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strixvaria 's review for:
House of Chains
by Steven Erikson
There was a moment in this book where, for the first time in a long time in this series, I was reminded that I was reading rather than experiencing this epic. Since this world is so massive and so deep, there is a small pattern that has emerged a few times where history and setting details will be explained just in the nick of time so that you understand the importance and meaning of an event that will happen. In this book, some backstory was presented with one character commenting, "but that doesn't matter at all; those people are gone," and at that moment I knew with absolute certainty that they weren't gone and that they would matter. Before the end of the chapter, one of the described people appeared again. And my immersion was briefly broken.
But the thing with Malazan is, as soon as I forged onwards past that small hiccup, I was immediately hooked again.
I don't think I've ever read a book before that had so many diverse viewpoints where all of them were excellent. I had to stop reading A Song of Ice and Fire because more than half the viewpoints were boring. This series has arguably more viewpoints than that, and yet every single one of them remains interesting. We never jump to a place where I don't care what's going to happen next. I'm always invested. It's an incredible feat.
Also, how does this series have so many incredible characters? After reading Gardens of the Moon I was worried that the characters would take a back seat in the story, essentially just passengers along for the ride in this epic setting. But that couldn't have been more wrong. There are so many brilliant characters. Kruppe, Quick Ben, Coltaine, Heboric, Felisin, and new in this book are Karsa, Onrack, and Trull Sengar. And this is just off the top of my head, and the characters that didn't make this list are nearly as compelling.
This series, man. I can't wait to keep reading.
But the thing with Malazan is, as soon as I forged onwards past that small hiccup, I was immediately hooked again.
I don't think I've ever read a book before that had so many diverse viewpoints where all of them were excellent. I had to stop reading A Song of Ice and Fire because more than half the viewpoints were boring. This series has arguably more viewpoints than that, and yet every single one of them remains interesting. We never jump to a place where I don't care what's going to happen next. I'm always invested. It's an incredible feat.
Also, how does this series have so many incredible characters? After reading Gardens of the Moon I was worried that the characters would take a back seat in the story, essentially just passengers along for the ride in this epic setting. But that couldn't have been more wrong. There are so many brilliant characters. Kruppe, Quick Ben, Coltaine, Heboric, Felisin, and new in this book are Karsa, Onrack, and Trull Sengar. And this is just off the top of my head, and the characters that didn't make this list are nearly as compelling.
This series, man. I can't wait to keep reading.