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kingturnip posted:Okay, I've made my way through Forge of the High Mage this week and I enjoyed it. It's definitely one of Esselmont's best books. What's the deal with this books release? I just finished the 3rd book and saw the release date for the fourth is in January? Looking on Amazon it looks like the ebook and hardcover are january but a 3rd party seller is selling paperbacks now? I prefer ebooks is there an available one somewhere? Is this early paperback legit? I assume so since you read it somehow? Edit: Nevermind I figured it out and was able to change my kindle region to UK and buy it. Super excited I really am enjoying this series even though I heard bad things about Esselmont. Question: I read the Malazan books 1-9 twice years ago but forgot a lot. I do plan on another reread so I can finish the series with #10 now that it is out, but are any of the other books prequels and recommended?I see so many non-main series books it is confusing what is what. D-Pad fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Aug 25, 2023 |
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Aug 25, 2023 18:16
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Generally I wouldn't sweat it much either way. If it were your first time I'd say stick to the main 10 in published order but since you're rereading try inserting in the Esslemont books in storyline order starting I think between Midnight Tides and Bonehunters. I'm sure there is a wiki with the exact order of insertions into the main series. I like Esslemont OK but I wouldn't recommend reading all his stuff back to back and this lets you swap back and forth kind of. As for the karkhanas and witness books I'd save them for after as well. Erikson's novellas are a fun break and pretty different from the main series and have no story impact so give them a shot whenever you like.
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Aug 25, 2023 19:28
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Just finished Reaper's Gale I foresee nothing positive in the future of Trull Sengar's child, given the apparent curse that seems to afflict that entire household.  Thinking about it, apart from Udinaas, I don't think there's any major character introduced on the Tiste Edur side of things in Midnight Tides still alive at this point.
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Aug 29, 2023 00:02
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Not sure if this has been posted her but humble bundle has 17 ebooks of the series https://www.humblebundle.com/books/...roup_bookbundle
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Aug 30, 2023 02:14
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I started Malazan. Enjoying it so far. Erikson is terrible at naming stuff though. But I am warming up to it. I am sure there is some reason the wizards have goofy names like Tattersail and Hairlock and Quick Ben. Moon's Spawn was badass hope it shows up more. Onto Darujhistan.
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Sep 12, 2023 00:55
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There is an in text reason for the goofy Malazan names. Maybe not a great one, but it exists.
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Sep 12, 2023 04:43
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Anybody know how to add the Malazan fictionary to the Kindle App for Android? As far as I can find it is not possible on the android app, although it is on kindle devices and some other app versions.
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Sep 12, 2023 06:58
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dishwasherlove posted:There is an in text reason for the goofy Malazan names. Maybe not a great one, but it exists. I'm sure at some point during the creative process he was just like listen I can't create 437 meaningful names for people and I need a solution for this.
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Sep 12, 2023 14:55
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The names are kind of awesome after you get over the initial kookiness.
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Sep 12, 2023 15:31
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They're Black Company tribute I'm pretty sure.
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Sep 12, 2023 16:44
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Alright I finally finished Gardens of the Moon. I'm hooked enough to keep going, after I take a break and read something else. About halfway into the book it definitely clicked and as the plot (such as it is) and why the characters were doing what they were doing slowly revealed itself it became a real page turner. Definitely am confused about some things what was the deal with Kruppe being the eel exactly? the Daruhjistan politics were the weakest part of the book, half-baked and none of the nobles were interesting at all but overall it was reasonable as a standalone. The last quarter or so is a bit ridiculous, Dragon Ball style power creep where more and more badass powerful magic characters just keep showing up. The Tyrant! Rake's a dragon! Vorcan! Ben has seven warrens! and the pacing was super uneven, but hey first novel, that's fine.
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Oct 3, 2023 11:59
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It's a convergence of power, basically a trope of the series and it KICKS rear end every time.
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Oct 3, 2023 12:52
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my bony fealty posted:The last quarter or so is a bit ridiculous, Dragon Ball style power creep where more and more badass powerful magic characters just keep showing up. The Tyrant! Rake's a dragon! Vorcan! Ben has seven warrens! and the pacing was super uneven, but hey first novel, that's fine. As silly as it can be (and it gets way, way more silly) it is still one of my favorite parts of the way the series is written. Right about the time you have read about a million pages of seemingly loosely related narratives everything just goes plot Voltron and kicks off in a completely crazy (and sometimes beautiful) way. Besides everyone knows Rake would wipe the floor with the whole Dragon Ball cast, clearly. 
