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I liked Fall of Light, but it did drag in a lot of the Tiste chapters. It is pretty disappointing though that with the way it ended we aren’t getting the final book for a while.
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May 3, 2019 12:01
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dishwasherlove posted:Imagine reading 11 Erikson books and not liking Fall of Light. I don't have to imagine. I remember seeing little bits of world building that I thought were cool, but then it kept dragging on and on and I realized I just didn't care to spend the time to keep reading. It's weird because I read MBOTF at least three times from start to finish and I remember thinking Forge was fine, but Fall of Light... Oof. Maybe one day I'll try to finish it... I still have my plane ticket in it from years ago as my bookmark.
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May 3, 2019 12:50
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Honestly it was only really good the second time through, with context and tempered expectations. I can appreciate that most people won't get that far.
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May 3, 2019 12:59
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It was the best poo poo I have read and I am ultra pumped for the Karsa trilogy because as soon as it ends I'll be one step closer to Walk in Shadow. That's the depth of my enjoyment of Karkhanas trilogy.
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May 3, 2019 14:04
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turboraton posted:Lmao at people not liking Fall of Light. That book was the tits and the ending has to be one of the best things ever written. Same. Easily Erikson's best writing imo, it's a disappointing Malazan book as it doesn't have the crazy action the main series is known for, but it's a really good novel in its own right and a lot of its passages have stuck with me. I can see why fans didn't receive it well but I really liked what Erikson was going for and hope we get the third book someday soon.
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May 3, 2019 15:13
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He did slightly overdo the whole "couples torn apart by war" thing though. Easily a dozen.
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May 3, 2019 15:17
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I enjoyed Fall of Light but mainly for the Azathanai and Jaghut stuff. Elves are the lamest fantasy archetype.
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May 3, 2019 15:17
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Memories of Ice chapters 14-20 The Pannions assault Capustan and all sorts of poo poo goes down. Was it really necessary for Stonny Menackis to get raped in order for Gruntle to switch to cat mode?. Maybe we're just more sensitive about that sort of thing then they were back in the hoary old days of *checks notes* 2005. Surely babies getting eaten would have been a sufficient trigger. The battle itself is ridiculous to the point of absurdity with mountains of corpses and famous last stands while the Tenescowri are cartoonishly evil. The gods become explicitly involved in this story in far more depth then the previous novels. Where they were hinted at and dealt with at a distance before, now they are front and centre. The only real mystery left by the end of the parley towards the end of this section is Kruppe (also what Silverfox wants to do with the T'lan Imass). Is he really just a human or a god? Also I'm beginning to dislike Caladan Brood. He's a giant manbaby. The fan wiki I'm using to keep track of what I've read has some book covers from different editions. I like how trashy these two are:  
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May 5, 2019 03:43
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Don't worry the covers get worse (better)
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May 5, 2019 05:21
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that second cover is badass
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May 5, 2019 05:51
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Fuzzy Mammal posted:Don't worry the covers get worse (better) Unless you have the rereleased covers that were redone to have matching trade dress and general art style! Gardens of the Moon got better, it's the mansion that Crokus raids now, Deadhouse Gates is exactly the same with slightly different layout, memories of ice is boring as hell now that it's not trashy as poo poo
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May 5, 2019 07:35
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that is one hell of a take on Tool.
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May 5, 2019 10:52
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Memories of Ice remains my favorite so far. Itkovian. <3 I'm 95% done with Reaper's Gale! Homestretch, FTW!
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May 5, 2019 16:28
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ok you got me looking for more non-english covers, and welp.
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May 5, 2019 20:45
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1994 Toyota Celica posted:that is one hell of a take on Tool. Also Toc the exceedingly Younger
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May 5, 2019 21:09
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Fuzzy Mammal posted:ok you got me looking for more non-english covers, and welp. He looks like he's got a serious fungal infection And that he's wearing jeans
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May 6, 2019 13:36
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Finally finished Reaper's Gale: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2617570175
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May 6, 2019 14:37
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Don't forget the one where Santa's sleigh comes under attack by pesky gremlins!
