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ktymick's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
With Erikson's return to the characters and continent of the first book, the highlight of Memories of Ice is in its introduction and reintroduction of sympathetic faces. Part of the problem of the first book was the Erikson's struggle to break each of his characters out of the one-dimensional portrayal he cast them into. It was mostly forgivable considering the sheer volume of characters he needed to set into place, and with 9 books to go, he has plenty of time to flesh them out. By the end of the third installment, characterization is in full swing, with Erikson penning out an impressive degree of complexity in his long-standing players as well as significant newcomers to the plot.
The main issue of this book was the pacing of the exposition, which seemed to peak halfway through the book at the siege of Capustan. This entire segment of the book was an emotionally devastating look at the savagery of war, and the immense resultant grief that follows in its wake. Erikson deftly sidesteps the archtypical triumphant siege stories readers might expect in fantasy stories (a la Helm's Deep) without sacrificing any of the impact. However, there is then a muddled few hundred pages explaining how the background plot is slowly weaving together, delaying the anticipation for the climactic assault at Coral, which can really only pale in comparison to the Capustan sequence--although it does its best to match its emotional weight by knocking out a few beloved characters in the battle.
But this also leads to another flaw of the book, which is the growing reliance on deus ex machina to resolve conflict and resurrect losses. There exists a sense that just as the gods in this story manipulate the world of mortals behind a veil, Erikson is stringing his reader along with an assumption that he's leading us where he wants us to be. The question, then, is whether we trust Erikson to make the right decisions. Too often is death treated as merely a temporary removal from the game, which thus far has been treated with appropriate respect. But as Erikson continues to obfuscate his world's rules, it becomes hard to understand when we should truly acknowledge an event at face value. Character fates and narrative resolutions are frequently reversed, and its up to Erikson to continue providing apt justification for hoodwinking his audience.
All that being said, the Malazan Book of the Fallen is a demanding series for demanding readers and I'm still intrigued by the world Erikson is unveiling. He's a clever writer and is unparalleled in his ability to create battle sequences that pack a punch. If only Ralph Lister was contracted to narrate the final 7 books, I'd be more excited to start book 4.
With Erikson's return to the characters and continent of the first book, the highlight of Memories of Ice is in its introduction and reintroduction of sympathetic faces. Part of the problem of the first book was the Erikson's struggle to break each of his characters out of the one-dimensional portrayal he cast them into. It was mostly forgivable considering the sheer volume of characters he needed to set into place, and with 9 books to go, he has plenty of time to flesh them out. By the end of the third installment, characterization is in full swing, with Erikson penning out an impressive degree of complexity in his long-standing players as well as significant newcomers to the plot.
The main issue of this book was the pacing of the exposition, which seemed to peak halfway through the book at the siege of Capustan. This entire segment of the book was an emotionally devastating look at the savagery of war, and the immense resultant grief that follows in its wake. Erikson deftly sidesteps the archtypical triumphant siege stories readers might expect in fantasy stories (a la Helm's Deep) without sacrificing any of the impact. However, there is then a muddled few hundred pages explaining how the background plot is slowly weaving together, delaying the anticipation for the climactic assault at Coral, which can really only pale in comparison to the Capustan sequence--although it does its best to match its emotional weight by knocking out a few beloved characters in the battle.
But this also leads to another flaw of the book, which is the growing reliance on deus ex machina to resolve conflict and resurrect losses. There exists a sense that just as the gods in this story manipulate the world of mortals behind a veil, Erikson is stringing his reader along with an assumption that he's leading us where he wants us to be. The question, then, is whether we trust Erikson to make the right decisions. Too often is death treated as merely a temporary removal from the game, which thus far has been treated with appropriate respect. But as Erikson continues to obfuscate his world's rules, it becomes hard to understand when we should truly acknowledge an event at face value. Character fates and narrative resolutions are frequently reversed, and its up to Erikson to continue providing apt justification for hoodwinking his audience.
