Its been 5+ yrs since I started reading this series. I started strangely enough with the third book in the series when I was in germany. I used to have these long 2 day weekends all alone with nothing to do and weekday evenings when I used to either watch MTV or CNN ( the only two english channels on tv). At this time I would goto bookshops and look for the fattest book available in fantasy and pick it up.
That is how I ended up picking up Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson and what a book it turned out to be. That book was just astounding and I had to read more from this author! Slowly over the next couple of months managed to get Gardens of the Moon(book 1) and Deadhouse gates (book 2) when I got back to India.
Since then Steven Erikson has been my favourite author trumping Tolkein etc. Where every fantasy author till date has tried to ape Tolkein in some way with Elves/dwarves and a do-gooder hero and an all evil Enemy, Erikson follows a completly different track. His characters are not easily slotted as good/bad. Most of the characters are in the grey area and the scope of the novels is just crazy. The timeline spans over 300,000 yrs+ with characters that are immortal(Ascendants), gods who have died, gods who walk amongst us, Undeads and above all the Bridgeburners.
The Bridgeburners are an elite Marine force of the Malazan Empire and most of the characters are just amazing. Erikson's humour is best described as satirical. Since Erikson himself is an anthropologist and archaeologist by training his settings are described in such detail that it makes Tolkein's world creation small. The other part which I love about the Malazan Series is the fact that magic has been treated very differently. Magic is bound into a hierarchy of what are called different aspects eg, light,darkness,shadow etc. At the top is chaotic magic, then magic of dragons (Starvald Demelain), then elemental forces(Elder Warrens as they are called) like light,darkness(Kurald Galain),shadow (Kurald Emurhlan),fire (Tellan), Ice ( Omtose phellack ) -Elder Warrens and finally the more refined magic like denur(healing),mockra(illusion) and others.
I would highly recommend this series to anyone who has the stomach for a bit of gore but wants to explore High Fantasy and move beyond the Tolkein wannabe novels. There is one other author who has taken a step away from tolkein style namely Scott. R. Baker. But I will reserve a review of his books for later!.
Read further for review of Reaper's Gale (some spoilers).
Reaper's Gale is primarily set what is know as the continent of Lether. In Book 6 Bonehunters and Midnight Tides ( Book 5 ) we saw the letherii empire being taken over by the Tiste Edur manipulated by the Crippled God. The Tiste Edur under the directions of their mad emperor Rhulad Sengar go out to claim the First Throne of Imass. During this they encounter subjects of the malazan empire as well as fight with Masters of the Shadow Realm namely Cotillion and Kellanved. Book 6 also talks about Adjunct Tavore's army which after quelling the rebellion in the Seven Cities heads back home to Malaz City only to find that the Empress's Claw has been subverted by another group of assassins headed by Korbolo Dom and the empress is helpless.
Instead of plunging the empire into a civil war the Adjunct Tavore decides to sail away from malaz city towards an unknown destination after a bloody fight to the coast of malaz city against the assassins sent against her as she tries to make it back to her fleet.
Thats where book 6 ends. Book 7 brings a lot of this disparate threads together and we see the coming back of some of favourite characters from across the series like Icarium, Karsa Orlong, Trull Sengar, Quick Ben, Fiddler, Tehol Beddict and his manservant Bugg amongst others. Overall the book is gripping and a must read though it left me wanting for a bit more and I was kind of dissappointed with the way the end was handled. Karsa orlong as usual surprises everyone by doing what no one expects. The book on the whole raises more questions than it answers and it will be interesting to see what happens to the malazan empire in book 8 and onwards.
Tehol's character is superb and so is the character of Udinaas (A Letherii slave of Tiste edur now in company of Silchas Ruin!). Fiddler and Quick Ben are as usual upto their own tricks and Quick Ben is meaner and stronger than ever! Heck take swatting 3 dragons down alone!. Some people die and some dead and not so dead come back to life.
If I seem to be a bit reluctant to divulge details please bear with me:) As I would rather have you read the book than tell you the whole story:).
In the end I would just say that its amazing and Erikson leaves me hungering for more!
Comments (2)
Do you have book 7!!?
I just finished Harry Potter over the weekend. I was happy with the book/ending/pace :)
Posted by Anonymous | July 24, 2007 11:41 AM
Posted on July 24, 2007 11:41
hehe:p yes i do:) and going to start on potter once aruna finishes reading it!
Posted by Bhasker | July 24, 2007 2:02 PM
Posted on July 24, 2007 14:02