The Malazan Book of the Fallen: Too many wor'ds.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Malazan Book of the Fallen: Too many wor'ds.

«‹›2 »

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Juaguocio posted:

On a similar note, I noticed that there's a Tattersall Drive in Victoria, BC, where Erikson lived for a while.

There's also one in Alaska.

# ¿ May 19, 2011 19:39

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 14, 2024 01:04

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Gah gently caress. Got my copy of Stonewielder from Border's online finally, and like fifty pages are cut off on top and are missing about half the text. So, I have to go to a Fedex Kinko's and send the damned thing back, and wait however long to get a new one. Fuckers. :argh:

# ¿ May 20, 2011 06:14

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

angerbeet posted:

Well, that would make levying taxes easier than "Your horrible skeleton queen demands a 1% income tax raise" "By Osserc's firey pubes!"

No, I've only read the regular series, I got Korebalin and Broach or whatever when I ordered TCG so I might start in more on the extended universe things.

Or read a real book to offset the terrible fantasy balance in my life.

If you want to skip what some consider the inferior ICE novel "Return of the Crimson Guard" (I liked it, as did many others, but many also don't) then here's relevant spoilers regarding what's going on back in the Malazan Empire:

The Crimson Guard returns.
They are driven off during a three way war thing between The Malazans, a rebellion led by Urko Crust/Toc the Elder/some others and the Crimson Guard.
Laseen is assassinated during the fighting.
Mallick Rel takes over the Malazan Empire during the power vaccuum.
The rebellion is crushed, and Urko ends up joining back with the Malazans.
Toc the Elder dies.
Tayschrenn falls into a crazy void/rift thing while fighting some rear end in a top hat mage who shows up. No idea what's going on with him. The search for him takes up some of Stonewielder, ICE's novel after RotCG, but I don't think that's been figured out yet.

I think that's the main stuff. There are references in books 9 and 10 to stuff that happened during RotCG, so it helps to know what happened.

# ¿ May 25, 2011 14:03

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

The prologue is way before everything else, and because the entire book is new characters that can make placing the rest of it confusing.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2011 21:45

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Masonity posted:

It wasn't just the sword. I mean, we know that historically there was an army of Hust-blade wielders. The fact that he's The Watch also has something to do with it I'd imagine.

Hell yeah, nice avatar.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2011 08:36

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Masonity posted:

Comparing a Hust blade to those weapons is a bit like saying TNT is a little like a nuclear warhead. Sure they both make things go boom...

I wouldn't say that his name is a huge spoiler? He's the narrator of the first series isn't he? That's a little like saying "GOTM Spoiler: The wax witch talking to the fisher girl gets killed by a soldier!

edit: Actually It's far worse. It's like saying GOTM spoiler: There's a Captain named Whiskeyjack, and he leads the bridgeburners.

I think he's saying that the homage is super cool, so if you want to preserve the "oh poo poo! rad!" moment when you see it he spoilered it.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2011 04:53

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Vanilla Mint Ice posted:

Who knows, Erikson himself said he hasn't given enough information to explain who or what he is.

In a recent interview, someone asked Erikson if he drops enough clues in the series to tell what Quick Ben really is, and Erikson's response was: "No."

# ¿ Jun 9, 2011 22:12

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Edmond Dantes posted:

I got a Kindle a bit ago and, based on your recommendations, I gave GotM a try.

I'm going to quote this from the Sci-Fi/Fantasy thread because I still find it hilarious and I have been showing it to people when they asked me "hey, what are you reading":

I have to say, I'm just getting back into the whole "reading" business (I used to read quite a bit, but most of the things I wanted to read are just not published here, so now that I got a Kindle I have the world's largest backlog), and at first I found the whole "let's drop you in the middle of things" deal to be quite daunting; but Erikson pulls it off amazingly well, and you never feel "cheated" or "off the loop", if things are not quite clear it's because you're missing pieces of the puzzle that are going to be revealed later and it leads you really well into wanting to learn more about the world, the characters and just keep reading.

I've read comments about how his writing starts getting better, so I really look forward to the following books.

On this particular one: I was kind of expecting/hoping that Adjunct Lorne would get fed up (or finally snap) with being the Empress' Adjunct and just leave with Tool, ride to the sunset and show up again in a few books completely changed. Instead, she got shanked by a fat thief. Oh well.

