The Malazan Book of the Fallen

[stip]

Has anyone else read this? It's my favorite series of all time and I want to talk about it.

[epilogue]

Never heard of it. Until the Song of Ice and Fire thread.

[E.H. Ruddock]

sounds complicated

[stip]

It's a pretty daunting series, and unfortunately the first book (which I think was critically acclaimed, for what it's worth) is a slow and confusing start. Easily the worst book in the series. But good enough for me to keep reading, and from book 2 on it is just insanely good.

Imagine blowing up the size and scope of Song of Ice and Fire by a factor of at least 5 , spreading it out over several continents, probably well over 100 important characters, and a back history of tens of thousands of years. Once the author gets going the story is great, many characters are laugh out loud funny, and the series reduced me to tears several times. Its scope is magisterial.

It's basically like someone decided to fuse All Quiet on the Western Front and Catch-22, and turn it into a ten volume fantasy series with a history that rivals Tolkien, but no appendices to lay it out, so you only experience through the (often hazy or wrong) memories and stories of various cultures.

[Anders]

I'm on book six. It's been a very frustrating series for me at times, but I can't deny that I usually end up loving the books in the end. There are a few characters that are really great, and a few scenes that are amongst the most memorable I have read.

I hated the fifth book, which is completely 100% on the side of whatever the main story is, but I'm looking forward to reading the rest in time. They are waiting on my shelf.

[stip]

this is anecdotal, but of everyone I know who has read song of ice and fire AND malazan (5 or 6 people), they all thought that Malazan was better. It just required time to pick up.

[stip]

I'm on book six. It's been a very frustrating series for me at times, but I can't deny that I usually end up loving the books in the end. There are a few characters that are really great, and a few scenes that are amongst the most memorable I have read.

I hated the fifth book, which is completely 100% on the side of whatever the main story is, but I'm looking forward to reading the rest in time. They are waiting on my shelf.

is book five with Bug and Tehol? That does become really important by the end (they're also maybe my two favorite characters). I won't say more but almost everything that seems irrelevant comes together in books 9 and 10.

[Anders]

It's like comparing pears and apples, it's possible, but I'm not sure it's relevant. Still: I think both series have their strengths and weaknesses. For me personally I prefer that magic is toned down in ASOIAF, whereas in Malazan there are Gods and all powerful beings everywhere. I also think Martin gets closer to his characters, makes them more real. But where Martin alludes to something grand, and doesn't really pull it off, Erikson does so perfectly. Every detail, every character, is spotlessly created and built on in his universe. The scope is so grand, that it is hard to get your head around.

[epilogue]

But which series has more boobs?

[Anders]

The tv series.

[epilogue]

[stip]

It's like comparing pears and apples, it's possible, but I'm not sure it's relevant. Still: I think both series have their strengths and weaknesses. For me personally I prefer that magic is toned down in ASOIAF, whereas in Malazan there are Gods and all powerful beings everywhere. I also think Martin gets closer to his characters, makes them more real. But where Martin alludes to something grand, and doesn't really pull it off, Erikson does so perfectly. Every detail, every character, is spotlessly created and built on in his universe. The scope is so grand, that it is hard to get your head around.

Erikson handles magic really well, I think. On the one hand, he does a good job capturing how ridiculous it is--how it sort of invalidates everything else--the scenes in book V where huge armies line up to fight knowing they're just going to get destroyed by mages. I imagine that's how trench warfare looked to soldiers in the age of the machine gun.

He's also smart with his gods because while they are extremely powerful, when they are forced to manifest themselves they can be killed by normal people. They're at risk.

[---]

is this thread about nick saban