I think I may have cracked how to read GOTM!!

[kaneda]

Keep referring back to the list of characters at the front of the book! He sometimes refers to characters by their first name, and then in the next sentence someone refers to the same character by their last name! It REALLY helps when you know that its the same character!! I've read a good chunk of it today (and I'm going to read some more of it later) and am now actually quite enjoying it!

Also, I think this is the type of book you have to devote all your time too. Can't be reading it ever so often, or be reading it with another book.

 

[Rane Longfox]

Reading it exclusively without other books as distractions I will agree with On the other hand, I never had these supposed "problems" that others seemed to have anyway

 

[polymorphikos]

Is this Gardens of the Moon? People had trouble following that?

I wish so very hard that Erikson had put more interestingnous into his interesting ideas. Also what the hell was with that wormhole into the throne room?

The hell?

 

[kaneda]

On the other hand, I never had these supposed "problems" that others seemed to have anyway

O be quiet

Is this Gardens of the Moon? People had trouble following that?

It is and yes have trouble. If you don't read it consistently you forget who characters are, and then they're referred too by a different name later. Once you get over that hurdle its fine.

 

[GOLLUM]

Erikson rules my world, what more to say....

 

[polymorphikos]

His first book in the series took a host of interesting things and handled them in a rushed, dull way robbed almost entirely of wonder and relying heavily on tropes from anime and the like. If he had made it a couple of hundred pages longer and actually put some more description, atmosphere, or characterisation in it would be neat. People tell me it gets more fleshed-out in the later books but I am lacking in enthusiasm.

 

[Rosemary]

Keep referring back to the list of characters at the front of the book! He sometimes refers to characters by their first name, and then in the next sentence someone refers to the same character by their last name! It REALLY helps when you know that its the same character!! I've read a good chunk of it today (and I'm going to read some more of it later) and am now actually quite enjoying it!

Also, I think this is the type of book you have to devote all your time too. Can't be reading it ever so often, or be reading it with another book.

I sympathise with you Kaneda...I had the same problem with the various characters and who belonged to which army!

Have just finished reading volume 6...and as the Erikson fans always say - it does get easier, so I am glad to know that you are enjoying it.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Moved to the Steven Erikson board.

 

[kaneda]

Cheers Brian, realised after I posted it that it was in the wrong place!

 

[Mayhs]

i didnt encounter any problems but its a good idea that the publisher had, listing all the names...now if only they did that with the lord of the rings (read it when i was 9)

 

[Green]

I don't read the dramatis personaeeaeaeaaaassssawa in books, normally. If you need them, it's usually the writer's fault for not establishing his characters properly.

 

[ScottSF]

I didn't have trouble following the main stories but sometimes I had trouble following when people had certain revalations about things that had to do with history, like associations with the dead emperor who I guess is a god now? Or not? Here's a parody of me reading some parts of Erikson's books. "Dwaber's balls!" (me: what!) "It can't be?!" (what can't be?) "So you see it too?" (see what!) "I guess it was inevatable" (what what what!) "Grofus is Smeanor ascended" (who is who?) "all is lost" (why!")

It's both a plus and a minus. I follow most of the story but feel like I'm missing something every once in a while. These might be books I can actually read again. It's nice to know there's a lot to explore. I can sympathize with what polymorphikos' (who?) criticism. I felt the same way in parts of it but there was enough imagination candy too keep me into it. Oh and I wanted Erikson to spend a little more time describing the different races when they are introduced. I'm sure he probably gave good enough descriptions but I felt I got them in pieces. I know some people had tusks but didn't know where in the face they were located etc. Like I said, I can always go back and read deeper.

 

[Green]

He goes into more detail in later novels. All the races you meet in GotM are met again, so no worries.

I found that because of all the details hinted at and all the people mentioned but not encountered, these books become more, er, transparent after a re-read (and no doubt, after ten re-reads). I'd also suggest reading them all one after the other for maximum loss of forgetfulness with remembering people from the last book when you forgot their names againness. Which should be standard a fantasy term, imo. RPFTLBWYFTNA. It could catch on! Who says it couldn't?

