Malazan Empire: Weakest Book - Malazan Empire

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Weakest Book Purely from the Malazan Book of the Fallen canon

Poll: Which book in the series do you find to be the weakest? (78 member(s) have cast votes)

Which book in the series do you find to be the weakest?

  1. Gardens of the Moan (14 votes [17.95%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 17.95%

  2. Deadhouse Boring (3 votes [3.85%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 3.85%

  3. Memories of Paint Drying (2 votes [2.56%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 2.56%

  4. House of Lame (15 votes [19.23%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 19.23%

  5. Midnight Sighs (4 votes [5.13%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 5.13%

  6. The Dullhunters (5 votes [6.41%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 6.41%

  7. Reaper's Fail (11 votes [14.10%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 14.10%

  8. Drone the Hounds (6 votes [7.69%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 7.69%

  9. Dust of Snores (15 votes [19.23%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 19.23%

  10. The Crippled Ending (3 votes [3.85%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 3.85%

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#1 User is offline   Khellendros 

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Posted 05 May 2012 - 07:01 PM

So we all agree that this is a pretty rubbish series, especially in comparison to other artists of higher fantasy literature (Goodkind, etc).***

But within the 10,000 pages of narrative slog, which is the worst of the worst? Which didn't grip you, didn't sway you, didn't move you? Which one makes you sigh when it comes time to reread it in your tenth re-read of the series? Which one do you find more of a struggle than the rest?


I'm going for Dust of Snores :p




***Please note that this is tongue-in-cheek, you may leave your fanboy wrath at the door ;) Though the question itself is serious.
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#2 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 05 May 2012 - 07:31 PM

Gardens of the Moan was my least favorite, the hot babe count in that one is dreadfully low.
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#3 User is offline   Slow Ben 

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Posted 05 May 2012 - 08:32 PM

GoTM.

But thats like saying missionary is the worst sexual position. Its still sex.
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#4 User is offline   drinksinbars 

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Posted 16 May 2012 - 09:35 AM

View PostSlow Ben, on 05 May 2012 - 08:32 PM, said:

GoTM.

But thats like saying missionary is the worst sexual position. Its still sex.


:D
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#5 User is offline   BlackMoranthofDoom 

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Posted 02 June 2012 - 03:07 PM

I like what you did with the titles. :lol:

I liked all of them, but Dust of Snores was my least favorite on the first read,as an overall book. But there were epic scenes like the two climatic battles.
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#6 User is offline   Nocturnal 

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Posted 02 June 2012 - 03:58 PM

I can't really say for certain, since I've read 4 only. But so far, it'd be House of Chains. It reminded me of 2nd book in every trilogy, like it's written only to connect the books that came before and those after, so not much really happens in it. Also the end was completely anticlimactic. Still it's not like I didn't like it, I'd give it 4/5 stars.
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#7 User is offline   Avatar 

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Posted 02 June 2012 - 04:04 PM

Bore the Hounds, Dust of Snores and the Fizzled Plot were all my least favorite.
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#8 User is offline   POOPOO MCBUMFACE 

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Posted 02 June 2012 - 05:04 PM

Up to the last two books in my series re-read, and House of Chains still takes the cake as the weakest of them. It suffers slightly from being a "bridge" book, but more than that, it feels disconnected and thematically a bit lifeless; it felt a bit like SE had reached the point where he knew the books were getting too complex to stand well as standalone novels, but hadn't quite wrapped his head around still making it a satisfying read. Even on re-read, it feels in parts like a mess of characters stumbling randomly through various flavours of warren and having wacky events happen to them to move the plot along and get them where they need to go. The first book is great on re-read, though, and the climax is much better.

This post has been edited by POOPOO MCBUMFACE: 02 June 2012 - 05:06 PM

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#9 User is offline   Ruthan Good 

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Posted 25 November 2012 - 09:52 PM

I read up to Reaper's Gale twice and Toll the Hounds through Crippled God once. Unlike many (apparently) I liked a lot of Toll the Hounds, just not the stuff related to
Spoiler
, i.e. things that don't get resolved by the end of the book. I do actually like a lot of the small secondary storylines, just not the ones which do not finish in the main series.


House of Chains was half and half, i.e. the beginning with Karsa was dull and the character was very unappealing, which to be fair was part of the point, as later we witnessed (!) him becoming awesome - this is character development at it's best. The yet-to-be-named-bonehunters were awesome, and effectively the book set the format for most of the rest of the series. However the intentionally-slightly-underwhelming-convergence ending was a bit too much (or rather too little I suppose).

Also on a reread the first part of Reaper's Gale (i.e. bonehunter-less) is pushing it a bit on the repulsiveness scale. If I was rereading this again, I would probably skip a lot of that part with the Letherii palace characters and Redmask. In the later parts of this book when all that is set against the counterfoil of the Bonehunters it reads much better.

So I would not name any of them as bad, but the three above would definitely have parts skipped or fast read when (when, not if) I reread the series.
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#10 User is offline   Overactive Imagination 

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Posted 08 December 2012 - 06:26 AM

I think BH was my least favourite so far... mainly because it seemed kind of disjointed. I'll probably like it a lot more the second time through.

But the the fight in the flaming city in Seven Cities (Y'Ghatan?) and the aftermath in the tunnels was fuckin amazing. Loved that shit.

Also, Hellian was introduced in that book right? Love that fuckin bitch.

This post has been edited by Overactive Imagination: 08 December 2012 - 06:26 AM

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#11 User is offline   Brujah 

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Posted 14 April 2013 - 09:19 AM

View Postworrywort, on 05 May 2012 - 07:31 PM, said:

Gardens of the Moan was my least favorite, the hot babe count in that one is dreadfully low.


You made sure to count Tattersail twice though, right? She's got that extra weight on her that makes her at least twice the woman as all those other toned, athletic, skinny harlots. Ganoes hit that, not as Mr. Paran of House Paran, but as Ganoes, the Master of the Dick.
And when you're Gone, you stay Gone, or you be Gone. You lost all your Seven Cities privileges. - Karsa

you're such an inspiration for the ways that I will never, ever choose to be...
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