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Malazan Book of the Fallen Series

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    #92
    keane2097
    Registered Users Posts: 17,770 ✭✭✭✭keane2097


    ancapailldorcha wrote: »
    Thanks! That's really helpful!

    Just took a quick look at Erikson's AMA on Reddit (careful, may contain the odd spoiler) and he advises reading the books in the order they were published.

    Not sure if the list above conforms 100% to that but you can double check anyway.

    Bought the audible version of GotM last week and am working through it again at the moment with the intention of making some more progress in the series. I've read as far as Book 6 but have read them all a couple of times in order to miss as little as possible as I go through them.


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    #93
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,174 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Re-reading a couple of times? They must be quite heavy. I'm looking for something to replace A Song of Ice and Fire as it's not likely we'll see the next installment for a few years at least.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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    #94
    keane2097
    Registered Users Posts: 17,770 ✭✭✭✭keane2097


    ancapailldorcha wrote: »
    Re-reading a couple of times? They must be quite heavy. I'm looking for something to replace A Song of Ice and Fire as it's not likely we'll see the next installment for a few years at least.

    Heavy is certainly an apt description!


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    #95
    Tristram
    Registered Users Posts: 3,589 ✭✭✭Tristram


    Tar.Aldarion wrote: »
    Do you think if you went back and read the first one now you would enjoy it more, or is it that the first one wasn't as good as the rest/harder to read?

    Hmmm... that's a good question. I'm not sure to be honest. Reading anything a second time round is a very different experience. I'm sure I would get more out of it in the sense of appreciating where things are leading or marveling at how dramatically certain characters change over the course of the series. I think I might still find it a hard slog in parts. I have to say that the author's writing style absolutely wrecks my head in places and there are many large sections in all the books where I simply skim to find details relevant to narrative progression. If what I considered to be the useless filler drivel was edited out of the books I imagine they would come in at about three quarters of the length!


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    #96
    Raging_Ninja
    Registered Users Posts: 1,717 ✭✭✭Raging_Ninja


    Esslemont's new Malazan book is out, got it there yesterday.


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    #97
    Comic Book Guy
    Registered Users Posts: 3,447 ✭✭✭Comic Book Guy


    Finished The Crippled God on saturday night, 2 years after starting the series. Took me a while but built and moved into a new house, girlfriend had a baby and we got married in that period hence the time taken!!

    Loved the series, amazingly complex and so layered (where do ya begin to have the imagination to create and write about such a world?!).

    Loved the way all 10 books really picked up the pace in the last 200 pages or so.

    First book really throws ya in at the deep end but is well worth the early perseverence. Toll the Hounds is my personal favourite but only edges it because 2 of my favourite characters are heavily featured.


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    #98
    sea_monkey
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 755 ✭✭✭sea_monkey


    the new ICE book is supposed to be one of the best yet.

    kindle decided to die on me so cant read it!


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    #99
    Grassey
    Registered Users Posts: 2,393 ✭✭✭Grassey


    sea_monkey wrote: »
    the new ICE book is supposed to be one of the best yet.

    kindle decided to die on me so cant read it!

    About 80% through it now. Need to finish... Then reread to pick up on bits i missed. Really looking forward to the last 200 pages to tie up the story arcs and (hopefully) answer a few queations i have!


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    #100
    Zapp Brannigan
    Registered Users Posts: 8,326 ✭✭✭Zapp Brannigan


    god damn American Kindle store not having the ICE novel released!


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    #101
    cbsam74
    Registered Users Posts: 65 ✭✭cbsam74


    well its nearly a year since i started this thread and thanks for all the insight and opinons regarding it. Still on the first book (Gardens of the Moon) and had to leave it for a while...new arrival at home so loads of sleepless nights... and its amazing how the bug of reading it has caught hold of me. getting back into after the long break and I feel like i never it but I also feel a better understanding and appreciation for it...at the rate i reading it it will be 10 years before i get to the Crippled God..


