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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:House of Chains Chapters 13 - 26 HoC is when Malazan really hits its stride for me. It feels much less haphazard than the first three books, and following characters in opposing camps makes the cavalcade of schemes much more compelling. I was never a fan of all the "everybody knows things, nobody is saying what those things are" from GotM/MoI. Highlight for me is Fist Gamet's rise and fall. I'm convinced that the ghost soldier who takes him away is Duikers nameless marine. It also has one of the most touching scenes in the series - Fiddler meeting the Wickan kid after learning about Whiskeyjack. I really love how he instantly drops the pretense and gives his real name.
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May 24, 2019 11:47
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I was contemplating putting the series down after being disappointed with MoI but HoC fully reinvigorated me, which was great because I then got to read MT aka the best Malazan. It’s odd thinking back on MoI because I remember a lot of good things. I just really groaned hard at Itkovian at the end, I think.
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May 27, 2019 13:20
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:House of Chains Chapters 13 - 26 Pust is just Pust. Do not read maybe but, he is a slightly mad, incredibly powerful high mage and God to the bok'haral
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May 27, 2019 19:33
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Midnight Tides Prologue and chapters 1 - 11 So I lost track and ended up reading half the book. This time where on a different continent and the Thatcherite Kingdom is facing down the United Jerk Tribes. I take it this book is all Trull Sengar's recollection of what happened before he got shorn. Erikson is putting his day job as an archaeologist and anthropologist to work in constructing the highly structured Tiste Edur tribal society. Meanwhile Letheras feels like Ankh-Morpork's dodgy sister city. This entire first half of the book is all drama and set up for the Crippled God to get his mortal sword into play. Tehol's plot line seems the most interesting so far as financial shenanigans are quite a departure from the armies and wizards that have dominated the series so far. I'm still not entirely sold on adding a whole new continent to the series and Erikson's use of exteme time scales are starting to niggle. Granted he needs tens and hundreds of thousands of years to allow for glacial cycles and hominid speciation. But the idea that the Letherii would have any cultural memory or artefacts of the First Empire remaining on those time scales seems far fetched.
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May 28, 2019 10:30
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:Midnight Tides Prologue and chapters 1 - 11 Well, glacial cycles is a non-issue if you have Jaghut around.
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May 28, 2019 11:03
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Lether's the 19th century US with Hold magic instead of firearms Midnight Tides is probably my favorite book in the series
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May 28, 2019 13:39
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1994 Toyota Celica posted:Midnight Tides is probably my favorite book in the series
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May 28, 2019 14:28
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The comedy in Letheras in that book is the point where the series really elevated in my mind. The audacity to switch up styles like that and actually pull it off is amazing. This is also why I like Toll the Honda.
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May 28, 2019 14:35
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snoremac posted:The comedy in Letheras in that book is the point where the series really elevated in my mind. The audacity to switch up styles like that and actually pull it off is amazing. This is also why I like Toll the Honda. Hanan Mosag is the funniest dude in the book, and I won't hear otherwise.
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May 28, 2019 15:49
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snoremac posted:The comedy in Letheras in that book is the point where the series really elevated in my mind. The audacity to switch up styles like that and actually pull it off is amazing. This is also why I like Toll the Honda. I wasn't sure about Toll the Honda. I appreciate the subversion of expectations but having Paran save the day by driving a Civic Type R out of the Ricer Warren and flattening Kallor seemed to come out of nowhere a bit.
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May 28, 2019 19:09
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:I wasn't sure about Toll the Honda. I appreciate the subversion of expectations but having Paran save the day by driving a Civic Type R out of the Ricer Warren and flattening Kallor seemed to come out of nowhere a bit. 
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May 28, 2019 22:39
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I never bothered to read Cracked Pot Trail before and boy what was I thinking. I think all the negative reviews from people who were expecting the necromancers turned me off, but what fools those people are. I wish Erickson would write more one off stories like this.