Btw, @Poly... fair enough, if you can't gather the enthusiasm for reading the next books, I can understand that - I wasn't over the moon (ha!) with GotM myself. But honestly mate, that would be your loss. Trust me

 

[Ismellofhockey]

His first book in the series took a host of interesting things and handled them in a rushed, dull way robbed almost entirely of wonder and relying heavily on tropes from anime and the like. If he had made it a couple of hundred pages longer and actually put some more description, atmosphere, or characterisation in it would be neat. People tell me it gets more fleshed-out in the later books but I am lacking in enthusiasm.

I agree with you on most points: it seems everything in the book is rushed despite the 700 pages. The characters are a little too simple, predictable and caricatural (can you say that in english?) to my liking and all in all it could have done without the "special effects" meant to cheaply infuse the reader with a sense of awe and that tingling feeling you get as a kid watching a lightsaber fight in Star Wars.
You never get a breather in that book to make you eagerly anticipate what'll come next and the end is rather anti-climactic IMO because it seems rushed more than anything else in the book.

However boards like this one raved so much about the series, that I decided to give it a second chance almost 2 years after the initial reading. After all it isn't everyday you can find a good 12 book series.

It was easier to get over the flaws in the second reading, making it possible to appreciate the scale of Erickson's world. Since Erickson's writing apparently improves throughout the books I definitely don't regret giving GOTM a second chance, on the contrary.

 

[Karsa Orlong]

GotM is definitely the weakest of the books at least on first read, but if I recall correctly the atmosphere is very powerful and vivid, the characterisation is quite unusual save one or two characters (who, incidentally, become more interesting later) and the descriptions are fairly detailed and well-written; sometimes I wonder if a few of you didn't pick up the wrong book by accident.

As for it being difficult to follow, this is very true, it's like reading about a tiny piece of history that fits into a far wider context which you thusfar have very little knowledge of - this is why GotM becomes infinitely more interesting when you've read other books, and furthermore, it's part of why later books are more interesting on first read (as well as the increase of writing quality in pretty much every other department).

Odd that people find it to be rushed too, as I thought he spent years and years on this one. :/ I can't remember it well enough to comment on that, though. Certainly, he was still finding his footing as a writer, but if you take it as the debut it is it's pretty damned impressive methinks.

 

[Green]

He wrote it in a matter of a few months, apparently. It didn't get published until something like nine years later, so he had time to work on it, but he wasn't spending all that time on it.

Personally, I don't think it was rushed, or difficult to read. I just think it had some problems with sequentiality (and if that's not a word, it bloody should be), a few too many cliches (giant dogs, floating mountains, magic based on cards) and the writing was a lot less developed than his later stuff.

But still, I enjoyed it.

 

[Brys]

It was a bit more complex - it was first written as a screenplay with ICE (which probably took a few months), then rewritten as a novel, then left for about nine years after he had got some other novels published, and then there was only slightly edited. But yes, the writing is quite obviously weaker in GotM than in the later books.

 

[Valko]

I've got about 100 pages into the book, some parts I had to read a couple of times over to work out what was going on but I'm enjoying it despite that.
It's my first Erikson book and I find it takes a while to understand a new author's style of writing. I had the same problem with Jordan and Martin

 

[nixie]

Valko, it all comes together nicely and each book is better than the last,

 

[hedgeknight]

Personally, I don't think it was rushed, or difficult to read. I just think it had some problems with sequentiality (and if that's not a word, it bloody should be), a few too many cliches (giant dogs, floating mountains, magic based on cards) and the writing was a lot less developed than his later stuff.

But still, I enjoyed it.

Me too - I'm about midway through my first reading and I'm loving it. I've gotten "lost" a couple of times, but figured it out after a few more pages. Personally, I love the pace - I despise a 700 page novel that is 600 pages of useless detail. GOTM clips along perfectly for me and has kept me turning the pages so far.
Like I said elsewhere, I wish the map of the continent - Genabackis? is that right? - was bigger and more detailed. It's hard to scan and find places mentioned in the novel.

So far, so good.
-g-