The Crippled God by Steven Erikson

[skins7778]

If you skipped all the Tiste Andii/Shake scenes in TCG, I will tell you that there was a pretty memorable Kallor scene in there.

That was an awesome scene btw.

I just finished the series too and pretty much agree with everyone on the wasted pages. Someone earlier brought up Ganoes ending up there without a real explanation other than he travelled through a warren, and I'm fine with that. I dont need 4 chapters dedicated to his decison on which warren to use, and the travel though that warren or the logistics of their forces and supplies during the journey. Why? Because its a reasonable explanation! I dont need hundreds of pages leading up to an inevitable shortage of water confrontation.

That being said I enjoyed the series alot, and look forward to the other novels.

Also does anyone else laugh everytime you read Sgt. Rumjugs and Sweetlard? ....... everytime i read the names I laugh.

[Give Cersei some LOVE]

I just find it terrible that there was no teaming up of Karsa Orlong's daughters and Kruppe's twins. Outside of Matrim Cauthon and Littlefinger, Ganoes Paran is the coolest fantasy character I've read.

[Rhom]

I just find it terrible that there was no teaming up of Karsa Orlong's daughters and Kruppe's twins. Outside of Matrim Cauthon and Littlefinger, Ganoes Paran is the coolest fantasy character I've read.

Okay, I like Paran just fine... but that statement demands elaboration. What the hell did Paran ever do to put him up there on the trickster/schemer pedestal?

[Give Cersei some LOVE]

Schemer? Nope thats completely unrelated. I like him because I always picture him as the Yugi-OH guy. Drop the card. Card becomes a portal. I summon you Quick Ben.

[Underfoot]

This is a bit random, but here it goes:

I got through book 7 of Malazan before the 8th book came out, and haven't read any since, because that would require a reread and I just don't have time for that, and I probably never will. I was just wondering if someone could tell me whether or not the sister of the main character (Felsin?) in Deadhouse Gates (who was enslaved and then makes an army) ever found out that she killed her?

[Minaku]

Finished this last night. I agree a lot with Relic's sentiments from over a year ago. A good chunk of DoD and TCG left me wondering what the hell was going on. I could not care less about the Shake and whatever Tiste Andii bullshit was going on (so I guess I missed Kallor). Erikson made the Malazans compelling; I wanted to read about them. He made Tehol, Bugg, and the Letherii interesting, so I wanted to read about THEM. I skipped all the stuff about the Shake and I honestly had no idea that the children were significant until they showed up at the Malazans' camp and I realized that Badalle wasn't just a source of shitty poetry.

The battle scenes I thought were better than some of the others, a little less paint by numbers, randomly selected ways to die. I still have the same complaint that I had some five books ago, which is that the cast of characters is too large for any one person to care about, and after a while it just becomes a list of people who die in gruesome ways. I thought it was already quite a feat for Erikson to get me to care about the Bridgeburners, the Bonehunters, Karsa/Samar, the Parans, Icarium and Mappo, the Beddict brothers, and various gods. I couldn't spare any more thought to the Tiste Andii/Tiste Edur/Tiste Liosan conflict, nor the unresolved family issues between incredibly old people who should have learned their lessons 10,000 years ago instead of now. Why did Mother Dark turn away? Why was it significant that she turned away? What on earth was it that Rake did to get her to come back? I don't know, and I don't care.

The series for me could have easily been split between two main narratives - that of the Bridgeburners/Malazans and the Letherii, with a side of Karsa (he grew on me). I think that could have cut the series down quite a bit, and kept me interested instead of having me skip some 300-400 pages of useless boring crap about Sandalath going nuts in the throne room and Yan Tovis trying to figure out whether her brother is worth it and OH NOES TAVORE IS GOING TO DO WHAT IN THE GLASS DESERT and Badalle blowing more flies and coming up with more useless poetry. I could have done with less of beating around the bush and more of being told a > b > c, if that happens then we are all fucked. I was very tired of all the philosophy and people acting all smart and dropping the tiniest of clues. What happened? I don't know. I stayed for Fiddler, his company, all the mages, Kalam, Ganoes, and some fight scenes.

