Scan barcode
A review by erickibler4
Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
5.0
The ending of the third book in the series was as satisfying as any ending to a long epic I’ve ever read. All or most of the characters seem to have had their storylines resolved. If I didn’t know there was still a war going on in the Seven Cities, that the Crippled God was still up to his machinations, and that Kalam, Fiddler, Icarium, Mappo, Crokus, and Apsalar still had stories to play out, I could very well have accepted this as the ending of the series.
A lot of the elements reminded me of various comics I’ve read — in a good way! The “spit in the eye of death”, but jokey camaraderie among the Bridgeburners reminds me of the old Sgt. Fury & his Howling Commandos comics of the 60s. The sudden, silent appearances of Blend, which never failed to startle Picker, reminded me of the similar interplay between Batman and Commissioner Gordon. The magic of the this world, which often involves characters entering each other’s consciousness and achieving a sort of empathetic mind-meld, reminds me of the writerly tricks often used by Chris Claremont in his old X-Men comics. And the long finale of the book, in which some characters meet, and others make farewells, while all the while all that has gone before is remembered and deeply felt, reminds me of “The Wake”, the last book of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. The Malazan universe, by book three, contains many characters with disparate personalities and power sets, which seem to correspond with what you might see in a superhero universe.
I wonder if Erikson was ever a reader of these comics, as the use of these tropes seem to be influenced by them.
A lot of the elements reminded me of various comics I’ve read — in a good way! The “spit in the eye of death”, but jokey camaraderie among the Bridgeburners reminds me of the old Sgt. Fury & his Howling Commandos comics of the 60s. The sudden, silent appearances of Blend, which never failed to startle Picker, reminded me of the similar interplay between Batman and Commissioner Gordon. The magic of the this world, which often involves characters entering each other’s consciousness and achieving a sort of empathetic mind-meld, reminds me of the writerly tricks often used by Chris Claremont in his old X-Men comics. And the long finale of the book, in which some characters meet, and others make farewells, while all the while all that has gone before is remembered and deeply felt, reminds me of “The Wake”, the last book of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. The Malazan universe, by book three, contains many characters with disparate personalities and power sets, which seem to correspond with what you might see in a superhero universe.
I wonder if Erikson was ever a reader of these comics, as the use of these tropes seem to be influenced by them.