The obligatory Steven Erikson thread (possible BH spoilers)

[Lord Baelish]

BoG, is there any chance of a spoiler-free review? How did the book compare to the others in the series? Were the new characters interesting, and has Erikson stuck with the same style of grand confrontations at the end?

[Azmure]

I'm really hoping that TBH returns to the form that Erikson showed back in DG/MOI. The last two books have been very disappointing IMHO, feeling fluffed-up and kind of pretentious. I'm really hoping that TBH will restore my faith in Erikson, something along the lines of MOI, with the Siege of Capustan and the Grey Swords.

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

Calibandar;

I would rate Malazan books this way:

1. DG

2. MoI

3. BH

4. HoC

5. MT

6.GotM

OK, I perhaps overstated the importance of NoK. I was just annoyed with Erikson, because I thought that Esslemont books will be completely separated. You can understand BH without knowing NoK, but you will miss the background of some minor characters which can be somewhat irritating if you did read NoK.

This book follows the Tavore's army and its further fate on Seven Cities subcontinent and in other places. It is about he length of MoI, perhaps the longest of Malazen books so far. We got further info of the nature of looming epic conflict, nature of which is becoming increasingly clear. This book has all strong and weak elements of Malazan books so far - epic scale, surreal dialogue and humor together with typical Erikson's characterization. We got to see a lot of Ganoes Paran who is growing into his new role. Erikson also ties up the characters and plotlines from MT very niftily into the greater whole (I had some misgivinggs about this). There is also traditional big confrontation at the end and some unexpected deaths

Erikson mentioned that the last four Malazan books wil take place entirely outside Malazan Empire - and it is now clear why. All in all, I would call this book a worthy continuation of the series, better than MT which was IMHO somewhat disappointing. Good sign is that the series is clearly nearing the resolution and we can safely bet that in Erikson's case 10 volumes will mean 10, and not 10 and then some more.

As in case of AFFC, my book is not official ARC, but a binded uncorrected proof, unfortunately, without maps.

[Werthead]

Sounds good. I've gotten tired of reading threads moaning about Midnight Tides having absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the books and having no more importance than providing some backstory for Trull Sengar. It is annoying.

Erikson did say in an interview that his publishers would be drawing some new maps for TBH so I'm guessing it takes place more than just on Seven Cities (I know, I know, that would be a spoiler).

Some interesting news that Bantam UK are taking a look at Night of Knives (I think they've already been considering the earlier Erikson novellas) as a paperback original realease. Hopefully they'll go for it. Erikson is certainly growing in popularity here in the UK, hence the hardback releases for all the books from Memories of Ice onwards.

Yeah it's annoying that writers tend to slow down the deeper into their series they go, but two years is still good going compared to other authors.

[Calibandar]

BoG; good stuff.

One thing I'd been wondering about ever since this "Patch" character mentioned it on the Malazan forum, are there new Draconic characters in TBH? He said that if he hadn't known and seen the Draconic familiy tree, TBH would have confused him.

Is the Draconic family tree included in your copy?

BTW on a general note, I just checked Amazon UK and it seems the book has been pushed back again, this time to March 1st. Just last week it was still February 1st.

[Buried Treasure]

Ohh Paran I knew he'd be appearing in BH but i'm glad its going to be for a decent amount of time. I'm even more impatient for the book now.

Nice to hear about whats going to happening in the new book, 'fraid to say Eriksen's not quite so good at throwing tidbits to the rabid fans as GRRM. Whilst i enjoyed MT as a book, as part of a series it didnt exactly let us see more of the characters we already know and love.

... need to sort out my sig for this new forum, i used to have a Ganeos quote

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

Yes there are some new draconic characters. Unfortunately, no additions in my copy. I will have to check this draconic tree on Malazan site.

[Calibandar]

I tried to find the Draconic tree BoG, but the virtually useless Malazan main site no longer has a link to it. Couldn't find it through a search in the forums either.

[Rhaco]

I saved a copy of the Draconean Family Tree. I'd be happy to email it to anyone if it can no longer be found on the Malazan boards.

I haven't reread MT yet, so I might be forgetting something, but I think there are 6 characters in the tree that we haven't seen yet, assuming that a) they're all draconic and they're all actual corporate beings.

[Calibandar]

6?

I recall the two children of Rake and Lady Envy, Nimander Golit and Phaed. Maybe you're adding Scabandari's daughters as well? Elder Gods?

[Lord Baelish]

Nimander Golit, Phaed and Spite (Envy's sister) haven't been seen in the first five books, though I know one of them shows up in the BH prologue. I'm pretty sure all the others have been around, though, even Kilmandaros has been in one scene. Though I guess you could say we haven't seen Mother Dark, Father Light or Tiam yet, either.

[Rhaco]

Though I guess you could say we haven't seen Mother Dark, Father Light or Tiam yet, either.

Yeah, I included those three to bring the count to six. Not sure if something like Mother Dark is an actual being and not just some sort of... force or whatever, though.

[Brys]

I can't wait for this to come out, and I'm not complaining about the wait - Erikson's still a hugely fast writer, and he's already a significant way through book 7 - hard to believe that he's writing this fast, actually, so the Bonehunters coming out in February certainly isn't bad. I heard he just missed the deadline (in April), but they didn't have a chance to publish it before February.

[Lord Baelish]

I'm a little confused on the (non)existance of Mother Dark too. The way Anomander Rake talks about her, it sounds like she is (or was) a physical being. The first one ever, maybe, though it's been a while since I've read the books so I could be wrong on this (did Togg and Fandaray come first?). From what I can remember, MD created Father Light, which is why Rake and the others left her realm. So presumably they were real at some stage, although they may well have died by now. And I have no idea where Tiam fits into all this.

[Calibandar]

Here's a link to the thread which has a zip file of the Draconic tree BoG (and others):

http://www.malazanempire.com/forums/showth...ted=1#post45022

I'm assuming that since BoG mentions that there is more than one new draconic character in TBH, we'll see more than just Spite, who we already know to be in the prologue.

[Werthead]

I can't wait for this to come out, and I'm not complaining about the wait - Erikson's still a hugely fast writer, and he's already a significant way through book 7 - hard to believe that he's writing this fast, actually, so the Bonehunters coming out in February certainly isn't bad. I heard he just missed the deadline (in April), but they didn't have a chance to publish it before February.

I'm not sure about this. I'd head he was still working on BH back in September from a convention report. Maybe he just missed the February date the decided to go back and polish it (perhaps make sure the dates are correct this time around? ) Mind you the same report did say he was making headway on Reaper's Gale. I'd be surprised if it didn't make it out more than a year after BH.

I'm pondering if he's going to wait until the series is finished now before he finishes off the Malazan Encyclopedia? Damn, I wanted to see those world maps earlier...

[Rhaco]

I'm pondering if he's going to wait until the series is finished now before he finishes off the Malazan Encyclopedia?

I hope so. Seems likely to me that such a work would be necessarily incomplete to some extent if it's drawn up halfway through the series, and I'd much rather have a single volume encyclopedia.

[Calibandar]

BoG

Erikson also ties up the characters and plotlines from MT very niftily into the greater whole (I had some misgivinggs about this).

Does this mean we'll get to see Fear and Silchas' group, or hear about them?

[koudoulis]

You should all learn to believe in Erikson , if there is a man who can get us out of this mess its him..

Anyway the guy is too fast, too smart and very funny as it turns out. Whatever happens i think we ll enjoy the reading and sport some minor headaches too

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

Cali;

Unfortunately no Silchas and Kettle (and it is a great pity, IMHO), but we get to see a lot of various Tiste Edur.