Reaper's Gale: Book Seven of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

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• ISBN13: 9780765348845
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Customer Reviews

I'm losing patience with Erikson

NON-SPOILER ALERT

There are these guys and they are either going somewhere or waiting for something. It's either a long way away or a long time from now and they have to wait it out. It takes them an entire book to get there or to wait for the thing, during which time very little happens. Usually, it's a battle or some kind of giant monster or in the early books, a convergence. Then, right before the battle or whatever something enormous happens (usually magic) and an army is wiped out and the battle is more or less resolved.

It seems like battles never get fought, armies always get slaughtered without really fighting, and the people you know and love from the books never really get to do much except travel or wait.

How many interwoven travel-logs can we sit through before we decide that another 800 pages isn't worth it?

C'mon Stevie! Give us battles we care about. Put Fiddler and Quick in the fight! Let's really see what he can do.

I still like the books. I gave this one 4 stars. However, I'm at my end. If the next one is the same as the ones before, I'm out.

2010-06-24 (San Francisco, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Every subsequent book in the Malazan series has become my favorite book.
This one was no exception. The Malazan Book of the Fallen series is the greatest book(s) ever written, in my opinion.

2010-06-12 | Bill (Dacono, Colorado USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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LONG series
This series is quite long and it took me some energy to keep reading determinedly hoping for a resolution. This book is a good one in the series and works well on many levels. Nicely developed characters but again Erikson seems to love introducing so many characters that I found myself reading hurriedly to follow the threads that I liked. If you like the series-- this is a good one.

2010-05-18 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Erikson Kicks the Series into High Gear!
Once again this story is set in the Empire of Lether, which on first notice I wasn't too thrilled about as I found the previous book a little dry. But how wrong I was, the previous book was just a set-up to Reaper's Gale and this book is where everything on Lether gets really interesting. This book was so action packed and thrilling to read I would rank it as one of Erikson's best in this series so far. The third book and this one have been my favorites in the series.

The Tiste Edur has conquered Lether and now rules the empire, or so they think. Rhulad the emperor with his cursed sword is doomed to paranoia thinking everyone is out to get his empire, and the Letherii Triban Gnol, the chancellor, is there to feed his every fear and run the empire behind his back with the Patriotists; a group of Letherii who are rulling and undermining the Tiste Edur. This group of thugs is now the police and is run by another paranoid type: Rautos Havanar.

As usual there seems to be about 20 different plots and 100 characters to keep up with, and they are all exciting. One plot follows Quick Ben, Onrack the Broken and Rhulad's brother Trull Sengar as they venture toward an unknown location on a different plane, pushed there by Cotillion. Another of Rhulad's brothers: Fear Sengar seeks out the Tiste Edur god along with Silchas Ruin a Tiste Andii (mortal anemies the Edur and Andii), Clip a mortal sword of the Tiste Andii and a couple of humans and Kettle the little demon girl found in the cemetery in the last book. Another plaotline follows the Awl who are fighting against genocide of their people against the Letherii, and their war leader is Redmask, a former exile now come back as a mortal sword of the Che'Malle. And my favorite characters from the previous book: Tehol Beddict and his manservant Bugg are still up to their scheming within Letharas. And a surprise, the Malazans have landed in the Empire of Lether led by the adjunct Tavore Paran. We read about 75% of the characters created by Erikson so far in this book as they've all come to this continent for some reason or another, to me this book seems to address more of Erikson's creations than any other so far.

These are the plotlines that run through this massive book and I can't give more without giving anything away. But let's just say things are getting more powerful in the series, powerful beings are dying, and main characters are being killed off. The stakes are being raised in this book, and it's a good thing. I was having a few doubts (really small ones) after the last book but Erikson erased them easily by one of his best books so far in this series. A highly recommended read!

2010-03-14 | fiction book collector (columbus, OH United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A great book
Another stunning, solid book by Erikson in his malazan book of the fallen series, which is if anything getting better with each book. Although I wont try to describe the myriad of plots in this book I will say that this book is of interest in that we learn a great deal more about rake's brother, silchas ruin.

2009-11-09 (California) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Deadhouse Gates (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 2)

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• ISBN13: 9780765348791

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(20050718)

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Customer Reviews

Book two of the greatest epic fantasy series ever written.
Do yourself a favor. Read the entire series. Slowly. Savor it. It's the best of all, and when you get to book nine, you'll regret that there will only be one more and a real wrap up. Unlike Robert Jordan, Erikson's books get better and better.

