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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
lvl52_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
oldladysadie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-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
I really wanted to like this book - there were multiple characters I found so interesting throughout, and I wish we could’ve learned more about them than we did.
The writing style of this book was incredibly difficult for me to sink my teeth into. The story is constructed in such a way that it isn’t always obvious who is doing what in the plot, or why - indeed, there were multiple moments of characters even pondering “she didn’t know why this was happening” or “he didn’t know why he felt compelled to do this”. And honestly? Same.
My husband loved this book and how it was told - said he liked not knowing everything and “just letting the story wash over him”. I had a miserable time, and this book is just 100% Not For Me. And that’s fine.
The writing style of this book was incredibly difficult for me to sink my teeth into. The story is constructed in such a way that it isn’t always obvious who is doing what in the plot, or why - indeed, there were multiple moments of characters even pondering “she didn’t know why this was happening” or “he didn’t know why he felt compelled to do this”. And honestly? Same.
My husband loved this book and how it was told - said he liked not knowing everything and “just letting the story wash over him”. I had a miserable time, and this book is just 100% Not For Me. And that’s fine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Colonisation and Injury/Injury detail
annapox's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Medical content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Cursing, Genocide, Rape, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
nerdkitten'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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Minor: Genocide, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent