Malazan Re-read Order

[IlyaP]

6 hours ago, Werthead said:

He's still writing it. He got off to a late start because he wanted to finish the final Kharkanas book but couldn't get it done before his personal deadline, so he switched to the second Witness book. I doubt we'll see that much before late 2024.

Do we know what his plans after the Witness trilogy? 

[Werthead]

17 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Do we know what his plans after the Witness trilogy? 

No. I think he has some ideas for possibly more Malazan stuff, but also focusing on non-Malazan material (despite his non-Malazan work really not setting the world on fire so far).

[Derfel Cadarn]

3 minutes ago, Werthead said:

No. I think he has some ideas for possibly more Malazan stuff, but also focusing on non-Malazan material (despite his non-Malazan work really not setting the world on fire so far).

Is he returning to Walk In Shadows after Witness 2?

[Werthead]

6 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Is he returning to Walk In Shadows after Witness 2?

Yes, although he has said that Walk in Shadow might have to be 2 volumes (either because it's super long or his publishers are no longer willing to publish books as long as Fall of Light).

[IlyaP]

7 hours ago, Werthead said:

Yes, although he has said that Walk in Shadow might have to be 2 volumes (either because it's super long or his publishers are no longer willing to publish books as long as Fall of Light).

So they're pulling a Tad Williams circa MST. 

[Werthead]

17 hours ago, IlyaP said:

So they're pulling a Tad Williams circa MST. 

To Green Angel Tower was insanely long (550,000 words or thereabouts, or 100,000 words longer than Lord of the Rings) and it was published in one volume, it just needed to be in two volumes for the paperback.

With Walk in Shadow, it's possible Erikson was angling for a much more modestly-sized book in line with the first two Kharkanas books, which were ~650 and ~900 pages in hardcover respectively. But Bantam really doesn't appear to be keen on books of that length now, with the wholesale price of paper going through the roof. That's probably why The God is Not Willing was so short, and with Erikson's sales in a state of flux (the Kharkanas books bombed, hard, but it appears The God is Not Willing did reasonably okay) they are not keen on publishing another book in that size bracket.

[apovsic]

I just finished reading last of the Malazan Book of the Fallen and is normal to fell stupid? I'm now questioning my reading ability, my comprehension of the text, because I just don't get half of the things. Not just from the last book, but also from the previous books, some things just hang in the air, like a mist my brains. And for every thing that I don't get, I question myself: Was it written on the pages? Was it written on the previous pages? In previous book? Should I piece things together from the hints? Should I just fill in the blanks with my imagination? I don't know and it's frustrating.

Maybe I'm just not smart enough.

[Wilbur]

34 minutes ago, apovsic said:

I just finished reading last of the Malazan Book of the Fallen and is normal to fell stupid? I'm now questioning my reading ability, my comprehension of the text, because I just don't get half of the things. Not just from the last book, but also from the previous books, some things just hang in the air, like a mist my brains. And for every thing that I don't get, I question myself: Was it written on the pages? Was it written on the previous pages? In previous book? Should I piece things together from the hints? Should I just fill in the blanks with my imagination? I don't know and it's frustrating.

Maybe I'm just not smart enough.

You are fine, it is just the books are dense, a multitude of plot points are either unresolved or move in unexpected directions, the names of characters change randomly from book to book, plot lines started in one book don't pick up for several other books, and so on.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the MBotF, but some of the opacity is over the top.  I have enough trouble remembering the names of people in real life, so for God's sake, don't change the names of fictional characters from one book to another!  If JimBob borrows my multimeter IRL, and when he returns it he is calling himself Gordan the Magnificent, I am going to be confused.  Same thing in MBotF.

I used the following re-read threads as a reference going through the MBofF, since every chapter left me with a constellation of question-marks orbiting my head.  (?????)  It helped immensely, as other readers were also in the same boat, and reviewing their speculations aided my own understanding.

Malazan Reread of the Fallen | Series | Tor.com

The MBotF are probably the most opaque stories since Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun.

[polishgenius]

2 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

The MBotF are probably the most opaque stories since Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun.

 

 

I'm saying The Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan

[Wilbur]

23 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

 

 

I'm saying The Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan

So are you saying I should I pick this up and read it, or back away slowly?

[apovsic]

31 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Malazan Reread of the Fallen | Series | Tor.com

Thanks, I'll check this out, especially for the last the books of the series, because TBH I don't really remember a lot (that wasn't picked up in the last two books) from previous books and I really don't plan to do a re-read.

[polishgenius]

11 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

So are you saying I should I pick this up and read it, or back away slowly?

 

I fucking love it, so I'd recommend giving it a try, but it takes crazy patience, and tolerance for pretentiousness because it unquestionably is that. It's definitely not for everyone. 

 

It's not a lot like Book of The New Sun (and is antireligious where that series is in part a Catholic exploration of faith) but it is like it in that it makes a lot, lot more sense on a reread and the first go round you just just roll with it and enjoy the style. 

