Miscellaneous Chatter > Literature
YOU MUST TELL ME ... What else are you reading?
mrganondorf:
Just finished listening to The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster ready by Rainn Wilson (Dwight from the Office). It was fucking delightful. Had a very Alice in Wonderland feel but with an overt didactic slant that didn't drain away the fun. Recommended.
TaoHorror:
Gardens of the Moon ( Malazan )
Took me 3 years to read it, just couldn't get into it. Getting it on Audible allowed me to finish it. I'm glad I did, the second half of the book gets much better. I enjoyed it, some very cool characters, some nice twists and turns in the end that I liked. Not sure I'll read the 2nd book unless someone can tell me if it takes up where the last one ends or if it's a time jump into the future and essentially a different story. Not that I wouldn't still read it, just too much on my reading list to commit to more at this time. Anyways, I like R and Abercrombie more, but I would still give it an A, well written and it got fun to read. I'll steal a few ideas for my D&D campaign ( loved the Jaghut Tyrant - I want to be him and using him in my campaign kinda would make me, hee hee! - not sure if I spelled the correctly as I was listening to the book ).
(click to show/hide)One thing - that tree thing in the end, bit confused about that. Did that "kill" the Tyrant or cage him? Did Loren want to kill him, or put his essence there to lure him and the tree house killed him? This was the only part of the book that lost me a bit.
EDIT
(click to show/hide)So I did some research and it appears the T'lan Imass killed/imprisoned the Tyrant with an Azath. Still unclear what it is. The Finnest was the Tyrants essence or something. Still a bit unclear on what happened here.
The P:
Congratulations. Many people put GotM in the lower half of the series, while book 2 and 3 are usually on the higher end of people's favorites. Book two is largely a new cast of characters and a new setting. It takes place in Seven Cities. The returning characters from what I remember are Fiddler, Kalam, Crokus, and Apsalar. Book three is more or less concurrent with the events of book two, so it wouldn't hurt to skip to three if you want. In fact, Erikson initially had them swapped before losing the draft of what became book three to a computer crash. Book three continues on with the campaign on Genabackis. There are a lot of returning characters from GotM.
(click to show/hide)The tree thing caged the tyrant. I think Lorn released the tyrant to help get rid of/weaken/occupy Anomander Rake.
Wilshire:
--- Quote from: TaoHorror on April 29, 2021, 09:45:55 pm ---Gardens of the Moon ( Malazan )
Took me 3 years to read it, just couldn't get into it. Getting it on Audible allowed me to finish it. I'm glad I did, the second half of the book gets much better. I enjoyed it, some very cool characters, some nice twists and turns in the end that I liked.
--- End quote ---
I'm glad you liked it!
Yeah... So that's pretty much the Malazan/Erickson pattern. Every book is about 500 pages of buildup and 500 pages of crazy action. If they were normal length books closer to 200-500 pages total this wouldn't seem so strange, but since most of the books are 1000 pages it makes for a really long intro.
Also Erikson likes to introduce new characters ever few pages, and this continues throughout the series, which magnifies this effect.
--- Quote from: TaoHorror on April 29, 2021, 09:45:55 pm ---Not sure I'll read the 2nd book unless someone can tell me if it takes up where the last one ends or if it's a time jump into the future and essentially a different story.
--- End quote ---
Book 2, Deadhouse Gates, could very nearly be a different series entirely. Its obviously not in the sense that Erikson is still writing it, its still within the Malazan universe, and IIRC its still on the same timeline. That said, its a whole new book. New characters, different military campaign entirely, and in fact the writing is much improved as well. Deadhouse Gates is an incredible book.
--- Quote from: TaoHorror on April 29, 2021, 09:45:55 pm ---Not that I wouldn't still read it, just too much on my reading list to commit to more at this time.
--- End quote ---
Even though I loved DG, every book is a major time commitment. Its not a series that is worth "pushing through to the end". If you dont have the time, or dont enjoy it enough to spend the time on it, there is absolutely no reason to continue. The payoff at the end of book 10 is in no way "worth it", considering you have to read nearly 10,000 pages to get there. Yes, nearly every book is great in its own right, and yes there is a lot of lore and story that you may want to see through... But at what cost? There are just way to many words to read if you aren't enjoying it.
I recommend you read it only as long as you are enjoying it. If you find yourself bored, its probably time to just put it down and move on - even if that's in the middle of a book.
It took me nearly 2 years to read Malazan, since it takes so long to read each on individually, plus I read at least 1 or 2 books (by other authors) in between each book of Malazan.
--- Quote from: TaoHorror on April 29, 2021, 09:45:55 pm ---Anyways, I like R and Abercrombie more, but I would still give it an A, well written and it got fun to read. I'll steal a few ideas for my D&D campaign ( loved the Jaghut Tyrant - I want to be him and using him in my campaign kinda would make me, hee hee! - not sure if I spelled the correctly as I was listening to the book ).
--- End quote ---
In case you haven't started it yet, I'd have to say I'm mildly disappointed with Abercrombie's most recent series. I had high hopes after First Law, so its a shame. Still worth a go though, probably.
Also, if you stop reading it at some point, it is worth reading through the Malazan wiki. There's a lot of good idea fodder in there, especially for the Jaghut if you liked them in GOTM.
As for your spoilers... Its mostly explained later. Either read and find out, or search for it on the wiki.
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