Kruppe: I have to admit, when I hit his first chapter I hated the fat bastard. Then he started growing on me, and suddenly wham, he's the Eel. And two chapters after that wham, he's facing down a Jaghut who just battled 5 dragons and telling him "well, now you're in my dream, and I'm going to gently caress you up". And after all that? He's still a jolly fat man who eats cake and is happy to see his friends. Oh, and I loved Circle Breaker getting his due for his loyalty.

Oh, and finally, I loved when everyone in the book goes "Hood's breath..." and Whiskeyjack suddenly says "Hood's balls". I have no idea why that stuck, but It caught me by surprise and gained me some weird looks when I laughed in the bus.

Sorry about the big spoiler block, I don't know how you guys are handling spoilers around here. I didn't read the whole thread for fear of spoiling myself, but wanted to come by and do a quick trip report.

Haha, the short lived Malazan wiki we goons tried to make was called "Hood's Balls."

# ¿ Jun 27, 2011 08:02

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Fargo Fukes posted:

Just finished House of Chains and I gotta say I'm getting pretty tired of this poo poo. Despite the fact there were a couple of plotlines going on I feel the book is intimately connected with Karsa Orlong's journey: Badass action-packed start, tortuous ages spent doing nothing whilst someone spouts endless pointless words at you leading to no real resolution making me question why I set out to read the drat book (or quest forth from my homeland, to continue the metaphor) in the first place. Seriously? One thousand and thirty four pages to establish a couple of characters? Ugh.

Does it get better or worse from here on out?

Book four was probably one of the weakest in the series, in my opinion, though I still loved it. Book 5 is a completely new cast of characters, and is the best in the series imo, book six is crazy badass, seven is damned good, and books 8-10 vary in quality depending on who you ask.

To be honest, though, if you didn't like book 4 you probably won't want to bother finishing the series. Lots of people love em, but they dont change that much, so if you're hating it and that bored they're not going to change pace suddenly.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2011 04:04

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Vanilla Mint Ice posted:

You get shown and told many, many times how great WJ is. The only thing you never hear or know about up until a certain point was his physical prowess.

Indeed. The scene where he volunteers to kill the people so Rake doesn't have to was pretty great insight into his personality, and why his troops would follow him into hell and back.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2011 09:06

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Spermy Smurf posted:

My name is Spermy Smurf, and I'm an ICE hater.

I read Night of Knives and hated my life for the 2 months it took me to get through it.

I got RotCG as a gift, and figured that I was waiting for GRRMs new book to come out (hahahaha, never gonna happen) and I started reading it despite saying I never would.

I'm 50 pages in, and I dont hate hate hate it like I did NoK. Does it get worse?

I think it gets better as it goes along. The ending is pretty epic.

Meanwhile, I just started Stonewielder, and about 100 pages in. Plot is fine so far, but man, ICE's conversation/characterization is pretty rough. His people don't talk or act like real people a lot of the time, but caricatures of people. He also doesn't like convo flow without interjecting constantly.

Still, worth reading so far.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2011 01:53

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Yeah, why does he have to call him "Bars?" What the gently caress is wrong with "Iron Bars?"

# ¿ Jul 1, 2011 02:46

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Yeah, it's not like there's some list of what's acceptable and what's not. It's just about what sounds good, really. If there was a warrior named Bob or Zack it'd be stupid as hell, but I can deal with Robb or even something like Charles.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2011 04:50

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

WeWereSchizo posted:

Rippling. Definitely rippling.

I never pictured kalam as the six pack type, considering that he's always described as "bear like" and "hulking." He's one of those dudes whose big in every way without seeming fat at all.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2011 05:20

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Vanilla Mint Ice posted:

I'm cool with Harllo's little side adventure because we get to see some Nom Nom Noms.

Oh shiiiit...I smell a new thread title.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2011 02:41

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Not saying anything is going to TOP the current title, but if we decide to change it at some point I think "Nom Nom Nom" is pretty great.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2011 10:22

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

the periodic fable posted:

I think a big reason that soldiers especially are so prevalent but don't come off very deep is because the whole series was hugely inspired by Glen Cook's Black Company series which had a major focus on a soldier's life. The problem is that Erikson is an archeologist while Glen Cook was actually in Vietnam and wrote from personal experience.

Beyond that I can't really put my finger on what's wrong, it just feels as if Cook was better at writing characters that sounded interesting without actually saying too much about them.

Haha.

As someone whose read the entirety of the Black Comapny AND the Malazan books, I can say that while Cook has some good characters, comparing the two series would be pretty unflattering for Croaker and company. And while a of TBC's character did seem interesting without him saying much about them, it was only a few and they were mostly in the beginning of the series. Croaker, Lady (at first), the mages, great characters. I can't think of anyone I give a poo poo about from that series, though, who was introduced after book...Hell, after book 1.

