Deadhouse Gates minutiae question. [Expect spoilers]

[barsoomcore]

Well, I guess the co-creator of the setting is going to get his shot as writing a book in the world as a limited release. To test the waters, publishers are still timid with the whole shared world aspect, not knowing just what to do with it. Called something like "Night of Knives", Esselmont is the fellow's name.

My copy awaits me at the post office even as we speak. I'm very excited.

 

[barsoomcore]

Mm, halfway through and my excitement has faded. Esselmont's not the writer that Erickson is, I have to say. There's a lot of outright clumsy prose in this book. It reads like a very immature novel.

That said, I'm enjoying the story itself and the chance to see more of Malazan is always good. But Night of Knives is no Gardens of the Moon. I think I know why this wasn't released via a major publisher -- it's just not good enough.

Little disappointing having spent such a large amount of money on it. But I'm a Malazan completist.

 

[myrdden]

Little disappointing having spent such a large amount of money on it. But I'm a Malazan completist.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[barsoomcore]

Worth a read if you can find a copy cheaper. I've finished it now and have to say the story WAS really good. Great to actually SEE Kellanved and Dancer and Dassem...

I'd read another book by him, on the assumption that he's going to get better. Gardens of the Moon has its weak points, as well, but Erickson's certainly turned into a much better writer as the books have gone on.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Worth a read if you can find a copy cheaper. I've finished it now and have to say the story WAS really good. Great to actually SEE Kellanved and Dancer and Dassem...

I'd read another book by him, on the assumption that he's going to get better. Gardens of the Moon has its weak points, as well, but Erickson's certainly turned into a much better writer as the books have gone on.

I was afraid about it when you gave your warning earlier, I'm glad you found it a good read in the end (if not worth the exhorbitant value paid). I'm well into House of Chains now and the first good chuck on Karsa Orlong was disappointing to me. It was well past 120 pages until it started getting as interesting as the other books. I kept going because I am well used to getting a worthy payoff in the end.

How short if Night of Knives anyway?

How does ICE handle describing the warrens? If anything has bothered me about the setting is the vagueness about how the warrens are used, what they are, what they can do. It seems as time goes on, more and more people are familiar with things regarding the warrens that were complete mysteries a few books back. But then keeping the warrens straight has been one of my own difficulties.

 

[Dakkareth]

NoK is 27X pages. And there isn't much explicit description of magic ... often Kiska, one of the main characters, will notice some unnatural effect and sigh about how others are using magic to get unfair advantages and then there's a very interesting scene concerning the warren of Thyr and talented people walking through warrens.
Night of Knifes is worth a read and I don't regret buying the slipcased version. Next time I'll probably wait for a cheaper version, though.

I like to think, that I have penetrated the system of the warrens to the core, but I may just have made up my own version of how things work. So far my theory has explained things nicely, though ...


Ohh, I have to read the MBotF again ... it's been longer than a month