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May 29, 2019 00:35
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:This entire first half of the book is all drama and set up for the Crippled God to get his mortal sword into play. Tehol's plot line seems the most interesting so far as financial shenanigans are quite a departure from the armies and wizards that have dominated the series so far. I'm still not entirely sold on adding a whole new continent to the series and Erikson's use of exteme time scales are starting to niggle. Granted he needs tens and hundreds of thousands of years to allow for glacial cycles and hominid speciation. But the idea that the Letherii would have any cultural memory or artefacts of the First Empire remaining on those time scales seems far fetched.
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May 29, 2019 01:05
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the Letherii understanding of their own history has a few issues in itself
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May 29, 2019 02:30
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1994 Toyota Celica posted:the Letherii understanding of their own history has a few issues in itself And the Tiste are far far worse.
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May 29, 2019 02:47
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Hand Row posted:I never bothered to read Cracked Pot Trail before and boy what was I thinking. I think all the negative reviews from people who were expecting the necromancers turned me off, but what fools those people are. I wish Erickson would write more one off stories like this. The characters turn up in the next book too and they rule.
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May 29, 2019 03:25
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Crack'd Pot Trail is the single best piece of Malazan fiction.
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May 29, 2019 18:58
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Midnight Tides Chapters 12 - 25 The second half of this book felt like all the characters were just being dragged along with Rhulad to inevitable fall of Lether. Some characters manage to pull of some reversals towards the end but overall the Crippled God got everything he wanted. Most of the plot lines wrapped up nicely except for Hull Bennict's which was a bit meh and it still wasn't revealed how Trull ended up being shorn and left in the shadow warren. So I guess the Emperor is going to set up a Mortal Kombat tournament to fight all the best warriors in the world? Or maybe just bait everyone into invading Lether. I guess Iron Bars is from the side series written by a different author. Is that any good?
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Jun 1, 2019 04:29
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Iron Bars and the Crimson Guard is just a giant disappointment. ICE's non-prequel books have their moments and aren't that bad as a whole but don't read them if it's just for more of the Crimson Guard stuff.
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Jun 1, 2019 04:40
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Midnight Tides is my second favorite, but it's closely behind Memories of Ice. Reaper's Gale would answer some of your questions once you get there. I'm on Toll the Hounds now. 6% in, but I've been a bit, well, either busy with other things or just unable to do much at all. 
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Jun 1, 2019 05:49
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:Midnight Tides Chapters 12 - 25 I'm really digging your reread. You're just plowing through this poo poo. It took me a good full year to read the whole series and I thought I was going quickly.
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Jun 1, 2019 06:46
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I only watch netflix when there's something I want to binge and I'm often too tired after work to play games or socialise so I end up reading most nights.
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Jun 1, 2019 08:11
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I've said it before in this thread but honestly plowing through the series and then rereading it leisurely is the best way, imo, but I also realize this isn't exactly an endorsement of it
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Jun 1, 2019 10:21
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Any idea of me rereading the series stalls when I realise I’ll have to read Gardens of the Moon again. I mean, it’s not a bad book, but the only real standout thing is Kruppe.
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Jun 1, 2019 14:15
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i mostly get my Erickson through audiobooks and even then I skip Gardens of the Moon whenever I go back through it all
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Jun 1, 2019 15:54
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I like GotM because I love finding the little weird different things that didn't make it to the rest of the series
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Jun 1, 2019 17:18
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dwarf74 posted:I like GotM because I love finding the little weird different things that didn't make it to the rest of the series
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Jun 1, 2019 19:04
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The fete is pretty drat cool though. Especially the not very subtle assassination.
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Jun 1, 2019 19:23
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I figured Rallick Nom was gonna be a bigger character in the series. Paran too.
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Jun 1, 2019 19:53
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Oh man...the last parts of Gardens of the Moon is an example of the massive build up before the "explosion" Malazan has so much of. Memories of Ice had two. Eheh.
