I apologize but if it is different in your perspective then you're simply wrong.

From the moment I met him in the book, the maestro from TotK has been the visual basis for Kruppe in my head 😂

I just finished reading this chapter. For reminder, it's the chapter in which, at the end of it, Itkovian embraces the soul of rath fender, and all the pain, the suffering and the meaninglessness of it all, of the massacre, of all the single lives sacrificed, of the joke that are the seemingly oh so powerful gods.

I'm devastated. If Malazan would have stopped there, I could be satisfied. It reminds me a lot of the last ending of Nier : Automata in the way it is a radical and devastating call to empathy (for those who have played it).

This book speaks so deeply for me, especially in the times we're living. Burn's poisoning (as we're doing to Earth and all of its living), the massacre of capustan (there is a genocide happening in front of our eyes and we stand powerless), the dehumanised pannions, devouring their own kind (the genocides, but even the homeless), the manipulation by otherworldly forces (some humans are that rich they merely own what we think by corrupting everyone through media and other).

And that scene.... Destroyed me. I've been shaken all through the books to emotionally feel so hard. I've been reading that moment through tears.

(Since I'm a shrink, I think I might be very sensible to those kind of things)

Be nice to each other, be radically empathetic, don't destroy the Earth or anyone. Stand for the right thing and act.

I wanted to share and talk of that with you all, that radical call to empathy.

I'll be pleased to read your thoughts. Thank you for your attention.

Just got a coworker to start GotM. He’s 2 chapters in and loves it. Excited to have someone to chat Malazan with at work.

Just noticed how many times malazan does this one specific thing better than so many other fantasy books: malazan doesn’t often feature anonymous red shirt guards/soldiers who pointlessly die 20 seconds after being introduced (if they even get introduced at all) to boss level enemies that a named character subsequently deals with

no, no. malazan actually bothers to introduce people, given them a back story, make each character in some way unique, and give you something to care about them

obviously lots of characters end, but at least when they do end, they had some screen time

obviously there are the occasionally exceptions **glares at ICE especially for OST** where countless red shirts from malaz and moranth die to seguleh who subsequently die to cussors

After reading this series for two years, I finally finished Malazan Book of the Fallen last night.

It wasn't always easy (in fact, it rarely was), but it was absolutely the most rewarding reading experience of my life. I had to take breaks every now and again to read something lighter, sometimes in the middle of a book. There were times when I wanted to give up. Never out of boredom, but out of a sense of feeling like I wasn't giving enough of myself to these books. That sounds kind of strange, I know. After all, this is supposed to be enjoyable, right? It's not supposed to feel like work. But these books demand your full attention and more. I looked at maps. I constantly went to the Malazan Wiki. Was I understanding this right? Did I miss something? Who is this person again? What are they doing? Where are they going? What are their intentions? Erkison doesn't always provide these answers for you, at least not in the beginning. I always heard from people that these books are an exercise in "trusting the process." Well, I found that out in the most enjoyable way.

Anyways, just wanted to thank everyone here for their posts, their questions, their answers, their explanations. I'd definitely like to re-read the series again at some point, but right now I need to step away from it and digest it for awhile. I have a feeling that any series I read from now on, I'll be thinking "Well...it's no Malazan."

Onwards and upwards!

Just wanted to rant about my GOTM, DG, MOI books from Tor. They suck. There are an insane amount of printing errors on the books. Ink printing across each page. It’s sad that the quality of everything in life has been reduced.

On a better note, I’m really enjoying my reread of Malazan (hence why I rebought the books).

I am absolutely in love with this book. The emotion, the philosophy, the action, the thrill.. Gardens of the moon wasn't even 10% of the feel Deadhouse Gates gave me.

I literally felt a knot in my stomach when List talked about T'laan Imaas pinning Jaghut babies under Stones while they were still alive

The other scene during Vathar Crossing, where duiker describes an arrow piercing through the child and hitting the mother, killing them both. I couldn't help but flinch. The scene for some reason was way too vivid in my imagination

The character depth of Duiker and Mappo. I feel like I have emotionally connected with these 2.

