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Malazan


Ammanas

Favorite Malazan Book  

15 members have voted

  1. 1. Favorite Malazan Book

    • GotM
      0
    • DG
      0
    • MoI
      5
    • HoC
      0
    • MT
      3
    • Bonehunters
      3
    • RG
      2
    • TtH
      2
    • DoD
      0
    • CG
      0
    • FoD
      0
    • FoL
      0
    • KoK
      0
    • RotCG
      0
    • Stonewielser
      0
    • OST
      0
    • BoB
      0
    • Assail
      0
    • Dancers Lament
      0
    • Deadhouse Landing
      0
    • Kellanved's Reach
      0


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  • 4 weeks later...
27 minutes ago, Briar King said:

So I finished up Outlander 4 earlier this week(fantastic btw) andvowed that I would finish up SW in a solo and NOT cave in to multi read Broken Earth 1... I succeeded for 3 whole days. I caved today and am now multi reading again lol

I've had the Fifth Season in my library for over a year and haven't read it yet. You'll have to let me know if it's worth it!

I finally read Edgedancer last week, but I recommended Malazan to someone on Twitter and I'm trying really hard not to just abandon everything else for another reread.

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@officiumdefunctorum Broken Earth may be one of thos series that require a few tries for me. Only given it one try so far, but plan on giving the audiobooks a try when it is my turn (I think I am hold 8 on two copies). One thing I did think was cool is that one of the rotating character viewpoint chapters features the ultra rare second person point of view! I can probably count one one hand the number of times I have encountered that.

Edited by Ammanas
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1 hour ago, TheOoklaThatComesBefore said:

It's really good, Jeminsin is a trained psychologist, and that expertise really shows in how her characters act. 

I follow her on Twitter and she's pretty awesome as it is, and has mentioned that the geology in her books was an important aspect, as well. I'll have to finally listen to it when I'm done with a Malice. I can't get the other Gwynne audiobooks because I'm a yank. Ugh.

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@Briar King What particularly did you like about it? Which p.o.v was your favorite?

Just finished Off Armageddon Reef btw. I loved when Merlin signaled, right before the big naval battle, "The Kingdom of Charis expects everyman to do his duty." It was a nice reference to the Battle of Trafalgur that only he knew about.

I'll be getting to By Schism Rent Asunder right after Memory of Light; I've been trying to finish Wheel of Time for about 8 years and even though reading is a enjoyable hobby the series has become a bit of a monkey on my back. I dont get the small, but vocal minority that laments Sandersons contribution to the series; I believe he has (so far) given the series a better conclusion than Jordan ever could. The Sanderson contributions I have read so far have energy, focus, and a curbing of the most annoying attributes of characters that has been missing from most of the Jordan books. 

Edited by Ammanas
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I ll copy what I posted on Malazan and ed my cursing. I won’t tell you specifics what I liked cause I don’t want to influence your own read.

 Loved the 2nd person.

Finished Broken Earth 1’s remaining 135 pgs. This book was utterly ******* stellar! STELLAR! It was such a breath of fresh air to go through. A mashup of Dune, Star Wars(kind of), Mistborn, geomancers of Final Fantasy, with the uniqueness of Grace of Kings, the sexy time of Richard Morgan’s Kovacs(though less descriptive), and the prose and floweriness of GGK in his most excellent book that is titled TIGANA!

**** me side ways what a read!

sorry I know that’s not really what you asked me but I don’t want to directly influence your take on any story specifics(other then that it’s great)

should note I did TIGANA like that to mess with fellow Malazan members that don’t like that book a single bit. We give each other friendly grief on the different sides we find it.

Edited by Briar King
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Oh and bk2 so far more then halfway in has been even better just let ya know. It’s really getting into the meat of this rich world she has setup and is plowing straight through. No middle book syndrome in this middle book!

Also I wouldn’t have even started BE1 had my friend on Malazan not got halfway through it the day before I started and stopped due to the 2nd person and the bleakness of the story sparking about a page of debate on the epicness most of the others found it. So I had to start and I’m glad I did.

he was audiobook though and I told him if he tried again maybe deadtree would help. Not sure how well this 2nd person stuff would come out in audio vs reading it yourself?

 I’m averaging about 140 pgs a day which should be a tell on how much I’m liking it cause typically am a snail these days. 35-60 pgs would be a massive progress day for me normally so to do 140-160 5 days in a row is spinning my head, of course my dvr is piling up and Destiny 2 is going unplayed to pull this off though.

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Malazan news is pretty slow nowadays. I did want to share something with my fellow malazan disciples though. The dubut that I am most looking forward to in 2019 is The Gutter Prayer by Hanrahan. It comes out in January and my hype is so high I almost feel that no matter how good it is it will be impossible to meet it. It looks like it will be perfect for any malazan fan. To get a idea what I mean by that check out this review in the link:

https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2018/12/the-gutter-prayer-by-gareth-hanrahan-book-review/

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32 minutes ago, TheOoklaThatComesBefore said:

But I do need to read more Clark Ashton Smith.