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Oct 3, 2023 14:49
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I finally finished Dust of Dreams and it has almost entirely killed my motivation to read The Crippled God. In past books there have been certain storylines that confused me, but I struggled throughout all of DoD to even know the basics of what was happening. I hated this book and only "finished" it because I used the Tor.com Malazan re-read to just read chapter summaries of about a quarter of the book. The only thing I liked was the Malazans. There were so many characters I just could not keep track of who they were, what they wanted, etc. Please tell me The Crippled God is better Edit: my plan now as I venture into TCG is each time I encounter a character I am not sure about, I will read their entry in the Malazan wiki up through DoD. Hopefully that will help blue squares fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Oct 3, 2023 |
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Oct 3, 2023 22:21
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Dust of Dreams is just the first part of The Crippled God. There's a minimum amount of buildup and then it's all convergences all the time. It's amazing.
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Oct 3, 2023 23:04
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Wake up babe new Erikson essay just dropped https://www.facebook.com/steveneriksonofficial?mibextid=ZbWKwL (I wish he had a website to post all these instead of FB)
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Oct 4, 2023 00:29
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my bony fealty posted:The last quarter or so is a bit ridiculous, Dragon Ball style power creep where more and more badass powerful magic characters just keep showing up. The Tyrant! Rake's a dragon! Vorcan! Ben has seven warrens! and the pacing was super uneven, but hey first novel, that's fine. Rake at the fete wearing a dragon mask like is great to read with a little hindsight
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Oct 4, 2023 06:53
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I got the God is Not Willing in that bundle and IDK I'm on the fence about it. Enjoyed it but I feel there were too many Eriksonisms, if that makes any sense. Time skip and new characters are cool, sir not appearing is ok. I didn't like how repeatedly some of the tropes were used, like the marines are here to help, they're actually really heroic and not just psycho blood thirsty idiots, that should've been a one and done and not reused time and again. Or how marines gather ancient powerful beings to help them like flies to poo poo. The Malazan ex machina where they pretend to be weak and exposed even to the reader, but actually they've got their enemies right where they want them, and their reinforcements are right here! They did it to the mercenary company, the savages, the Teblor, come on. I didn't like how Rant powered up to negate the flood a bit and save War Bitch. I felt like it'd be done before, and IDK, it was kind of like trying to make a purpose out of his suffering, where I felt like him maturing into a good person despite the suffering was better as it was? As I said IDK exactly how I feel about it. my bony fealty posted:Alright I finally finished Gardens of the Moon. I'm hooked enough to keep going, after I take a break and read something else. If it helps the next book is much better (it was something like 10 years between them while Erikson tried to get a publisher) and is my absolute favourite in the series. I wouldn't take huge breaks between books as playing "who's that
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Oct 4, 2023 07:29
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It should be noted that the answers you get are not necessarily the right answers since it's all conveyed through unreliable narrators.
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Oct 4, 2023 11:12
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my bony fealty posted:Alright I finally finished Gardens of the Moon. I'm hooked enough to keep going, after I take a break and read something else. GotM is easily the weakest book of the series. Erikson originally penned it as a screenplay and then adapted it into a novel and it shows.
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Oct 7, 2023 15:40
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The 2nd book is a very different tone but arguably one of the better books ever written in the fantasy genre - at least in this man's opinion and features some of the best battle scenes and characters you'll come across.
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Oct 8, 2023 04:43
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Eediot Jedi posted:I got the God is Not Willing in that bundle and IDK I'm on the fence about it. Enjoyed it but I feel there were too many Eriksonisms, if that makes any sense. I feel Eriksons fetish for his Marines only started to stink through towards the end of the MBOTF, but became almost nauseating in the God is not willing. I mean, we get it Steve, you love your super duper marines and they are the bestest thing ever to happen the world and everybody else should always be on their knees with tears in their eyes trying to understand the glory of the marines. We got it a long time ago, no need to go all Terry Goodkind on us and keep repeating it. Its still not as bad as the fact that every single character in his world is an ancient greek philosopher, but its a strong 2nd place.
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Oct 10, 2023 09:56
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Doing a long overdue reread and finished Midnight Tides last night. I forgot how unsubtle it is in the subtext and must have hit different in 2004.
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Oct 10, 2023 21:43
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Started on Deadhouse Gates and yeah yeah its a fantasy book from the 90s by an old white guy or whatever but I could really have done without 16 year old Felisin talking about her rapists huge dick so much Enjoying everything else though, I want to know wtf is up with Mappo and Icarium
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Oct 19, 2023 20:23
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The Felisin portions of that book were my least favorite by far, yeah. Chain of Dogs owns so hard. Mappo and Icarium doesn't pay off until much later in the series.
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Oct 19, 2023 20:27
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Mappo and Icarium are just kind of around, I mean that in a good way, Icarium exists as a sort of nexus point for crazy ascendant poo poo. His story is deep as gently caress but it doesn't matter that much in the scheme of things until it does.
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Oct 20, 2023 07:10
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Just finished reading Midnight Tides to my wife. Forgot just what a cracking book it was. Wife was confused it didn't end in Trull's shorning, as the book is him telling his tale to Onrack and co. I can't remember if he addresses it in detail with them later or not. Onto the Bonehunters. Love me a bit of Hellian.