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    #102
    keane2097
    Registered Users Posts: 17,770 ✭✭✭✭keane2097


    cbsam74 wrote: »
    well its nearly a year since i started this thread and thanks for all the insight and opinons regarding it. Still on the first book (Gardens of the Moon) and had to leave it for a while...new arrival at home so loads of sleepless nights... and its amazing how the bug of reading it has caught hold of me. getting back into after the long break and I feel like i never it but I also feel a better understanding and appreciation for it...at the rate i reading it it will be 10 years before i get to the Crippled God..

    Not to mention the fact that you'll probably realise after book 4 you've missed half of what went on and start again!


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    #103
    Tristram
    Registered Users Posts: 3,589 ✭✭✭Tristram


    Finished the series back home at Christmas. Still find myself thinking about it on and off. Like a bad break-up :(:D

    Not sure what to do next. Think I want to avoid epic fantasy for a while.


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    #104
    keane2097
    Registered Users Posts: 17,770 ✭✭✭✭keane2097


    Just finished off book five in my latest re-read. To clarify, I've yet to finish the entire series as I've gone back to the start a couple of times on my way through. Book five is as far as I've gotten having gone through one and two three times each and three, four and five twice now.

    Taking a little break to have a go at some other things before I plough on with book six, although I read the prologue and it looks pretty good that far in anyway!


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    #105
    nesf
    Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    keane2097 wrote: »
    Just finished off book five in my latest re-read. To clarify, I've yet to finish the entire series as I've gone back to the start a couple of times on my way through. Book five is as far as I've gotten having gone through one and two three times each and three, four and five twice now.

    Taking a little break to have a go at some other things before I plough on with book six, although I read the prologue and it looks pretty good that far in anyway!

    I'm similar, for various reasons I've never gotten past book six. I own up to book nine I think but every time I decide I want to get back into it I start at the beginning again, so it takes a while... :D


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    #106
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,082 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    Yeah the series is over 3 million words isnt it, aint nobody got time for that :pac:


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    #107
    nesf
    Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    Yeah, fortunately I rather like the series so I don't mind rereading the books every year or two when I get the urge to "finish it this time!"


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    #108
    John Mongo
    Registered Users Posts: 232 ✭✭John Mongo


    Currently about halfway through The Bonehunters.

    Really, really enjoying the series so far. The scale of the world Erikson has created is utterly brilliant. One of the things I'm really enjoying in the books is the variety of characters he's created and the humour that some of them bring to the books. Hedge and Fiddler, the Sappers in general, the Mott Irregulars, Greyfrog, Telorast and Curdle and of course the ultimate duo... Tehol and Bugg. Also, can't forget the enigma that is Kruppe.

    Absolutely quality bunch of books.


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    #109
    Nody
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,260 CMod ✭✭✭✭Nody


    So my first three books arrived yesterday; my question is as someone who's done his fair share of reading how "heavy" is the book to go through (the first reading)? Are there plenty of need to reflect on what's written and absorb (i.e. Dala Lama reflections on Buddhism) or is it more a case of churning through it first and coming back over and over again as you get further along in the series and pick up the new details?


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    #110
    mcgovern
    Registered Users Posts: 4,267 ✭✭✭mcgovern


    I found it more of a slog, especially at the start, than something that needs a lot of reflection. Just keep reading and it will make more sense as you go along.
    I almost never re-read anything (or watch a film more than once etc), so I haven't re-read the Malazan books, but I'm sure there would be a lot of value in doing so.


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    #111
    fenris
    Registered Users Posts: 3,078 ✭✭✭fenris


    This is one series that matures very nicely with each re-read.

