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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
This may be an unpopular opinion, but it was my favourite of the first four novels. The world building continues and expands in unexpected ways. I thought the pacing was better than in Memories of Ice, and it (re)introduced one of my favourite characters so far. First 5 star of the series.
Me estaba pareciendo algo peor que los otros tres, pero el 10% final es increíble.
I think I'm going to have to just start reviewing these books based on how they make me cry. Gardens of the Moon didn't make me cry, so it's a four-star read.
Deadhouse Gates brought on a solid sobfest for about 100 pages, and just the thought of the Chain of Dogs still has the power to bring me to tears. Those were the tears of injustice and cruel death.
Memories of Ice brought more restrained tears, but heartfelt sorrow for the loss of something I'd come to love. There was regret, but also the feeling that something had come full circle.
The tears didn't fall for House of Chains until hours later, and they were the quiet tears of a tragedy that never should have happened, of words unspoken and love unexpressed. These tears aren't as dramatic, but they'll stick with me a long time.
Steven Erikson, why must you break my heart?
Deadhouse Gates brought on a solid sobfest for about 100 pages, and just the thought of the Chain of Dogs still has the power to bring me to tears. Those were the tears of injustice and cruel death.
Memories of Ice brought more restrained tears, but heartfelt sorrow for the loss of something I'd come to love. There was regret, but also the feeling that something had come full circle.
The tears didn't fall for House of Chains until hours later, and they were the quiet tears of a tragedy that never should have happened, of words unspoken and love unexpressed. These tears aren't as dramatic, but they'll stick with me a long time.
Steven Erikson, why must you break my heart?
Le pongo tres no por el libro en sí sino porque no soporto a Karsa
You know what I think I am kind of still in shock and awe over just HOW MUCH stuff happens in this book. It begins on a whole new part of the land following a single character named Karsa Orlong. The time frame is a little before the events of Gardens of the Moon, but as the story goes on it recounts other events that tie in with all three of the previous books.
I have to say that I adore the character of Karsa Orlong and I now see why so many people have been telling me to watch out for him. He's a battle-crazed, horrible, Warleader who at the beginning of this book knows very little about the world outside of his tribe. I found his initial deeds to be brutal and horrible, yet equally I felt that his lack of culture and teaching of the wider world was certainly reason for his beliefs and actions. He does some terrible things, yet he knows no better until he's forced to venture away from his tribe and out into the wider world.
Karsa was certainly the heaviest focus in this book, particularly in the beginning, but seeing as I love characters who are 'flawed' or interesting and characters that I really want to develop, he was brilliant. He certainly faces a lot of tragedy, loss, trials and revelations over the course of this book, and I felt that his development and integration into the wider societies of the Malazan world were wonderfully done.
Karsa has easily become one of my favourite Malazan characters alongside Kruppe and I think they're both so complex and different but equally compelling, charming and wonderful at their respective times.
The Karsa storyline is the first of the storylines but the other major stories which we're following involve our new Adjunt Tavore, and the Whirlwind Goddess Sha'ik. They have been building up to a war and we've seen the preparations hinted at in previous books, but now the real tactics and battle planning begins. I certainly found myself really disliking the Adjunct actually and no matter what she did over the course of the book this definitely didn't go away for me - especially considering her ties to Sha'ik and the events which unfurl between them.
I found the Sha'ik camp and story to be far more interesting with a fair amount of focus on Ghosthands, Leoman and other returning characters that we learned a lot more of. There were certainly many plots and secrets which were going on at that camp and it made for some very fun and enjoyable reading!
I think seeing the Goddess and Sha'ik's battle within herself was a little tiresome at times, although I see of course how it contributes to the story, but I felt that the way she managed her army and dealt with the various infractions to be very intriguing, much more so than I found the Chain of Dogs in Deadhouse Gates.
We're also following Pearl and Lostara on their hunt for a young girl. We have met this girl before in a previous book and their story, whilst interesting in that it helps us to get to know a bit more about those two characters, seems mostly to be a way of clarifying events which we've seen before. We, as the reader, know what has happened to the young girl they seek, but they have very little to go on and therefore their journey takes them to all sorts of places where they meet all sorts of characters.
I liked seeing more involvement from certain gods in this book and I certainly like any mention of the Deck of Dragons because that's always something exciting. I think that the involvement of the Gods is always a little tricky to understand and fully follow, as they seem often to be two steps ahead, but I liked seeing the various interactions we had between characters with a certain on in particular :)
Cutter and Apsalar's storyline was a bit of a strange one for me and I don't know if I fully understood the things which were set in motion by them. I do think this is something we shall learn more about, and of course I have no doubt that it will be very dramatic and crazy, given the company they keep over the course of the story (some very powerful and some slightly extreme).
Of course I was sad not to see some of the old favourites, but there are still many characters who pop up again or have new names and traits which makes them different somehow and seeing the development of these characters was great.
On the whole I would say this one solidified a LOT of what went on before for me and I felt that I really enjoyed getting to grips with more characters in an in-depth way, and seeing a crazy plotline that really drove forward with a good momentum. I definitely am looking forward to seeing what will happen in Midnight Tides with the characters and how they will react to the events at the end of this one, because... well... let's just say that STUFF HAPPENS.