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Oct 20, 2023 15:01
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my bony fealty posted:Started on Deadhouse Gates and yeah yeah its a fantasy book from the 90s by an old white guy or whatever but I could really have done without 16 year old Felisin talking about her rapists huge dick so much I find it does help to remember that Felisin is 15 at the start of the book, and most 15-year olds are really annoying by nature. Most 15-year olds also don't have to deal with a portion of the horrors that get dumped on her, so I'll give the woman a break.
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Oct 20, 2023 17:14
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McSpankWich posted:The Felisin portions of that book were my least favorite by far, yeah. Chain of Dogs owns so hard. Mappo and Icarium doesn't pay off until much later in the series. The Felisin story has an amazing pay off though: Her sister kills her and never discover it. Felisin dies without knowing that her sister tried to save her.
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Oct 20, 2023 22:40
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Alhazred posted:The Felisin story has an amazing pay off though: Her sister kills her and never discover it. Felisin dies without knowing that her sister tried to save her. Also all the crazy poo poo with Heboric from the final two (3?) books starts in this one
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Oct 20, 2023 23:36
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Alhazred posted:The Felisin story has an amazing pay off though: Her sister kills her and never discover it. Felisin dies without knowing that her sister tried to save her.
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Oct 21, 2023 03:42
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I... don't think so? IIRC all she says to Paran is that she lost her. That is obviously open to interpretation but I think she's being literal there.
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Oct 21, 2023 14:32
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Infinite Karma posted:It's been a lot of years since I read it, but doesn't Tavore reveal in the final book that she knew the whole time, did it anyway, and lived with the guilt? I don't think so? Tavore seems to indicate to Paran at the end of Crippled God that she doesn't know what happened to Felisin after she got sent to the Otataral Mines
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Oct 21, 2023 14:36
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Yeah wasn’t there a big thing about the people who did know not wanting to tell her because it would break her?
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Oct 21, 2023 14:38
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Alhazred posted:The Felisin story has an amazing pay off though: Her sister kills her and never discover it. Felisin dies without knowing that her sister tried to save her. Felisin knows, she finds out really early that Baucus was a thorn sent to break her out at the earliest opportunity. This just pisses her off and she drives him away.
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Oct 21, 2023 15:46
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Kill Dozed posted:I don't think so? Tavore seems to indicate to Paran at the end of Crippled God that she doesn't know what happened to Felisin after she got sent to the Otataral Mines I think she doesn't know exactly how but imo she knows she killed her, just not that she literally stabbed her too. Peopple chose not to tell her because there's no point in adding insult to injury at that point.
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Oct 22, 2023 12:27
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Ethiser posted:Yeah wasn’t there a big thing about the people who did know not wanting to tell her because it would break her? Yeah, in House of Chains Lostara and Pearl find out who she is, and arrive just in time to see Tavore kill her, and swear themselves to secrecy There's also a little moment in Bonehunters where a random soldier finds out that Sha'ik was a Malazan and thinks he should pass it up the chain of command, but he has one of those "he was going to do something about it, but then poo poo happened and it slipped his mind" moments that's really indiciative of Oponn meddling with things. With that and the way the resolution of the Jade Rain relies on Ganoes grabbing the wrong card by mistake, it starts to hint at a softer side of Oponn. It might be that Oponn is becoming less of an rear end in a top hat, or they might always have been that way and it further distinguishes their idea of "fair" randomness from The Errants casual cruelty.
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Oct 22, 2023 15:50
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I happen to have re-read DoD and TCG in the past month and it is pretty explicit that Tavore does not know that Shiak was actually Felesin. I mean, her words to Ganoes were "I lost her", not, "I killed her". There is absolutely nothing in those ten books that indicates she knows the truth. Just the opposite in fact. One thing I had forgotten or hadn't fully noticed until the re-read was the set-up for a repeat whan Ganoes was approaching her, it is totally written as Tavore was going to kill him too. Glad Erikson didn't go that way, but wouldn't actually be too surprised if he had done so, it is a tragedy after all.
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Oct 22, 2023 19:19
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Strom Cuzewon posted:"he was going to do something about it, but then poo poo happened and it slipped his mind" moments that's really indiciative of Oponn meddling with things. Oponn discussion Oponn isn't the only god that does that. Consider Whiskeyjack always having a reason not to get his leg fixed, courtesy of Hood holding a grudge. So there was definitely a god involved, but I'm not sure it's strongly implied who. Even Shadowthrone has a soft side, given how he reunites Crokus and Apsalar at the end; and if he's willing to give those two screwups a happy ending, I can see him making things a little less painful for Tavore, considering her whole mission is at his behest
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Oct 22, 2023 21:44
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I mean, if Gods being prideful, capricious & fickle is a new concept, hoo boy do I have news for you about every single one humanity has come up with.
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Oct 22, 2023 22:06
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