    The reason that it is a bit difficult at first is that there is no real attempt made to explain how the world works or most of the characters backgrounds, a bit like meeting people in real life, you discover bits and pieces over time that sometimes send you off in the wrong direction for a while but then you are ready for it on the re-read, which in turn reveals another layer of complexity.
    That to me is the genius of the Book of the Fallen, it is a bit like peeling an onion but there are very few instances where characters do not act in a believable manner for their character, that and the fact that core characters can get killed out of hand so there is no James Bond, of course he is going to escape protective influence.


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    #112
    nesf
    Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    Nody wrote: »
    So my first three books arrived yesterday; my question is as someone who's done his fair share of reading how "heavy" is the book to go through (the first reading)? Are there plenty of need to reflect on what's written and absorb (i.e. Dala Lama reflections on Buddhism) or is it more a case of churning through it first and coming back over and over again as you get further along in the series and pick up the new details?

    The first book takes an approach to narrative structure that was very unusual in fantasy at the time. There are no clear protagonists, everyone is potentially important you're not sure, you're thrown in maybe halfway to two thirds of the way into the plot and not brought up to speed really in that book. There isn't a small group of key figures that we can focus on and they don't have a clear objective. This throws a lot of people and a lot of why the series divides people. Outside of his writing, which I think isn't particularly heavy going, it's keeping track of the plots that is perhaps the hard part with the series.


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    #113
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,082 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    I agree, and since you have three and can potentially fly through them you should have no problem. The only thing confusing about this series is taking a break in reading and going back to it.


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    #114
    titan18
    Registered Users Posts: 11,932 ✭✭✭✭titan18


    The first time reading it is so difficult. So different that most books you'd read, and the fact that it just jumps into a war, introduces so much characters and as soon as you start thinking someone is important, the book ends and you dont see him again for like another 5 books.


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    #115
    Zapp Brannigan
    Registered Users Posts: 8,326 ✭✭✭Zapp Brannigan


    Don't expect explanations at the beginning, just absorb the world and accept things as they are. You're basically dumped in to the middle of a story and only later is the beginning explained.

    Some people really hate the first book, but myself I loved every page of it. It was just so different to anything I had read before that. Still my absolute favourite series.


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    #116
    keane2097
    Registered Users Posts: 17,770 ✭✭✭✭keane2097


    Started Book 6 the other day and it might be my favourite so far, so far!

    Brilliant to have so many of the best characters all in one place and the action is fast and furious.


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    #117
    John Mongo
    Registered Users Posts: 232 ✭✭John Mongo


    So I've just finished Toll The Hounds....
    Anomander Rake :(

    Time for Dust of Dreams now... I really don't want this series to end.


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    #118
    Evac101
    Registered Users Posts: 689 ✭✭✭Evac101


    What I love about the writing styles used by Eriksson and Essemont both is their willingness to develop deep, rounded, understandable (if not always sympathetic) characters and then not hesitate to slaughter them if the story requires it. My understanding though is that it's another series whose roots can be traced back to a series of RPG campaigns which they ran during summer archaeological digs in the late 80's and early 90's so their fiction seems to be informed by that 'it might be your favourite character Bob, but that there's a critical hit' sensibility.


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    #119
    keane2097
    Registered Users Posts: 17,770 ✭✭✭✭keane2097


    Finished Bonehunters, was terrific. Immediately started into Reaper's Gale which I'm not actually too optimistic about because
    the last book based in Letheras was my least favourite and we're back there again for this one. Rhulad & his Tiste Edur are a bit weak compared to the other characters in the series as they don't really seem to behave as believably to me. Hopefully they can turn it around in this one. The dramatis personae list at the start is heartening anyway as it looks like Karsa and the 14th will be making appearances which is the main thing!


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    #120
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    Karsa just gets more and more interesting. He ignores the rules of reality so hard they just give up and let him do whatever he wants.


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    #121
    Martonio
    Registered Users Posts: 74 ✭✭Martonio


    This is a great series of books. I am only at House of Chains. Like someone said earlier they are heavy going books but I am looking forward to picking this series up again and finishing it.


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