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May 6, 2019 16:24
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Mordja posted:Don't forget the one where Santa's sleigh comes under attack by pesky gremlins! This is accurate though
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May 6, 2019 16:30
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Memories of Ice Chapters 21 - 25 + Epilogue This sections starts out slow with a bunch of prairie wandering but comes together nicely to wrap up the story. All the characters had something to do except for the one who turned into a bird and flew away, and the various plot points came together with some surprises. Whiskeyjack getting the chop was a shock though I suspect he may not be gone for good.. It was satisfying to see the bridge burners get their dirty dozen moments.Now I don't have to remember them all. All the gods seem to be arming up with mortal swords for the coming war including a voltron-tiger. This has definitely been the best written book in the series so far, clearly being part of a larger story without the messy structure of the first two. The ascendant characters are a bit annoying as it's very vague as to what they can or cannot do. I didn't like that Dujek and Whiskeyjack weren't really outlawed. That deflated some of the narrative tension in the series I feel. Also, what happened to Paran's otataral sword from the first book? I was going to tease the next book House of Chains with some trashy cover art but everything I've found just has dogs on it.
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May 10, 2019 11:17
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I finally finished Fall of Light. It's probably the first Erikson book that's benefited - rather than been harmed - from me reading it on my commute. ('Where was I? Oh yes, boring soliloquy; moving on...') Still, the second half of the book was an improvement and by the time the finale rolled around I was genuinely excited about what would happen and... not entirely disappointed. Mother Dark did nothing wrong. Except in not exterminating every last Tiste
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May 10, 2019 17:30
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:Also, what happened to Paran's otataral sword from the first book? It wasn't Paran's, it was Adjunct Lorn's sword. It'll be back.
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May 11, 2019 10:33
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But Paran took it after he gave his other sword to Shadowthrone.
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May 12, 2019 00:20
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iirc erickson simply forgot about it in the decade+ between writing GotM and writing MoI, until a fan brought it up after the book was published. it's accounted for in the next book after MoI that features Paran heavily, The Bonehunters.
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May 12, 2019 12:49
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House of Chains Prologue + Chapters 1-4 After the usual cryptic prologue Erikson takes a step away from his usual writing style of jumping from one group to the next and focuses entirely one one character. This section felt like Eriksons best writing so far although the character he chose to focus on is a bit of a dick. Having your character show their side of the story from previous books is neat, however In Deadhouse Gates, the Tiste Edur captain on the derelict ship is described as being impaled with a giant T'lan Imass style harpoon. In HoC Karsa stabs the captain with a random harpoon that was on the ship, not one he brought with him. I guess unintentional retcons are the risk you run when you use this narrative technique. We also get to see out first live Forkrul Assail who is also a bit of a dick.
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May 13, 2019 10:00
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:We also get to see out first live Forkrul Assail who is also a bit of a dick. 
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May 13, 2019 21:13
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The best part of the Forkrul Assail is coming to the conclusion that the Imass genocided the wrong elder race
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May 13, 2019 21:58
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Mr Hootington posted:The best part of the Forkrul Assail is coming to the conclusion that the Imass genocided the wrong elder race Second best part is Silchas' take on them: Very difficult to kill. And it must be said, they needed to be killed. Or so was the conclusion after any meeting with them
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May 13, 2019 22:09
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Mr Hootington posted:The best part of the Forkrul Assail is coming to the conclusion that the Imass genocided the wrong elder race I'm partial to Hood's opinion. "Never much liked them" indeed.
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May 13, 2019 22:18
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"I have had enough of your justice," is definitely my favorite line in the series
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May 13, 2019 22:30
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I don't remember the ones in Assail being that bad, compared the ones we meet beforehand.