I am a huge fan of his work and have all five volumes that have collected them (The End of the Story through The Last Hieroglyph). If you decide to read them you can find them all for free (legally and by permission of his family) here:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/

I recommend starting with his Zothique cycle first though. You can find out more about it and a list of the stories here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zothique

Clark Ashton Smith isn't for everyone, his style is very poetic, but he has this rhythm of how he writes that I find absolutely breathtaking. His two most famous stories are The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis or The City of the Singing Flame. It would be difficult for me to pick my own favorite though. 

 

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If we're talking reading progress, with a brief stop to read The Last Wish (Witcher series), I just finished Gwynne's The Faithful and the Fallen (took about two weeks). For being somewhat predictable and tropey, I found myself enjoying it rather a lot. Holding off on A Time of Dread to see if Lawrence's Book of Ascendancy is something I'll like or dislike. I'm one for two on enjoying his series but time will tell!

I'm also slowly spreading the Malazan gospel amongst the Wheel of Time fan base on Twitter. Started a few conversations about it and it still surprises me that it remains both obscure and incredibly popular at the same time.

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Speaking of Malazan and Wheel of Time I still find it a little upsetting that Tor.com decided to green light I think literally their fifth WoT reread (where they go through every chapter and summarize and offer analysis on everything), but they canceled the Malazan reread and they haven't even gone through every malazan book the first time. I found the Malazan reread to be incredibly helpful and a great way to help first time (or veteran) readers of this series. If anyone has no idea what I am talking about here is a link:

https://www.tor.com/features/series/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen/

Tor's decision to do this shows I guess just how niche Malazan still is. Good job spreading the malazan news though! Really looking forward to new Malazan in February!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finished off SW just 22 minutes before the end of 18’ so I was able to add it to completion list. 21 total which is 1 more then I got for 17’(can thank Broken Earth for this causing me to speed read ha atleast speed reading BK speed anyway)

i really liked SW though some of the ending stuff was confusing. Ivanr just bored me for half the book to ending. That’s probably my only complaint. Solid book.

picked up DoD right after I sat it back on the shelf.

Edited by Briar King
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Just finished Return of the Crimson Guard, holy crap, what a good book!

I got about a 1/4 of the way through RotCG, listening to it in audiobook form, and I was really struggling to get into it. Then the part that hooked me, and made me decide to give it another go was the scene where Iron Bars commandeers the ship. Also I read the first collection of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas, and they were so amazingly good that I decided to give ICE another chance. I got the full set of Novels of the Malazan Empire on my kindle and he's a much better author when you can untangle some of the strange ways that he formulates his thoughts. There are pretty big reveals packed into oblique comments, dense single lines that are only tangentially related to the rest of what is being said, etc. He's a great writer, and RotCG is much better written book than Knight of Knives and the sheer scope of the book is mind boggling. He's definitely more in the "cinematic" than "poetic" camp of writing, and really it's pretty awesome to get both. This series is so freaking good and like you said earlier @Briar King, the ending is amazing (it's really the last 3rd of the book, ha)

I just have a couple of questions about RotCG for you seasoned Malazan veterans, spoilered below.
 

Spoiler

 

Do we ever find out the backstory for Kyle's companions The Lost, Staulker, Coots, and Badlands?

The death scene where Laseen was killed was bit anticlimatic, was the assassin that got her Vorcan's daughter? Also, is it ever explained why she was only be partially human (there's the mention of here puddling into something vaguely inhuman after she is shot back into her warren after she was killed)?

Was it explained (and I just missed it) why Topper was off his nut, and decided to wander the Imperial Warren as Ragman?

Does anyone else hear Superintendent Chalmers from the Simpsons when they read the name Skinner?

Is it ever explained why Osseric was being manipulated/controlled by the magus of the Spire? And also, he jumped into Kyle's sword when the flash of lightning took out his arm right?

Also, who was the figure that came down to the top of the hill redoubt after Heuk had called down Kurald Galain (the one Nait saw standing over the curled up form of Heuk (seems to be implied that it's a Tiste Andii, but don't know who))?

And the biggest question of them all, wasn't the Crippled God sent back to his own dimension? Wasn't that what the whole point of what Tavore and the Bonehunters were planning on doing? Is it explained why the Crippled god is back??


Also, as a huge fan of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (and of course Mansy the Luckless) I was wondering, have any of you read the whole collection, specifically Crack'd Pot Trail, the Wurms of Blearmouth and Fiends of Nightmaria?

I got the first 3 in the First Collection of B and KB, but was wondering what your guys' opinion was on the second set (really I'm probably going to buy it soon, but if you are super hyped about the 2nd collection I might have to buy it today).

I loved Blood Follows and the Healthy Dead, and thought the Lees of Laughter was really good (just didn't like it as much as the other two).

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