[Werthead]

2 hours ago, apovsic said:

I just finished reading last of the Malazan Book of the Fallen and is normal to fell stupid? I'm now questioning my reading ability, my comprehension of the text, because I just don't get half of the things. Not just from the last book, but also from the previous books, some things just hang in the air, like a mist my brains. And for every thing that I don't get, I question myself: Was it written on the pages? Was it written on the previous pages? In previous book? Should I piece things together from the hints? Should I just fill in the blanks with my imagination? I don't know and it's frustrating.

Maybe I'm just not smart enough.

It's worth noting the ten-book series leaves a whole bunch of things unresolved to be picked up in Ian Esslemont's six-volume Malazan Empire companion series. And other stuff is only explained in Erikson's Kharkanas prequel trilogy. And other stuff is resolved only in the Witness sequel trilogy. And yet more stuff (most it minor) is only addressed in the Bauchelaina & Korbal Broach novella side-series.

And some other stuff Erikson just forgot about, or simply changed his mind on and decided to leave ambiguous.

[apovsic]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

It's worth noting the ten-book series leaves a whole bunch of things unresolved to be picked up in Ian Esslemont's six-volume Malazan Empire companion series.

 

I really don't know if I have enough willpower to continue reading, I thought, when I was reading previous books, that I'll have most of the answers by the end of the book 10, but instead I got some answers, but a lot more question.

Also, by searching the internet, my confusion is not based on question of Who ("Who's this person?"), What ("What are they talking about?") or When("When did this happen?") with the help  of Wiki, I can manage those. It's the Why and How.

For example, death of Fener in the last book. How did Karsa killed him by cutting the altar? Is there some kind of connection mentioned in before? So one  can killed any god just by cutting the altar? Why did Karsa did it? How did he know it? And also, how did Fener's blood resurrect T'lan Lmass? Is there a hint in the book? Is it blood sacrifice? But isn't that usually connected with a sacrifice to God, not of God?

The why's: What was the point of the T'lan miner who was found by Harllo(?). Why was this in the book?

You don't need answers this, I have like a hundred question's floating in my head and I'm sure, there is a good explanation for most of my question, but I really dislike first reading a book and then having someone to explain it to me. 

 

[JGP]

5 minutes ago, apovsic said:

 

You don't need answers this, I have like a hundred question's floating in my head and I'm sure, there is a good explanation for most of my question, but I really dislike first reading a book and then having someone to explain it to me. 

 

That's fair. Personally loved MBotF overall [and yeah, I had lots of questions too] Part of the sprawl issue, in my estimation, is Erikson got a 1 mil advance for a ten book deal shortly after GotM's release iirc. Not sure if I ever dug into how much of that he'd really planned out beyond broad strokes, but even if it was meticulous shit changes in the telling, right.

 

[apovsic]

6 minutes ago, JGP said:

That's fair. Personally loved MBotF overall [and yeah, I had lots of questions too] Part of the sprawl issue, in my estimation, is Erikson got a 1 mil advance for a ten book deal shortly after GotM's release iirc. Not sure if I ever dug into how much of that he'd really planned out beyond broad strokes, but even if it was meticulous shit changes in the telling, right.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like MBotF, so my frustration is even bigger, because I really want to love the damm thing. I want to read all the books. But i really don't know if I can.

[Iskaral Pust]

On 3/14/2022 at 5:02 PM, Relic said:

Finished my re-read of Reaper's Gale, and now on to Toll the Hounds. I remember this book an incredibly rough and boring read the first time around. 

Toll The Hounds is where I dropped the series.  I even did a reread at some point and still dropped it here.  I think it was partly the book itself felt boring and partly that in the eighth book of ten it once again breaks away from all of the open plot lines and introduces another setting and more new characters.  The lack of any convergence toward resolution at this stage of the series makes it difficult to care to finish this boring book.

Perhaps I should return for another reread and actually finish this time. 

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

that in the eighth book of ten it once again breaks away from all of the open plot lines and introduces another setting

 

I get a lot of the criticisms of Malazan but... this definitely isn't true? Toll the Hounds is a Darujhistan book and if anything brings together and concludes more of the hanging plotlines than any other single book in the series, TCG included. 

[Iskaral Pust]

6 hours ago, polishgenius said:

 

I get a lot of the criticisms of Malazan but... this definitely isn't true? Toll the Hounds is a Darujhistan book and if anything brings together and concludes more of the hanging plotlines than any other single book in the series, TCG included. 

Perhaps my problem is that I abandoned this book too early.  I don’t think I read more than 10% of this one either time.  (memory is foggy; it’s been a long time)

[Relic]

8 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Toll The Hounds is where I dropped the series.  I even did a reread at some point and still dropped it here.  I think it was partly the book itself felt boring and partly that in the eighth book of ten it once again breaks away from all of the open plot lines and introduces another setting and more new characters.  The lack of any convergence toward resolution at this stage of the series makes it difficult to care to finish this boring book.

Perhaps I should return for another reread and actually finish this time. 

I really enjoyed it on a re-read, actually.