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alexisbraswell's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
4.25
thedashdude's review against another edition
5.0
Seeing the Malazans and the Letherii finally interact is brilliant. The other plotlines do an excellent job standing up to such a spectacular conflict. Seeing the impact of Midnight Tides on both cultures is a delight, and it almost managed to have the happiest ending of the series.
lootgoblin's review against another edition
3.0
http://readfantasybooks.wordpress.com
After reading so many books in a series it becomes more difficult to rate them against each other, but after some consideration I think I am rating Reaper's Gale at a 3.5. It was still a great book, I just didn't enjoy it as much as the others.The story really didn't become interesting for me until the last 150 or so pages when everything started coming together. There were also a bunch of new characters and this late in a series that tends to bother me, especially if they don't play a role later on or are difficult to tell apart.
In this novel there are so many different things going on. The large part of the book was the invasion of Tavore's army into Lether; there was also Fear and Silchas Ruin and their company who attempt to find the soul of Scabandari Bloodeye. We find out later that Trull and Quick Ben as well as a long lost Bridgburner attempt to find the soul as well. Not to mention Icarium and Karsa who await the duel with the Emperor. I have to say that anything with Trull, Onrack, Quick Ben, Fiddler, and Tehol was pretty interesting. I loved the part of the book where we get to see Tool again, but it was also very upsetting. There is so much going on that I can't even explain it all here. I believe that if you read the book you will enjoy it, maybe even more than I did. I know everyone has their favorite characters and enjoys their parts of the story more than others just like I do.
All of our favorite characters are back in this novel. Quick Ben has to be one of my favorites and there is just so much we still don't know about him. We do get to see a lot more from him in this book though. His story-line is fantastic! There are also Fiddler and Bottle whom I can't get enough of either. Even though I hate new characters so late into a series, I really enjoyed Beak, a mage in Tavore's army. He really leaves a lasting impression and is quite different then the other mages.
As always Bugg and Tehol are very entertaining and it wouldn't have been a book without them! A lot happens with them in this book and it was amazing to find Tehol in the position he was in at the end of the book. Also, Karsa and Samar Dev's story was great! I love Karsa as a character and his final battle with the Emperor was incredible and just like him!
There are TONS of other characters including Toc the Younger, Redmask, and some new ones as well. There are just so many to keep track of it becomes a little overwhelming. At least I know who my favorites are, and hopefully there won't be so many new characters to keep track of in the next book.
The writing and world building in this and all the previous novels is fantastic. The world is huge and we get to see more of it as we read each book and learn more about all these different people. I can't believe Erikson came up with such a detailed, complex, and complicated world.
Overall, I thought the book was great, but just not as good as the others. It wasn't until the final few chapters when I decided I couldn't put it down. Hopefully, the next book will move a little faster for me. If you are enjoying the series then I highly recommend reading this one; I know you will enjoy it, probably more than I did.
After reading so many books in a series it becomes more difficult to rate them against each other, but after some consideration I think I am rating Reaper's Gale at a 3.5. It was still a great book, I just didn't enjoy it as much as the others.The story really didn't become interesting for me until the last 150 or so pages when everything started coming together. There were also a bunch of new characters and this late in a series that tends to bother me, especially if they don't play a role later on or are difficult to tell apart.
In this novel there are so many different things going on. The large part of the book was the invasion of Tavore's army into Lether; there was also Fear and Silchas Ruin and their company who attempt to find the soul of Scabandari Bloodeye. We find out later that Trull and Quick Ben as well as a long lost Bridgburner attempt to find the soul as well. Not to mention Icarium and Karsa who await the duel with the Emperor. I have to say that anything with Trull, Onrack, Quick Ben, Fiddler, and Tehol was pretty interesting. I loved the part of the book where we get to see Tool again, but it was also very upsetting. There is so much going on that I can't even explain it all here. I believe that if you read the book you will enjoy it, maybe even more than I did. I know everyone has their favorite characters and enjoys their parts of the story more than others just like I do.
All of our favorite characters are back in this novel. Quick Ben has to be one of my favorites and there is just so much we still don't know about him. We do get to see a lot more from him in this book though. His story-line is fantastic! There are also Fiddler and Bottle whom I can't get enough of either. Even though I hate new characters so late into a series, I really enjoyed Beak, a mage in Tavore's army. He really leaves a lasting impression and is quite different then the other mages.
As always Bugg and Tehol are very entertaining and it wouldn't have been a book without them! A lot happens with them in this book and it was amazing to find Tehol in the position he was in at the end of the book. Also, Karsa and Samar Dev's story was great! I love Karsa as a character and his final battle with the Emperor was incredible and just like him!
There are TONS of other characters including Toc the Younger, Redmask, and some new ones as well. There are just so many to keep track of it becomes a little overwhelming. At least I know who my favorites are, and hopefully there won't be so many new characters to keep track of in the next book.
The writing and world building in this and all the previous novels is fantastic. The world is huge and we get to see more of it as we read each book and learn more about all these different people. I can't believe Erikson came up with such a detailed, complex, and complicated world.