2010-05-28 | Bill (Dacono, Colorado USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Getting Better, but Still an Unsatisfying Return on Investment
Having been utterly amazed by the world building and utterly disappointed in the story telling of Gardens of the Moon, I started Deadhouse Gates. Had it not been for the epic world building and the positive opinions of people whose reading tastes and preferences generally aligns with my own I would have stopped right there with the Malazan Book of the Fallen. All over the internet almost everyone agrees that Gardens of the Moon is the weakest of the series, and that after you read Deadhouse Gates or (in some opinions) the third book, Memories of Ice, you will be hooked. Generally speaking, upwards of three thousand pages is a hefty undertaking, especially considering the return on investment is not so apparent. I have to say that Deadhouse Gates was a considerably better told story than its predecessor; but I'm not sure at this point if the time and energy spent was equivalent to the output received from Deadhouse Gates.

The first (and most obvious) thing to note is that this book starts a whole new storyline on an entirely different continent than the events that occur in Gardens of the Moon. This tactic works well because it establishes how epic and vast the worldly struggle is. The problem, of course, is with Erikson's writing style it is a huge personal struggle to get engaged with the new characters and the background of the area. If you enjoyed the confusion from Gardens of the Moon of being dropped in the middle of a sweeping landscape of political turmoil and magical/metaphysical trouble then you have that to look forward to again; although Erikson has definitely improved in area of character introductions. Some might be frustrated that it took 650+ pages to finally understand who the characters were in Gardens of the Moon and now they aren't in the second volume. If the third volume really plants me into this series (as it supposedly will) then having the multiple plotlines spanning multiple books will be a solid victory in establishing this series as an epic wartime dark fantasy series.

I thought the plotting of Deadhouse Gates was better than Gardens of the Moon and the storyline/character motivations were much more real and believable. In fact, I believe that Coltaine, the commander of the 7th army, is the most fascinating character of the series thus far. I was engaged with his hard nosed, duty stricken nature, cursed by both his objective of saving 30,000 refugees and his location in the heart of a savage desert. In addition to the plotting, the writing is so heavy and almost cumbersome to read at points. It takes a lot of focus and energy to read Erikson's writing.

I think the most significant struggle with Erikson's series is not that the book is not descriptive; it is ripe with description; the struggle is that it is descriptive in the wrong areas. There is still too many random occurrences and/or knowledge of the world, magic, culture, and army hierarchy that feels like it should be basic knowledge to the reader; but it isn't. I find that overall the sheer lack of information (that supposedly all comes to light in later volumes) is simply more frustrating than the benefit I received from the epic world building and the few extremely fascinating characters. A reader should not have to read seven massive tomes and over 5,000 pages to fully appreciate the first 650 pages of the series; and if a reader doesn't mind doing that or being confused, lost, or overwhelmed more power to him or her; but, I still cannot in good faith recommend this series to anyone outside the die hard fantasy junkies.

The cover art is wonderful and the maps, Dramatis Personae, and glossary are welcome additions to the overall purchase.

Am I planning on reading the third installment, Memories of Ice? Yes, although at this point I feel it would have to be an unbelievably spectacular experience in order to make the return on this reading investment worthwhile.

Good reading,

2010-02-11 | Plants and Books (Parkville, MO United States) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 3

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Cool story arc, lousy writing to get there.
Reading all the 5 star reviews here I feel like maybe the Kindle version that I read is missing some pages or something. It does suffer from numerous OCR errors from when they scanned it. They obviously didn't even run a spell checker on it.

If I had to sum up Deadhouse Gates in one sentence, it'd be "A bunch of stuff happens from out of nowhere". There are 4 main plot threads and the Duiker plotline is well written and really enjoyable.

The other 3 plotlines feature extremely passive characters who basically walk around the desert the whole book while stuff happens to them from out of nowhere. It's hard to give examples without spoiling too much, but one safe example does come to mind (Safe because everything's so out of the blue that you'll never see this coming). There's a scene where one character is killed by rats and nothing at all in the entire scene makes any sense. It's clear that Erikson wanted to kill the character but couldn't come up with a good reason for him to die. Frankly I would have been more satisfied if he had just written "A giant hand descended from the sky bearing Steven Erikson's prints on the tips of its fingers and snatched (the character) from the desert floor, then withdrew back into the sky with (the character) in its other-worldly grip." This type of unexplained phenomenon is pervasive throughout the whole book.

I also find Erikson's descriptions of locations lacking anchors in the world. It's hard to describe the nebulous feeling I get of the geography, but basically it feels like the characters walk for a bit and then sort of appear at destinations that are ill defined. I never get a sense of scale of any city or scenery.

