Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Thrown in at the deep end? A good thing IMO December 4, 2008
Firstly the preface to this new edition explains some of the rationalisation behind Ericksson's first Malazan Novel. And whilst his background in Roleplaying writing is evident in the somewhat pigeonholed character description, often clearly defining them in a manner that wouldn't look amiss in an RPG. Tattersail is clearly: "the Sorceress" and others "the Thief" and "The Assassin". Whilst this obviously is a niggling problem I have with the series, I hope it works itself out as the characters themselves beyond this were well defined individuals with foibles and flaws.
Secondly, that little if anything is explained to the reader can lead to some frantic scrabbling for the glossary and character guide, it appealed to me in not leading me step by step. The writer clearly mentioned this in his preface as intentional, and I am with him on this. Nothing upsets me more than starting in ignorance and having huge chunks of backstory and lore explained to me in usually forced passages of dialogue (I'm looking at you Eragon...). I rejoiced in the freedom to connect the dots and really brought a greater sense of "reality" if you will as it came from my intuition.
I certainly hope that the rest of the books in this setting take this line as I would be upset if it "dumbs down"....
 highly recommended December 2, 2008
With this book I found a new favourite author which in many ways is surprising.
Firstly, I normally like a really good, honourable hero and some totally evil dislikeable baddie that gets soundly beaten in the end. However, in GotM, by the end of the book I still had no idea who was on the good and who was on the bad side. Having read all the other Malazan books, too, I am still not absolutely sure whom to trust. I find that like the real world, Erikson gives us characters in every shade of gray available and sometimes those shades get closer to one end of the spectrum or the other, but rarely do they go all the way. And as to the baddie getting beaten soundly... hmmm, it hasn't been clear cut so far and I doubt the ending will be but somehow I don't care, because the getting there is just amazing.
Secondly, yes, I will admit to skipping battle scenes and more so, duels in many books. I am just not into sword thrust left, parry right, stab middle and repeat for ten pages. However, the battles in the Malazan books are never that boring. Erikson brings in so many different viewpoints, so many unexpected twists and turns and more importantly, so much information into the fights that it is impossible to skip these sections. I wasn't even tempted.
I will say that you might be confused by the end of book one. The way Erikson writes, you are not meant to get it all straight away. You very much enter in the middle of a story where you don't know what went on before nor where things are heading and only by careful observation and listening can you work out what's going on. You hit the ground running.
My star ratings are the result of the following breakdown:
How difficult was it to put the book down: this is a strange one for me for a good read. I actually had to put it down for breathers, to take time to chew over the latest section because there was so much to take in and I actually felt the need to savour the words = five stars
Would I buy the hardcover of this one: definitely = five stars
Am I likely to read it again: I have already re-read it several times and will again = five stars
The best of the best November 8, 2008
Although complex and at times difficult to follow, Steven Ericksons saga is the finest of all modern fantasy novels. This is the first book of the masterpiece that is the 'Malazan, book of the fallen' series. Steven Erickson has a remarkable talent for creating depth to characters and interplaying story lines in a surprising and interetesing way. Seriously, anyone with a faint interest in fantasy novels must read this book it really is a modern classic.
A dark, gritty fantastic read November 7, 2008
First, hard to get into. The world is new, the atmosphere dark and peculiar, the characters many. But soon, without even you noticing, you enter the world and start understanding its scale and the depth of the story and characters.
By then you're hooked and will keep on reading what seems to me like one of the best book of the genre. And I've read plenty !
Challenging but very satisfying. November 5, 2008
It is a challenging book. If you don't have the patience or mental flexability to hold the plot lines together you will probably give up on it and miss out on something truly amazing. This book is the gateway to the series, it does throw you in at the deep end, if you really want to start from the beginning read Ian C Esslemont's Night of Knives first, as that is the actual first book (I believe) to this world.
Essentially these books are a retelling of a very long and in depth role playing game played out by Steven Erikson and Ian C Esslemont.
I don't quite understand one of the other comments here complaining about the character development, I wouldn't agree at all, but I don't know what novels the writer of that comment would compare this to.
The only possible reasoning I could think of is... the story does not build up, there is no "And the hero grew up with his aunt on a farm..", in fact there is no hero. There are factions, and gods, and armies, and wizards, and planes of existance, and races. The story starts and you are thrown into it without time to get your footing, much like the characters in the book.
As the series progresses seemingly inexplicable occurrances and actions from earlier books suddenly make perfect sense, are seen from different angles, or simply are explained in a perfectly satisfactory way, with each book I got the urge to read the previous books again to apply the new perspectives and knowledge to what was written before. It's very satisfying, but challenging. This is definately not a children's book, and as mentioned, it's definately not David Eddings.
I've read all of the Malazan Book of the Fallen that has been released so far, and Ian C Esslemont's two books. I consider it to have been a brilliant investment of time and I recommend these books to anybody. They're gritty, hilarious, epic, intricate, fantastical creations.
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