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« Reply #30 on: December 16, 2009, 03:23:30 pm »

You shouldn't drop Martin if you're still reading the fourth book. Opinions on the quality of the three authors vary: some people hate Erikson and consider him to be a glorified Forgotten Realms novelist, others think Martin is the only competent author of the bunch etc. etc. I like them all for different reasons.

Malaz is very different in style to Bakker or Martin. It's like a high-level D&D campaign novel series, only with a good, extremely complex plotline and the most detailed and massive setting in epic fantasy. Erikson also has a vast imagination that is able to come up with very cool and creative concepts. Definitely give it a chance when you're done with ASoIaF.

Oh, and the first sequel to Prince of Nothing is out. It's called The Judging Eye. The overall reception has been rather lukewarm but I liked it very much. The plot doesn't make much progress but Bakker writes fascinating characters and developes his ideas further.

Well, I'll give the first three books a try, then. *cough* But... what's wrong with being a Forgotten Realms novelist?  Sad
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« Reply #31 on: December 16, 2009, 03:32:32 pm »

Well, I'll give the first three books a try, then. *cough* But... what's wrong with being a Forgotten Realms novelist?  Sad

The first one isn't that great but books two and three are excellent. As for Forgotten Realms, there's nothing wrong with it in theory, but most of the stuff just is below mediocre quality.
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« Reply #32 on: December 17, 2009, 03:48:31 am »

Whatever!

I would trade all of that bullshit for this anyway, anytime:

"
Coltaine, his face gaunt and lined with exhaustion, strode down to where Duiker, Nether and Gesler waited near the awning. Behind the Fist came Bult, captains Lull and Sulmar, Corporal List and the warlocks Sormo and Nil.

/'Hood's breath!' Lull swung to Coltaine. 'Fist, we've got two of the Emperor's Old Guard here… as Coastal Marines.'
'It was a quiet posting, sir, until the uprising, anyway.'

Bult snorted. Captain Lull's scowl deepened. 'Where—oh, don't bother.' He addressed Gesler again. 'As for you and Stormy—'
'If you promote us, sir, I will punch you in what's left of your face.

And Stormy will likely kick you while you're down. Sir.' Gesler then smiled.
Bult pushed past Lull and stood face to face with the corporal, their noses almost touching. 'And, Corporal,' the commander hissed, 'would you punch me as well?'
Gesler's smile did not waver. 'Yes, sir. And Hood take me, I'll give the Fist's crack-thong a yank too, if you ask sweetly.'
There was a moment of dead silence.

"
 Smile

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« Reply #33 on: December 20, 2009, 09:20:02 pm »

Well, I'll give the first three books a try, then. *cough* But... what's wrong with being a Forgotten Realms novelist?  Sad

The first one isn't that great but books two and three are excellent. As for Forgotten Realms, there's nothing wrong with it in theory, but most of the stuff just is below mediocre quality.

Don't worry. I've heard my fair share of criticism for being an R.A. Salvatore fan. Yes, Drizzt is a Mary-Sue, but it's easy reading, and fun to read on a boring afternoon.
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« Reply #34 on: December 21, 2009, 12:51:38 pm »

There must be some other threads where you can talk about that, so please, kindly take it there.



Im close to finishing the sixth book "Bonehunters", following the Seven cities tale.
Things are getting satisfactorily complicated again, and the whole lore has a sensible progression in most cases. Im not finding all the strands difficult to folow at all, which was often mentioned in critiques i found of the books.

Sure its a little wider but not something hard in any way.
Out of a lot of things you could talk about in these books i find his handling of the undead theme really good.
Tlan Imass most of all, even though there are many other "undead" as such.

I cant recall any story where undead were given so much sense and reason, motivation to their "behavior" as in this case. He created something new out of the... very old, heh.
And he seems to be doing equally good job out of other older races too. Wonder what the Forkrul Assail will be like... Smile

Im not that much into whole Tiste thing though, Anomander Rake and his huge sword just create unwelcome images of Anime characters.

But on the other hand there are always Doggies.
>And even more Doggies who are even worse, naturally.
There was this beautiful scene of them hunting a Divers seven bodied demon... what a pleasure to read.

