Malazan

[Orlion Blight he/him]

There ya go, with the audiobooks again! 

The six Malazan Empire novels by Esslemont are best viewed as being supplemental. They expand on some of the world and its going ons. But there is not much of an overarching plot. The Crimson Guard tend to figure in them a lot, but that is really it. 

With the exception of Knight of Knives, each book covers a geographic location or culture not extensively covered in the Book of the Fallen. The final two cover continents you really don't see in the main series except for as hushed whispers. 

[Briar King]

Y’all know what just dawned on me... I don’t own OST... 

 

ed: I take that back it’s showing I did buy it. I now don’t even know if I received it though. Back in Dec 17... 

 

huh

ed2 I found it. I put it on my shelf pages out in the wrong order from other ICE.

maybe my ambien was going hard then

Edited October 13, 2018 by Briar King

[Briar King]

Yeah so the other day when I was talking about how brutal Outlander can be I just now read a part that has my spine chilled. I hesitate to say it here Incase anyone actually wants to read these books but if asked I will paint a very basic picture with as few story spoilers as I can.

wow that was rough.

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

18 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Yeah so the other day when I was talking about how brutal Outlander can be I just now read a part that has my spine chilled. I hesitate to say it here Incase anyone actually wants to read these books but if asked I will paint a very basic picture with as few story spoilers as I can.

wow that was rough.

Spill! I'll probably read it eventually but I'm okay with some spoilers, if it won't totally ruin the moment.

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

Also I think that we've turned this thread into the place where everyone can go to talk about Malazan and get quick, thoughtful responses, so I don't mind our tangents. It feels safe here, unlike some other media platforms rife with cads and ruffians who have terrible opinions.

[Briar King]

1 hour ago, officiumdefunctorum said:

Spill! I'll probably read it eventually but I'm okay with some spoilers, if it won't totally ruin the moment.

Ok. I will try to just describe the scene without giving away any setting/character spoilers. This is probably lack depth cause I’m really just bare boning it here. I’m leaving out key info. This was a fairly random thing so no big huge spoiler once you read the outcome. Just one of many moments I was talking about earlier.

 

i almost want to describe this saga as grimdark at times but that’s not really right. It’s not like what I’ve read of Baker or Abercrombie or Lawrence really but sometimes it’s close. I find it all the brutal then the above though. Weird maybe?

anyway a slave that raised his hands against someone of a higher station was without a proper trail fishhooked/impaled through his abdomen and strung up and is still alive when certain people stumble upon him. They demand he be taken down and over the course of examination of impalment we get a rundown on what could be damaged inside. It’s determined that he can probably be saved if they act fast but it will be messy. Before that can be done though this person really thinks and asks another should they save his life then will the impalers actually let him live. The answer is no they determine. So this person has to decide to humanly put down a slave to save this slave from failing back into their hands. Poison does the trick while this person sits down and holds the slave till the end.

that probably doesn’t do any justice but trust me in full detail it’s a very powerful/disturbing scene imo.

Edited October 14, 2018 by Briar King

[Orlion Blight he/him]

12 hours ago, officiumdefunctorum said:

Also I think that we've turned this thread into the place where everyone can go to talk about Malazan and get quick, thoughtful responses, so I don't mind our tangents. It feels safe here, unlike some other media platforms rife with cads and ruffians who have terrible opinions.

True, I'm just a cad and ruffian with great opinions!

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

2 hours ago, TheOrlionThatComesBefore said:

True, I'm just a cad and ruffian with great opinions!

Sometimes you gotta be a ruffian. I'll conveniently forget how angry I still sometimes get at myself for reading Aspect Emperor, haha.

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

I started TCG for the first time a year ago today!

 

[Briar King]

Annnnd 27 rereads later

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

31 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Annnnd 27 rereads later

Touche! Just the once but I am pretty terrible at doing anything in my free time that isn't reading. I'm behind on my Goodreads challenge, though. I need to read 23 more books before the end of the year and I'm terminally incapable of reading things that are short. I wanted to reread stormlight but that takes like a week each even for me, lmao.

[Ammanas]

If anyone has been on the fence about starting Forge of Darkness I just noticed that the ebook is on sale for $2.99. Don't know for how long:

https://www.amazon.com/Forge-Darkness-Kharkanas-Trilogy-Malazan-ebook/dp/B008BU74J6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539948952&sr=8-1&keywords=forge+of+darkness

[AngelEy3 he/him]

36 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

If anyone has been on the fence about starting Forge of Darkness I just noticed that the ebook is on sale for $2.99. Don't know for how long:

https://www.amazon.com/Forge-Darkness-Kharkanas-Trilogy-Malazan-ebook/dp/B008BU74J6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539948952&sr=8-1&keywords=forge+of+darkness

It's worth every bit of $3 and then some. Get this, Mezlas, if you don't already have it! 

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

It's been awhile since I've posted about Silchas Kitty. Update: he's a menace, keeps trying to knock my sword off the wall, and is not a tiny kitten anymore. Also, still ridiculously adorable.

[Ammanas]

So Steven Erikson just released his new science fiction novel Rejoice: A knife to the heart. To be honest I am kind of unsure about it and will be going the library route (anything Malazan except for the B and K novellas is a preorder for me). Opinions have all over the place. It looks like it is more overtly political than his usual works...I will post what is currently the most helpful review on Amazon :

I'm a huge fan of Erickson's fiction work. I pre-ordered this. I would like my money back.

