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crustieloaf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Okay I am back a week or so after finishing this book and no one else that I have ever met reads these so...I have no one to talk about these books with. Prepare for a too long review of everything that has been bouncing around in my head.
Malazan is turning into something that I didn't expect. I am no stranger to epic fantasy series. In fact, I read and LOVED Wheel of Time. I love Dune. I love the kind of books where half of it is incomprehensible because the world is so different and strange. Malazan is truly right up my alley, but here's the thing: it's not incomprehensible in the same way Wheel of Time or Dune is.
Now that I can say I'm halfway through the main series (and am writing this after already reading a teeny bit of Book 6), I have one brainworm.
Malazan, at its core, is a story about family.
Not the cheesy, Pixar-type "family is everything you need" type shit. This is about estrangement, and hate, and something akin to love. Malazan is about duty over family, the desecration of family, and the ways in which family can be crumpled until you, the reader, are questioning whether the characters even know they are looking upon their own family. Those who have read Deadhouse Gates know. I need to know if Steven Erickson has siblings and how many. This book makes 3 groups of siblings (that I can remember off the top of my head...at work...) that all interact in the most poetic of ways. It makes me think of my own brother.
I want to sing the praises of this book, but I also do not want to spoil anything. Logically, I know I am writing a review for a (relativity) unknown, fifth book for a series, but I am being super cautious. Therefore, you're getting a very vague review because the things that made me excited to be reading these books is seeing payoff that was established hundreds or even thousands of pages ago. (Honestly, I thinking I'm closing in on having read almost ten thousand pages of Malazan. Yikers.)
Here are my disjointed thoughts that come with every review at this point:
- Rhulad is one of my favorite characters. Ever. The visual badassery of his...revived form, plus his emotional complexity and ties to his family and one friend, all while becoming a puppet of a god is sublime. Something something he became what Ganoes feared all the way back in Gardens of the Moon. He has become what Aplasar is trying to recover from. He became what Crokus is becoming. The gods are not kind. Is ours?
- Fear and Trull are excellent foils to Rhulad.
- The climax of this book was one of the best. It had a quiet tragedy to it.
- There are moments in this series that are actually funny. Like literal bits in the middle of this dark-ass book.
- There is a god who possesses a male form and canonically knits clothes for his "master" as he moonlights as a manservant. They also eat trash. Like, soles of shoes trash. Because they are...maybe poor? Frugal? idk see the above point.
- There is an undead woman who is extremely horny (See the point above again). She hangs out with the guys who eat trash.
- There is a war. There are always wars. This is the war in the shadow of colonization.
- Imagine being a diplomat in a foreign country unable to stop a war from happening between your nations. Imagine your elder (that you greatly admire, and may or may not be slightly in love with) taking his own life because of his inability of action. Now what?
- The series is so visceral that I got nauseous multiple times.
- Tendons are sliced.
- By page 750 I was getting three to four hours of sleep because I was reading so much.
- This book is what I bought the kindle stand from.
- The sword over the threshold scene...so good. I love metaphor.
And finally...finally...I went into Gardens of the Moon not understanding anything. By the end of this book, I could see the threads. I can see things coming together. I understand what is going on. It's getting easier.
And when I cracked open Book 6 and saw character names from Book 2...I got excited. I got excited over a book over a thousand pages long. I just can't believe how quickly this series stood out to me. How much it has ingrained itself in my memory. I really hope no one does an adaptation of this (except maybe HBO...)
Shit's crazy, folks. I love fantasy.
Malazan is turning into something that I didn't expect. I am no stranger to epic fantasy series. In fact, I read and LOVED Wheel of Time. I love Dune. I love the kind of books where half of it is incomprehensible because the world is so different and strange. Malazan is truly right up my alley, but here's the thing: it's not incomprehensible in the same way Wheel of Time or Dune is.
Now that I can say I'm halfway through the main series (and am writing this after already reading a teeny bit of Book 6), I have one brainworm.
Malazan, at its core, is a story about family.
Not the cheesy, Pixar-type "family is everything you need" type shit. This is about estrangement, and hate, and something akin to love. Malazan is about duty over family, the desecration of family, and the ways in which family can be crumpled until you, the reader, are questioning whether the characters even know they are looking upon their own family. Those who have read Deadhouse Gates know. I need to know if Steven Erickson has siblings and how many. This book makes 3 groups of siblings (that I can remember off the top of my head...at work...) that all interact in the most poetic of ways. It makes me think of my own brother.
I want to sing the praises of this book, but I also do not want to spoil anything. Logically, I know I am writing a review for a (relativity) unknown, fifth book for a series, but I am being super cautious. Therefore, you're getting a very vague review because the things that made me excited to be reading these books is seeing payoff that was established hundreds or even thousands of pages ago. (Honestly, I thinking I'm closing in on having read almost ten thousand pages of Malazan. Yikers.)
Here are my disjointed thoughts that come with every review at this point:
- Rhulad is one of my favorite characters. Ever. The visual badassery of his...revived form, plus his emotional complexity and ties to his family and one friend, all while becoming a puppet of a god is sublime. Something something he became what Ganoes feared all the way back in Gardens of the Moon. He has become what Aplasar is trying to recover from. He became what Crokus is becoming. The gods are not kind. Is ours?
- Fear and Trull are excellent foils to Rhulad.
- The climax of this book was one of the best. It had a quiet tragedy to it.
- There are moments in this series that are actually funny. Like literal bits in the middle of this dark-ass book.
- There is a god who possesses a male form and canonically knits clothes for his "master" as he moonlights as a manservant. They also eat trash. Like, soles of shoes trash. Because they are...maybe poor? Frugal? idk see the above point.
- There is an undead woman who is extremely horny (See the point above again). She hangs out with the guys who eat trash.
- There is a war. There are always wars. This is the war in the shadow of colonization.
- Imagine being a diplomat in a foreign country unable to stop a war from happening between your nations. Imagine your elder (that you greatly admire, and may or may not be slightly in love with) taking his own life because of his inability of action. Now what?
- The series is so visceral that I got nauseous multiple times.
- Tendons are sliced.
- By page 750 I was getting three to four hours of sleep because I was reading so much.
- This book is what I bought the kindle stand from.
- The sword over the threshold scene...so good. I love metaphor.
And finally...finally...I went into Gardens of the Moon not understanding anything. By the end of this book, I could see the threads. I can see things coming together. I understand what is going on. It's getting easier.
And when I cracked open Book 6 and saw character names from Book 2...I got excited. I got excited over a book over a thousand pages long. I just can't believe how quickly this series stood out to me. How much it has ingrained itself in my memory. I really hope no one does an adaptation of this (except maybe HBO...)
Shit's crazy, folks. I love fantasy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Sexism, Blood, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Pregnancy