I give this 3 stars partially for the Duiker thread, partially because there is the cool integration in this overall plotline, and partially because my friends insist the Malazan work as a whole is awesome.

2010-01-07 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 3

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Worth it
If you read Book 1, this book is worth it to read. It can get a bit slow, but overall I liked it about as much as book 1.

2009-12-11 | Steelstairs | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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kindle edition problems
This Kindle edition of Deadhouse Gates contains many typographical errors. Early in the book, I noticed typographical errors that look like character recognition problems (e.g., substituting I for l). Later in the book, there are many places where several consecutive words are repeated twice in the text. Amazon customer service accepted my report of problems and offered a refund but has been otherwise unhelpful. The book is not unreadable; it is just below the quality that I have come to expect from Kindle editions.

2009-12-11 (Burlingame, CA, USA) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 3

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Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen)

Description

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Customer Reviews

great
horror suspense comedy action. this has it all. cant be contained in one genre.

2010-07-21 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A Nice Surprise!
I believe at this point I have read enough fantasy books that I realize I like them a little more on the "dark" side. How I would define "dark" is that there really is no clear hero to root for as just about anyone in the book has their own valid perspective of right and wrong. In addition, just because you have taken a liking to a character, it doesn't mean that character is going to survive the story. So..having said that, I like this book!

Here's the part I get afraid of as I never want to tell too much of the story and ruin it so I'll do the best I can to be vague -

The book is a political war story set in a fantasy setting. It reminded me a little bit of George R.R. Martin's work - A Song of Ice and Fire but a lot more "fairy dust" going down. Normally, I don't like too much magic as I think it's used to conveniently overcome impossible scenarios too often and offsets the balance of a story. However, this book is knee deep in magic and not the traditional way magic is put forward. The author has created a real unique "system" for lack of a better word. Two wizards (and there are way more than two folks in this book slinging magic) do not necessarily have the same base of powers as they are linked with new magics or maybe those of ancient powers. I found it all really interesting and the author does not leave you lacking for understanding of how it all works and thus makes it more believeable.

This book requires you to immerse yourself into the story. There is a lot going on in this book - a lot of history that gradually unfolds in the book and a lot of different players involved. I have to admit, it took me a while to be able to keep track of whom was whom. However, once I was there, the book was also in full motion and taking me for a ride. It was as if the author knew that was the proper time to put the heels to the book.

The author did not slack off in character development either. As I said, there are a lot of different players in this story but yet all of them are interesting and unique. Sure, he only lets you know a little bit at a time but the way things are presented makes it a puzzle you are working out in your brain until facts are fully revealed that you never knew you would need but are excited were revealed. Consider it icing on the cake!

In all, the characters each have their own mini-story and it all ties together in the end for an ending that actually gives you some mental closure as you await the next one.

I am looking forward to book two and have already purchased it and am ready for more!

2010-07-06 (Las Vegas) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Dull, pretentious and boring. Only for the desperate fantasy reader.
This book was a true betrayal.

If you look at the average star rating for Gardens of the Moon - you would think "Hey, 200+ people can't be wrong, right?"

In a word - yes.

But first I'll explain how I came to write this review. My fantasy background consists of primarily Tolkien and then more recently George Martin and his Song of Ice and Fire series. I tend to research authors heavily before I take a chance with their material for the first time. Outside of the traditional fantasy realm I enjoyed Stephen Kings' The Dark Tower series, anything from Dan Simmons (particularly his Hyperion and Endymion novels) and more recently also Peter Hamilton for his Commonwealth series (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained).

When looking for the next fantasy series to attempt I was looking for one that was complete. As much as I love finding a new author to enjoy - I hate the dreaded WAIT for them to finish their work. And so, I became interested when I read that Steven Erikson was finishing this Malazan series with the last book (the tenth) being released this year. The entire Malazan Book of the Fallen series rates highly on Amazon and most review sites.

Based on the comparisons to Tolkien and George RR Martin in many reviews of Eriksons works I took the plunge and Gardens of the Moon (the first book of the ten book series) was downloaded to my Kindle...

After reaching 28% complete - I stopped. Did I have the right book? Yes. Was this a Kindle malfunction? No.

Where in the world did all of these glowing reviews come from?! I mean, I know the guy clearly tried hard to start this series - but come on. I feel like either other reviews were from people completely unfamiliar with good writing or they were grossly mislead by sympathy based on the apparent effort by Steven Erikson to create a complex fantasy world. Seriously. This is hack, amateur stuff.