Curious to know what scenes / characters others connected with while reading DG?

PS Captian / Sergent Mincer ... Love that Guy already

It's been a minute since my read through, but I started this while still reading so hopefully some of the details match.

So, im starting the climax right now and Envy and Spite have just started fighting. And the assassins guild have stormed the estate. But this whole time I thought torvald nom amd scorch and leff and the 2 segulah are guarding Envy's estate. But no its Vorcan?? Did Envy get to the city and just abandon the Segulah? Did they have to seek gainful employment?

Are the estates right next to each other?

Im confused

Edit: NOO I got the phrase wrong. Just checked and the wax witch says “prod and pull” not “push and pull.”

While reading GotM, it became clear that the phrase “push and pull” is a very important theme or maybe even THE important theme in this series. I clocked it pretty early when it was the first and last thing (through Sorry) said by the wax witch in chapter 1. The phrase then appears occasionally through the rest of the book, usually regarding Oponn, Crokus, and Paran.
My question is:
Minor spoilers for prologue of DG. I noticed the phrase was used in the prologue of Deadhouse Gates in a manner that wasn’t even seemingly related to the gods. I’ll explain the context if asked. Should I be focusing on whenever either of these words shows up? Does it usually imply that a god’s influence is in effect?

Side note:

I’ve literally only read the prologue of DG, so it felt weird to mark this post as spoilers for DG, I’ll change it or throw spoilers on the DG part if that is the proper etiquette.
I also love that the gods are seemingly mortal; immortal gods can get so boring.

Man oh man I’m on page 820 of my edition of MoI
How can it be this good
The way some threads becomes clearer, the prologues well explained at the point where I’m at, revelation about characters, that mf poisoning every Warren and the tenescowris ( they almost made me threw up my guys)
Man oh man this book is packed with action and the rythm is near perfect and then where the siege happens it was perfect, i think this will go down for me as the best fantasy book I’ve ever read, i didn’t had chills like this since lord of the rings
And I’ve read my fair share of hobb, Martin, Sanderson and others but this one
Perfect that’s all I’m gonna say

Finished Return of the Crimson Guard after about a year of reading it on and off. It’s an incredibly dense book. I found the first half rather slow and, at times, somewhat boring, but it picks up considerably in the second half. Honestly, I think this could have been a great book with another round—or several rounds—of editing.

One of the things I liked most was how much the book builds on the conflicts and political situations established throughout the main series. The fragility and resilience of the Malazan Empire are constantly on display, and I found myself simultaneously cheering for its destruction and hoping it would somehow survive. That was probably one of the book’s biggest strengths for me.

We also get what almost feel like fan-service appearances from characters such as Kallor, Shadowthrone, Cotillion, Osserc, and Edgewalker. I say “fan-service” because, from my perspective, we get little to no justification for why some of these characters are even here. They show up, do something significant or mysterious, and then leave the story almost as quickly as they arrived lol. Obviously, that’s just my impression, and I’m fully aware that there may be larger implications behind these appearances that I either missed or simply haven’t reached yet.

I also wasn’t particularly happy with the number of setups that seemed to have either unsatisfying or nonexistent payoffs. Ullen, Ghelel, Ho, Traveller, Ereko, and especially Topper come to mind. I know there are still several books left in the series, so some of these threads may eventually lead somewhere, but even knowing that, it was still disappointing to invest in certain characters and storylines only for them to seemingly disappear.

Another thing that bothered me was the introduction of new lore that, rather than clarifying previously established concepts, sometimes made them more confusing without any immediately apparent reason. The two biggest examples for me were K’azz and Ryllandaras.

K’azz being missing this entire time feels like something that comes almost completely out of nowhere. And Ryllandaras is just... weird. Is this actually the same Ryllandaras we met before? A clone? Some other version of him? Why is he so different? There’s that line about him being both Soletaken and D’ivers, with the man-jackal perhaps being his “last one,” but I honestly wasn’t sure what to make of any of it. Maybe this will all be explained later in the series, but within this book itself, it just felt oddly presented.