All that being said, the Malazan Book of the Fallen is a demanding series for demanding readers and I'm still intrigued by the world Erikson is unveiling. He's a clever writer and is unparalleled in his ability to create battle sequences that pack a punch. If only Ralph Lister was contracted to narrate the final 7 books, I'd be more excited to start book 4.
darklaix's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
drowqueen's review against another edition
5.0
This is a spoiler-free review.
Deadhouse Gates was set in a completely different continent with a whole new set of characters (and some old familiar ones), and half of the book was following the non-military folk. Memories of Ice is full on military and a damn great one at that. And -this doesn’t count as a spoiler- my favorite antihero Anomander Rake is back in business, as well as all the familiar characters from gardens of the Moon. Memories of Ice reads like a sequel to GOTM in fact.
This volume is pretty damn epic but be warned -Grimdarkiness levels up and a lot of depressing scenes take place. If Deadhouse Gates broke your heart, Memories of Ice will rip it into a thousand shreds and then some. Well, the series isn’t called Malazan Book of the Fallen for nothing, you know.
It is not all grimdark and despair, however. Kruppe is more hilarious than ever, Quick Ben will crack you up and Picker and Blend will give you belly laughs here and there. Those two are quite brilliant and should be counted among the best female soldier characters. Erikson is one of the rare fantasy authors who writes excellent female characters without sexualizing them or putting them in romantic relationships. One of my biggest pet peeves is female characters being thrown in romance situations or overly sexualized. Erikson’s female characters remind me of ReasonableFantasy subreddit where folks share artwork portraying female fantasy characters in a non-sexualizing way. No chainmail bikinis whatsoever. It’s not like Erikson’s female characters are all chaste asexuals, but their character traits and skills come first and foremost, and some of them are quite powerful where they dwarf even some of the badass male characters.
Mhybe is one of the most intriguing and engaging characters, with a tragic storyline you feel like a stab wound and the fascinating supernatural adventure she goes through.
The battle between the gods evokes the mythologies of the ancient civilizations and I must say I’ve never read anything quite like this in any fantasy series. Wow just wow. Especially the new god that shows up, all the twists and turns that follow, and how it neatly ties the story to that one cool ass element from Gardens of the Moon. I knew that was going to be important and come back later, but it did in such a glorious way. Just brilliant!
The lore gets better and better, and you get to learn all the mysteries of the T’lan Imass. Boy I just love these guys. They are my favorite race after the Wickans. They are so odd and strange and fascinating in every way. Worldbuilding continues to fascinate, with new cool elements revealed. Remember the Deck of Dragons? It will uncover even more surprises and going to drop your jaw some more. Someone should make Deck of Dragons tarot cards and take my money.
Some of the new characters start out as uninteresting, if not outright boring but end up being super epic dialled up to 11. I am not exaggerating at all. I don’t like writing long ass reviews so I gotta conclude here -it shall suffice to say that Memories of Ice is an absolute page turner and superlative epic instalment of a legendary series. I don’t understand why Malazan is so underrated truth be told. I have a hard time to believe it doesn’t outsell A Song of Ice and Fire and not made into TV series. It would make such an amazing series, far more epic than the Game of Thrones imho.
If you aren’t reading Malazan, you are missing a damn lot.
This review is also posted on my blog Leona's Blog of Shadows.
Deadhouse Gates was set in a completely different continent with a whole new set of characters (and some old familiar ones), and half of the book was following the non-military folk. Memories of Ice is full on military and a damn great one at that. And -this doesn’t count as a spoiler- my favorite antihero Anomander Rake is back in business, as well as all the familiar characters from gardens of the Moon. Memories of Ice reads like a sequel to GOTM in fact.
This volume is pretty damn epic but be warned -Grimdarkiness levels up and a lot of depressing scenes take place. If Deadhouse Gates broke your heart, Memories of Ice will rip it into a thousand shreds and then some. Well, the series isn’t called Malazan Book of the Fallen for nothing, you know.