Maybe I'm just looking at this all wrong. It certainly has the ingredients of a good story but it's missing: substance. Sure, Erikson is "world-building" but that's a lame reason to give someone a decent review. Once the author constructs the framework for the world - they should, I dunno, CREATE AN INTRIGUING PLOT AND COMPELLING CHARACTERS.

Some say that the books get better as the series progresses. With as many choices from authors both old and new in the fantasy genre (and beyond!) it seems ridiculous to force oneself to read this pretentious me-too "epic" fantasy in the hopes it "gets better".

2010-07-04 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 1

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Great Start to a wonderful series
I have to admit that starting this series can feel a bit like being dumped in the deep end of a dark pool. Nothing is as you are used to as a fantasy reader. You are grasping for the familiar, but it eludes you in most cases. Warrens? Ascendants? Its one of the first times I spent any time looking at the sections in the front and back of the book to figure out what was going on. It made me realize how much i was taking for granted in reading fantasy books. I realized the author wanted you to feel like you had been dropped in this real world that had been going on for centuries without you. It was your job to figure everything out. This book made me a better reader. i pay more attention to the small details because you may need them later.

The characters are amazing and the setting is quite exciting. The book flowed well from begining to end (if you discount the "wtf is going on moments") Overall the ending to this book was outstanding. So much happens as powers converge. It can be a bit confusing at times, but the author really isnt trying to make sure you know everything. Sometimes things dont dawn on you until 3 or 4 books later. It's wonderful when your eyes open up to the deep world! I say take your time slow down and enjoy it. This is the first of a very great series and I cant wait for the conclusion.

2010-07-02 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Absolutely stunning world and great writing too!
This is a review of the whole Malazan Book of the Fallen series, which starts with this book. Plot-wise I won't say much but this is epic fantasy about 500,000 years of civilizations, gods, and conflict all building to a great convergence. Each book has a discrete plot that intertwines with the other books to creat a massive character driven story.

As a hobbyist world builder I am in awe of this magnificent construction. Mr Erikson and another guy (who writes other books in this world!) used this as a custom AD&D setting for years and finally developed it enough to bring their gaming to life. WOW. I have never seen as intricate a world and that includes Middle Earth. This world takes a whole lot of conventions and doesn't use them. Huh? Yep, there's plenty of stuff that's familiar but completely original. Those aren't elves, those aren't orcs, but yes, those are 300,000 year old undead neanderthals.

Not only is the shear scope of the world astounding, the fact that there are SO MANY points of view is great. Mr Erikson manages to tell a story that spans, literally, this whole planet and several "realms" (kind of like pocket dimensions) with races, cultures, and species all unique in perspective. Each character is defined by their culture and background but also their personal experiences. You never feel, reading these stories, that a character is just a fill out the blanks, cookie-cutter construction. Every one of them resonates and has a history.

Something else along that line that I love about Mr Erikson's writing is that he is able to give each character a unique personality. His dour, succinct characters really feel grumpy and his light-hearted inane characters really seem silly. So often in literature it's obvious that it's the same person writing dialog for all the people on the page. Not so here. I am floored that with SO MANY different characters they each remain completely distinct throughout the whole series. It makes the movie in your head that much easier to see.

This is definitely epic fantasy, told from the ground floor. You are in it, as it happens, yet still have the benefit of the overview, the whole puzzle. I'd say that at least half of the story revolves around soldiers because it's a novel of empire. But it keeps evolving and expanding to include the entire world, so to say it is military fiction is limiting. Every situation grows into every other situation. The second book follows the first one and the third book takes place on a different part of the world at the same time as the second. It is so engrossing to see how all these stories intertwine and create new stories.

One last thing to mention is pacing. One of the benefits of epic stories, with large casts, is that the POV changes often enough to stay interesting. However, Mr Erikson avoids killing the mood by pulling away from something gripping to follow an undeveloped plot line. And I mean he keeps this pacing for 10 big fat novels. That's impressive.

2010-06-30 | invisiblemonki (Honolulu, Hawaii United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Bauchelain and Korbal Broach: Three Short Novels of the Malazan Empire, Volume One (Malazan Empire Novels)

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• ISBN13: 9780765324221

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Customer Reviews

Bauchelain and Korbal Broach
The book was okay. It is not in my opinion no where near the quality to which Erickson's other titles are at within the Malazan Universe. The book was full of characters who were not interesting and those that were saw little read time. I would give it a pass unless your a die hard Malazan fan.

2010-02-08 (Nashville, TN USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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Dark, shorter stories
Definitely dark, dark, dark. Not for the squeamish.

