Reviews

It's been a while since I read the 10 books of The Malazan Book of the Fallen, but as soon as I started reading this I felt like I was back in a familiar place. I was worried that I might not like it because it is a different author, but those fears proved unfounded. Well paced story with plenty of action and world building.

marsoplin's review against another edition

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4.5

Why the low ratings? This was great. 4.5

kodermike's review against another edition

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4.0

I'm trying to read these in publication order, so broke away from the main line at the start of Bonehunters to read this. I enjoyed Esslemont's writing and thought the story did a great job of fitting into the shared universe while also filling in a few gaps along the way. Highly enjoyed.

tehols_blanket's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

novoaust's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

You know one of those car rides where everybody is there saying "is it over yet?" That is exactly how I felt about this book. Going in, I knew that Esslemont isn't Erikson, and this is largely considered to be the worst Malazan book....but damn. Even with really low expectations, this book was a huge disappointment. This wasn't just a bad book for the Malazan series, it is one of the worst books I have finished in a long time.

The only reason this book was not a DNF is because I do want to complete Malazan. If it wasn't for that, I would have given up about a third of the way through. I struggle even coming up with one positive thought about this book. I guess the writing style is easier to read than Eriksons, but for me, that isn't a positive. Temper, one of our two main characters, is a decent character with a real Malazan feel, but he still felt quite flat.

Speaking of the characters, they were my biggest issue of this book, as I just couldn't connect with them. I went into this book excited to learn more about Laseen and the Claws, Kellanved, Dancer, and others, but ended up mostly bored with Kiska and Temper. Kiska was especially bad. Why are we reading about teenage angst in a Malazan novel? It dumbed the book down, thematically making it feel YA at points. Kiska was such a frustrating character to follow as she made stupid decisions over and over. Temper and Kiska seemed to be attempted foils, with Temper trying to fade away into the shadows while Kiska is trying to make something of herself, but both characters were boring.

Writing wise, this book read in a very clunkly way. It lacked flow, and was very jarring when transitioning from Erikson's style of writing. I also feel that this book was stretched to novel length and easily could have been a novella as the whole story spanned a single night. I will admit, I skim read a lot, which is funny because it still took me 3 days to read 282 pages which is a lot less than my average reading pace. Because of this, I wasn't able to get invested in the story. Didn't care about anything and was bored the entire way.

Sadly, this is the worst book I have read this year. Hopefully the next books are better.

undeadwookieebooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.0

esb234346's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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