It is not all grimdark and despair, however. Kruppe is more hilarious than ever, Quick Ben will crack you up and Picker and Blend will give you belly laughs here and there. Those two are quite brilliant and should be counted among the best female soldier characters. Erikson is one of the rare fantasy authors who writes excellent female characters without sexualizing them or putting them in romantic relationships. One of my biggest pet peeves is female characters being thrown in romance situations or overly sexualized. Erikson’s female characters remind me of ReasonableFantasy subreddit where folks share artwork portraying female fantasy characters in a non-sexualizing way. No chainmail bikinis whatsoever. It’s not like Erikson’s female characters are all chaste asexuals, but their character traits and skills come first and foremost, and some of them are quite powerful where they dwarf even some of the badass male characters.
Mhybe is one of the most intriguing and engaging characters, with a tragic storyline you feel like a stab wound and the fascinating supernatural adventure she goes through.
The battle between the gods evokes the mythologies of the ancient civilizations and I must say I’ve never read anything quite like this in any fantasy series. Wow just wow. Especially the new god that shows up, all the twists and turns that follow, and how it neatly ties the story to that one cool ass element from Gardens of the Moon. I knew that was going to be important and come back later, but it did in such a glorious way. Just brilliant!
The lore gets better and better, and you get to learn all the mysteries of the T’lan Imass. Boy I just love these guys. They are my favorite race after the Wickans. They are so odd and strange and fascinating in every way. Worldbuilding continues to fascinate, with new cool elements revealed. Remember the Deck of Dragons? It will uncover even more surprises and going to drop your jaw some more. Someone should make Deck of Dragons tarot cards and take my money.
Some of the new characters start out as uninteresting, if not outright boring but end up being super epic dialled up to 11. I am not exaggerating at all. I don’t like writing long ass reviews so I gotta conclude here -it shall suffice to say that Memories of Ice is an absolute page turner and superlative epic instalment of a legendary series. I don’t understand why Malazan is so underrated truth be told. I have a hard time to believe it doesn’t outsell A Song of Ice and Fire and not made into TV series. It would make such an amazing series, far more epic than the Game of Thrones imho.
If you aren’t reading Malazan, you are missing a damn lot.
This review is also posted on my blog Leona's Blog of Shadows.
cbarteau's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-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? Yes
4.5
Really f*cking good…the ending to the 2nd book was one of the best of any novel I have ever read and this one nearly topped it.
geauxread85's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.5
d_rod22's review against another edition
4.0
4.5/5. The battle/siege scenes were fantastic and some of my favorite characters were put in a blender. A lot to digest and I think my enjoyment would have been higher had I read it quicker; although for me I don’t think I can go any faster with how dense the text is sometimes. I look forward to continuing the series and I hope it starts clicking even more and a little quicker.
brittney_tyler's review against another edition
5.0
Star Rating: 5 stars
Note: This is the 3rd book in the overarching Malazan book of the Fallen series so this will not be an in-depth review.
Since my favorite genre of all time is classic epic fantasy and science fiction, I decided that I would make a point to read as many books in this genre next year as possible, in the series that I am still making my way through of course, and I decided to get an early start by making my final book of 2022, Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson. This book continues the story of the Bridgeburners, an elite unit in the Malazan military, as they struggle to survive in a world being torn apart by rebellion, angry gods (past and present), and enemy nations and peoples.
First off, I want to make a discussion of why the author’s background makes this world so enthralling. As I have mentioned multiple times before, Erikson has degrees and experiences in both anthropology and archaeology, and he uses this experience to build a well fleshed out, complex, and beautiful world. In my humble opinion, he knows how to create a well-fleshed out world because he has studied how ours developed, thus allowing him to mirror and make his world as fleshed out as possible.