That said, I found these a nice break from the main series of books. Instead of hundreds of characters, there are only a half-dozen or so to keep track of. Instead of plots that stretch out over thousands of pages in multiple books, each story is all wrapped up in 100 pages or less.

2010-01-02 (NC, USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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simpler, lighter Malazan fare and highly enjoyable
Bauchelain and Korbal Broach collects three of Steven Erikson's novellas set in the Malazan Empire series, certainly one of the most ambitious, and I'd say one of the best, epic fantasies going. The collection, which includes Blood Follows, The Lees at Laughter's End, and The Healthy Dead, follows the exploits of its eponymous main characters, a pair of joyfully destructive necromancers we first met in book three of the larger series, though in truth the side characters often take more center stage.
Totaling about half the length of the monstrous tomes in the series, Erikson has stripped out the complex plotting and subplotting of his novels, dropped the cast of characters by a magnitude or two, and cut down on the depth of physical and historical detail. The result is a much quicker, simpler, more focused read than his fans are used to, one that highlights Erikson's dark humor rather than his complex world-building. These are slighter works, in impact as well as size, and won't offer the richness of the novels, but each is enjoyable in its own way, though the level of success varies.
Blood Follows is set in the city of Lamentable Moll and tells how Bauchelain and Broach hired their manservant Emancipator Reese, a total wreckage of a man when we see him in the series, though here we meet Reese before the necromancers' activities have taken their toll. His life isn't all that great pre-necromancers, however. He seems to have a penchant for losing not just every job he takes, but his bosses as well, who tend to succumb one after the other to some dire fate. This is bad enough, but his shrewish wife and pack of "brats" double the misery. We pick up just after he lost his last job when his employer was killed--the 12th victim in 12 nights of an unknown killer stalking the streets. Tasked with uncovering the murderer is Sgt. Guld, helped by the king's mage. It gives nothing away to say the two necromancers are involved in the murders somehow, but that's OK as the murder mystery isn't really the point of the story--rather it's the vehicle for all sorts of dry and dark humor, involving the main characters but also the city's undead (Moll is built atop restless barrows), a pair of strange sisters, a not-so-innocent princess, and others.
The humor works well throughout, Blood is truly funny story, and while the novella doesn't have the overwhelming density of detail we're used to with Erikson, he still shows himself to be a master of the sharp, vivid image, characterization, cultural or social detail. The few scenes just after the story's opening meander a bit but pacing picks up once we leave the tavern and Reese's drunken wandering and the story is tightly constructed afterward. Personally, I would have liked to have seen him do more with Guld's investigation and the mystery; it had rich potential as does Guld's character (I can actually see him in his own spin-off novella) but it feels like Erikson tosses it aside too quickly and a bit cavalierly.
The second story takes place on board the ship Reese and his employers are forced to use to flee their activities in Moll. Unfortunately for them and the ship's crew (not all of which are actually crew it turns out), the trip will take a turn to the horrific, full of undead and whatever it is that Broach has carried aboard (it isn't pleasant). The humor here is much more broad and physical, much more slapstick than the dry wit in Blood Follows, and one's enjoyment of the story will most likely depend on how you like your humor. There were several laugh-out-loud points, but I also thought it went on a bit long and I felt the payoff wasn't quite as strong as the first or especially the third story.
The final story shifts humor gears once more, incorporating both the dryness and slapstick humor of the other two but adding to it a more substantive satire of our modern day obsession with healthy living. Reese has been on the road with the necromancers for a few years now and has taken to dulling his reactions to a life of constant horror, danger, and tension via a plethora of drugs. In this story, the trio arrives at the city of Quaint, where the new king has raised "wellness" to a mandated religion and poor living (bad diets, lack of exercise, etc) have become crimes. Horrified at having to give up their vices (in a brilliant touch, the vices of Quaint, such as Sloth or Greed, are actually embodied, though when we first meet them they have shrunken in stature and strength since they've been proscribed), a pair of city residents hire the necromancers to rid themselves of their king. Bauchelain's pleasure at the unusual ethics of the job is a joy to read:
Desire for goodness, Mister Reese, leads to earnestness. Earnestness, in turn, leads to sanctimonious self-righteousness, which breeds intolerance, upon which harsh judgment quickly follows, yielding dire punishment, inflicting general terror and paranoia, eventually culminating in revolt, leading to chaos, then dissolution, and thus, the end of civilisation.
To "save civilization", they'll have to work their usual destruction. While the satire is a bit obvious and perhaps a bit overlong, for the most part it works well, especially at the start. This was, I thought, the most accomplished of the three tales: the most substantive, the most varied in tone, the most imaginative, and the most focused and tightly written.
Don't expect the Malazan heft or style here, or come to these novellas looking to fill in plot gaps in the larger series; these are beasts of a different sort: wholly independent (or nearly so), leaner, more simple, with more of an intent to evoke laughter than anything else. At that, they mostly succeed. If you come in with the right expectations, you won't be disappointed--you'll thoroughly enjoy them. What they do share with the larger novels is that at the end, you'll be frustrated there isn't any more.