Compare that to someone like Beak, however, in book SEVEN of the Malazans, who didn't have a ton of time but seemed like a fantastically realized character. Not to mention the universal emotion that seems to be pretty unanimous in readers' reactions to him and his storyline.

I'm not saying that Erikson is the best around when it comes to characterization...I'd definitely say that someone like Martin is better. Even Martin's minor characters have very distinct personalities, and you feel like they're real people. But compared to TBC I think Erikson does a fantastic job.

Cook reminds me of someone who had a great idea for a world/characters, and then fell in love with the writing when he should have stopped. Everything after book 3, while somewhat enjoyable to read at times, was pretty uninspired and none of the characters were really that great.

Edit: drat, lot of typos.

A Nice Boy fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jul 5, 2011

# ¿ Jul 5, 2011 22:12

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Levitate posted:

Unfortunately they're all terrible people and I hate all of them

Yeah, that's one of the problems I have with ASoIaF. I love the books, but not as much as some, and I think it's because at times it's really hard to find someone whose a definable "hero." I mean, it's all well and great that everyone is so human and everyone is a shade of grey not black or white blah blah blah, but hell...Sometimes I read books because I want someone to root for, and sometimes it's hard as hell to find a likeable character in those books.

They're still awesome as hell, though.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2011 21:04

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

About halfway through Stonewielder and I have to say that it's going to take a BIG second half to make it as good as RotCG was for me. It has some interesting parts, and a few interesting POV's, but man, a lot of it kind of drags and meanders and doesn't seem to know what it wants to do with itself. Esslemont seems to really want to match Erikson's effortless "marine in the trenches" type conversation/POV style and he really doesn't have the style for it.

That said, it has had some cool set pieces so far, and he'a also done something in this book that I hadn't thought possible: Kyle is almost COOL now that he's not a POV, more a mystic figure viewed from afar by the soldiers around him. The part where the Marish ship hooks their ship with the giant chains and Kyle jumps up and shears them was pretty cool. So yeah, Kyle...Still annoying name, character much more interesting in this one.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2011 21:46

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Sir Bruce posted:

Just finished Midnight Tides - definitely my favorite so far. The story was more focused on a relatively simple conflict and having only 3 or 4 main characters really let Erickson flesh out those characters, a notable weakness in the earlier books.

One question though, who exactly are the Crimson Guard and what is the role of an Avowed? I seem to recall mentions of them as the Empire's enemies in Genabackis from Gardens of the Moon but I'm not positive. Iron Bars is pretty awesome and from his talk with the wraith Tiste Andii it seemed that he was similar to Itkovian in carrying spiritual burdens for others.

It's not really a spoiler to tell you who they are, though:

The Crimson Guard are a mercenary army that vowed revenge on the Malazan Empire when they were defeated/kicked out of their homeland. The vow was so powerful that it basically bound them to everlasting life until they complete the vow or die. They're really powerful warriors and mages, but mostly their power comes from the vow making them very, very hard to kill. You CAN kill them but chopping them up/beheading/etc, but for the most part they'll survive with wounds that would kick the poo poo out of just about anyone else, barring ascendants.

They're also all over 100 years old, as they made the vow over a century ago.

Their leader it the exiled prince K'azz D'avore, and he's listed as one of the worlds "great generals" along with Dassem Ultor, Dujek, Greymane, etc. His second in command, and probably the most powerful Avowed, is Skinner, whose generally supposed to be a super badass. Iron Bars is up there on the list as well, as he's supposed to have one of the most powerful "wills" in the CG. Erikson places a lot of emphasis on "will" and "willpower," as you'll see later in the series/in the Esslemont novels, and a strong will is one of the measures of power in some, like the CG.

You've seen/heard about them twice by book five:

In book one, Blues and Fingers save Crokus from The Adjunct Lorne and kill her. In books 1 and 3, you hear about the Crimson Guard being one of the forces arrayed against the Malazans on Genabackis, allied with the Tiste Andii/Rake and Caladan Brood.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2011 01:01

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

I'm an ICE supporter, much more so than many, but I have to admit, him writing Karsa makes me cringe.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2011 09:16

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Spills the Moon posted:

Hey guys, I'm not sure if this has been posted but I was surfing for some Malazan gossip online and came across the blurb for ICE's new novel. Here, read it for yourselves:

Maybe this kind of thing is exciting only to me, but I thought it was a neat find. Until I read it that is. This sounds really bad. I support ICE and all, because I like to get my hands on anything Malazan, but this just sounds awful. I hope this is fraudulent and isn't actually what it's going to be about. Is it me or does this sound like poorly conceived fan-fiction?