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Jun 2, 2019 03:17
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The Bonehunters - Prologue and Chapters 1 - 6 We're back in Seven Cities which has been my favourite setting in the series so far and all my favourite characters are back minus Whiskeyjack 'cause he's dead. It looks like the House of Chains is finally making a move, but so are the techno-Dino's and both Karsa Orlong and Icarium are in the mix with the potential to become one-man armies each. Also a new super-d'ivers. It's still not clear why soletaken and d'ivers are so powerful other then the dragon types. All they can do is turn into animals after all. Chapter 7 This is one hell of a chapter and by far the most compelling piece of writing from Erikson so far in the series. Sieges always end up being big dramatic event in this series and Y'Ghatan is no exception. The desperate assault on the city followed by the claustrophobic journey through the underground ruins kept me up until 2 in the morning because I wanted to finish the chapter.
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Jun 4, 2019 09:55
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:Chapter 7
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Jun 4, 2019 13:55
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all hail Corabb Bhilan Thenu'alas, chosen of Opon
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Jun 5, 2019 01:11
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I like GotM because masquerade climaxes are cool, and so is Darujhistan.
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Jun 6, 2019 06:56
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Cardiac posted:Well, KR kinda retcons that. basic theory on the Aren massacare: KR reveal You have to be worthy of the Throne of the Imass, and its not a true command and they follow type of Throne. As we recall, Kellenved uses that tactic in Li Heng which had a Jaghut freeze the river in during the invasion. So Aren probably had some Jaghut influencing the city in the background, and a bunch of civilians got killed as they went to war with the Jaghut in Aren.
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Jun 6, 2019 15:41
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CoolHandMat posted:basic theory on the Aren massacare: KR reveal You have to be worthy of the Throne of the Imass, and its not a true command and they follow type of Throne. As we recall, Kellenved uses that tactic in Li Heng which had a Jaghut freeze the river in during the invasion. So Aren probably had some Jaghut influencing the city in the background, and a bunch of civilians got killed as they went to war with the Jaghut in Aren. I'd kinda forgotten about that Jaghut and assumed that the T'lan just found that old cave Gothos had been hanging out in nearby My other theory about Aren is that it was just a different T'lan Imass clan. The Logros were the only ones loyal to the Throne (for a given value of loyal, anyway), and it's not impossible that some of the more genocidal types wandered past and fancied a fight.
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Jun 6, 2019 17:54
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User posted:I like GotM because masquerade climaxes are cool, and so is Darujhistan. I just finished GotM after several attempts and restarts. I'm haven't done much reading in a very long time, and it's something I want to get back into, and somehow dove straight into this series. My point is the climax was loving awesome and well worth the read to get to that point alone. I dove into the second book and was very concerned at first when there was all these new names and a bunch more confusing words I've never seen before and don't entirely understand, but then my homeboys (and girl) showed back up pretty quickly so I think everything will be fine.
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Jun 7, 2019 15:58
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siggy2021 posted:I dove into the second book and was very concerned at first when there was all these new names and a bunch more confusing words I've never seen before and don't entirely understand, but then my homeboys (and girl) showed back up pretty quickly so I think everything will be fine. Welcome to Malazan. Get used to this feeling, it only grows with each book. Until your homeboys don't show up for an entire book and you make new ones instead. Or specifically, one large new Teblor homeboy. 
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Jun 7, 2019 16:06
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siggy2021 posted:I just finished GotM after several attempts and restarts. I'm haven't done much reading in a very long time, and it's something I want to get back into, and somehow dove straight into this series. My point is the climax was loving awesome and well worth the read to get to that point alone. Please keep posting and let us know what you think! We try to be pretty good about spoilers in here. Gardens took me three tries too, the only reason I ever returned to it the third time is because I'm stubborn about finishing books I've bought and wanted to at least give the first book in a ten book series a shot. The first half of Gardens is still very rough but once I got past it I was hooked.
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Jun 7, 2019 16:12
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Also I picked up Kellanved's Reach and finished it today. It didn't have the same high points as Deadhouse Landing but brought enough fan servicey tidbits to make up for it, and a lot of setup for what I'd imagine will be another trilogy. I'm not one to worry about retcons too much, for me it was just fun to see the early adventures of Kellanved and Dancer get fleshed out. This one also felt a lot more like reading someone's roleplaying campaign than most of the other books do, but mostly for better than worse. I could tell from ICE's writing that he and Erikson had a blast navigating these characters and romping around the setting doing whatever they feel like.
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Jun 7, 2019 16:36
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