this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
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I am rereading Malazan Book of the Fallen. Just started the fourth book, House of Chains.
The start of this book is the hardest for me to get through. The first couple of chapters are really boring to me and it's only after
spoiler
Karsa is captured and Torvald Nom is introducedEdit: damn, is there no other spoiler option that just greys out the words?
I'm curious what you think about the series so far. I love fantasy, and after everyone told me Malazan was the PhD test for fantasy readers I read the whole thing and was... Underwhelmed. I can't find anyone else who just wasn't impressed with it, people either hate it and never finished or treat it like it's the greatest work of fiction a fantasy author has ever produced. I have so many thoughts on it, but always get yelled down by either camp.
It's my favorite series. Has been since the first time I read Gardens of the Moon. Abercrombie's First Law a close second though.
It's hard to explain why I love it. From the first chapter it pulled me in and doesn't let me go until I'm done (excepting the first few chapters of House of Chains ;)). The scope of the story is one thing. How events hundreds of thousands of years ago shape the events in the books, the chronological jumps, how seemingly unrelated incidents suddenly become entwined. Erikson is a master at making every puzzle piece fall into place; even if you're confused about something as you read it, a few chapters or a book later it will make sense. The little throwbacks to events in previous books, etc. Besides that, his worldbuilding is phenomenal and his characters are unforgettable.
You are not alone. I've had the same experience and I'm wondering what the big deal is. The books are really good, obviously, and a master class in world-building, but I find a lot of the deus ex plot elements disappointing.
I'm only on Memories of Ice, though, so what do I know?
Which deus ex plot elements are you talking about, specifically? I know some of the events in the books can be confusing, but most of it falls into place eventually.
Spoilers ahead.
First one off the top of my head that stands out is the
spoiler
House of Azath taking out the Jaghut tyrant in Gardens of the Moon. All this buildup to the tyrant's awakening, he rampages through the countryside on his way to Darujhistan, mixes it up with Tool and Rake, but ultimately it's a magic tree house that got no real build-up or proper lore treatment in advance that takes him out.Fits beautifully with all his lore, but the timing and use of it in this particular book felt like a deus ex machina to me.
I totally understand what you mean. Everything, and I mean everything, ties back to earlier books. I don't even feel like there were plot threads that got left behind or forgotten, there were just so many moments that were built up across multiple books that were ended in a fashion that left me thinking "That's it? I read about this person/thing for hundreds of pages and this is the conclusion?"
It was impressive how Erikson created such a big world with so much history, but then it feels like he didn't do anything with it. I get the impression that he was so fixated on "not doing the normal fantasy stuff" that he forgot to make the books exciting. They were without a doubt impressive, but just not... Very interesting to read outside of an intellectual challenge.
Again, I finished the whole thing and just thought "that was pretty good I guess", which is not at all what I've heard from anyone else. Very ambitious and well done but I'm not sure I would ever recommend it to anyone.