question about Malazan series

[Waylander the Slayer]

GoM is very badly written, once you get past it, the series becomes fantastic. I have not been able to put down any of the others and went to the extent of ordering Bonehunters and Midnight Tides from Canada (not released in the U.S but available through amazon ca). There is nothing like it as far as complex characters and the many shades of Gray. That said, most bad guys are "bad" because they are suffering and there are many characters that are extremely honorable.

This is one of the few series where a character death truly had an emotional impact on me.

 

[Banshee16]

GoM is very badly written, once you get past it, the series becomes fantastic. I have not been able to put down any of the others and went to the extent of ordering Bonehunters and Midnight Tides from Canada (not released in the U.S but available through amazon ca). There is nothing like it as far as complex characters and the many shades of Gray. That said, most bad guys are "bad" because they are suffering and there are many characters that are extremely honorable.

This is one of the few series where a character death truly had an emotional impact on me.

I've only had that reaction with a few books.....the Red Wedding in G.R.R. Martin's books was probably the most powerful.

From all the posts on the topic, it's sounding like these books might be worth picking up.

Banshee

 

[Pants]

I've only had that reaction with a few books.....the Red Wedding in G.R.R. Martin's books was probably the most powerful.

From all the posts on the topic, it's sounding like these books might be worth picking up.

Banshee

I think they're kind of overrated, Deadhouse Gates in particular which everyone seems to laud as the 'greatest thing ever,' but they're certainly worth trying out. During my initial reading of the series, I blazed through Gardens of the Moon and even though it was a big mess of a book, it was fairly short, exciting, and it dropped enough hints about how sprawling the world was that I found it fairly easy to get through. 'Ware the ending, which is just the worst ending that could ever be written, but the rest is enjoyable.

Unfortunately, after Gardens, the rest of the Malazan books become waaaay too bloated. Deadhouse Gates, at least, remains fairly well-paced despite its immense length (not counting its other flaws). Too bad half of the plot threads feel extremely extraneous and completely useless, while taking up a lot of screen time.

Memories of Ice almost succumbs to the Jordan mentality of immensely useless bloat. Despite it being a really good and exciting read, it's just... way too fraught with needless prose, plot switchbacks that screw with continuity too much, and an excessive amount of overly dramatic scenes that are so dramatic that they lose any impact they might have had. I once joked about Erikson relying on his drama club so that he could beat readers over the heads about how dramatic his books are. Still, despite all those problems, I loved the book. Great battle scenes, a real sense of history to the world, memorable characters, and enough 'what the hell just happened' moments to keep me riveted.

I won't give a detailed analysis of the other books I've read, but they're mostly positive. Seriously, give Erikson a try. He's certainly not for everyone. If you don't care for an abundance of magic, being utterly confused half the time, and reading about sprawling battles that probably would've depopulated half of Europe, then hey he's probably not for you.

 

[Xyanthon]

I read Gardens of the Moon immediately after having finished the first 3 books in GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire. I think I really did myself a disservice by having done that. I felt that I would and should like the book while I was reading it but for some reason, I guess I just wasn't ready to shift mental gears to really get into the story. It wasn't as straight forward as GRRM's books to me and I unfairly made comparisons to it. However, I am getting ready to reread it again and I'm sure this time I'll really love it.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Therein lie chronicled my attempts to read "Gardens of the Moon", and my final defeat at the hand of character development.

If you like grim, and you can look past the lack of character, and you don't mind the hand of prophecy stealing any agency from the protagonists, they might work for you. I've been told that the sequels are better, as well.

Pretty much ditto.

The writing wasn't terrible from a strictly mechanical point of view, but it was... flat. Predictable. Boring.

And the only character about whom I cared, Tattersail,

Spoiler

ends up dying and then being reincarnated in some weird-ass way that is never explained, and then is offstage for the rest of the book

. Blah.

The book also seemed like a self-parody of sci-fi/fantasy, what with all the apostrophes and people's / place's / thing's names. I mean,

xHrps'tphlng manoeuvred his gleaming hover car over the hot sands of Ybl'g'fnrPqn, pondering his conversation with Ambassador ffFFptbh|lknguf concerning his suspicions of treaty violations by the Iuq_nuHcnwef'kjcbaygqwtt in the BbBbBqr&'hrAwnk sector.

So all in all, I didn't like the book.