I found description of how those first Doggies actually adopted early tribes of humans and raised them really funny in the context of their whole story. And their shadows.  Evil


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Moose_and_Squirrel
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« Reply #35 on: February 07, 2010, 12:42:15 pm »

You shouldn't drop Martin if you're still reading the fourth book...Malaz is very different in style to Bakker or Martin. It's like a high-level D&D campaign novel series, only with a good, extremely complex plotline and the most detailed and massive setting in epic fantasy. Erikson also has a vast imagination that is able to come up with very cool and creative concepts.
I switched from Martin to Erikson, mostly because I got tired of waiting for Martin to write (He sure takes his time, doesn't he?).

I agree that his stories are like D&D campaigns.  He's admitted as much, hasn't he?  Erikson is a veteran P&P RPGer, and his books are based on those adventures.  And it shows.  For instance, "high-level" individuals ascend to god status.  Or they refuse to ascend and "retire" somewhere.  In one of his books, a god wanders into the wrong house and gets his ass kicked by the homeowner, an unheard of mortal.

I'm a big fan of Erikson's imagination and sense of humor.  His books work due to his fascination with fantasy-adventure role play.
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Max Roguespierre
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« Reply #36 on: September 29, 2018, 05:41:56 pm »

I recently decided to read Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

After wading into the first two hundred pages of Gardens of the Moon, for the time being I am shelving the series. (I may pick it up again at some future date but for now I am moving on to trying N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth and Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series.)

As far as Gardens of the Moon, it's not a horrid or even an especially poor read, it just isn't compelling. As far as I could tell there is something of a story trying to get out of the writer's tortured prose. Unfortunately, Erikson provides little depth to his characters in the early chapters (presumably to preserve dramatic tension later in the story). This then makes it appear that the author is not quite equal to the task of world-building while also creating interesting characters in an engaging narrative.

Had I known that Gardens of the Moon is the first novel that Erikson has written, I might have persisted with it to the end because there are aspects of it that show promise. The world-building stands out with an intriguing, multi-dimensional, magic system that is really what kept me uncertain about putting the book down.

Oh well... the backlog of my reading list is still plenty long.   

 
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Mosely
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« Reply #37 on: November 04, 2018, 09:24:30 pm »

First off, I know how ridiculous this is going to sound, but trust me on this. If you can get through the first book and half of the second book, then you are in for an amazing series. The first 1200 pages are not the strongest you will ever read; though GotM does have a strong ending, and there are some good parts in the first half Deadhouse Gates that make it just bearable. However, once you get past those, you get a ton of great characters and stories. 

I completely understand those that have other things to read first that are more immediately entertaining, but if you are looking for a series to last you a long while that doesn't lose steam towards the end, I highly recommend this one.
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« Reply #38 on: November 26, 2018, 01:12:40 am »

Gardens of the Moon was a slog, completely understand people who gave up midway through that book.

And I particularly hated Anomander Rake, he's as bad as Drizzt, for the same reason - feels like a teenager's first DnD character, an angsty, edgy "dark" badass with a cool magic sword. Bleaugh.

BUT.

Deadhouse Gates was a joy, particularly the second half. And from that point, the series is great. (Rake continues to annoy me every time he appears in later books, though thankfully that is only intermittently. You can go whole books without him).

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Max Roguespierre
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« Reply #39 on: January 01, 2019, 08:21:27 pm »

Thank you for the encouraging feedback Gareth and Mosely.

Thanks in part to your input, I ended up circling back and finishing Gardens of the Moon.

My appreciation for the novel definitely improved this time around. Enough so that I am now moving on to Deadhouse Gates.

I don't necessarily think that the writing in Gardens of the Moon noticeably improves after the first two hundred pages or so. Rather, the characters, and through them the narrative, began to engage my imagination after a number of passes. I believe that my initial difficulties with immersion were not primarily due to stylistic and narrative coherence (as problematical as they occasionally are) but rather to the way characters are established - or, more to the point, are not established - by the author.

Incidentally, Gareth, I suspect that Anomander Rake and his uber sword are more likely to have been modeled on Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone than Drizzt (though, truth to admit, my experience with the latter is limited to computer games and random snippets from the Internet).


 
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I know not what life is, nor death.
Year in year out-all but a dream.
Both Heaven and Hell are left behind;
I stand in the moonlit dawn,
Free from clouds of attachment.
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