This is the first one in the series I have given a 5* rating to and I am very happy to do so after being so throughly glued to the book, particularly in Karsa's sections and the ending. Overall a great book which really binds all the books so far together and a solid 5* read :)
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this one too if you have read it!
I have to say that I adore the character of Karsa Orlong and I now see why so many people have been telling me to watch out for him. He's a battle-crazed, horrible, Warleader who at the beginning of this book knows very little about the world outside of his tribe. I found his initial deeds to be brutal and horrible, yet equally I felt that his lack of culture and teaching of the wider world was certainly reason for his beliefs and actions. He does some terrible things, yet he knows no better until he's forced to venture away from his tribe and out into the wider world.
Karsa was certainly the heaviest focus in this book, particularly in the beginning, but seeing as I love characters who are 'flawed' or interesting and characters that I really want to develop, he was brilliant. He certainly faces a lot of tragedy, loss, trials and revelations over the course of this book, and I felt that his development and integration into the wider societies of the Malazan world were wonderfully done.
Karsa has easily become one of my favourite Malazan characters alongside Kruppe and I think they're both so complex and different but equally compelling, charming and wonderful at their respective times.
The Karsa storyline is the first of the storylines but the other major stories which we're following involve our new Adjunt Tavore, and the Whirlwind Goddess Sha'ik. They have been building up to a war and we've seen the preparations hinted at in previous books, but now the real tactics and battle planning begins. I certainly found myself really disliking the Adjunct actually and no matter what she did over the course of the book this definitely didn't go away for me - especially considering her ties to Sha'ik and the events which unfurl between them.
I found the Sha'ik camp and story to be far more interesting with a fair amount of focus on Ghosthands, Leoman and other returning characters that we learned a lot more of. There were certainly many plots and secrets which were going on at that camp and it made for some very fun and enjoyable reading!
I think seeing the Goddess and Sha'ik's battle within herself was a little tiresome at times, although I see of course how it contributes to the story, but I felt that the way she managed her army and dealt with the various infractions to be very intriguing, much more so than I found the Chain of Dogs in Deadhouse Gates.
We're also following Pearl and Lostara on their hunt for a young girl. We have met this girl before in a previous book and their story, whilst interesting in that it helps us to get to know a bit more about those two characters, seems mostly to be a way of clarifying events which we've seen before. We, as the reader, know what has happened to the young girl they seek, but they have very little to go on and therefore their journey takes them to all sorts of places where they meet all sorts of characters.
I liked seeing more involvement from certain gods in this book and I certainly like any mention of the Deck of Dragons because that's always something exciting. I think that the involvement of the Gods is always a little tricky to understand and fully follow, as they seem often to be two steps ahead, but I liked seeing the various interactions we had between characters with a certain on in particular :)
Cutter and Apsalar's storyline was a bit of a strange one for me and I don't know if I fully understood the things which were set in motion by them. I do think this is something we shall learn more about, and of course I have no doubt that it will be very dramatic and crazy, given the company they keep over the course of the story (some very powerful and some slightly extreme).
Of course I was sad not to see some of the old favourites, but there are still many characters who pop up again or have new names and traits which makes them different somehow and seeing the development of these characters was great.
On the whole I would say this one solidified a LOT of what went on before for me and I felt that I really enjoyed getting to grips with more characters in an in-depth way, and seeing a crazy plotline that really drove forward with a good momentum. I definitely am looking forward to seeing what will happen in Midnight Tides with the characters and how they will react to the events at the end of this one, because... well... let's just say that STUFF HAPPENS.
This is the first one in the series I have given a 5* rating to and I am very happy to do so after being so throughly glued to the book, particularly in Karsa's sections and the ending. Overall a great book which really binds all the books so far together and a solid 5* read :)
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this one too if you have read it!
another way too long fantasy war book. this series is just interesting enough to keep me going...but they books are way too detailed on the battle stuff, imo.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Probably a 2.5 star book rounded down.
The plot of this book seemed interminable. People either spent an age messing around on ships or the 400 page of build-up to arrive at the final battle in Raraku for it to sizzle out spectacularly. I think I had a similar problem with Deadhouse Gates where I wasn’t really invested in any of the characters and so it cast a pall over the book as a whole.
It is noticeable how many people give these books four or five stars but only on the second reading. I think Erikson’s writing is not the clearest, and often it is only through the Malazan Reread of the Fallen that I was able to figure out what was going on in places. Perhaps this was due to skim reading through the boring parts, but when characters (like Sinn) pop up 1000 pages after the last time the appeared, I found it very difficult to care about who they are or what they were doing. Let’s hope the next book brings back more interesting people!
The plot of this book seemed interminable. People either spent an age messing around on ships or the 400 page of build-up to arrive at the final battle in Raraku for it to sizzle out spectacularly. I think I had a similar problem with Deadhouse Gates where I wasn’t really invested in any of the characters and so it cast a pall over the book as a whole.
It is noticeable how many people give these books four or five stars but only on the second reading. I think Erikson’s writing is not the clearest, and often it is only through the Malazan Reread of the Fallen that I was able to figure out what was going on in places. Perhaps this was due to skim reading through the boring parts, but when characters (like Sinn) pop up 1000 pages after the last time the appeared, I found it very difficult to care about who they are or what they were doing. Let’s hope the next book brings back more interesting people!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated