The Malazan Books of the Fallen - Doorstop Fantasy at its finest?

I have ordered the first three books in the Malazan series and expected them a week from now... however, they have been delayed and I won't see them for at least ten days. I, too, worship at the GRRM altar and have yet to read a series that has left me the way his did. I have heard good things about Erikson (mainly in comparison to GRRM) which is why I am starting the series. I will be sure to push through the entire series if I am not pulled as I hope to be.
 
Yeah, there are boring bits... (I disagree about the Mhybe, although her thread wasn't particularly exciting, you learn a lot about how the malazan world works, about old gods, new gods, the warrens etc. and it was nice to see some compassion amongst the blood bath that was MoI;)) but you can't say Martin's wasn't without them. I found a number of threads rather dull at times, but I still think its a fantastic series...
 
**Apologies if you've already seen this post in the Just Started thread of this section.**

Hi all,

I’m new to this forum and am from Melbourne, Australia. Please check out my introduction on this forum!!

I’ve been reading in the fantasy genre for the last 25 years and am able to answer most queries regarding fantasy authors/series, release dates etc... Basically I'm a Steven Erikson fan (No 1. of all time) with George RR Martin at No 2. on my all time hit parade. Other authors I like include Kate Elliott, JV Jones current series, Janny Wurts, Stephen Donaldson, Paul Kearney, Robert Silverberg (Majipoor series), Tad Williams, Greg Keyes, Glen Cook and the list goes on.

Please refer to my fairly comprehensive list of recommended fantasy books over the past 25 years in the thread Your Favorite Fantasy Books under the Books and Literature forum.

Anyway, Steven Erikson’s Malazan Empire series is the best fantasy series I’ve ever read in my 25 years spent reading in this genre!!!! He’s a Canadian writer and UK based. Compared to Homer by some critics for sheer scope and complexity of storyline. Great storytelling especially for his first venture into this genre!!!!

The “Malazan Book Of The Fallen” is the series title. Malazan is the empire in charge of things like the Romans in ancient history. Steven writes 1/year, as it is part of his contract with the publisher.

It takes places currently on around 3 different continents but each novel will focus on a particular continent with characters and continents interlinked so say book 1,3 are on continent x, book 2,4 continent y etc.. Each novel is also in a sense standalone with most threads pulled together by story’s end, which is a good feature for me, so I’m not waiting for the next instalment to see if character x is about to fall of the proverbial precipice. This is not to say that the books don’t follow each other or not interlinked as they are.

As he deals with Military fantasy on the grand scale he's fairly hard edged as well as being brilliantly conceived and written. The point is Erikson drops you into his world in the middle of what is obviously an EPIC series but whilst it is not easy to follow early on he does tie most threads by books end. The last 200 pages of Book 1 is action packed, what one critic very aptly put as a 'machine gun finish" I've never read a book that was so packed in those last few hundred pages. WOW!!!! Book 2 Deadhouse Gates and the future books reach a high water mark in fantasy writing that never goes down. Anyone I know who has read Erikson immediately places him at or near to the top of the list ahead of Martin and others as great as they are. He obviously thought the entire series through extremely well from the beginning. He has a background as an anthropologist and archaeologist and it sure shows in his world building. Epic, gritty, grey characters along the lines of The Black Company, amazing complexity and magic systems!!

As I’ve stated on other forums and as other users are obviously saying here, PLEASE don’t be put off if you’re finding it hard to follow things in the first few hundred pages of book 1, lots of concepts that get fleshed out in later books appear here. By end of book 3 I had a fair handle on things.

For UK/Aus readers, Books 1 –4 are in smaller paperback, ranging from 700-1000+ pages. Book 5 is in trade paperback and 500+ pages, so plenty of reading there. Book 5 in smaller paperback, approx 700, pages comes out in March 2005. Bantam is the UK/Aus publisher. Books 1 and 2 have now come out in the US.

