Fantasy Aficionados discussion

I have heard this is a great series. I bought the first book today. Any thoughts on it?

I've really enjoyed the first few - I have a lot of reading left to do before I finish, as they are not quick reads, but I am looking forward to finishing the entire series. Enjoy!

That's good to hear. I'm kind of worried about getting into such a huge series!

This is a massive series, and not an easy read. You've really got to involve yourself, I think, with this one. I've read the first book, and it confused me. Every time I thought I figured out what was going on, a new character would pop up and I'd be confused again.

I do plan on finishing the series at some point, though. I might check to see if they have these on Audible.com or not.

Thanks for the warning, Jason. I'll take as long as I need to read it. I know it will be a slow read for me.

I'm sure you'll do fine with it.

The reason it is confusing is because the author created the series and its world after a role playing game he and his friend had invented. He also felt that it wasn't necessary to add any historical facts into the story, so you, as the reader, is plopped right into the middle of a story without knowing exactly what's going on.

It is a flawed system, I think, but it's also genius and works fantastically.

Well, forewarned is forearmed. :)

I looked it up and Audible.com doesn't have these. It's probable that they're not audiobooks yet. Which sucks. I think I'd enjoy them more if they were read to me by a brilliant narrator.

I think they will get to audiobook soon. Hang in there, Jason.

I will. If they don`t have them in audiobook form, that`s a little surprising to me. The books are huge in Europe and Canada. They`re not so popular in the US, for some reason, so that could be why.

If they are in audiobook form, then Audible will probably get them sometime soon. So I will keep my fingers crossed.

I am sure they won't miss out on that market.

My other half just picked up the first book in the series after reading somewhere it was one of the greatest fantasy series out there? Plus it supposed to be close to another writer's work he adores.

Let us know how he likes it, Gwenyth. I'm swamped with some challenge reading right now, so I probably won't get to start it until the fall. I plan to go into full-blown fantasy epic reading starting in the fall.

He is pushing himself through The Stand by King right now so he can start it, he's pretty excited.

I need to start that one again. I started The Stand many years ago, and put it down. The same thing happened with Salem's Lot. I am intimidated by long books for some reason.

I am the same. I am a big King fan but never got to The Stand, and when I finally mentioned I might pick it up...I come home and the bf is reading it telling me I was right and how good it is...

/grumbles

Well, at least he's encouraged you to read it. :)

I've only read one of the Malazan books, number four apparently - The House of Chains. I thought it was excellent. Varied, exciting, mysterious (well, you do have to try and work out what the hell's going on) and with several touches of truly vivid, imaginative genius in it.

I'll give you that about Erikson. His imagination is very imaginative and vivid. I think that it's also complicated and sometimes annoying. His writng style sort of reflect that, as well.

I just read the first book, which was in the beginning more than confusing. A lot of characters, loads of information without any background, many characters and no idea of who are a main characters, no real storyline - it feels like you start to read a book in the middle. But after the first 200 pages it gets better, but the story is still incredibly fast paced and many things aren't explained. Nontheless I will surely continue the series, probably the next book I will read is Deadhouse Gates.

Let us know what you think of the second book. I read the first one about a year ago, and haven't yet gone back.

Michi, you might be interested in this thread on Tor.com. Its two folks reading Gardens of the Moon - one re-reading, one new to the book. I'm finding it quite useful.

I read Gardens of the Moon a couple of months ago. Deadhouse Gates is in my TBR pile.

ETA to add url, duh.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/04/mala...

Just updating here. My BF is almost done the second book and is completely in love with the series. That's a lot coming from him...

@Majkia: thanks for the link - i just read the parts about the prologue and chapter 1 and it's indeed interessting and useful :)

Thanks for that link, Majkia. It will come in very useful!

I read the first book, found it a little confusing but enjoyed it. It's been so long now that I'll have to read it again so I can then read book 2! People have told me to persevere with it as it's a great series.

I started reading Deadhouse Gates on saturday and so far I love it. As the first novel it is extremly fast paced and sometimes a bit confusing. It seems that the book has an almost completly new cast of main characters, only the story of Kalam, Fiddler, Crockus and Apsalar is continued. Therefore I don't think it's necessary to re-read Gardens of the Moon.

Cool. I might read it soon!

Cool, thanks Michi!

Michi wrote: "I started reading Deadhouse Gates on saturday and so far I love it. As the first novel it is extremly fast paced and sometimes a bit confusing. It seems that the book has an almost com..."

I'm halfway through Gardens of the Moon and thoroughly enjoying it. Looking forward to reading Deadhouse Gates!

Once you're caught up on Steven's books (and it takes a while, I know!), I strongly recommend checking out the Ian C. Esslemont books as well. Ian is co-creator of the original Malazan role-playing world, and co-author of the screenplay that later became Gardens of the Moon.

So far he's published 2 novels that tie-in with Steven's main storyline, with a 3rd on the way. His style is a bit more direct, but just as thick with mythology and backstory.

Hi, i have read all his books. Esslemont also. yes they do tie in together.I have read tons of books and he is one of the great ones.
rob

Just finished reading Deadhouse Gates and enjoyed it but not as much as GOTM. It was a little slow in parts but toward the end it became much more interesting.Looking forward to Memories of Ice.

I only read the first one and I didn't care for it. It left too much unanswered for my taste. I never bothered with the rest.

For me that's part of the attraction of the series. Everything's a piece of the puzzle with no obvious connecetion between them. Also the almost not existant background of the plot is something I like, because it can get quite boring if you have to read hundreds of pages describing are more or less important for the acutal story.

If there was an actual story. I'm not going to read 9 books to find out. I don't have to have the whole story right away, obviously, but I need some important details in order to keep my interest.

