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tani 's review for:

The Crippled God by Steven Erikson
5.0

As I've neared the end of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, I've grown increasingly disenchanted by this series. The lead-ins had become longer, the pay-offs had gotten shorter, and I was feeling kind of frustrated with all of the time that they were taking away from all the other books that I wanted to read. Dust of Dreams was my least favorite in the series so far, with far too much introspection and not nearly enough things happening. I thought that The Crippled God would be lucky if I could give it 4 stars, much less 5 stars.

Ha!

From the very start, this book was better than Dust of Dreams. Things were happening. The characters that I most hated weren't really around, and I found myself being drawn back into the story. I actually made decent progress in reading this without feeling like I was investing too much time in a story that I wasn't as interested in as I wanted to be. It felt pretty good.

Then I hit the midway mark, and things started to pick up. I could still put down the book without a problem, but I found myself picking it back up at random intervals, wanting to see more of my favorite characters. I was particularly drawn in by the Shake storyline, and that's the first part that made me cry. (And here I thought that I was inured to the fates of these people, after watching so many others die with barely a twinge. Nope. Not at all, it turns out.)

Anyway, long story short! ;) I hit 75% through this book, and that was it. I had to finish. I had to know. Erikson had once again grabbed hold with that peculiar magic of his, and the denouement was just as epic as everyone had said that it would be. I won't say too much about what happened, but I was very happy with it. So epic, and yet still so in touch with the human scale, just what I love from Erikson's writing. I had guessed a little bit of what was to come, but there was still plenty to surprise me, make me laugh, and make me cry. In short, thoroughly enjoyed!