2010-01-02 (Rochester, NY USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Awesome! Keep the Shorts Coming!
This is a great way to fill an idle hour or two. These guys are a classic (though tertiary) pair from the inimitable Malazan Novels. I think it was 'The BoneHunters' where these curiously noble minded necromancers got fleshed out a bit (no pun intended). If you are considering reading these as standalone stories before delving into the larger task of reading the Malazan Novels, know that these stories are also great standalone short stories. They contain a unique blend of dry humor, just deserts and the macabre. Apparently, a variety of shorts will be forthcoming. The Malazan Novels have already provided ample, fertile ground for doing spins offs such as these!

2009-12-29 (Denver) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Back off they are Necromancers
All three novellas are loaded with some of the most humorous characters of the Malazan world. I knew they would be entertaining but they were more than just an enjoyable read and were loaded with ironies and solid views on life even though approached in a quaint way. I can't help to notice over the last few books I have read by Erikson that he is more than just a great talent at weaving complex plots and layered histories. He is an excellent poet, prose writer and a very deliberate philosopher. The lines from the Healthy Dead relating to the downfall of humanity are a spot on critique of dualistic thinking.

2009-12-18 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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House of Chains (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 4)

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• ISBN13: 9780765348814
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Customer Reviews

Excellent in part
What I liked about this book was the part dealing exclusively with Karsa. I got as strong a sense of wonder as in fiction like Conan, Death Dealer or The Chosen (The Stone Dance of the Chameleon). If you're estrogen heavy then I don't suppose you'd like it much, otherwise it's a must read.

The rest of the book is tedious.

2010-07-09 (Douglas, AK) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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After book 4, I'm beginning to understand what I like about this series.
Ok. After some stops and starts while reading this series, I have finally come to understand what it is about the Malazan novels that keep bringing me back. Plain and simply stated: They are uniquely interesting to this genre.

You see, recently I have been doing something I've never really done before which is to abandon a book without finishing it. For example, I tried to read Tad William's Dragonbone Chair. I tried to read the second book in Michael Sullivan's Ryria Revelations series. And while I will probably finish it, I find myself pausing while reading the Heritage of Shannara series by Terry Brooks. The reason is that compared to the Malazan series, these other books are too simple, too predictable, and the characters are just too wimpy.

House of Chains, the fourth book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series is another long novel at over 1000 pages. Even for a voracious reader like me, it takes a few weeks of time to get through. The first section of the book is about a character named Karsa Orlong, a warrior from one of the ancient races, which in my opinion represents some of Erikson's best character development to date. It was refreshing to have a span of 250 pages centered around just one character, because if you have read this series, you know that Erikson likes to skip around a lot. Karsa plan is to raid some nearby villages, but it turns out that Karsa has a larger destiny.

The rest of the book primarily deals with the aftermath of Deadhouse Gates (the 2nd book) and the conflict between the Whirlwind Forces of Sha'ik (Felisin Paran) against the Malazan force led by Felisin's sister Tavore (the Adjunct to the Emperor Laseen). This occurs in the desert Raraku. Of course, there are always peripheral stories playing out that one can assume will tie in later. And characters both familiar and unfamiliar pop in and out unexpectedly. I've noticed that there always seems to be a convergence of sorts (where a few of the plots come together) at the end of each novel. This is also true of House of Chains, although the ending is not as dramatic as the previous novel, Memories of Ice.

I've learned that you have to expect some slow pacing in these books, but in the end there is a payoff, if only in that you are exposed to a world that is not simple, not predictable and where the characters are not wimps. I'm looking forward to continuing this series because it is unique and interesting.

2010-04-12 (Cleveland, OH USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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The new master
You simply cannot put them down. I have had to buy 2 copies of some of them from wearing them out.

2010-04-12 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Love it
This book follows the seven-cities story arc from Deadhouse Gates, book 2 of the series (books one and three play out on another continent, Genanbackis). It starts, somewhat unusual for the Malazan series, with a ~200 page long flashback of the life of one of the characters, Karsa Orlong. Once this storyline connects with what we know from Deadhouse Gates, the direction of the novel becomes clear. Without hopefully giving too much away: we're heading toward a resolution of the Seven-Cities-rebellion against the Malazan Empire. One family in particular becomes tragically entangled in the machinations of gods and ascendents.