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May 13, 2019 23:09
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cptn_dr posted:I'm partial to Hood's opinion. "Never much liked them" indeed. This is probably one of the bits that had me laughing the hardest just from the sheer absurdity of it. 1994 Toyota Celica posted:"I have had enough of your justice," is definitely my favorite line in the series And I also completely agree with this. That guy is the bomb
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May 14, 2019 15:09
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I'm finally reading Kellanved's Reach. It's pretty much everyone's origin story and so far I like it.
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May 15, 2019 00:11
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1994 Toyota Celica posted:"I have had enough of your justice," is definitely my favorite line in the series Seconded. Nothing like a Jhagut going full orc and ripping someone's face off with his tusks.
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May 16, 2019 05:34
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House of Chains Chapters 5-12 Erikson has structured all his books so far in a fairly consistent pattern. First you get a cryptic prologue, then he spends some chapters introducing all the characters and their position, then a bunch of stuff happens but it's not clear what it all means, then the action rises to a climax for a while and then things calm down and he sets up a bunch of cryptic stuff for coming novels. These chapters fall into the "a bunch of stuff happens" section. It's clear important stuff is happening; new types of elves show up, there's some battles, gods do some stuff and people wander around deserts and prairies; but it's not clear what any of it means. Erikson is leaning heavily into his habit of Orientalising the Seven Cities inhabitants, right down to depicting female genital mutilation. It also ages the book directly into the post 9-11 era when a bunch of authors lost their poo poo. What are all these spooky jade statues about? I thought maybe the crippled god was trapped in the otataral. But are the statues on his side or not? I guess we'll find out. I'm still not convinced the Crippled God is the bad guy of the saga. Or at least if he is, the various ascendants deserve all the poo poo coming their way.
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May 16, 2019 10:24
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:Erikson is leaning heavily into his habit of Orientalising the Seven Cities inhabitants, right down to depicting female genital mutilation. It also ages the book directly into the post 9-11 era when a bunch of authors lost their poo poo. I don't disagree that there's some otherizing going on but I read that section specifically as a religious figure using his power to abuse children. FWIW, the author is pretty liberal compared to other fantasy authors(faint praise I know) and specifically says that he wanted to show how basically all cultures can be cruel and terrible and that the Karsa storyline is specficially refuting noble savage mythology. quote:What are all these spooky jade statues about? I thought maybe the crippled god was trapped in the otataral. But are the statues on his side or not? I guess we'll find out. I'm still not convinced the Crippled God is the bad guy of the saga. Or at least if he is, the various ascendants deserve all the poo poo coming their way. It's never directly explained. And yeah ascendants/gods being petty dillholes is a major theme.
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May 16, 2019 19:58
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:Erikson is leaning heavily into his habit of Orientalising the Seven Cities inhabitants, right down to depicting female genital mutilation. It also ages the book directly into the post 9-11 era when a bunch of authors lost their poo poo.
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May 16, 2019 21:30
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Yeah, for example the battle-axe culture (or the corded-ware culture if you want potsherds first descriptions) is a nice real life example of primitives engaging in genocide at a level far surpassing anything seen since history started getting recorded. If there's one thing an anthropologist is going to know, it's that every culture ever has been awful at least sometimes.
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May 17, 2019 03:07
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House of Chains Chapters 13 - 26 Wow, well that became a massive clusterfuck of moving pieces and competing interests by the end. Erikson still managed to bring all the characters together and tied together disparate plot points into the conclusion even if some characters end up sleeping through it looking at you Crokus/Cutter. This has been my favourite book in the series so far and I have enjoyed the Seven Cities setting more then Genabakis. It feels more coherent and thought out then Genabakis and we get to see more of the layers of history and culture behind it. The next book is set on a whole new continent so we'll see how that goes. Notable moments for me were Tavore's confrontation with Sha'ik, Karsa Orlong killing all the things, the undead beast-demon that didn't do anything this book and Heboric becoming a cat-man. Also, is Iskaral Pust a secret Bok'haral soletaken?. Here's some random fan art from the wiki I mentioned up thread: https://malazan.fandom.com/wiki/File:Anomander.jpg 
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May 24, 2019 10:26
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this is the only fan art u need 
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May 24, 2019 11:24
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