Overall, I thought the book was great, but just not as good as the others. It wasn't until the final few chapters when I decided I couldn't put it down. Hopefully, the next book will move a little faster for me. If you are enjoying the series then I highly recommend reading this one; I know you will enjoy it, probably more than I did.
mdw_yunux's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
4.0
tylerlong59's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.25
ellimtt's review against another edition
3.0
First read June 2022, 5⭐️
Second read February 2024, 3⭐️
Second read February 2024, 3⭐️
penguin_emperor_of_the_north's review against another edition
3.0
I'll be honest, at this point, I'm keeping with this so the Canadians don't win.
But, there were things I definitely enjoyed. The world building is interesting. I liked Silchas Ruin and his story line. Partly because Silchas is operating on concentrated don't give a crap. And Beak's story line tugged at the heart strings (though his backstory was kind of designed for that).
And the Imass are still one of the coolest ideas. Cave men that zombified themselves to exterminate another race? Wow, that is a really unique idea.
But so much stuff is random, disjointed and anticlimactic.
Like Trull's storyline,. It's so anticlimactic that I can't even give a crap. I get random stuff happens in real life but fiction ain't reality. Fiction has to make sense.
Or, there's this storyline where 3 dragon shapeshifters are going to attack a village and Quick Ben, Hedge and company are gearing up to defend it. Which made for a cool fight . . . for the one paragraph it happens in. I keep running into this thing in the books where gods and monsters (and now dragons) are smacked down super easy and it doesn't make me think the person is awesome. It just leaves me thinking a god or dragon in this world ain't very impressive. Because you never see them do something.
Just telling me something is a dragon or whatever ain't enough. Have them do something awesome or have some other character at least be afraid of them. Show me a reason to think someone's a threat around here.
I'll admit, I did like the Awl story line though. The Awl are kind of fantasy counterpart American Indians and the Letheri are fantasy counterpart Americans so there's this story of the Awl fighting for survival. Which was well done, the way the battles between the two armies progressed was interesting especially with the increasing desperation of the Awl.
Then there's the resolution to Karsa and Rhulad's story. There's a thoroughly anticlimactic fight and then. Which seems like it would be important but I was too distracted wondering how the heck that works to consider the importance.
Overall, I'm confused. There's a borderline gushing community talking about how great these books are but I'm always distracted by how dumb some characters are (like Deadhouse Gates or Memories of Ice endings? those were completely unforced errors, or the Bonehunters ending? that's Laseen's screw ups coming home to roost). And it's hard to feel the tragedy when I'm wondering why these people don't all have "I'm stupid" signs.
Finally, a post script, there's a subplot with the Letheri secret police targeting intellectuals because of how pro-freedom they are. Oh you sweet summer child, intellectuals have never had a problem supporting oppressive regimes. The USSR? Red China? medieval Catholicism? everyone has some intellectual ready to explain how they need to kill a few more people till they would have their utopia.
But, there were things I definitely enjoyed. The world building is interesting. I liked Silchas Ruin and his story line. Partly because Silchas is operating on concentrated don't give a crap. And Beak's story line tugged at the heart strings (though his backstory was kind of designed for that).
And the Imass are still one of the coolest ideas. Cave men that zombified themselves to exterminate another race? Wow, that is a really unique idea.
But so much stuff is random, disjointed and anticlimactic.
Like Trull's storyline,
Spoiler
he goes on this whole quest and is able to rejoin his lady love and then dies, just gets stabbed in the back by some jerk he's never metOr, there's this storyline where 3 dragon shapeshifters are going to attack a village and Quick Ben, Hedge and company are gearing up to defend it. Which made for a cool fight . . . for the one paragraph it happens in. I keep running into this thing in the books where gods and monsters (and now dragons) are smacked down super easy and it doesn't make me think the person is awesome. It just leaves me thinking a god or dragon in this world ain't very impressive. Because you never see them do something.
Just telling me something is a dragon or whatever ain't enough. Have them do something awesome or have some other character at least be afraid of them. Show me a reason to think someone's a threat around here.
I'll admit, I did like the Awl story line though. The Awl are kind of fantasy counterpart American Indians and the Letheri are fantasy counterpart Americans so there's this story of the Awl fighting for survival. Which was well done, the way the battles between the two armies progressed was interesting especially with the increasing desperation of the Awl.
Then there's the resolution to Karsa and Rhulad's story. There's a thoroughly anticlimactic fight and then
Spoiler
Samar releases the spirits from her knife which drag Karsa and Rhulad into another realm where Rhulad can be killedOverall, I'm confused. There's a borderline gushing community talking about how great these books are but I'm always distracted by how dumb some characters are (like Deadhouse Gates or Memories of Ice endings? those were completely unforced errors, or the Bonehunters ending? that's Laseen's screw ups coming home to roost). And it's hard to feel the tragedy when I'm wondering why these people don't all have "I'm stupid" signs.
Finally, a post script, there's a subplot with the Letheri secret police targeting intellectuals because of how pro-freedom they are. Oh you sweet summer child, intellectuals have never had a problem supporting oppressive regimes. The USSR? Red China? medieval Catholicism? everyone has some intellectual ready to explain how they need to kill a few more people till they would have their utopia.
dc96evr's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
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
marluxia's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
gene_parmesan's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-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? Yes
4.0