Also, Dracoinus.

The problem for me is that this all sounds like poo poo directly lifted from Erikson's books. Jaghut Tyrant! Check. Some sort of Throne that bestows power! Double check. Ragtag Malazan army? Got that!

Seriously, I know they created the world together and all, but it sounds like I'm reading a synopsis from some bizarro "What if?" version of GOTM.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2011 20:51

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Electronico6 posted:

Well the problem with your problem, is that stuff is what Erikson left for ICE to write about. His books probably suffer from having to follow up storylines from Malazan Book of the Fallen directly. Like the Tyrant. That poo poo was in GotM and TtH but Erikson didn't get around to it, so his friend has to finish it up.

Yeah, that ONE aspect (which, honestly didn't need to be readdressed. Raest getting his kitty was a fine ending to his story). Where do the talk about this other throne in Erikson's books?

# ¿ Jul 27, 2011 12:34

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Electronico6 posted:

As for the other part, it is mentioned in Toll the Hounds, but they just talk about pilgrims coming to see the wreckage, no mention for thrones or new islands.

Hrm, I didn't get the impression from that blurb that the "new throne" was Itkovian's grave but that'd make it more interesting.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2011 01:04

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Fargo Fukes posted:

"Herp derp I'm Dujek Onearm", spits on floor, sips ale, spits on floor, scratches stump.

Hahaha oh my God, best new thread title idea in a while right there.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2011 04:27

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Habibi posted:

Given that rear profile and the copious descriptions in the book, if she actually featured in this novel I would have voted for Masan Gilani.

But, yeah, Apsalar seems the likely suspect.

She doesn't show up named until book 4, does she?

# ¿ Aug 8, 2011 23:13

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

bigmcgaffney posted:

I wouldn't say Malazan is way better than ASOIAF (way different in style and focus), and it definitely would not work in TV as well as Game of Thrones did. Not even close. The budget would be astronomical of course and the plot way too sprawling. Too bad, because some scenes would be awesome, but as a whole I can't see it working.

Chain of Dogs, though, would be kickass. Cut out the non-CoD stuff from DH and you'd have fantasy Band of Brothers.

This is exactly what I've thought for a long time. There are SCENES that would be amazing, but I can't see how the series would work as movies/miniseries overall. poo poo, look at how many people come to this thread confused as hell...Now imagine trying to communicate those confusing rear end parts with no narration, diluted down to TV/movie length.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2011 21:51

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Masonity posted:

One thing I have to ask...

FULL SERIES SPOILER. DO NOT READ UNTIL DONE!
Are you sure none of it is true? I mean, he's a former high priest of Meanas, but he's also something more, something much more linked to Kurald Galain itself, as we see when he appears in the start of Crippled God. He's also a soletaken, could quite possibly be on the same sort of footing as Anomander, and who knows what his real plans have been, what he's been using his influence to move towards? At one time putting Whiskeyjack on the throne probably was a plan of his.

As for Ascendent, between all the various souls in him at least one would have been right from the start, whatever the tiste or pre-tiste hiding in him (the one that called Mother Dark mother and Draconus Father in Crippled God) is, it must be either an ascendent or something more. Plus he's a bridgeburner, and we know what happens to them!

Before we say goodbye to the world of the Malazan Book of the Fallen once and for all, I'd be careful when claiming Quickben ISN'T anything.

Someone recently asked Erikson in one of the fan interviews if there are enough hints in the entire series to determine what Quick Ben is.

Erikson's entire answer: "No."

# ¿ Sep 14, 2011 09:18

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

I like Nimander, too. Haters gonna hate.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2011 23:29

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Goddamn, I missed some fun times in the Malazan thread over the last few days!

# ¿ Oct 29, 2011 08:03

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 14, 2024 01:04

A Nice Boy: Feb 13, 2007; First in, last out.

Dunno if anyone cares about the Suvudu cage matches, but Rake is currently losing to Moiraine. They're lovely popularity contests, but if you feel like it, head over and vote for Rake. No signup or anything required.

http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2012/04/cage-match-round-5-anomander-rake-versus-moiraine-damodred.html/comment-page-3#comment-48829

# ¿ Apr 5, 2012 02:53

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Malazan Book of the Fallen: Too many wor'ds.

«‹›2 »