On a deeper level, books three and four reveal the main conflict of the Malazan series: the god of House of Chains seeks admission to the pantheon and he recruits ascendents to unleash them onto the world.

2009-12-19 (Ohio) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Chained by a lack of creativity, poor plot, and too many cardboard characters
This book is essentially split two parts: The emergence of Karsa Orlong (200 pages, basically an extended prologue) and an extension of the events that take place directly after book 2, The Deadhouse Gates (800 pages).

The extended prologue introduces/elaborates on the back story of a new character to the series which we encountered briefly in book 2 under a different name. Erikson loves to change people's names. It's an awesome and very creative writing device...sarcasm intended. In just 4 books Surly became Laseen, Dancer became Cotillion, Dassem Ultor became Traveller, Kellanved became Ammanas, Crokus became Cutter, Sorry became Apsalar, Fiddler becomes Strings, and Karsa Orlong became....well you get the idea. I guess that in Erikson's world the path to ascendancy requires that a bunch of cool magic crap happens to you (normally out of circumstance rather than intent/ambition), and you change your name, it's just that easy.

That rant aside, the first 200+ pages of the book only serve to show that Karsa is a savage except (as Voren has noted in his review) when Karsa and his crew pillage and rape a neighboring village the women actually seem to enjoy/make the best of it. Oh yeah, and he's really big, strong, and a bad-ass with a really cool wooden sword. And he likes to kill children (smaller stature humans) for no apparent reason other than he seems to think that it brings him and his gods glory. Also the magic system just doesn't work. I've never read another fantasy novel where so many characters were hit with "a wave of sorcery". How very creative and descriptive. This reeks of fan fiction at its greatest...

Erikson should get credit for his ability to build worlds and create histories, but it seems with this installment he just seems to tack on random crap to the ever growing mythology of the Malazan world. I can't wait until the next book when he tacks on some race of people that are even older than the ancient founding races. Very clever. Instead of creating bunches of faceless, self-deprecating, angsty cardboard characters, Erikson would be better served to develop those characters that are central to the plot of the story. You know, so we actually care when they die, or when they get mortally wounded only to have a god magically show up and save their backside...how convenient!

Bailout mechanisms like this make reading this series ponderous. From the first 400 pages of the book you should probably be able to figure out all of the characters that will die, and all of those that will live. It's funny that those with actual motivations and ambitions are often the ones killed, but those that walk around for 800 pages feeling sorry for themselves generally survive.

The last 800 pages of the novel see to further the storyline of the characters Heboric, Felisin, Fiddler, and Kalam from the Deadhouse Gates, while at the same time give us new perspective from some new "good guys" Adjunt Tavore, Fist Gamet, and Loric. The only character that I found somewhat interesting was Loric, as he actually seems to have actual motivations and ambitions, even though he does whine and complain for several hundred pages about not being able to live up to his Ascendant father's expectations. Tavore and Gamet fall into typical fantasy character archetypes, namely the untested, unproven, and unorthodox leader for the former, and the grizzled, aged veteran, who's done being a soldier for the latter. Oh and Tavore is a lesbian, awesome, geeky fantasy boy's dream come true!

I guess that Erikson does have a particular audience to cater to. The more big bad-ass swords, ultra-powerful gods, gratuitous sex, and lesbians the better the book sales. Focus on real, human motivations probably doesn't appeal to the fantasy community as a whole, because lets face it, that's why we read fantasy. We need an escape from the real world where swords and magic are commonplace, because reading about real human motivations and elements only seek to shatter our fantasy dreamworld bubble.

So now that the pieces are set we're looking at a inevitable showdown between the Whirlwind Army (Felisin and Co.) versus the Malazan Army (Tavore and Co.) Also there's a bunch of Ascendants vying for power as the the armies march towards each other over the blasted desert wasteland of Raraku setting the stage for an inevitable convergence/smackdown! Where Erikson was brilliant at times in Memories of Ice when threading the story of the Malazan campaign with the motivations of the Ascendants, in House of Chains this is where Erikson falls flat on his face.

After 900+ pages of buildup, this novel arrives at an anti-climax where mostly a bunch of fringe characters you never cared about die, and most of the main characters almost die, but narrowly survive due to Ascendant interaction. There are also a bunch of WTF moments, especailly in the last 50 pages, were its rather unclear what just happened. I'm sure Erikson will explain it all through internal monologue in the next installment....which I won't be reading...

