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stevematt's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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? Yes
4.5
arrak1s's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-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? Yes
5.0
raoulherbert's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
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? Yes
5.0
ritabrush's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.75
akiaki_oioi's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Spoilers ahead. This review will be a bit disparate as I'm mainly writing it to help myself remember what happens in this book.
Probably one of my least favourites (my favourites being Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, Midnight Tides and maybe Bonehunters) although it's still a Malazan book so towers over most others.
Highlights:
- Oh Beak, you broke my heart.
- Malazan soldier shenanigans, especially Hellian had me laughing.
- Tehol and Bugg continue to delight and I am so glad they and Janath came out alive at the other end. I hope we get to see what the Letheri empire looks like under their rule.
- the tragic end of Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a thousand deaths.
- TOC IS BACK. Oh no, Toc is no longer back.
More complex thoughts:
- Trull's death was just.... I can't talk about it yet.
- Trull and Onrack's friendship was so beautiful, so much so that their romantic love stories paled in comparison. In fact, I didn't quite understand why Trull and Seren Pedac loved each other so much.
- SA was a big theme in this book- Janath, Udinaas, Seren... I do think the devastation of such an act was pretty well-handled, especially as it was brought up again and again in the way it affected the characters' psyches? Potentially? I think I need to think about it more.
- Karsa and Icarium did a lot of waiting around and I'm not sure if their climaxes made up for it ( I preferred Karsa's more than Icarium's though)
- Silchas Ruin and the three dragon sisters (Menandore, etc.) ended up not being much of a threat in the end which was kind of funny.
Lowlights:
- Masan Gilani has to put up with a lot of leering
- that's the end of the Grey Swords from Memories of Ice?? Really??
- that's the end of the Awl and Redmask? Really? Do we figure out who he actually was?
- the sudden appearance of Tool and the Barghast came out of left field which I know is pretty normal in Malazan but this was a really left field.
Overall excited to continue onto the last three books.
Probably one of my least favourites (my favourites being Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, Midnight Tides and maybe Bonehunters) although it's still a Malazan book so towers over most others.
Highlights:
- Oh Beak, you broke my heart.
- Malazan soldier shenanigans, especially Hellian had me laughing.
- Tehol and Bugg continue to delight and I am so glad they and Janath came out alive at the other end. I hope we get to see what the Letheri empire looks like under their rule.
- the tragic end of Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a thousand deaths.
- TOC IS BACK. Oh no, Toc is no longer back.
More complex thoughts:
- Trull's death was just.... I can't talk about it yet.
- Trull and Onrack's friendship was so beautiful, so much so that their romantic love stories paled in comparison. In fact, I didn't quite understand why Trull and Seren Pedac loved each other so much.
- SA was a big theme in this book- Janath, Udinaas, Seren... I do think the devastation of such an act was pretty well-handled, especially as it was brought up again and again in the way it affected the characters' psyches? Potentially? I think I need to think about it more.
- Karsa and Icarium did a lot of waiting around and I'm not sure if their climaxes made up for it ( I preferred Karsa's more than Icarium's though)
- Silchas Ruin and the three dragon sisters (Menandore, etc.) ended up not being much of a threat in the end which was kind of funny.
Lowlights:
- Masan Gilani has to put up with a lot of leering
- that's the end of the Grey Swords from Memories of Ice?? Really??
- that's the end of the Awl and Redmask? Really? Do we figure out who he actually was?
- the sudden appearance of Tool and the Barghast came out of left field which I know is pretty normal in Malazan but this was a really left field.
Overall excited to continue onto the last three books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape
justuhdumbweeb's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
4.0
jstead00's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
jeannelynne24's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
wouterk's review against another edition
5.0
This entry in the MBotF was a slow burn for me but the pay-off was amazing. The ending has breathtaking action and resolutions. People call it a Sanderlanche nowadays in fantasy and in Malazan we talk about convergence. The fourth part of Reaper's Gale is a multitude of both, and then squared. I truly devoured the endings (yes plural).
In Reapers Gale we return to the Letherii empire, now ruled by the Tiste Edur. Malazans, Karsa Orlong and Icarium, and other converge. And I do not spoil anything here because these things were evident in Bonehunters. It started there, and it takes a long time to come to a conclusion. I really had a tough time reading through the first parts. A lot of setup. I was not very captivated by the sideplot with the Awl, nor with the 'fellowship with the guy with the rings'. And these story lines that did not catch interest throughout still paid off. And lots of other fun stuff happens. In this book there are a lot of gods and ascendants that go to war with each other, we see how different plans of the Crippled gods progress or stall. We see the progression of the Bonehunters and learn to love them even more (at least I did), we see the faiths of the different people we've come t know in Letherii. There's the conclusion to the tragic story of the Sengar brothersa(Rhulad, Trull, Fear). We also see the effects of the efforts of Tehol Beddict and Bugg in the previous books. Really a lot of pay-off (I'll stop saying that now; notice I'm rather gushing than reviewing).