I'm not sure I've read ALL his work, but, this is the first overtly political work of his I've read. Its bad to the point of being parody. Not just because of the wackadoo political views being ham-handedly hammered on throughout (though some of those are down right offensive - doctors keep disease cures secret for money? the "cooperation" (totalitarianism) in more "advanced" societies like Russia and China make them a more advanced form of consciousness? Individual freedom is both an illusion and morally wrong?) but more because the book is just terribly written. Unlike many of his other books, the characters here are shallow caricatures - the screaming and moronic American president, the vile, scheming, evil "corporate leaders", the noble, beautiful, and brilliant underdog (choose your "minority" class). The word for this sort of shallow, silly, "I think I'm really deep but my insights are laughable when they aren't offensive" type of writing and thinking is "sophmoric". The whole thing reads like it was written by an Occupy Wall Street protester - right down to its fundamental misunderstanding of how markets and governments work. If I didn't know this was written by one of the most famous names in SciFi, I would assume it was written by a 19 year old in a Che Guevara T-shirt. There are actually whole sections devoted to a character's musings on how powerless "The Man" is without violence. Seriously.

I am struggling to finish this (I'm about 3/4 of the way through). But, unless the final chapter reveals the whole thing was a work of parody - this is a pile of hot garbage. Buy it for your 17 year old nephew - he can smoke a bunch of weed and talk about how deep it is. Not recommended for any functioning adult.

Here is a positive review from Wert:

http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2018/09/rejoice-knife-to-heart-by-steven-erikson.html?m=1

I am looking forward to my library getting a copy so I can form my own opinion! I know that @AngelEy3 has bought a copy a look forward to his (and any other frequent contributers to this thread) opinion on the latest book from Steven Erikson

Edited October 26, 2018 by Ammanas

[Orlion Blight he/him]

That "helpful" review sounds like some typical right-winger, to be honest. Particularly when he complains about a minority character being noble, beautiful, and brilliant and claiming, without any examples, that it has fundamental misunderstanding of how markets and governments work. And who calls Erikson a sci-fi writer? He's written sci-fi but is very much known for fantasy. And one of Erikson's characters going on a political rambling? Anyone that has read Malazan knows that is typical of Erikson.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to read it, but I am not convinced that someone complaining about an Erikson book being political has ever read one. 

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

@TheOrlionThatComesBefore I was having similar thoughts. It sounds a lot like some of the people that show up in the Malazan Empire Facebook group and say that Lether is a criticism of communism. It seems like, with Malazan, it's easier for those types to avoid any of the observations and allegories Erikson has woven into the story because there are swords, dragons, and explosions.

I'm also not going to read it, though. I'm not interested in science fiction, really, or in anything based in the actual world that isn't Marvel comics, tbh. 

Edited October 27, 2018 by officiumdefunctorum

[Orlion Blight he/him]

3 hours ago, officiumdefunctorum said:

@TheOrlionThatComesBefore I was having similar thoughts. It sounds a lot like some of the people that show up in the Malazan Empire Facebook group and say that Lether is a criticism of communism. It seems like, with Malazan, it's easier for those types to avoid any of the observations and allegories Erikson has woven into the story because there are swords, dragons, and explosions.

I'm also not going to read it, though. I'm not interested in science fiction, really, or in anything based in the actual world that isn't Marvel comics, tbh. 

How is Lether a criticism of communism?! I, as the kids say, can't even! 

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

1 hour ago, TheOrlionThatComesBefore said:

How is Lether a criticism of communism?! I, as the kids say, can't even! 

My general reaction:

 

[Briar King]

Yep wasn’t interested in this book ever since I 1st read Werts review on Malazan. I don’t need anti trump garbage in my fiction.

[Who Sharded?]

I have never seen someone say that Lether was a criticism of communism.  Are you sure they didn't say capitalism?  Because it's not subtle by any means.

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

52 minutes ago, Who Sharded? said:

I have never seen someone say that Lether was a criticism of communism.  Are you sure they didn't say capitalism?  Because it's not subtle by any means.

Nope. They definitely said communism. To be fair, I think they were thinking along the lines of Chinese communism. Or not thinking at all, because you're correct. It's REALLY unsubtle.

[Briar King]

Oh man I KNOW I’m doing SW a disservice only reading a section a day while trying to gain on Outlander 4. Stone is fun. Korel is so interesting.

man it’s still going to be quite awhile to as I’m only in the 400’s of a 1070 pg brick.

 

ugh

[Ammanas]

So I dont know what to make of this. I just noticed that in the description, provided in the link, of Kellanved's Reach describes it as the conclusion of Esslemont's early empire trilogy. Last I heard was Esslemont signed for three books, but more could come if it sold well and if Esslemont felt like writing more. From what I understand they have been selling well and I haven't heard anything from Esslemont about stopping. Perhaps Amazon is just wrong or maybe they know something I don't. Anybody else have any info to share that I missed?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C75RNV8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

[Orlion Blight he/him]

3 hours ago, Ammanas said:

So I dont know what to make of this. I just noticed that in the description, provided in the link, of Kellanved's Reach describes it as the conclusion of Esslemont's early empire trilogy. Last I heard was Esslemont signed for three books, but more could come if it sold well and if Esslemont felt like writing more. From what I understand they have been selling well and I haven't heard anything from Esslemont about stopping. Perhaps Amazon is just wrong or maybe they know something I don't. Anybody else have any info to share that I missed?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C75RNV8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I imagine it's planned as A conclusion, not necessarily THE conclusion.

So whatever story this trilogy tells will be completed, but there can be further adventures.