Jump to content

Malazan: High House Shadow edition


AncalagonTheBlack

Recommended Posts

Previous topic has crossed allowed post limit - http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/105904-books-of-the-fallen-malazan-thread/page-21


According to amazon, the new Malazan Empire novel is titled Dancer's Lament and is book #1 of 'Path to Ascendancy'

Release date is February 9, 2016 - http://www.amazon.com/Dancers-Lament-Malazan-Empire-Ascendancy/dp/0765379449/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course, I cannot begin to remember them all......

Seriously, that series would interest me more than The Toblakai Trilogy, and I love Karsa. Seeing how it started would be awesome, and I'm sure Erickson would do it well.

I'm sure ICE will do it well too. His books have been mostly excellent.

ps dude he's called Erikson (well actually he's called Lundin, but eh).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure ICE will do it well too. His books have been mostly excellent.

ps dude he's called Erikson (well actually he's called Lundin, but eh).

Sorry spell check must've put that "c" in there. So, ICE is do the Toblakai Trilogy? Sorry for the confusion, Dude.

Eta: I got it now this is ICE and Erikson is doing Toblakai.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This should be absolutely amazing, but i've really not liked the last 3 ICE books. imo the quality of his work has dropped with each book. NoK was very good, RotCG and Stonewielder were tied for my favorite, but then I felt a significant drop off where I had to slog through OST, Blood and Bone, and then even Assail. I can't really put my finger on it either. Kind of wish Erikson would do them even if I had to wait a decade.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well this is a surprise. I thought it was Fall of Light pushed back once again and renamed.

So a new seres, by Esslemont. I'm very mixed on his writing, but then that very much applies to Erikson as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

New dates:

Fall of Light (Kharkanas Trilogy #2) by Steven Erikson
Hardcover – February 16, 2016

http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Light-Steven-Erikson/dp/0765323575/

Dancer's Lament: A Novel of the Malazan Empire (Path to Ascendancy #1) by Ian C. Esslemont

Hardcover – April 26, 2016
http://www.amazon.com/Dancers-Lament-Malazan-Empire-Ascendancy/dp/0765379449/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Am now two-thirds of the way through Reaper's Gale. About the only nice thing I can say about the book is that it is better edited than The Bonehunters. Otherwise? So far it's a dry bore, without even the occasional fireworks you saw in the previous book. I'm really, really hoping things come together in the remaining third. It's not a nice experience to have to force yourself through a book, especially when you're talking doorstoppers of this size, and this is the third Malazan book out of the past four that I've had to do that.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Am now two-thirds of the way through Reaper's Gale. About the only nice thing I can say about the book is that it is better edited than The Bonehunters. Otherwise? So far it's a dry bore, without even the occasional fireworks you saw in the previous book. I'm really, really hoping things come together in the remaining third. It's not a nice experience to have to force yourself through a book, especially when you're talking doorstoppers of this size, and this is the third Malazan book out of the past four that I've had to do that.

I think it's probably one of the weakest books in the series, some parts of the ending were good but much of the rest of the book isn't really all that memorable. If you're looking for an improvement in the pace of the story I've a feeling Toll The Hounds won't really be to your liking, either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I must be the odd one out on this. I re-read the Bonehunters storyline every year or so and it never fails to disappoint me. It helps that Fiddler is my favourite character.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Am now two-thirds of the way through Reaper's Gale. About the only nice thing I can say about the book is that it is better edited than The Bonehunters. Otherwise? So far it's a dry bore, without even the occasional fireworks you saw in the previous book. I'm really, really hoping things come together in the remaining third. It's not a nice experience to have to force yourself through a book, especially when you're talking doorstoppers of this size, and this is the third Malazan book out of the past four that I've had to do that.

I found Reaper's Gale a bit flat in places and whilst some elements of the ending were very epic indeed, other events, which I anticipated would end more climactically, were a bit of a damp squib. I enjoyed it, but it's definitely not my favourite in the series.

Toll the Hounds, on the other hand, is one of my favourites in the series along with Memories of Ice, but it's also probably the most difficult for many people because it is the one which is least focused on action (though it has a very intense climax) and most on introspection. It's also arguably the most depressing book in the series, though it has a strong redemptive uplift at its end and is certainly I think the most emotive chapter in the series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found Reaper's Gale a bit flat in places and whilst some elements of the ending were very epic indeed, other events, which I anticipated would end more climactically, were a bit of a damp squib. I enjoyed it, but it's definitely not my favourite in the series.

Toll the Hounds, on the other hand, is one of my favourites in the series along with Memories of Ice, but it's also probably the most difficult for many people because it is the one which is least focused on action (though it has a very intense climax) and most on introspection. It's also arguably the most depressing book in the series, though it has a strong redemptive uplift at its end and is certainly I think the most emotive chapter in the series.

My experience with the MBOTF is that each of the books seems to feint in a certain direction and then make a tremendous plot pivot into places that I found utterly unexpected. Erikson is a good enough reader to keep my interest and pull me along into the new and the strange and keep my attention rapt and focused while doing so, but none of the books ended in the place I expected to arrive.

In fact, once I had completed the whole thing, in retrospect I was truly amazed at some of the plot pointers that, like a crazy but skilled magician, had caused me to look over there when the whole roller coaster of plot turned hard in the other direction.

And it isn't just plot whiplash, but also the change in tones from one book to another. I found that Erikson's ability to move from one type of tone and one type of story to another to be very versatile and accomplished. No other fantasy series I have ever read has had that much range in tone and type. At all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love how the series is filled with beautiful literary techniques and games.

At first I thought I was reading too much into this, but repetition of techniques like alliteration (e.g. "Whiskeyjack stood alongside him, also studying the stars" with its concatenation of S sounds), and others, led me to believe otherwise. This was confirmed by a section in Memories of Ice where a portion of the text about Crone can also serve as a meta–statement on the book, or indeed the Malazan series itself:

"Layers upon layers of complexity and ambiguity."

Let me give you an example of what I mean from the prologue:

trapped in a boggy sinkhole twenty paces into the basin

I once read a book in which the narrator described the meanderings of a river bank in close–up detail, before going on to describe the river in its entirety. It seemed like the literary equivalent of a camera looking closely at something, then zooming out into the sky to view the whole.

Erikson achieves the same effect here but much more subtly. Let me repeat the quote, but with the important sections highlighted:

trapped in a boggy sinkhole twenty paces into the basin

The T and P sounds in 'trapped' are expanded into two separate words, which represents an 'opening out' of the view of the entrapment. The B and S sounds of 'boggy sinkhole', on the other hand, are brought together into a single word, 'basin'.

In total, there is the effect of both expanding the viewpoint out of the sinkhole as well as narrowing it in relation to the basin — and yet done in such an understated way!

All that I have read so far seems to be peppered with this sort of literary play. I love it! thumbsup.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished Reaper's Gale. Yes, apart from

 

[spoiler] poor old Toc carking it yet again, and the last bit with Rhulad and Trull [/spoiler]

 

it felt so incredibly dull. It really became a case of "I don't care what happens to these people" - which considering that this is the narrative sequel to Midnight Tides (which I loved) - was as unexpected as it was disappointing.

 

Anyway, my new Malazan rankings:

 

1. Memories of Ice.

2. Midnight Tides

3. Deadhouse Gates

4. Gardens of the Moon

5. The Bonehunters

6. House of Chains

7. Reaper's Gale

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...