If you have been following my reviews for a while, then you know that my favorite thing to explore is themes, and this book has a lot of them- cycle of history and civilization, the fallacy of war, as well as how the loss of history can negatively affect a culture. The cycle of history and civilization and the fallacy of war is something that has featured in all of Erikson’s books so far and will continue to, mostly because with his experience, he knows that these are recurring factors in our world’s history and to be fully fleshed out, his world would need them to. Because of this, I am going to focus on how losing one’s history can negatively affect a culture as it is a big feature in this volume in particular. There is a race in this book called the Barghast who have lost access to their ancestor spirits because of the building of the city of Capustan, one of the main settings in this book. The rediscovery of this spirits’ resting place drastically changes how the Barghast look at themselves as the people and how they associate with the other races they come into contact with. (I won’t spoil how, but just know it will become a major factor in later books and it also shows how Erikson uses his real-world experience to develop his world.) If you are a themes reader too or if you just understand that one of the points of fantasy is to be a mirror for our world in order to explore its faults without basis, then this may very well be the book or series for you.
Some other things that Erikson does really well in this book is use recurring motifs to add weight and impact to his themes as well as using juxtaposition to make his characters mirrors of each other so that we can better examine them. Although I can’t really give you details on this as I am afraid I may spoil something, I did really appreciate this technique as it deepened the thematic discussions and character arcs and allowed me to enjoy these story so much more.
All in all, if you are reading this review, then you have probably decided whether to dedicate your time to this series or not, but if not, please read it. It’s amazing, especially if you like being challenged!!!! 5 stars and a series I will be adding to my shelves as soon as possible!!!!
Note: This is the 3rd book in the overarching Malazan book of the Fallen series so this will not be an in-depth review.
Since my favorite genre of all time is classic epic fantasy and science fiction, I decided that I would make a point to read as many books in this genre next year as possible, in the series that I am still making my way through of course, and I decided to get an early start by making my final book of 2022, Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson. This book continues the story of the Bridgeburners, an elite unit in the Malazan military, as they struggle to survive in a world being torn apart by rebellion, angry gods (past and present), and enemy nations and peoples.
First off, I want to make a discussion of why the author’s background makes this world so enthralling. As I have mentioned multiple times before, Erikson has degrees and experiences in both anthropology and archaeology, and he uses this experience to build a well fleshed out, complex, and beautiful world. In my humble opinion, he knows how to create a well-fleshed out world because he has studied how ours developed, thus allowing him to mirror and make his world as fleshed out as possible.
If you have been following my reviews for a while, then you know that my favorite thing to explore is themes, and this book has a lot of them- cycle of history and civilization, the fallacy of war, as well as how the loss of history can negatively affect a culture. The cycle of history and civilization and the fallacy of war is something that has featured in all of Erikson’s books so far and will continue to, mostly because with his experience, he knows that these are recurring factors in our world’s history and to be fully fleshed out, his world would need them to. Because of this, I am going to focus on how losing one’s history can negatively affect a culture as it is a big feature in this volume in particular. There is a race in this book called the Barghast who have lost access to their ancestor spirits because of the building of the city of Capustan, one of the main settings in this book. The rediscovery of this spirits’ resting place drastically changes how the Barghast look at themselves as the people and how they associate with the other races they come into contact with. (I won’t spoil how, but just know it will become a major factor in later books and it also shows how Erikson uses his real-world experience to develop his world.) If you are a themes reader too or if you just understand that one of the points of fantasy is to be a mirror for our world in order to explore its faults without basis, then this may very well be the book or series for you.
Some other things that Erikson does really well in this book is use recurring motifs to add weight and impact to his themes as well as using juxtaposition to make his characters mirrors of each other so that we can better examine them. Although I can’t really give you details on this as I am afraid I may spoil something, I did really appreciate this technique as it deepened the thematic discussions and character arcs and allowed me to enjoy these story so much more.
All in all, if you are reading this review, then you have probably decided whether to dedicate your time to this series or not, but if not, please read it. It’s amazing, especially if you like being challenged!!!! 5 stars and a series I will be adding to my shelves as soon as possible!!!!
samrhee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
siri_16smiles's review against another edition
5.0
Reduced me to a crying mess, not from sympathy but from outright horror.