For me, though, one of the biggest highlights of the book was Laseen.

I finished The Bonehunters feeling rather let down by the Empress. She had been presented for so long as this almost omnipresent figure: competent, cunning, ruthless, and unquestionably worthy of her position. Yet when we finally get to see her in person after all that has happened, we are faced with the news that she has allowed the Empire to be pulled right out from under her. She has lost control and is essentially begging for a way out of a mess of her own making.

At the time, I found this incredibly disappointing, even though I know that Laseen is no stranger to failure. She botched her attempt to deal with the Bridgeburners. She failed to prevent the Seven Cities uprising. And, as we now know, she failed to get rid of Dancer and Kellanved, Dassem, the Sword, Urko, Cartheron, Toc the Elder, and so on. But watching her essentially hand the Empire over to fucking Mallick and Korbolo? What the hell are you doing at this point?

Then we get to Return of the Crimson Guard, and suddenly we get to see why she is the Empress.

I absolutely loved how this book reframes her. She has an astonishing grasp of everything happening around her, accounting for what feels like an absurd number of possible outcomes while simultaneously fighting a rebellion coming at her from practically every direction. By all appearances, she should be completely overwhelmed. Yet she remains. And once she has finished putting all her pieces on the board? she doesn’t just sit back and watch events unfold. She puts on her Batman persona and goes around personally delivering belt-to-ass to whoever happens to need it, bare-handed.

This book took me from thinking that Laseen really is a fraud to finally understanding why she has held her title for so long.

And my reward for having newfound faith in her?

A shank in the back from some rando we’ll probably learn more about in the next few books.

Talk about hubris.

Overall, I’m glad I finally finished Return of the Crimson Guard. It definitely had its moments, and the second half in particular made the long journey worthwhile, but I can’t say I loved the book as a whole. It’s dense, occasionally frustrating, and has a lot of material that feels like it needed another pass. Still, I really appreciated how deeply it engages with the political and historical mess created by the main series.

For now, I think I’m jumping straight back into the main series. I probably won’t return to the novellas until I’ve finished the main ten books.

Having read all of NotME and currently reading PtA, I see Esslemont’s characters mention Osserc a lot, mainly in a positive or reverent way.

Given that across all his appearances, in both Erikson’s and Esslemont’t works, he is a complete, bumbling idiot, I find that very odd. And it was particularly odd when non-mortal characters do so, as they should be well aware how he is (again, a straight up bum).

Was this ever given any significance by the authors?

Or is it just a simple SE characters swear by X, ICE characters swear by Y type of choice?

(While I cede I am an Osserc hater, I do find the difference in frequency at which the character is mentioned between the authors genuinely interesting!)

Memories of Ice has been a strange experience for me on re-read. After reading books 1-6 maybe 10 years ago before putting the series aside, I've decided to give the whole 10-book cycle another go. It feels pretty fresh, as I don't remember much except 1) I loved Deadhouse Gates and 2) Memories of Ice was pretty grim and depressing, but I enjoyed it.

A problem I'm having though as I push to the end of MoI is the pacing after the siege of Capustan. There's only a single event that feels important in the 300ish pages I've read since the relief of the city, and that's Silverfox's denial of the release of the T'Lan Imass at the Second Gathering. Otherwise, the plot in this section of the book feels like it is many little scenes with the Bridgeburners, Kruppe's tittering comedic relief, and some pretty incomprehensible dream sequences with the Myhbe. After whole chapters dedicated to Lady Envy and the Seguleh, they get relegated to a scant few POV segments. Quick Ben has some scenes here and there that entertain but feel mostly inconsequential (the interaction with the necromancers, for instance). Itkovian was building toward something bigger, I thought, but he also largely disappears from the story once the armies start marching toward the book's final conflict.