Malazan Book Of The Fallen

PUBLISHED UP TO 2005/Early 2006.
1. Gardens Of The Moon.
2. Deadhouse Gates
3.Memories Of Ice
4.House Of Chains
5.Midnight Tides
6.The Bonehunters (due Feb 2006).

TO BE PUBLISHED 2006 and beyond.
*NB Roughly the first five books came out around April of each year, book 6 may still be by April so basically the books come out in the first half of each year.

7.Reapers Gate (2006?)
8.Toll The Hounds (2007)
9.Dust Of Dreams (2008)
10.The Crippled God (2009)

Hope this info proves useful!!!:D :D :D :D
 
tonic said:
Iv'e read Gardnes of the Moon and Deadhouse Gate, I'm about 100 pages in Memories of Ice and I have to say I am extremely surprised and delighted with this series. It is amazingly complex and leaves you guessing where normally you would have assumed the ending already. It's got everything from the magic that Martin doesn't have to the politics that Martin exceeds in. I think it is one of the top series I've read and reccommend it to everyone.
Click to expand...

Memories of Ice is his best so far, I think, but all of the others are excellent.

In case anyone's wondering - Erikson has started writing book 7, and a Chain of Dogs movie (based on the chain of dogs storyline in Deadhouse Gates) is planned.
 
Karsa's storyline hasn't dulled my enjoyment of the series at all, I found it intresting, I had wondered about Sha'ik's giant bodyguard when reading DHG,and it's nice to get some background on him,ok I did wonder what on earth was going on but when I discovered who he was everything fell into place.

When is Chain of Dog's due to be released?

Hope the cinema isn't to busy... don't want everyone see me cry:eek:
 
Chain of Dogs hasn't even started to be filmed yet;) It will be quite a while. And I'm not sure it'll be on general cinema release anyway:confused:
 
You think it will be an arthouse fim? I sorta can't imagine it being a film really :eek: It seems to good to be true, yknow? ;)

Initially, the Karsa storyline in the beginning of HoC was rather tedious for me. However after the third re-read I followed the journey of his character and enjoyed it. Like others have said, it was out of context a bit. But ultimately neccesary to the storyline of the series, it seems.
 
nixie said:
Karsa's storyline hasn't dulled my enjoyment of the series at all, I found it intresting, I had wondered about Sha'ik's giant bodyguard when reading DHG,and it's nice to get some background on him,ok I did wonder what on earth was going on but when I discovered who he was everything fell into place.

When is Chain of Dog's due to be released?

Hope the cinema isn't to busy... don't want everyone see me cry:eek:
Click to expand...
If I was in Yorkshire, I would come and cry with you Nixie :)
 
nixie said:
You could always fly over in the airbus...
BTW Gollum send you a pm about Duiker.. don't know if you'll recieve it or not as I think you inbox is full
Click to expand...
Of course - the airbus!!:)

Have emptied mailbox now, so I am sure he will re-send it.:D


I still can't stop laughing about pages 888 and 889 of The Malazine!!:D
 
Oh no, the tissues had to be used! That was just so sad :(
How could Mr Erikson do that to me?
 
Well if you are having trouble with it, I hate to think how I shall manage? :eek:
 
Indeed. As with any other Malazan novel, it seems to start in a totally new continent, in a different era than the previous volume and with a whole new cast! Crafty fellow, this Erikson.
 
I really enjoyed Midnight Tides. Don't worry Rosey, you'll do fine ;) After Deadhouse Gates, MT is probably my fondest in the series so far. Some of the new characters really touched me :) Keep going!
 
For me MOI was my favourite or really the most significant of the books by Erikson so far because it was what caused me to confirm him at the top of my fantasy tree after 25 years spent reading in this Genre.

From the viewpoint of his ability to be an outstanding storyteller DHG is probably my fav so far.

From both an editing and authorship POV, Midnight Tides is his best or most accomplished/polished effort to date IMO.
 
Memories of Ice is certainly my personal favorite, but Midnight Tides was the most enjoyable to read...
 
Well, it looks as if I shall be getting book 4 afterall...I feel as if I have just accepted a challenge!:D
 
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