Erikson touches again on all kinds of horrific but also on beautiful experiences. Victimhood and failure are strong themes in this book. Trigger warning, there is a significant amount of violence against women. Not gratuitous though or to just further the male's plot, they are strong women with their own personality, goals and instrumentality. Then again, there is also violence towards kids, and violence against men (including SA). I think there are triggers all over, but done tasteful. I think if any of these things trigger you sufficiently, you stopped reading the series by this point. There is also love stories, and tragedy, a lot of loss and different kinds of loss and also being lost, or being reunited or embracing the past. (Yes lots of reasons to empathize).
Finally I'd like to share something that would be minor spoilers, but is mostly about my own learning process about the real world. If you're sensitive to that this it the time to stop reading this and start reading the book ;)
At some point when the Malazans are opposed by Letherii while they expected them as allies in defeating the the occupying Tiste Edur. But then came the realization that if a nation is oppressed (for example Ukraine or Palestina) and occupied, you will get allies by fighting the occupying army and removing their leaders. If you want to get allies in a country that is annexed but where the local elite is still in a position of privilege and power, you will not find an army willing to join you. You will need to kill all the administrators, bankers and lawyers. That's what will make the people happy. hee hee.
Which brings me to the second part of my realization. The whole dynamic between Tehol Beddict and the Patriotists in regards to siphoning money from the economy has made me realize that our central banks/governments are continually creating more money where they give slightly more to 'the common people', just to keep a system working where the rich keep racing for more and more money. Also, as the giants keep growing and growing, this becomes harder and harder. And this, to me, is the underlying mechanism to the current rapid inflation. A bunch of people running the same treadmill over and over again, while believing in a broken system that increasingly derails.
A special thank you to Erikson for offering these puzzle pieces in the Lether storyline. Wait! there's a lot of puzzles in this book. Great theme as well.
In Reapers Gale we return to the Letherii empire, now ruled by the Tiste Edur. Malazans, Karsa Orlong and Icarium, and other converge. And I do not spoil anything here because these things were evident in Bonehunters. It started there, and it takes a long time to come to a conclusion. I really had a tough time reading through the first parts. A lot of setup. I was not very captivated by the sideplot with the Awl, nor with the 'fellowship with the guy with the rings'. And these story lines that did not catch interest throughout still paid off. And lots of other fun stuff happens. In this book there are a lot of gods and ascendants that go to war with each other, we see how different plans of the Crippled gods progress or stall. We see the progression of the Bonehunters and learn to love them even more (at least I did), we see the faiths of the different people we've come t know in Letherii. There's the conclusion to the tragic story of the Sengar brothersa(Rhulad, Trull, Fear). We also see the effects of the efforts of Tehol Beddict and Bugg in the previous books. Really a lot of pay-off (I'll stop saying that now; notice I'm rather gushing than reviewing).
Erikson touches again on all kinds of horrific but also on beautiful experiences. Victimhood and failure are strong themes in this book. Trigger warning, there is a significant amount of violence against women. Not gratuitous though or to just further the male's plot, they are strong women with their own personality, goals and instrumentality. Then again, there is also violence towards kids, and violence against men (including SA). I think there are triggers all over, but done tasteful. I think if any of these things trigger you sufficiently, you stopped reading the series by this point. There is also love stories, and tragedy, a lot of loss and different kinds of loss and also being lost, or being reunited or embracing the past. (Yes lots of reasons to empathize).
Finally I'd like to share something that would be minor spoilers, but is mostly about my own learning process about the real world. If you're sensitive to that this it the time to stop reading this and start reading the book ;)
At some point when the Malazans are opposed by Letherii while they expected them as allies in defeating the the occupying Tiste Edur. But then came the realization that if a nation is oppressed (for example Ukraine or Palestina) and occupied, you will get allies by fighting the occupying army and removing their leaders. If you want to get allies in a country that is annexed but where the local elite is still in a position of privilege and power, you will not find an army willing to join you. You will need to kill all the administrators, bankers and lawyers. That's what will make the people happy. hee hee.
Which brings me to the second part of my realization. The whole dynamic between Tehol Beddict and the Patriotists in regards to siphoning money from the economy has made me realize that our central banks/governments are continually creating more money where they give slightly more to 'the common people', just to keep a system working where the rich keep racing for more and more money. Also, as the giants keep growing and growing, this becomes harder and harder. And this, to me, is the underlying mechanism to the current rapid inflation. A bunch of people running the same treadmill over and over again, while believing in a broken system that increasingly derails.
A special thank you to Erikson for offering these puzzle pieces in the Lether storyline. Wait! there's a lot of puzzles in this book. Great theme as well.