And yet, even as it all feels pretty meandering, there is still so much plot to deal with that I'm losing track of some major story arcs. Exhibit A here is Paran. I find his story to be a slog to follow. What is he doing? Like, on a literal level. I don't know when, but I guess I missed something that said he can travel into Dragnipur at will? He confers with Draconus about shattering the sword and releasing the souls contained within? Why? Something about how that would oppose chaos, return the holds to their migration (what?), something something Azath House.

I get it. Erikson weaves a lot of disparate threads that, as I understand from following along with some discussions in this community, end up coming together in interesting/surprising ways, but I'm definitely feeling some fatigue as I near the end of this one. I think I'll go for a palate cleanser and read something else before I push on to House of Chains.

Its been a ride, can’t wait to see how it all gets wrapped up!

I'm marking this as DoD spoiler because is the first time (I think) that the ruined city is explored. I find the resemblance very interesting, as both are mythical cities in another realm, alongside a lake/river (shore), that were abandoned, and (until this point) are only described by the memories of past residents. Also, the likeness of the names always alludes me to it, but I couldn't find any confirmation. So, what do you think, is Rake our king in yellow the dark?

I just finished the first book of the malazan series and wanted to rant a little bit (and kind of journey my way through this series)

This is technically my first fantasy book(I read red rising quite a while ago but its sci-fi) so i dont have a baseline about fantasy books, I’ve mostly read webnovels and other things but although i’ve heard thats its a complicated series and shouldnt be your first read I loved this first book.

Although the start is extremely confusing and the first 13 chapters or so were kind of hard to get through i read them in about a week then from chapter 15 on it was extremely fun to read! The final fights and how i was seeing both the povs of the Darujhistan people and the people of the Malazan empire was incredible and I just couldnt pick who to root for

Im tempted to binge the whole series but i’ve also been looking at Mistborn cause I heard its an easy to read series, I would love to know if its a good idea to read this in between malazan books to not fry my brain completely trying to remember every single character.

But overall i’d give this book a 4 stars and not 5 because the start is extremely hard to understand although its fun but once i understood what was going on I loved it. If i was to rank from chapter 15 to 24 it’d be a 5/5.

(Also if there’s spelling mistakes sorry english isnt my native language)

Just finished reading TCG and plan to start GOTM tomorrow for a reread, which got me wondering about what characters and plotlines will leave a better impression the second time around.

If you'll be so kind as to share with me yours, I'll be sure to keep a close eye on them, so maybe they become new favorites.

I just finished painting Tattersail, and I have to be honest, I liked the line art version better. With this one done, I plan to continue with Fiddler next. I hope you guys like it, and if anyone wants to see the progress, here's the link: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vbNlnY

In Chapter Ten of RG, Varat Taun thinks back to when the fight at the First Throne ended. He remembers "a child, a strange thing, more imp than human" neutralizing Icarium. The only character who was present and fits that description is Panek.

But from Taun's own PoV during that part in BH we know that it was the Eres'al who pacified Icarium. Taun sees her, in detail, and he also sees her fade away again. There is no mention of her working through or possessing Panek.

Which leads me to my title question. Is this how we learn that the Eres'al used Panek and no one noticed at the time? Is it Taun misremembering due to trauma and the comatose state he was in for a long time? Or is it an error by Erikson?

I just finished reading everything that Erikson currently has out for the Malazan books and just started Esslemont. It has been a fantastic journey so far but I’m definitely looking forward to getting some of the side story now. I found Tales of witness great towards their ends but found myself having to power through most of the body of both books and I’m not exactly sure why. I’m thinking Night of Knives will be a bit of a breath of fresh air.

Would love to hear some of your positives about Esslemont’s works and if you think there is something for me to look forward to in his 2 series.
I don’t mind spoilers, they give me something to drive for.

My original post was deleted so i try again. ...

Just finished BH,​ a​nd while a lot was cleare​​d, i still didnt really get why trull was shorned. Did i miss something? I mean its obvious that he is against rulad and everything but shouldnt there be a specific event that lead to the shorning? Or will that be explained later on?​ i​​f​ so please just say so, no spoilers :)

Thanks​