoK and ROTCG to be flawed but enjoyable books, while Stonewielder was unwieldy and OST was disjointed. B&B was a terrible slog for me to finish - don't think I have ever finished a book literally months after starting it before like I did with that particular jungle jaunt. For that particular book, however, the setting (a jungle) puts me off personally, so not everyone will be repelled by the thought of enduring rotting clothes, jock rot and trench foot for months at a time on purpose as much as I am.

He has very good ideas, and his stories ought to be very interesting, his world building is inventive, and most of his characters have mustaches (TM End of Disc One), but I just don't click with his writing style. It is not like his grammar is bad or his style stilted or his worlds derivative (see JK Rowling for those issues).

Other folks really enjoy him a lot more than I do, so I guess YMMV.

[homedawg]

ICE is not a writer for whom I have developed much of an appetite, although I have actually read his books, all of them except Assail.

For me, I found NoK and ROTCG to be flawed but enjoyable books, while Stonewielder was unwieldy and OST was disjointed. B&B was a terrible slog for me to finish - don't think I have ever finished a book literally months after starting it before like I did with that particular jungle jaunt. For that particular book, however, the setting (a jungle) puts me off personally, so not everyone will be repelled by the thought of enduring rotting clothes, jock rot and trench foot for months at a time on purpose as much as I am.

He has very good ideas, and his stories ought to be very interesting, his world building is inventive, and most of his characters have mustaches (TM End of Disc One), but I just don't click with his writing style. It is not like his grammar is bad or his style stilted or his worlds derivative (see JK Rowling for those issues).

Other folks really enjoy him a lot more than I do, so I guess YMMV.

I'm right there with you. Loved everything Erikson. As for ICE the first 3 books were enjoyable, but OST was awful, BoB was bad, and Assail was a huge letdown. Just felt there were these big build ups and then everything just sputtered out. Plus I didn't care for the introduction of a ton of meaningless characters that didn't really have anything to do with the whole story. I felt it was basically just a bunch of boring filler.

[Ghjhero]

Ok thanks guys! I'm starting Reaper's Gale now, I'm a bit disappointed Paran isn't in it and it seems that Lassen is absent too, but here we go!!!!

[Muttering Bill]

So are they ever going to release ICE's more recent books in paperback? Like MMP, not the big ones. That's the format I have the other books in and I don't like mismatched series on my shelf. They've only releases NoK and RoTC in the correct format. I want to read the others, but my OCD prevents me. :tantrum:

[Toblakai]

So are they ever going to release ICE's more recent books in paperback? Like MMP, not the big ones. That's the format I have the other books in and I don't like mismatched series on my shelf. They've only releases NoK and RoTC in the correct format. I want to read the others, but my OCD prevents me. :tantrum:

Switch to ebooks. That'll kill the OCD.

[Rhom]

So are they ever going to release ICE's more recent books in paperback? Like MMP, not the big ones. That's the format I have the other books in and I don't like mismatched series on my shelf. They've only releases NoK and RoTC in the correct format. I want to read the others, but my OCD prevents me. :tantrum:

You are not alone in your suffering. It bugs me to no end that my Bakker books are three different sizes. Another recent annoyance was Cibola Burn being in hard back and flip-flopping the prominence of the author name with the book title.

[End of Disc One]

Switch to ebooks. That'll kill the OCD.

I won't do this for books that have maps.

In regards to OCD and matching covers, I threw in the towel a few years ago. It's a losing battle. Say "fuck it" and you'll be happier.