A review by anomandrewrake
The Crippled God by Steven Erikson

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

I finally finished. I feel like I've been reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen for several lifetimes. There's no way I could distill all my thoughts on this book and the series as a whole into a coherent review (at least not a digestible one) so I will give some disconnected thoughts instead.

• Tavore...
  I'm so glad she finally got to shine. Erikson kept her in his back pocket for basically all of the series. I'm also glad that I'm vindicated in a way. I've known since she arrived on the page that she was my favorite character, someone I'd die for in real life without even thinking about it, and I can't even articulate why. To be proven right after 3,000,000 words feels wonderful. I wish there was more explicit explanation of her motives and private journey (like what exactly she meant by her "first step") but I can be satisfied with what I got. Her sobbing in Ganoes's arms was a perfect thing, along with what she was sobbing about. I still believe that she knew what happened to Felisin. I think it's arguable at least. I hope that in the blank space after the end of the book, she can find love again somehow. T'amber's death was so hard on her.
• Fiddler...
  Second favorite character. Incredible. That last scene between him and Hedge made me cry like a baby. Who knew that someone who was barely a background character in book 1 would be the closest thing this series has to a protagonist? His struggle throughout the last two books was deeply moving as well. And the reveal that he was the soldier in the prologue, and then the second epilogue referencing it so closely... Chef's kiss.
• The Crippled God...
  FANTASTIC. His "assassination" was written so perfectly. The choice to show it from Koryk's perspective as someone desperate for meaning and a new god gave the event such a dark cast that was unexpected. This was unarguably the best option, and it certainly was not a killing but rather a freeing, but it didn't feel like it then. They won the day. But Koryk doesn't understand that, at least not emotionally. He just lost his savior. Also my prediction from book three that Kaminsod is literally the God Jehovah I will be sticking by forever because it's never directly contradicted and is in fact somewhat hinted at.
• Bent and Roach... you know.
• My one substantive complaint is that I wish the Kharkanas storyline had been its own story, maybe contained in a separate standalone novel. It just seems so disconnected from the rest of the series, especially with the Tiste Liosan barely appearing before book ten. Now that I think about it though, maybe not. The Andii struggle, their search for a homeland and their abandonment by their creator did need a resolution. Maybe I wish the storyline had just been more connected to the story of the Bonehunters. The Kharkanas storyline did, in fact, slap.

I don't know what I'm going to do with my life now.