2009-10-08 | Adventureman (Chicago, IL) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 1

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The Bonehunters: Book Six of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

Product Details

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Description

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Customer Reviews

A long frustrating slog through a nightmare world
I wish I loved Steven Erikson books more than I do. I have faithfully purchased all six of the Malazan books because I tell myself that its the best stuff out there. I read others say its the best stuff out there. So what is good about it? The quality of the prose is absolutely sublime.no other writer can describe an action scene with the same intensity as Erikson. He conjures a breathtaking world with his attention to detail. The world building is astonishing, each race and culture amazingly depicted. Some of the characters are wonderfully portrayed...but now we come to the negative.I still find myself after five books worth of this series seriously lost at many points of the books, reading for the sake of it, not really knowing what on earth is going on. Erikson's books are incredibly frustrating in my opinion, highly disjointed with one sequence running in to the next often without you having any inkling why. The vast majority of the characters are highly superficial; two examples, firstly Fiddler, we know absolutely nothing about his background or his motives or feelings yet we are forced to follow him as one of the books principal characters. Next, High Fist Dujek is killed by the plague..do we care?? never once have we got to know him. I find myself skim reading these books to get to the end as they are also depressingly long. I'm ready for an Erikson break, I'm going to read other writers for a time and then perhaps I'll come back to Reapers Gale later and somehow I'll have an epiphany and everything will fall into place. I can wish...

2010-01-23 (Sevilla, Spain) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 2

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A God
There is nothing to detail any further.
Steven Erikson is "the God" of fantasywriters. Incredible how he creates caracters, plots, wars etc.
You have him, then a whole time nothing before number two comes!!

2009-04-17 (The Netherlands) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Best in the Series, and Potentially Best Standalone in the GENRE.
Very rare does a book stand out in a series as much as Bonehunters has done from the rest of Erikson's world. I haven't had to stop reading and use the bathroom mid-chapter because of the excitement of a book... in years.

I cannot stress how amazing this book is, and have had many friends read it standalone apart from Malazan. It has converted many a fantasy virgin. I cannot even remember how many times I went back ONLY to re-read this single book. What amazing piece of non religious literature has that sort of power?

5 stars does not do this book justice, it is my opinion that this single book has no peer. Remember in Wheel of Time when Rand cleanses Saidin? Imagine 800 pages of that awesomeness. Or... just read Bonehunters.

2009-03-23 | otakueric (Brooklyn, NY) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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a fractured consistency [no spoilers]
"The Bonehunters" continues "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" epic a couple months after "House of Chains". Cutter, Mappo Trell, Quick Ben, and Strings are among dozens of characters in addition to more new characters (no surprise) littering the enormous saga. Overall plotlines begin to converge in the extraordinarily written story where I found Chapter 7 as one of the best post-battle survival scenes ever. Yet the somber view of combat and questioning the war oddly contrasts the outlook of murdering unpopular officers.

Though Karsa Orlong has changed, such as the brevity of his sarcastic wit from when he was originally introduced, his boldness and confidence fortunately have not wavered. The battle prowess of Icarium, Karsa, and even Trull Sengar are brilliantly depicted. But the disappointing events surrounding Dujek Onearm are as anti-climatic as they come for a supporting character. Combined with the annoying banter between various characters, in particular newcomers Curdle and Telorast, it is tough to maintain the high enthusiasm I once had for the series. They might have a purpose in future novels, but at the moment they are a huge irritation and appear worthless.

The maps are mediocre and the hopeless appendix provides names with little or no information. Given the abundant quantity of characters, an improved comprehensive appendix is necessary including racial characteristics, relating magical powers, and describing creatures.

Thank you.

2009-02-24 | DaRK KNighT (St. Louis, MO) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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I am about to start book 7
At book 1 I thought the author was overly focused on world building, but by book 3 I realized he needed to set the stage for a complex story. But before I came to that realization, I read book 2 and was pleasantly suprised to find witty dialogue and an ever growing plot. Book 3 was gripping and the scenes of battle well written. Books 4 and 5 were less a matter of carrying the already established plot forward than setting the stage for the eventual conclusion of the story. Book 6 was not the author's best effort, but the last chapters of the book made it worthwhile. At this point in the series I can see the method to the author's madness. Each book introduces plots and characters for later books, and then wraps up or merges a plot or two. If you love complex fantasy that does not rip off Tolkein, this is the series for you.

2009-01-06 (Tuscany, Italy) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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