A silly question

[Shams]

Hi All,

I have a quick question I'm hoping one of you can help me with.

I've been reading Sci-fi and fantasy for a very long time and like to consider myself both well read in the genre and well educated generally.

However, the first 100 pages of Gardens of the moon, and parts of it thereafter, felt like a giant punch delivered square upon my face.

The learning curve was so steep, as to make it difficult for me to follow. I usually listen to/read books in order to unwind and relax in a well told story. Don't get me wrong, once I got into the book, it was incredible.

My main question is: Does Deadhouse Gates have the same learning curve?

Many thanks for your replies.

 

[Lenny]

A good proportion of the characters carry over, which makes it slightly easier to ingest, but quite a bit is introduced, so: yeah, it's not as steep, but there's a learning curve.

Honestly, on a first read through, there's a fair bit in every book in the series that is thrown at you without much explanation, that you only really start to get when you read the other books. For me, for instance, I wasn't totally getting things from the first few books until I read the fourth. When it does all click, though, if you go back to earlier books you'll find them so much richer than your initial impression.

You'll see it a lot if you flick through some of the threads (be careful of spoilers!) - the Malazan series is fiendishly difficult to get into (a lot of people drop out by the third book. It seems to be a rule of thumb that if you can make it to the fourth book, you'll finish the series), but once you're into it you'll love it, and you'll re-read everything multiple times. It's almost as if it's been written for re-reads.

 

[ethelredtheunredey]

it gets easier around book three but yes Erickson makes George Martins complexity look like Ludo compared to AD&D