Of all the books I enjoyed Midnight Tides the most.

A quick rundown of winners and losers.

Winners:

- Bridgeburners

- Quick Ben and Kalam

- Fiddler

- Bottle

- Ganoes Paran

- Karsa Orlong

- Shadowthrone and Cotillion

- Tehol and Bugg

- Brys

- Witnessing or lack thereof

- Ublala Pung, for his ridiculous name and his ridiculous penis

Losers:

- Every Shake ever

- K'Chain what?

- Every T'lan Imass but Tool

- The screwed up magic system

- Silverfox

- Felisin

- Heboric

- Romance (Does Erikson think that "I will split you in half" sounds romantic after the 50th repetition?)

- The Tistes

- Caladan Brood (what happened to him?)

- People who continually misunderestimate the Malazan Army; you'd think after the 5th engagement or so they'd figure out that the Moranth munitions are a huge advantage

- My grasp of the narrative

The end. Will I recommend this series? I think fans of Bakker would also enjoy Erikson; I am a more simple-minded creature that prefers straightforward stuff. I'm happy to be done.

[Relic]

That's a hilarious review Mina. Shitty poetry indeed. It gives me great comfort that i'm not the only person scratching his head over these books.

[Seli]

This is a bit random, but here it goes:

I got through book 7 of Malazan before the 8th book came out, and haven't read any since, because that would require a reread and I just don't have time for that, and I probably never will. I was just wondering if someone could tell me whether or not the sister of the main character (Felsin?) in Deadhouse Gates (who was enslaved and then makes an army) ever found out that she killed her?

No she did not

[williamjm]

The series for me could have easily been split between two main narratives - that of the Bridgeburners/Malazans and the Letherii, with a side of Karsa (he grew on me). I think that could have cut the series down quite a bit, and kept me interested instead of having me skip some 300-400 pages of useless boring crap about Sandalath going nuts in the throne room and Yan Tovis trying to figure out whether her brother is worth it and OH NOES TAVORE IS GOING TO DO WHAT IN THE GLASS DESERT and Badalle blowing more flies and coming up with more useless poetry.

There were also the endless parade of nomadic tribes, in the latter part of the series it did start to feel that a new civilisation of nomadic horsemen would be introduced every couple of hundred pages and they all started to blur together after a while. The usually seemed to stay around for a few hundred pages before mostly dying in some tragically pointless battle that inevitably failed to feel as tragic or interesting as what happened to the Wickans at the end of Deadhouse Gates.

- Caladan Brood (what happened to him?)

He was last seen hanging around in the countryside around Darujhstan and trying to avoid getting involved in anything, which seems to be about the only sensible thing to do if you live in the Malazan world. He has a minor role in Esslemont's Orb, Sceptre, Throne, which takes place after tCG.

[Underfoot]

No she did not

Damn, that would have been some awesome angst. Thank you! :)

[Minaku]

There were also the endless parade of nomadic tribes, in the latter part of the series it did start to feel that a new civilisation of nomadic horsemen would be introduced every couple of hundred pages and they all started to blur together after a while. The usually seemed to stay around for a few hundred pages before mostly dying in some tragically pointless battle that inevitably failed to feel as tragic or interesting as what happened to the Wickans at the end of Deadhouse Gates.

He was last seen hanging around in the countryside around Darujhstan and trying to avoid getting involved in anything, which seems to be about the only sensible thing to do if you live in the Malazan world. He has a minor role in Esslemont's Orb, Sceptre, Throne, which takes place after tCG.

Yes, I lost count.

I don't know why Brood didn't want to get involved, seems like he had the only weapon capable of breaking the Cripped God's chains, other than releasing a giant negation dragon. I personally would have tried Brood's hammer on the chains before letting all hell break loose, but you know, practicality and pragmatism seems to be a virtue only Ganoes Paran possesses.

Damn, that would have been some awesome angst. Thank you! :)

Was it not enough that Tavore had to stumble towards Ganoes with her mouth wide open screaming about how she lost her sister? 3/4 of the shit that goes on in the series is hinged on the fact that Tavore lost Felisin and couldn't find her. I think that's plenty of angst and people dying.