OT: Malazan Book of the Fallen

[sum1lost]

If you like the small cog feel, Glen Cook did that pretty well in a number of his books, some more than others.

[DonCorazon]

Agema said:
I like them also for the sense that for all that's going on, the characters seem very small, flawed cogs in a huge machine, rather than the world-striding, magic-sword-wielding, square-jawed, dragon-slaying, dark-lord-vanquishing, naive, over-righteous pricks that normally populate fantasy.

100% agree. I do have a problem though keeping track of who is who in terms of visualizing the characters and recalling their backgrounds, especially when it comes to keeping all the grunts straight like the Bonehunter squads.

I do wish the magic was a little more subtle - it does feel that magic is so powerful that any Erikson character has the means to survive any situation, no matter how dire. Whether Erikson lets them survive is another matter, but he is far more generous than George Martin.

[HoneyBadger]

Even George RR Martin admits that George RR Martin goes through his characters like extras in a John Woo movie.

[MaxWilson]

Initially (in GotM) it wasn't clear that Malazan dragons were any different from regular fantasy dragons: a species of giant magical reptiles that fly and hang out with humans sometimes. Since then it's become rather clear that dragons like Silannah are something unusual, and it is in fact questionable whether dragons are a species at all (in the biological sense) or some kind of magical emanation from the warrens. There's definitely some weird stuff going on.

-Max

[Darkwind]

It seems like a lot of people here like the Malazan series (that is what it's called, right?), so I might have to see if I can get them at the library. I need something to read, anyways, while I wait for some of the books I want to be un-checked-out.

On A Song and Ice of Fire, I love it. It's a great series, I think, though I've only read the first two books (I can't seem to find the third). On the Wheel of Time series, I used to like it, but reading the books practically back-to-back, I noticed how badly thought out some of Jordan's world really was. That, combined with the predictability and stereotypicality of nearly every minor character and quite a few of the major characters, turned me off. Plus, after ~10 books (at some point I just gave up and stopped), I was beginning to hate, not love, the characters.

[HoneyBadger]

Well, individual dragons-and individual authors-notwithstanding, Dragons-as in their role in the collective subconscious-have really been wussified, even when it's clear that this wasn't the intention. I think people have become so enamored of dragons as representatives of magic and fairy tales, that they simply refuse to view them as anything other than diplomats from wonderland. Sure, some of them retain their power, intelligence, etc. but very little of the sheer cataclysmic horror that a dragon should invoke. I mean, these were the Cloverfields of their time. They wreaked towns, ate virgins, poisoned wells, battled the gods, consorted with-and often were-the Devil, and sooner or later, they were going to destroy the Earth ala Revelations.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Not a fan of Mercedes Lackey?

While her quality varies from series to series (Valdemar series is highly predictable... look, a magic horse! Guess who's joining up with them! And you can often tell within two paragraphs of meeting who's going to be the love interest) she has a few interesting ones to her name.

Namely, the Halfblood series starting with Elvenbane, and my favorite standalone novel by her, Firebird. Firebird isn't relevenant to this discussion, but the Halfblood puts an interesting twist on the whole fantasy racial sterotypes since Tolkein, what with evil elves enslaving all of humanity and the main character being raised by dragons as a pet rather than out of some draconic nobility. And the the only reason dragons are involved in the world's affairs is the simple fact they like to meddle, not any ambition, vengeance, or purpose.

That novel is rather interesting for having a draconic culture developed, rather than a stereotype.

There is of course, still a place for fearsome monstrous or noble dragons, just as long as they're not typecast the same way in 80% of all books they appear in.

[DonCorazon]

Necroing this thread just to say - I finally finished Dust of Dreams (book 9) after the second attempt. I am not sure why the first attempt stuttered to a halt - i think i just got lost with all the tribesman and too many names. Anyway, on the 2nd go around, I could hardly put the thing down.

If anyone else has read this series, I found this thread that could be helpful, though probably best to save until you have read through once already: Malazan re-read

[iRFNA]

HAIL THE MARINES!