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kimmyt_isreading 's review for:
The Crippled God
by Steven Erikson
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
I'd seen the reviews. Even in the spoiler-free ones that I forced myself to keep to, I knew something big was coming. But even though I had my suspicions, the series title name-drop about a third of the way in that confirmed my suspicions still took me so much by surprise that I started yelling and had to put the book down for a bit and send a bookish friend multiple probably nonsensical voice notes. What do you MEAN that's what this has all been about and why didn't it click for me until now and why was it SO SATISFYING?
And then the hits kept coming and the hits kept coming (and the hits kepts coming and the hits kept coming...). The emotional and narrative payoffs in this book were frankly just on another level.
The Crippled God doesn't tie up every loose thread (how could it, the Malazan Book of the Fallen being as sprawling as it was?), but it did a damn good job of bringing themes, elements and details full circle. As I was reading the climactic battles (that's right, plural climactic battles), my thoughts kept coming back to a quote I've seen circulating on various social media:
"People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider’s webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises for another go." - Matthew on Twitter (@CrowsFault)
Because that really sums it all up for me. Not just this book, but the entire Malazan Book of the Fallen. The series is certainly challenging in many ways, but it's such a masterpiece and I am desperately wishing for the day some of my friends pick the series up so I can relive it through them. I will definitely do a reread at some point - this feels like a series you get even more out of the second time around.
And then the hits kept coming and the hits kept coming (and the hits kepts coming and the hits kept coming...). The emotional and narrative payoffs in this book were frankly just on another level.
The Crippled God doesn't tie up every loose thread (how could it, the Malazan Book of the Fallen being as sprawling as it was?), but it did a damn good job of bringing themes, elements and details full circle. As I was reading the climactic battles (that's right, plural climactic battles), my thoughts kept coming back to a quote I've seen circulating on various social media:
"People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers and spider’s webs. It’s not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles, the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises for another go." - Matthew on Twitter (@CrowsFault)
Because that really sums it all up for me. Not just this book, but the entire Malazan Book of the Fallen. The series is certainly challenging in many ways, but it's such a masterpiece and I am desperately wishing for the day some of my friends pick the series up so I can relive it through them. I will definitely do a reread at some point - this feels like a series you get even more out of the second time around.