Malazan Book Of The Fallen

Deathwing

Deathwing

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Just finished Blood and Bone, couple questions:

Anyone else annoyed by how heavily the publication order is showing in the characters themselves. Up until Forge of Darkness(published just before Blood and Bone), the Azathanai were just called Elder Gods. Now that word gets tossed around like it's regular conversation. T'riss's memory loss? Mentioned at least a couple times in this book, but never before.

I'm assuming the great big dust cloud towards the end was Osserc forgetting to deploy his parachute. And what was the point of that? Was that him destroying the construct that tapped all of Jacuraku? Was that necessary? Easily could have folded into a failed ritual backfiring.

The Army of Righteous Chastisement, what as their point? I get that they were a distraction for the Circle of Masters, but as a pov, Golan had almost no direct impact on the story.

The Thaumaturgs pulling the Visitor closer, is that a revision? Because I thought it was heavily implied in DoD and TCG that they were coming for the chained god. The Rope kills him and the Visitor reverses course. It's just a happy coincidence that the Circle of Masters failed at that exact moment? Seems very unlike Shadowthrone.

The tie-in with Stonewielder was very nice. What's next for Esslemont? I think he has two more books left, Assail and somewhere else?
 
S

Seventh

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Finished Blood and Bone as well. 7/10 overall. Had some decent moments, but way too many typical mysterious references to some other part of the fiction that happened in SE's story arc 8 books ago.

The Army of Righteous Chastisement, what as their point? I get that they were a distraction for the Circle of Masters, but as a pov, Golan had almost no direct impact on the story.
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Right with you on this one, I honestly have no idea. I expected them to show up and clash with TCG at the end, instead they just stroll off to Assail. I can't help but think that I missed something. I don't get the Osserc/Gothos bit either. The whole Azath part just felt like it belonged in a different book. I'm reading the Malazan forums and somehow managed to entirely miss the fact that Osserc had something to do with the ending. (wtf? Guess I'll need to re-read it tonight..)

Other random thoughts:

I had a hunch that the Warleader was Kallor around 1/4 of the way through the book, but since he's Kallor and all, I don't get why he needed to go through all the hassle and deception.

I loved the Murk/Sour bit. It's like the Fiddler/Hedge bromance.

"Skiiinnnnneerrrr!" was awesome. I remember reading that in TCG and digging it, very cool to see it happen in the parallel story.

Not a bad book all in all but probably my second least favorite of the series as a whole, behind Crack't Pot Trail which I tried three times to slog through but just couldn't finish.
 
B

BrainLeakage_sl

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Decado_sl said:
I ended up quite disappointed with these with the exception of books 1-4 which i would put at the top of any list I ever make for sheer brilliance. After that I felt they just kind of meandered on for the sake of it for far too long, plot lines were introduced that added little to me and the ending was just bleh. Not even gonna mention the whole lets not resolve a thousand and 1 story arcs......
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What we must understand when reading this series is that the world and story is bigger, much bigger, than what is within the books. The Malazan book of the Fallen is like a small snapshot of a huge world. In that snapshot, there are elements that have started way before the scope of the books and a lot of elements that are resolved outside the scope of the books.

I think it helps emphasize the EPICness of the series.

Just my take on it...
 
9veh

9veh

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The first eight books (up until TTH) are available as audio books published through the Libary of Congress' talking books project.

Narrator is named John Nash(?) and personally I think he does a very good job at narrating the series (probably biased from listening to 200+ hours) considering the complexity of the Malazan series. The books were available on Demonoid but they're probably floating around on various sites still.

Brilliance audio books is publishing "regular audio book" versions of the Malazan series, but as mentioned above their schedule currently indicates that the 10th volume (TCG) will be released sometime in autumn 2015.....

Have not seen the last two volumes (DOD / TCG) as Library of Congress editions, though I'd be surprised if they do not exist...

I have the Brilliance audio edition of Gardens of the moon but have not listened to it yet. If and when I do, I can let you know how I think it compares to the Library of Congress edition.
 
Asmadai

Asmadai

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Forge of Darkness was just as bad ass as I hoped it would be. Can't wait for the rest of it.
 
C

chunhamt_sl

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I too have recently been reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
Finished the 10 books and started reading Night of Knives by ICE.
Just amazing.. !!
 
Vlett

Vlett

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VisualSilence_sl said:
Starting this series once I finish my current book! Stoked that there is 10 books, I've been chowing through tons of series lately.
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10 long books. I read some where that there is over 6 million words in this series. One of my favorite for sure.
 
T

Talisker_sl

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The series, as mentioned above, really benefits from a re-read. I am going through a second time and it has become so apparent that Erikson was working from a master plan. Little things mentioned that you didn't get the first time through, but with a 10-book perspective are little strokes of genius. Love the depth.

I echo a previous poster - this is my favorite IP. Amazing, Amazing.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

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I'm planning on starting the ICE novels here soon but instead of just reading them all together I think I'll combine them in chronological order with an Erikson reread. I honestly finished The Crippled God and wanted to immediately pick up Gardens of the Moon and start all over again. Throwing in the ICE novels will help vary things up a bit I think.
 
K

kementarii_sl

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Best part of this series besides its awesomeness is that it is completed. While the overall quality might be slightly lower than GRRM, Erkison is a writing machine with very little of the bloat and prolonging of series that comes with money/fame.
 
Furious

Furious

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I have just re read the series and it was much, MUCH more enjoyable. I was lost the first time around trying to figure out names and places but after the second go it was much more fluid and dynamic. Great re-read.
 
Rime

Rime

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Not reading through this thread for fear of spoilers, same reason I am avoiding using Wikipedia to look up anything about the series... spoilers everywhere. Just finished Memories of Ice. It seems that I have a hard time getting through the first 100 or so pages, then it is smooth sailing until the last 200 or so, when I am not able to put the book down.

I have heard that some people had trouble with Chain of Dogs, though I have a hard time imagining why. That has been one of my favorite books in the last few years and so far, out of the series. My only gripe with it was the
Delivery agency showing up out of no-where. Felt really DEM for the story.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

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DEM?

And you said you just finished Memory of Ice, that should explain where and why the Trygalle Trade Guild showed up. Memory of Ice and Deadhouse Gates take place at the same time.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

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I don't see how that is a deus ex. Unexpected intervention, sure, which is even explained a book later. But what part of the plot did it move forward that wouldn't have otherwise?
 
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