The Malazan Book of the Fallen

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Having just finished the Crippled God, I thought I’d just put a mention of it on LJ. Now I won’t be going into a long, gushing review of it, because I don’t really see the point. Better reviewers than me have already done so, and he’s successful enough that I don’t think he’ll need all the notice he can get, but all the same Steven Erikson has produced something remarkable.

The sheer scale, weight and grandeur of the series beggars belief. It’s a remarkable work, one that – as a competitor of Erikson’s – my head hurts to even think about plotting and writing. Even the flaws, the chapters I’d have not included myself or unfinished story threads or over-powerful characters, all add to the richness of the tapestry. Yes, even the flaws make this more than the sum of it’s parts. So while not trying to gush about it, this is the finest and most stunning work I’ve ever come across in literature. It’s (re)defined the nature of heroism for me and given me something that will live forever in my memory. Strange to say, I’m actually looking forward to re-reading all three million words of it!

So there you go, no gushing there at all, just a quick word of recommendation….

12 thoughts on “The Malazan Book of the Fallen”

  3. You know I loved it. I’m glad you finally finished it up (and that you read it right after finishing Dust of Dreams).

    There simply isn’t anything as epic in scale as this.

    Sure, there are flaws aplenty, but the weight of the awesomeness of the rest of the book/series far outweighs any nitpicks.

    1. Yeah, I think I should customise this to have it using the Michael Komark picture of Anomander Rake that Subterranean Press used on their GOTM edition. If the link works…

      http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nx1KgwhT6eA/TWSLe_ZQdVI/AAAAAAAAACI/e1JWqt6rLQo/s1600/Space_Marine_Motivation_Poster_by_Kasin971.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wayward11302.blogspot.com/2011/02/descent-of-angels.html&usg=__hmvIibH4qJxOvD_m7GZSAhsGzts=&h=750&w=600&sz=125&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=RmyaRkDF_MthJM:&tbnh=147&tbnw=127&ei=yindTai6GIyj-gbt6v2yDw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dspace%2Bmarine%2Bawesome%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DHtw%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1440%26bih%3D746%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=131&vpy=63&dur=1263&hovh=251&hovw=201&tx=102&ty=115&sqi=2&page=1&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

  4. You know I loved it. I’m glad you finally finished it up (and that you read it right after finishing Dust of Dreams).

    There simply isn’t anything as epic in scale as this.

    Sure, there are flaws aplenty, but the weight of the awesomeness of the rest of the book/series far outweighs any nitpicks.

    1. Yeah, I think I should customise this to have it using the Michael Komark picture of Anomander Rake that Subterranean Press used on their GOTM edition. If the link works…

      http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nx1KgwhT6eA/TWSLe_ZQdVI/AAAAAAAAACI/e1JWqt6rLQo/s1600/Space_Marine_Motivation_Poster_by_Kasin971.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wayward11302.blogspot.com/2011/02/descent-of-angels.html&usg=__hmvIibH4qJxOvD_m7GZSAhsGzts=&h=750&w=600&sz=125&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=RmyaRkDF_MthJM:&tbnh=147&tbnw=127&ei=yindTai6GIyj-gbt6v2yDw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dspace%2Bmarine%2Bawesome%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DHtw%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1440%26bih%3D746%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=131&vpy=63&dur=1263&hovh=251&hovw=201&tx=102&ty=115&sqi=2&page=1&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

  5. Im gonna have WORDS with Gollancz. These things always happen the very day I’m working a nightshift to meet a deadline the next day. How is this fair.

    This can’t be an accident. There shall be a reckoning.

  6. Im gonna have WORDS with Gollancz. These things always happen the very day I’m working a nightshift to meet a deadline the next day. How is this fair.

    This can’t be an accident. There shall be a reckoning.

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