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baybay11098 's review for:
The Crippled God
by Steven Erikson
"Compassion is priceless in the truest sense of the word. It must be given freely. In abundance."
I remember that quote back from Memories of Ice. The Crippled God not only manages to have a stunning conclusion to the Book of the Fallen story, but also fluidly brings all its themes to the center, especially that of compassion. Compassion not just for your friends, but for strangers, foreigners, or anybody you haven't met, even if, no, especially if, nobody is watching.
This was made especially clear when the novel clearly points out that there are many other people deserving of compassion that we never met. Every member of the Malazan army was worth of remembrance, and we only got to meet a small handful of them. They were unwitnessed.
The Crippled God was always looming in the background of the series even if some of the other novels only mentioned him once or twice, and this final novel forces you to take a different look at him. He can't help what he is, so whose the real bad guy here? Him, or the other gods who chained him? Or the mortals who slander him?
Sure, there are other books to read about this world, but this main series is done. And I have no other big series I want to read. This is it. I do have to reread The Dark Tower soon, though..... For me, this is the end of me being a frequent reader of fantasy. And there are a couple things I still want to read (besides the other Malazan stories), but they are all small scale - either standalone novels or short trilogies. I will miss Malazan heavily (at least until I read the next one to see what those other books are about). Malazan is the most complicated series I have ever read. Sure, The Wheel of Time has more characters and words put to it, but that series is still easy to read. Malazan trusts you more, and Erikson knows that you don't need to know everything. It's up to you to put clues together and sometimes there's not enough.
Erikson's history as an archaeologist and anthropologist also shines throughout this series. The different religions, cultures, and history portrayed has interesting connections to our world. I love how he shows that history is not a straight line, nor is it all in the past. Everything connects, and the world today is the way it is because of every event before. For example, you can't blame World War 1 on the assassination of one person - there were many paths that led to the same result. And in terms of fantasy writing, I love that even though this series is very "dark" (I hate that word) it is still very much high fantasy. And not in a typical way - there are no elves or dwarves. But there are fictional races and species, and magic is used all the time.
The magic is usually used in a way that feels similar to our weapons in real life. Overall, I loved the armies (especially the Malazans) and how they entertain themselves and grow bonds with each other.
And most of all, I loved these characters. Fiddler, Whiskeyjack, Picker, Tavore, Ganoes, Hedge, Sorry, Cutter, Anomander, Nimander, Clip, Silchas, Felisin, Karsa, Deadsmell, Throatslitter, Cuttle, Smiles, Koryk, Mael, Tehol, Brys, Aranict, Faradan Sort, Beak, Quick Ben, Kalam, Calm, Lostara, Gall, Shurq, Ublala, and many more. They made me laugh, they made me cheer, they made me angry, and they actually made me feel a little sad a few times (especially in the last 40 pages). And thank you Erikson for giving us a fantasy world without a patriarchy. It was refreshing. The Malazan women are badass in every way. Some are soldiers, some are mothers or sisters, and some are assassins or undead sailors or witches, but they are all great characters. Also, just one more time I want to call out Erikson for killing off Tattersail a long time ago in the first book. I'll never forgive him.
But Erikson, I did enjoy our 3.5 million word conversation, and will revisit it in four years as I always do with my favorite series.
I remember that quote back from Memories of Ice. The Crippled God not only manages to have a stunning conclusion to the Book of the Fallen story, but also fluidly brings all its themes to the center, especially that of compassion. Compassion not just for your friends, but for strangers, foreigners, or anybody you haven't met, even if, no, especially if, nobody is watching.
This was made especially clear when the novel clearly points out that there are many other people deserving of compassion that we never met. Every member of the Malazan army was worth of remembrance, and we only got to meet a small handful of them. They were unwitnessed.
The Crippled God was always looming in the background of the series even if some of the other novels only mentioned him once or twice, and this final novel forces you to take a different look at him. He can't help what he is, so whose the real bad guy here? Him, or the other gods who chained him? Or the mortals who slander him?
Sure, there are other books to read about this world, but this main series is done. And I have no other big series I want to read. This is it. I do have to reread The Dark Tower soon, though..... For me, this is the end of me being a frequent reader of fantasy. And there are a couple things I still want to read (besides the other Malazan stories), but they are all small scale - either standalone novels or short trilogies. I will miss Malazan heavily (at least until I read the next one to see what those other books are about). Malazan is the most complicated series I have ever read. Sure, The Wheel of Time has more characters and words put to it, but that series is still easy to read. Malazan trusts you more, and Erikson knows that you don't need to know everything. It's up to you to put clues together and sometimes there's not enough.
Erikson's history as an archaeologist and anthropologist also shines throughout this series. The different religions, cultures, and history portrayed has interesting connections to our world. I love how he shows that history is not a straight line, nor is it all in the past. Everything connects, and the world today is the way it is because of every event before. For example, you can't blame World War 1 on the assassination of one person - there were many paths that led to the same result. And in terms of fantasy writing, I love that even though this series is very "dark" (I hate that word) it is still very much high fantasy. And not in a typical way - there are no elves or dwarves. But there are fictional races and species, and magic is used all the time.
The magic is usually used in a way that feels similar to our weapons in real life. Overall, I loved the armies (especially the Malazans) and how they entertain themselves and grow bonds with each other.
And most of all, I loved these characters. Fiddler, Whiskeyjack, Picker, Tavore, Ganoes, Hedge, Sorry, Cutter, Anomander, Nimander, Clip, Silchas, Felisin, Karsa, Deadsmell, Throatslitter, Cuttle, Smiles, Koryk, Mael, Tehol, Brys, Aranict, Faradan Sort, Beak, Quick Ben, Kalam, Calm, Lostara, Gall, Shurq, Ublala, and many more. They made me laugh, they made me cheer, they made me angry, and they actually made me feel a little sad a few times (especially in the last 40 pages). And thank you Erikson for giving us a fantasy world without a patriarchy. It was refreshing. The Malazan women are badass in every way. Some are soldiers, some are mothers or sisters, and some are assassins or undead sailors or witches, but they are all great characters. Also, just one more time I want to call out Erikson for killing off Tattersail a long time ago in the first book. I'll never forgive him.
But Erikson, I did enjoy our 3.5 million word conversation, and will revisit it in four years as I always do with my favorite series.
"And now the page before us blurs.
An age is done. The book must close.
We are abandoned by history.
Raise high one more time the tattered standard
of the Fallen. See through the drifting smoke
to the dark stains upon the fabric.
This is the blood of our lives, this is the
payment of our deeds, all soon to be
forgotten.
We were never what people could be.
We were only what we were.
Remember us."