It's all coming together. ( )

La rebelión de Siete Ciudades ha sido aplastada. Queda una última fuerza rebelde oculta en la ciudad de Y'Ghatan bajo el mando fanático de Leoman de los Mayales. La perspectiva de sitiar esta antigua fortaleza inquieta al agotado Decimocuarto Ejército de Malaz. Fue allí donde cayó asesinado el mejor paladín del Imperio y se derramó una marea de sangre malazana.
Pero eso no es más que una distracción. Hay agentes de un conflicto mucho mayor que ya han empezado a hacer sus primeros movimientos. Al dios Tullido se le ha concedido un lugar en el panteón y amenaza con abrirse un cisma. Hay que elegir bando. Pero decida lo que decida cada dios, las reglas han cambiado, y la primera sangre que caerá será en el mundo de los mortales...

I have liked all the previous books, however I do not wish to make the effort to understand this. I mean, I read as leisure, I do not wish to study a book for entertainment. I'm sure it's great, though.

Difficult for me to organize my thoughts about--someone else may have made this at least three different books, possibly more. (Leoman/Y'Ghatan, the plague in Seven Cities, return to Malaz Island) There were also about eight different climaxes. Convergence indeed!

In seriousness, I think there was some real danger at some point there that Heboric stopped having to do with jade statues from space but I did not ultimately understand this subplot at all. Maybe it becomes clearer later. Maybe I missed something huge. My grasp of events at the First Throne is also pretty tenuous.

I hope we're done with Seven Cities. It seems to be exclusively filled with rightfully bitter abused teenage girls sniping at their long-suffering male keepers.

Y'Ghatan was masterful, though, surpassing Capustan for a "holy shit, this is chapter SEVEN?" moment.

Tavore might be my favorite character. Like everyone else, we never quite grasp her motives, although we're initially set up to dislike her since she sent Felisin to the mines (although we do soon learn that Tavore intended her to be rescued in fairly short order--and Felisin didn't exactly make things easy for Baudin). But when she mentions the Crippled God, and T'Amber starts making new cards, stuff is getting REAL.

My favorite scene in the whole book was probably Fiddler's game. I'll have to reread it now

Other cool stuff: Grub is always outstanding. I like anyone getting close to Tavore, and the vets seem to be. Bottle is usually pretty interesting although I could do without the Eres'al jerking him around (!). I also have no good reason to like Paran, but he keeps being likable! And Cotillion really gets interesting here. Karsa doesn't get much screen time, but it's pretty good, and same for Icarium and Mappo. Standout character I liked who I was literally rooting to die two books ago: Corabb.

Pretty boring: Curdle and Telorast. Maybe they're important later, but I shared Apsalar's sentiments. I also think a little Pust goes a long, loooong way.

Also: Really anything to do with Felisin traveling in a desert. It's a different Felisin, I know, but it just seems to lead to weird creepiness and boring complaining.

At any rate, I could hardly put it down, whereas I found the objectively fine Midnight Tides a slog to push myself through. Excited to keep going. The stakes are definitely going way, way up. I'm hoping Erikson can meet the expectations he sets. ( )

Originally published on Forest Azuaron.

It's difficult for me to say too many good things about Steven Erikson's Malazan series, and the books have been getting even better.

It's even more difficult, however, for me to say anything specific about why this book is so great, since even mentioning that a particular character is still alive (or not) at a particular point would be a serious spoiler, and I don't believe the statute of limitations has quite run out on the Malazan series.

What I can say, however, is that if you've made it this far, you will not be disappointed. While it doesn't quite hit the emotional impact of Midnight Tides, it continues Erikson's evolution as an author, and the word-smithing's better than ever. Where it falls down a little is the plot structure, which feels a little more fragmented than it needs to, right up until the last few hundred pages which are pure brilliance.

5/5 shaved knuckles in the hole. ( )