[EmperorMagus]

I'm actually listening to it for the first time, but that's not the point.

I'm at the scene where Enesdia is killed.

A few points come to mind:

1. This is, in my opinion, the best book Steven Erickson has written in terms of the writing quality. I've always loved his dialogue of course, but he has brought the quality of his dialogue into his descriptions and narrative as well. I admit that this opinion may be due to me listening to this book rather than reading it. Regardless, I love the prose of this book.

2. Characters are beautifully built. I think this book should be used as a guide for how write great characters. It has a stupidly large dramatis personae, but gives each character a life of their own and I love it for that reason.

3. The book is attempting to use Kharkanas as an analogue for current day events. At least I'm pretty sure that's what it is trying to do. There is no other way to explain the commentary on the forests that have been destroyed, or all the musings about faith, or The Vitr. I will need to reread it to get everything. I'm pretty sure a lot will be revealed upon a reveal.

4. Fuck me, but SE can always write brutal death scenes. WTF just happened with Enesdia and her brother ...

5. I don't know why I waited so long to read this book.

6. This narrator does FoD justice.

[worry]

I can only agree with one aspect of your post: its entirety.

[EmperorMagus]

One thing I find different from other SE books is that the foreshadowing towards the final show down is a lot less pronounced. I think this is partly because we have some idea what is going happen and he doesn't want to lay it too thick, but honestly, the thought that maybe there will be no final climactic fight in this book is scaring me a little. I want that jerk Hanral murdered and I want to see Hood go batshit crazy.

[Andorion]

Something I found interesting in the Kharkanas series was how SE took some of his pet topics - ecological waste, the hollowness of civilisation, and dialled the emphasis all the way up.

The more I think of it, MBotF was SE's magnup opus, his grand story, and Kharkanas is a lot more personal, his own musings on reality.

[Puck]

 worry, on 27 September 2016 - 08:37 PM, said:

I can only agree with one aspect of your post: its entirety.

^This.

Also, the audio book narrator for FoD is indeed very good. I'm not a big listener when it comes to those, but I really enjoyed re-listening to it.

[EmperorMagus]

Andarist just disowned Anomander.

My heart went out to Andarist. Tears (literally) came to my eyes on the bus. Anomander has suddenly become so scary.

@Andorion:
I agree about the fact that SE has ramped up his focus on "pet topics". He has done that and I love it. However, MBoTF was not really a magnum opus. It is great series, but it was written while Erickson was a novice writer. You can't really consider something that is so obviously lower in quality a writer's magnum opus. Malazan was just the first series he wrote.

[Andorion]

 EmperorMagus, on 28 September 2016 - 05:28 PM, said:

Andarist just disowned Anomander.

My heart went out to Andarist. Tears (literally) came to my eyes on the bus. Anomander has suddenly become so scary.

@Andorion:
I agree about the fact that SE has ramped up his focus on "pet topics". He has done that and I love it. However, MBoTF was not really a magnum opus. It is great series, but it was written while Erickson was a novice writer. You can't really consider something that is so obviously lower in quality a writer's magnum opus. Malazan was just the first series he wrote.

Good point. But I have read multiple interviews from SE where he said that after finishing the Crippled God he felt like he had told the big story he really wanted to tell, that he did not really feel like he had a huge amount left in him.

Of course it could have been exhaustion as well.

[EmperorMagus]

 Andorion, on 29 September 2016 - 01:16 AM, said:

Good point. But I have read multiple interviews from SE where he said that after finishing the Crippled God he felt like he had told the big story he really wanted to tell, that he did not really feel like he had a huge amount left in him.

Of course it could have been exhaustion as well.

I hope it was exhaustion. He is too young to stop writing.

[Andorion]

 EmperorMagus, on 29 September 2016 - 01:27 AM, said:

 Andorion, on 29 September 2016 - 01:16 AM, said:

Good point. But I have read multiple interviews from SE where he said that after finishing the Crippled God he felt like he had told the big story he really wanted to tell, that he did not really feel like he had a huge amount left in him.

Of course it could have been exhaustion as well.

I hope it was exhaustion. He is too young to stop writing.

From the Grim Tidings, he talked about a third Wilful Child book and Walk in Shadow. He did not mention the Toblakai books, also he talked about being very interested in a non Malazan trilogy. He also said that he was very tired after TCG and in hindsight felt that he should have taken a longer vacation

[EmperorMagus]

I finally finished listening to the audiobook a couple of days ago.

I have a few final thoughts:
Right now, the book does not make sense at all from a plot point of view.

• Why would Anomander act like that with his grieving brother when they were so close just five seconds ago?
• What the hell is Urusander doing, recalling his legion? He is supposedly loyal to Mother Dark?
• Why can't mother dark make some fucking sense when she is talking?
• For 90% of the book we see border swords as smart and capable individuals. Suddenly, they lose all powers of reasoning and decide to attack Draconus?
• What was the point of the Spinnock romance part?
• Why the fuck would Ilghast Rend march the wardens on a whim? This one really bugs me too. He didn't come off as an idiot the other 99% of the book.

I liked the book despite all my questions. I'm mad that there was no convergence, we didn't have nearly enough Jaghut time, and I wish for a conclusion to the Spite/Envy/Malice story. Strangely, Arathan really grew on me by the end of the book.

Scara Bandaris' monologue near the end of the book was great, I would say it was one of the best I've ever heard.

I have no idea why opening the gate of darkness required an Azathanai spilling innocent blood, I will have to figure that out on a reread.

The prologue was one of the best lamentations of human condition I have ever read. Admittedly, I'm not that well versed in the classic.

Still no idea what the sea of Vitr is. I'm assuming the dragons came out of the gate of light corresponding to the gate of darkness in Kharkanas.

Overall, I can't wait until Fall of Light explains some of the shit in this book.