Lenny
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I'm going to start a new topic on this book, regardless on whether there already is one (which will have beeen silent for months, if not years).
Just to let people know where I am - start of Chapter Four, 235 pages in, Keeper has just sent Karsa and Torvald on their way to Ehrlistan.
Can I ask for no spoilers for the rest of the series after House of Chains, and no spoilers for the rest of the book? Thanks.
And before I go any further, a warning to those who haven't got this far:
I'm about a fifth of the way into HoC, and already it's chaining together the first four books of the series. You don't realise the scope of it all until you get this far, and the links are falling into place. It's as complex as a Gordian knot made of chains, except you're watching it being tied.
First of all, Torvald Nom. I suspected from the outset that he was related to Rallick (GotM), and it seems I was right, with Torvald saying, "I have a cousin, an assassin..." when explaining how his being verbose is a curse, but that half of the Nom family some to be the opposite.
MoI started to reveal the links between books, with references to the on-going "Chain of Dogs" 'campaign' (in DHG there are also references to Dujek's Host in Pale), and a scene in which Quick Ben comes back from talking to some Trygalle Traders about taking Moranth munitions to Fiddler. One assumes that in the same conversation, the small glass bottle (egg-timer?) is given to the traders, as well as the third object, which I forget... but anyway, links were made. In HoC, when Karsa is taken prisoner for a second time (by the drunk squad of Malazans), a reference is made to the Seige of Pale, and one later on that it has moved on.
Yada, yada, then we come to The Shattered Warren. In Deadhouse Gates, in what has to be my favourite bit of story out of all the books so far, Kulp and Co. make their way into a strange warren filled with water a few of feet off a seabed, and make a transition from their sinking boat to a black boat shrouded in sourcery. There they find wrapped bundles, and five people in a cabin, one with a harpoon through him and the blood still wet. In HoC, Karsa massacres the living crew of the boat, and drives a harpoon through the mages chest. I thought this was brilliant. That chapter alone, where Karsa and Torvald are in the shattered warren, instantly jacked HoC up to my second favourite Malazan book (DHG obviously being the first). I thought it was a very nice touch when Torvald began to wrap the heads... which are later unwrapped in DHG.
The timescale is interesting. In each book, we follow a few groups of characters, the story arcs of which begin to, and do indeed, converge in the final half of the book. To do it in a normal length book is no easy task. To do it in books regularly hitting the 1,000 page mark is a fantastic achievement. But to do what it is beginning to look like, and do it across a whole series?! Let's say a final count of 10,000 words, 20 groups of characters, 30 to 40 story arcs... I've never come across anything so detailed. It's even putting Final Fantasy to shame, and that's something that I believe to be extremely well done (sure, the story may only follow a single group, but the work that goes into the worlds, and the backstory that has to be built up, well, Squenix employs some amazing talent)!
235 pages in, and already a long post on links. Not only that, but it's also got me thinking a lot about Karsa, his chains, Dragnipur, and the Crippled Gods house (don't answer any of these, let me find out myself).
Simply put, Erikson's series amazes at every turn. The work put into it is phenomenal!
Just to let people know where I am - start of Chapter Four, 235 pages in, Keeper has just sent Karsa and Torvald on their way to Ehrlistan.
Can I ask for no spoilers for the rest of the series after House of Chains, and no spoilers for the rest of the book? Thanks.
And before I go any further, a warning to those who haven't got this far:
*SPOILERS FROM GARDENS OF THE MOON, DEADHOUSE GATES, MEMORIES OF ICE, AND HOUSE OF CHAINS*
I'm about a fifth of the way into HoC, and already it's chaining together the first four books of the series. You don't realise the scope of it all until you get this far, and the links are falling into place. It's as complex as a Gordian knot made of chains, except you're watching it being tied.
First of all, Torvald Nom. I suspected from the outset that he was related to Rallick (GotM), and it seems I was right, with Torvald saying, "I have a cousin, an assassin..." when explaining how his being verbose is a curse, but that half of the Nom family some to be the opposite.
MoI started to reveal the links between books, with references to the on-going "Chain of Dogs" 'campaign' (in DHG there are also references to Dujek's Host in Pale), and a scene in which Quick Ben comes back from talking to some Trygalle Traders about taking Moranth munitions to Fiddler. One assumes that in the same conversation, the small glass bottle (egg-timer?) is given to the traders, as well as the third object, which I forget... but anyway, links were made. In HoC, when Karsa is taken prisoner for a second time (by the drunk squad of Malazans), a reference is made to the Seige of Pale, and one later on that it has moved on.
Yada, yada, then we come to The Shattered Warren. In Deadhouse Gates, in what has to be my favourite bit of story out of all the books so far, Kulp and Co. make their way into a strange warren filled with water a few of feet off a seabed, and make a transition from their sinking boat to a black boat shrouded in sourcery. There they find wrapped bundles, and five people in a cabin, one with a harpoon through him and the blood still wet. In HoC, Karsa massacres the living crew of the boat, and drives a harpoon through the mages chest. I thought this was brilliant. That chapter alone, where Karsa and Torvald are in the shattered warren, instantly jacked HoC up to my second favourite Malazan book (DHG obviously being the first). I thought it was a very nice touch when Torvald began to wrap the heads... which are later unwrapped in DHG.
The timescale is interesting. In each book, we follow a few groups of characters, the story arcs of which begin to, and do indeed, converge in the final half of the book. To do it in a normal length book is no easy task. To do it in books regularly hitting the 1,000 page mark is a fantastic achievement. But to do what it is beginning to look like, and do it across a whole series?! Let's say a final count of 10,000 words, 20 groups of characters, 30 to 40 story arcs... I've never come across anything so detailed. It's even putting Final Fantasy to shame, and that's something that I believe to be extremely well done (sure, the story may only follow a single group, but the work that goes into the worlds, and the backstory that has to be built up, well, Squenix employs some amazing talent)!
235 pages in, and already a long post on links. Not only that, but it's also got me thinking a lot about Karsa, his chains, Dragnipur, and the Crippled Gods house (don't answer any of these, let me find out myself).
Simply put, Erikson's series amazes at every turn. The work put into it is phenomenal!
