Malazan

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

Honestly I'd have to read them all at least twice more before I can definitively say which ones are my favorites. Midnight Tides stands out if only because it was the first Malazan Book that really made me laugh. Like, the first three are all intense and serious, and then midnight tides comes out of nowhere like a trout to the face.

[AngelEy3 he/him]

I laughed a lot more during the Esslemont books and generally had fun. Erikson's had me sitting forward and getting epic chills way more often. Notable exception during RotCG

Spoiler

Wickans arriving to the end battle via warren in a mass cavalry charge to wipe out the soon to be Disavowed. 

 

[Briar King]

As much as I love Tiste what really killed 8 for me was Nimander and Sandalth. That became a bit of a slog on both arcs. Hopefully the reread will be glorious.

i have a challenge for Angel. How many times can you reread the entire saga before I get done with mine? Lol

we were even up to bk 4 iirc but I have slowed down beyond what I expected I would thanks to other books, DS9&Voyager, & my steady playing of Destiny 2.

[Ammanas]

14 hours ago, Who Sharded? said:

8 is the most divisive where people either rank it at the top or bottom.  I know when it came out it had the most negative reactions, and people on the Malazan forum saw 9 as a return to form.  Now people on reddit have turned on 9 for some reason.

8 is my least favorite too.  Haven't gotten there on my reread yet.

Book 8 is neither my favorite or least favorite for me. I think Toll the Hounds has Eriksons best horror scenes of the series (for what thats worth). I also love how the big scene at the end (involving Hood, and Travellor and Rake) is planned in the prologue; but it is oh so subtle and will only catch it on a reread. 

I have a mixed view on book 9; of all of the original 10 books this one felt the most like a slog, but it has, in my opinion, the greatest convergence of the entire series!

[Orlion Blight he/him]

I compare Toll the Hounds with Lord of Chaos from  Wheel of Time. It's something of a slog, but the end event is arguably one of the most important in the series. 

Toll the Hounds is also the "key" to the series. Mainly because of its post modern meta bull crap that Erikson likes to indulge in sometimes. 

Dust of Dreams is great. I have seen people that don't like it because it is essentially part 1 of 2. Of course, what they seem to forget is that it is also part 9 of 10. You are reading a series where reading order matters and you are complaining about having to read book 10 after book 9.

[AngelEy3 he/him]

9 hours ago, Briar King said:

As much as I love Tiste what really killed 8 for me was Nimander and Sandalth. That became a bit of a slog on both arcs. Hopefully the reread will be glorious.

i have a challenge for Angel. How many times can you reread the entire saga before I get done with mine? Lol

we were even up to bk 4 iirc but I have slowed down beyond what I expected I would thanks to other books, DS9&Voyager, & my steady playing of Destiny 2.

I think it was April when I started Gardens of the Moon the first time. It could be done twice in a year but I read The Black Company series, "@Briar King#Slogbringer" and a smattering of others. 

[Briar King]

Man that was a slog for real.

on bk 2 in RG. Champions have arrived. So good. Bugg loses his temper. Twilight! So much epicness.

[Ammanas]

New French cover for GotM. A nice image of Moon's Spawn and the siege at Pale

[Briar King]

I still like my good ole Murican covers(y’all have no idea how much I cursed when they switched styles on me for bk 9). 

[Who Sharded?]

3 hours ago, Ammanas said:

New French cover for GotM. A nice image of Moon's Spawn and the siege at Pale

Huh, was this updated recently?  I could have sworn when I saw this a couple of weeks ago, Tattersail was skinnier.

 

ETA: Yep, here's the one I saw:  

Edited February 1, 2018 by Who Sharded?

[Ammanas]

@Who Sharded? Huh that is interesting. Maybe someone pointed out that Tattersail is described in the book as at least a little overweight and they made the change. The picture you shared depicts her as anorexic.

[Briar King]

Looks more complete now anyway. May have just been enhanced outline pic? She is a bigger woman anyway 

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

38 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Looks more complete now anyway. May have just been enhanced outline pic? She is a bigger woman anyway 

Yeah. She literally describes herself in a message as "the fat lady with the spells". I think Erikson made it really clear that she's a big woman, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Also, FENER'S HOOVES, MY SISTER JUST TOLD ME SHE STARTED GARDENS OF THE MOON TODAY. Peer pressure works! Mwahahaha. A year ago this time she was reading Wheel of Time after I did the same thing. Yessss.

[Briar King]

That’s good. Just make sure she is aware of the GotMism and encourage her to atleast finish bk 2 if she has problems with 1. A lot of people are just turned off with 1 and stop.

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

She knows, because I've obliquely complained to her about it, before, haha. But I made sure she knew it was a good story and that the next book is even better. She'll stick it out. I make good recommendations, mostly because I get them from people on the Shard!

[Briar King]

Oh and I just saw the thread of pic on Malazan. It was indeed unfinished.

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

Rereading House of Chains. I am never going to stop laughing about the birdshit scorpion. XD

[AngelEy3 he/him]

Still on my DG reread. It's 10x better when you know what's happening 

[Briar King]

Now just imagine years passing instead of mere months. Fantastic experience.

 I’m only around 260 in RG. Very groovy 

[AngelEy3 he/him]

46 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Now just imagine years passing instead of mere months. Fantastic experience.

 I’m only around 260 in RG. Very groovy 

I know! It'll be awesome to do again in a few years. I think I started in the world of Malazan around April 1st 17'

[Briar King]

Oh rusting hell! The way Errants switch gets flipped is amazing. All because he

stood to close to the demon Kuru Qan trapped in MT

[AngelEy3 he/him]

Just saw that "Fiddler on the Roof" was on the classic movie channel and got an image of Fiddler hanging out on the roofs with his crossbow and cussors.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

 So 2020 has been posted as a date for Walk in the Shadows (begin writing? Publishing? I don't know). Having that tentative date makes me feel a whole lot better about the series. 

[Ammanas]

Where did you see a 2020 release date? I think, best case scenario, is a 2022 release date. Last I heard he said he would only go back to Kharkanus after the Karsa books. He is writing the first one now so hopefully a 2019 for that one and he releases a book a year after that. I did read in a interview that he said the Kharkanus books were very difficult for him to write, but hopefully the Karsa books will build up momentum for him.

Edit: I saw a fan mentioned 2020 on facebook to him, but have no idea where that date was pulled from

Edited February 14, 2018 by Ammanas

[Who Sharded?]

Yeah I'd like to see the source for this 2020 Walk in Shadow date.  If it didn't come from Erikson himself, it's probably just a placeholder.  And even if it did come from Erikson, I wouldn't hold him to that date.