I read the first four about four years ago and stopped because I wanted to wait to be able to read them all together. I'm about to start over soon with the release of The Crippled God hopefully coming sometime early next year... although there isn't any official release date.

This series is a bit strange and surreal, and you have to read with some faith that things will make sense in the end, but I really liked the first four books.

I admit I found Gardens very convoluted at first, however that was until a discussion i had with one my colleagues who's read the whole series. he basically told me I was trying way too hard to make sense of it. Once i stopped expecting the story to cohere in a linear way i was able to enjoy the awesomeness of the Malazan universe.

The concept of the sorcerers borrowing power from the deities through the Warrens is so mind-blowing! or how war rages on both physical and mystical planes. There are many great things,this is quite an elaborated universe, nonetheless i don't know if I ever going to read the whole series (I seriously hope so), i'm already hooked on many other series which do have that linear story element that compels you to jump onto next book right away.

I'm loving my re-read of Gardens of the Moon. But I too found the first read through difficult, because it sort of breaks a lot of 'rules' of fantasy series. But I do love how he trusts the readers to delve for things, and to be willing to give a story time to evolve over time. After all, real life is like that, with things that seem entirely unrelated suddenly becoming interwoven.

I love his descriptions and his elaborate, and sometimes incomprehensible layers to deepen the story.

And I love that we don't know all the answers. I like mystery and puzzles and these books are certainly that.

Breaks the rules of fantasy indeed! instead of spoonfeeding the readers with background info, Erikson catapults you right into the middle of the action, i think it's normal to feel a bit disoriented, as Maijkia implies it's just not conventional; though i remember enjoying that feeling of incertitude at the beginning, it obliged me to read half way through the book in one sitting grasping for clues, over time you come to appreciate the uniqueness of the style.

For anyone starting the series (or returning to it) there is a blog on Tor.com that is breaking the book down into two chapter discussion/writeups. Could be worthwhile to read along with to keep your bearings while reading this series.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/04/mala...

A great series. Can be challenging at first, because Erikson doesn't hold your hand or give a lot of backstory, but it is well-worth sticking with it.

Jackie wrote: "If there was an actual story. I'm not going to read 9 books to find out. I don't have to have the whole story right away, obviously, but I need some important details in order to keep my interest."

I thought the story in the first one was great. I was hooked from the beginning. There's not a lot of backstory, but there is plenty of story.

I've read through the series twice now and I thinkly it's probably the most ambitious fantasy series out there as far world building and threading multiple plot lines. Erikson is a prolific writer when you consider how often he publishes combined with the length of his novels. I would recommend to anyone that begins the novels to keep a moleskin or some other recording device at hand that they take notes in about characters. There may be two or three novels between episodes where a character may appear and the reader is expected to remember that character and all the subtleties of their storyline without any reminder beyond context clues. It's definitely challenging for a reader who can only read a novel in their spare time but I, for one, would say that The Malazan Book of the Fallen series is well worth the investment of time and effort.

If you enjoy Erikson then you would likely enjoy George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series which also contains multiple plotlines and a dark storyline but is far less difficult of a read.

Grant wrote: "I would recommend to anyone that begins the novels to keep a moleskin or some other recording device at hand that they take notes in about characters. There may be two or three novels between episodes where a character may appear and the reader is expected to remember that character and all the subtleties of their storyline without any reminder beyond context clues."

Now, this puts me in a quandary. I'm a book whore and I don't always seem to be able to say no. I saw Memories of Ice on sale a few years ago and I picked it up. Once I got home I realized that it was book 3 in a series, so on the bookshelf it went. My TBR pile is out of control - its easy to forget I have a series to build when I buy without reading.

After reading "Goats of Glory" from Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery, I checked my shelves and there was Memories of Ice. I was thinking about reading Erikson's Malazon series...but 10 books is a little daunting. I can't help but to think that the author has to jump the shark somewhere.

And now you're telling me that I need to take notes, too?? I’m not sure I’m ready to go back to school just yet…

MrsJoseph, I'm worried about the notetaking part myself. I honestly don't see me doing that. Kinda lazy about such things. When I read Kushiel's Dart, I was daunted by all the different character names and the odd country names. After a while, I started getting the feel.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "MrsJoseph, I'm worried about the notetaking part myself. I honestly don't see me doing that. Kinda lazy about such things. When I read Kushiel's Dart, I was daunted by all the different character ..."

Oooh, I LOVED Kushiel's Dart! I had the same issue as you at first, but I was reading the pb version and didn't mind flipping back to the cast of characters & names at the front of the book.

Have you read Naamah's Kiss yet? I own the other 6 but hesitated due to the reviews.

Lol...well to each their own. I'm a bit of a fanatic I suppose and while I consider myself to have an excellent memory, at last count in my notes I'd listed over 650 different named characters in the Malazan series. Now note taking isn't for everyone but that's a helluva lot of folks to keep up with...hell even if you only have to remember a tenth of them that's still 65 characters.... So! It's certainly not a requirement by any means but it just helped to have a bit of a cheat sheet :) I certainly don't want my suggestion to put you off reading the series. I'm probably one in a 100,000 that actually bothered to try notetaking anyways and there are Tons of huge Malazan fans out there who didn't ;) The series is worth reading and though it may jump the shark at some point(though not yet in my opinion) that still doesn't mean that the novels leading up to said point are any less worth reading ;)

Incidentally...Book whore :) favorite new phrase.

You don't have to take notes. If you'd like to, that's fine, however.

Also, the books serve well enough as stand-alone novels. You are best served reading them in chronological order, I suppose, but each one is its own story within an over-arching scheme of events.

At least that holds true up through the 5th one, which I am finishing now.