913 pages (Fantasy Fiction) Trade Paperback
Entire series 7705 pages paperback
This is the 10th and final book in the Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Yeah, that is a mouthful. This will be a review of the entire series and not so much the final book. The final two books are intended to be one story. Where to start? The only thing I have heard of to compare it to is Roman and Greek stories and history. The plans of gods battle each other over thousands of years. Huge armies push themselves to the very limits. Tales spawn tales that spawn tales within tales.
One of the most unique things about Erickson is he is not only telling an overarching story that spans the entirety of the books, but within each story there are more stories to be told. From the first to the second book only a very few characters overlap. You read a book about a familiar world where all of your fantasy based assumptions are turned on their side. Armies of undead warriors travel the world protecting it from an ancient evil and they are the good guys. Karsa Orlong, a giant teblor, goes into the world to prove himself. The modern world wraps him in chains and drags him kicking and bellowing into a hated society. A woman, Tavore Paran, gives absolutely everything on the hope that maybe it just might hold the world together...at least for a bit longer. Her brother, Ganoes Paran, becomes a pawn of the gods and is drawn into a game that he is then forced to play. The Bonehunters and the Bridgeburners battle across the entire planet and we experience their failures and their triumphs!
What might keep this epic story from being herald around the world as the greatest books ever? It is beyond dense and complex. It would take the almost 8000 pages of the books to make it clear exactly how complex. There are hundreds of characters in a multitude of story lines that jump back and forth in time, but also into other dimensions. The magic in the story derives from other planes that magic users can tap into. I imagine it like they are opening a whole to another dimension and using the force of that place to affect the world they live in. The gods are fighting over control of these, warrens, as they are called.
I am giving you an overview from what I have pieced together over reading the books. Nothing is presented to you in the way I have just told you. As a reader you are dropped into the stories almost as if you are participating. This is great in that it makes you become a part of the story and it is easy to "get used" to what is happening in the books. Its drawback is that nothing is explained in a linear fashion. It is assumed you already know the references so things that are important are not elaborated on until the next chapter, or book, or 5 books later, or maybe not at all. New characters are constantly introduced. Each book sort of stands alone. They have a "Tale" that is told, but it is in the same world as the other books and as they go along you see the story lines start to come together. At the end of The Crippled God all of the stories from the ten books all start to converge on one event.
Erikson asks a lot of his reader. He gives you bits and pieces and then convinces you to get interested in something new. This is what really shines for me about Erikson. YOU DO get interested. I can't say how many times I was drawn on another side path to the story and I quickly fell in with the new characters. I won't say that every story drew all of my interests and to be honest there were a few that I liked less than the others. The over all tone of the series is dark and brooding. Many of the characters are facing the greatest challenges of their times; and that is difficult. Then there were moments of joy and humor. Tragedy certainly plays a role for some characters, but later it is relieved with hope and success.
It really is the most difficult writing I have ever read. I felt challenged and more than ever and had to re read things to make sure I understood what was going on. Even now after having read everything I can't claim to know a lot more than just the basic way things are connected to each other. I imagine there is a lot that I have missed. The Crippled God was about 900 pages and it took me about 3 months to read all together. To contrast that I have started reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and have almost 100 pages read in 2 days. Erickson packs every paragraph full. Everything feels thought out to the extreme. Everything feels real even though most of the time these things are impossible or fantastic. He continually has story vignettes where maybe a few people meet, in the desert, at a bar, on the battle field and it makes an image appropriate for a painting. Looking back and thinking about the series I see these images of epic moments throughout the books.
Honestly, I am overwhelmed. It is certainly a masterwork of writing. I think anybody that reads it would agree.
These ratings are for the entire series.
5 Emotional/Intellectual - I became attached to a surprising number of characters. Every time I finished a book, I knew it was only a matter of time before I read the next one. Just reading the books is an intellectual challenge in itself so I had to ready to read one.
3 Style/Readability - I love his style. The way he uses language to express emotions from despair and anger to calmness and bliss is amongst the best I have read. The books are a difficult undertaking and so dense many would be turned away and at times it was very slow going.
3 Long Term Impact - Erikson has made something that others can hope to accomplish. I really don't see this becoming a huge bestseller ever. I do think that people that love fantasy enough to become writers ARE going to read this and it will inspire great things in the future.
11 out of 13 feels right to me. I have read nothing like it and I don't really see how I ever will. I could compare it to Robert Jordan in terms of epicness, but I don't feel Jordan even comes close. To read this you must be looking for a huge tale that is going to take you years to read. A place you can enjoy that comes with a requirement of dedication and effort. I am glad that I read it and I have a feeling at some point I will start to read these again, but for now I am going to burn through some other books.
Keep turning pages.
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