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[Corn! Corn! Corn!]

Hi. I posted this in the "Book Search" section, but as it's not getting any responses and I think it could (possibly) be from the Malazan books, I'll try here as well.

My friend from another forum is looking for a book series he has previously read. Here is what he wrote:

"A while back I read a series of novels that i liked but for the life of me I can not remember the titles or the auther. this is what I remember
It a scifi series of novels.
the main male character I believe is named ran.
he uses magic or sorcery.
he has been cursed so he can't read tarot cards so he gets some girl to do it for him.
said girl is referred to as a barbarian because she is from off world.
In all the books or at least the first three the same word appears in all the titles which I believe is the name of the planet the series takes place on.
in one of the books the main male character makes a spell that makes a bunch of soldiers itch thats connected to the color of their uniforms which I believe is yellow."

I know there's a "Paran" in the books, but as I've only read the first one I'm not sure if any of his "rememberings" fit. Can someone confirm or deny that is he looking for the Malazan books?

 

[HoopyFrood]

Hmm, it's difficult. I was initionally going to say no, it doesn't sound like the Malazan books, but thinking about it, the above could refer to it, but, as with all memories, just be slightly off because it's been a while since the books were read.

The first three books of the series have very different titles, but they are collectively known as part of the "Malazan Books of the Fallen". I've only read up to the fifth book, but I can't recall the main guy, as it were (who doesn't actually feature in every book anyway), Paran, using magic (intentionally, at least), but he is connected to tarot cards (known as the Deck). There is a woman who is able to read the cards, and she also goes through a transformation which means she becomes a girl from another race. So it could possibly be the Malazan books, but I'm afraid that going from the above, it could really go either way!

 

[Corn! Corn! Corn!]

Thank you very much for the input! I really appreciate you taking the time to think about this and post. Over in the Book Search section, someone actually recognized enough of the material to know what series it was from. Not Malazan, which I figured after lack of responses here. Again, thanks for the input and help!