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spentcello's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Being an overhyped book seems hard. I find it difficult to separate my disappointment into what was from missed expectations and what was actually sub-par. I can see why people like Gardens of the Moon and perhaps I would have liked it years ago, but I want more in a book than just action, a whole lot of cool monsters and way too many characters. Really, much the same as how I felt about Game of Thrones.
Lots of people praise Erikson's world-building, but I disagree. The world felt artificial and skeletal, lacking almost all expression of culture. A society cannot exist in a cultural vacuum, and language, art, music, customs, political systems and morals all feed into each other. This book is devoid of most of these elements, and the slim pickings that are there are generic and uninspired. There was no distinction between any of the different races/cultural groups except for the headline "warrior society" or "nomadic society". As Erikson says in his introduction, an author shouldn't always spell it all out for the reader, but I would add that an author should have some consistency, and the lack of any expression of distinct culture (or even peripheral inferences) is inconsistent with having distinct cultural groups in your book. There are some very limited references to some cultural elements (mainly to do with the Rhivi) but they all rely so heavily on stereotypes that Erikson may as well have not bothered.
Delving down to the character-level, there is not any sort of sensible psychological integrity in the characters. There are so many of them, that making them distinct would be a Herculean task, however, it would be nice if their decision making wasn't quite so unbelievable - often in the form of being so ridiculously superficial. I felt entirely disengaged with the characters because I just couldn't accept them as coherent, instead, they were all cardboard stereotypes making the necessary decisions to put them in the right spot for some cool event later on which invariably featured some spontaneous cool monster. The dialogue is also laughably poor. If a character finds a locked door, you can be sure that the next line is "I found a door", you can also be sure that the line after that is "It's locked". I got over my annoyance with this about halfway through by just skating over most things in quotation marks because most of the dialogue doesn't need to be there anyway.
I'm aware that to some extent I'm judging this book on what it's not intending to be. If you are interested in sprawling adventure in a violent land filled with exciting monsters without much moral challenge and for some reason want this in book format instead of just playing Skyrim or Elden Ring or DnD or any other similar fantasy RPG, then this book will probably be quite enjoyable. However, if you're like me, and you're looking for a little more to draw you in, you'll likely be disappointed.
Lots of people praise Erikson's world-building, but I disagree. The world felt artificial and skeletal, lacking almost all expression of culture. A society cannot exist in a cultural vacuum, and language, art, music, customs, political systems and morals all feed into each other. This book is devoid of most of these elements, and the slim pickings that are there are generic and uninspired. There was no distinction between any of the different races/cultural groups except for the headline "warrior society" or "nomadic society". As Erikson says in his introduction, an author shouldn't always spell it all out for the reader, but I would add that an author should have some consistency, and the lack of any expression of distinct culture (or even peripheral inferences) is inconsistent with having distinct cultural groups in your book. There are some very limited references to some cultural elements (mainly to do with the Rhivi) but they all rely so heavily on stereotypes that Erikson may as well have not bothered.
Delving down to the character-level, there is not any sort of sensible psychological integrity in the characters. There are so many of them, that making them distinct would be a Herculean task, however, it would be nice if their decision making wasn't quite so unbelievable - often in the form of being so ridiculously superficial. I felt entirely disengaged with the characters because I just couldn't accept them as coherent, instead, they were all cardboard stereotypes making the necessary decisions to put them in the right spot for some cool event later on which invariably featured some spontaneous cool monster. The dialogue is also laughably poor. If a character finds a locked door, you can be sure that the next line is "I found a door", you can also be sure that the line after that is "It's locked". I got over my annoyance with this about halfway through by just skating over most things in quotation marks because most of the dialogue doesn't need to be there anyway.
I'm aware that to some extent I'm judging this book on what it's not intending to be. If you are interested in sprawling adventure in a violent land filled with exciting monsters without much moral challenge and for some reason want this in book format instead of just playing Skyrim or Elden Ring or DnD or any other similar fantasy RPG, then this book will probably be quite enjoyable. However, if you're like me, and you're looking for a little more to draw you in, you'll likely be disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Colonisation
Minor: Genocide
nightstitch96's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Animal death
damjanotom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and War
Minor: Alcohol
dani_reis's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
First read: audio Oct 16 - 22, 2023
Second read: kindle with audio June 1 - 18, 2024
This book is very dense. This requires your full attention and slow digest of the information. So many moving parts. The entire book is mostly focused on world building. You don't feel a connection with any single character where if they were to suddenly die, it isn't a worry on your emotions.
The second read was much more successful with my ADHD by keeping notes and making sure I actually followed giant info dump paragraphs before moving on. Is this going to be necessary for most? No. But I know the plot, and can move onwards without completely requiring rereads to continue.
I highly recommend for those looking for an epic fantasy read and aren't in a hurry to push out another book for a number. Enjoy the book on the side of another if that's what's necessary to slow down.
Second read: kindle with audio June 1 - 18, 2024
This book is very dense. This requires your full attention and slow digest of the information. So many moving parts. The entire book is mostly focused on world building. You don't feel a connection with any single character where if they were to suddenly die, it isn't a worry on your emotions.
The second read was much more successful with my ADHD by keeping notes and making sure I actually followed giant info dump paragraphs before moving on. Is this going to be necessary for most? No. But I know the plot, and can move onwards without completely requiring rereads to continue.
I highly recommend for those looking for an epic fantasy read and aren't in a hurry to push out another book for a number. Enjoy the book on the side of another if that's what's necessary to slow down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content
Suicide minorlvl52_grant's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
4.75
This book is dense, but rad. The setting is so interesting, and Erikson's dedication to making the world feel alive and we are only witnessing one slice of it is what makes it difficult but intriguing. The reader gets thrown into a conflict with implications going back over thousands of years of history and you just need to work through it until it makes sense. I'm very excited to see what happens next with the Bridgeburners and the Malazan Empire.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Genocide, and Colonisation
voelve's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
This book does not hold your hand, and you are along for a ride with rapidly changing POVs where you only have context clues to rely on to understand the structure of the world - which I love; nothing is more jarring than lore dumps from characters who live in and presumably know the world and would have no need to explain it. It's a really cool read, with fascinating worldbuilding, and I am so excited for the other nine books in the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder and War
Minor: Alcoholism
isegal1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and War
ealasaid_sch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and War
charlinem's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, and War
farleighelse's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
would read again. Magic. Magic realms. Magical creatures. War and genocide. young and eld gods. possession. Picks up towards the middle end of the book. Looking forwards to seeing more of Paran and Sorry. Assassination and sabatoge. older audian
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Slavery, and Grief
.