[Dancer+]

Return of the Crimson Guard (A non-spoiler review)

Return of the Crimson Guard was one of those books which had a lot riding on it; we each had different expectations after Cam's debut, Night of Knives. This has been eagerly anticipated for a while and, finally, we get an opportunity to see Cam's talent in a full length novel. I can safely say that it doesn't disappoint, even for most sceptical fans; Cam has proven he can write and above all else he can tell a fantastic tale, for this it is.

The book exceeds throughout but especially in the latter half. The first half could be described as the groundwork for the rest of the novel; in much the same way as Erikson is akin to doing, it inevitably builds to a climax. The cast of characters is impressive, a few of which will surprise; many of which you will be glad about; and some of which you will come to loathe. Cam makes it clear from the outset that his knowledge and ability to write about the world is up there with Erikson. It is refreshing and impressive that two authors can write about the same subject with such accuracy and conviction. We are listening in on an intricate, multi-faceted and entertaining conversation between the two of them.

The events mainly focus around the invasion of the Crimson Guard into Quon Tali and the occurrences on the continent (the resistance against Laseen by the Old Hands), but there are also events in other places; Korelri, Stratum and Jacuruku. These places play their parts to varying degrees, as well as the people. Assume proceedings are closely related with Erikson's and expect crossovers of characters, for example look forward to seeing the character we love to hate and pity. As you would suppose there are many separate POV, not just the two that we see in Night of Knives. Some of the POVs are intensely interesting like Traveller's and the Guard's; others are less so (mainly because of the reader's focus on established characters), but what can we expect, this is naturally the way. All of the storyline threads seem of great interest and I'm sure this will reflect in rereads however it's a lot to take in first time when reading fast. The story builds up, albeit offering entertainment along the way leading upto the conclusion; the conclusion at the end has already been said to rival the siege at the end of Memories of Ice. Expect some deaths. The epilogue shall not disappoint by any stretch of the imagination either.

Cam handles proceedings well, and shows that he can write tense gripping action that had me personally sitting up and laughing uncontrollably, briefly, at the prospect of the next few pages. Some of the clashes of wills in this book are of the top draw, and will make you shake your head in disbelief. There are already five or six that I can think of now, and these are merely the most memorable. Revelations are abound, and any fan of the Malazan Empire and the Crimson Guard will not be disappointed at the greater glimpses of their past, and the powerful and seductive individuals who made them great. What I'm most looking forward to is seeing how Erikson carries forward Cam’s characters (in Toll the Hounds), as I glimmer he will in the true style of a two-way conversation. As a piece of Malazan work this book lives upto expectations, but there are a few negative points.

Firstly, Cam is not quite on par with Erikson in terms of fluency although there has been improvement. Saying that Cam's style is beautiful, although sometimes early on there is confusion with which character was talking. Noticeably, there is an improvement in style in relation to NoK; Cam has matured greatly and against other opponents, aside from Erikson, he would come out favourably. This basically means that the writing is not a problem whatsoever, I say this merely to put things into perspective. The second is editing mistakes, there are a number which creep in over time; these are annoying. One mistake with Tavore's name spelt incorrectly is forgiven, but the Dassembrae reference throughout (instead of Dessembrae) is infuriating, to me personally at least. Aside from these two criticisms the only other problem I have, on a very low level, is the separate power levels of groups/people; some people seem to be too good randomly, I can only think of one or two examples but it is the only example of slight disappointment for me.

Overall this book is fantastic. It exceeds on almost all accounts and it gives us another taste of Malaz. I can only hope Cam continues to develop because we will could be in for twice as much Malazan goodness. Us Malaz fans are in a world of heaven with the frequent release of books. This looks almost certain to continue, PSPublishing would be mad not to continue publishing books of this quality. From the characters, the style and the events throughout, this book lives upto its name, it is of Malaz and with no doubt in my mind we shall welcome it with open arms. In my opinion this book comes close to Gardens of the Moon in its ability and fervour to entertain and open doors (this is slightly because of context however), I think this is an amazing proper Malaz debut and I'd rate it 8.5/10.

I'd like to thank Peter Crowther and PSPublishing for giving Cam this chance to shine. Cam, welcome; the scary mob shall embrace you. Team Handsome shall bake the cakes.

[Illuyankas]

tl;dr

FUCK YEAH

[magicrealist]

I just wanna find out hwo traveller is lol...

DONT TELL ME DONT TELL ME DONT TELL ME

........ A little greymane vs dassem action would drop me dead.

[Tiste Simeon]

I thought everyone knew who Traveller was? Meh.

Thanks for the review Dancer, I look forward to reading it! (The book I mean, not your review. I just read that...)

[Optimus Prime]

Illuyankas;310909 said:

tl;dr

FUCK YEAH

I really couldn't of said it better myself, well done Dancey Pants

[Sparkimus]

Why thank you, couldn't have asked for anything more

[magicrealist]

Tiste Simeon;310923 said:

I thought everyone knew who Traveller was? Meh.

Thanks for the review Dancer, I look forward to reading it! (The book I mean, not your review. I just read that...)

Eye color damn it!

[Silencer]

Cool Dancer! Sounds good.....but now I can't wait to read it!
Does the thing you mentioned about characters being carried over in TtH mean that we might get RotCG spoilers in Toll?
I don't think that's what you mean, but it is possible.....

[Optimus Prime]

Silencer;311022 said:

Cool Dancer! Sounds good.....but now I can't wait to read it!
Does the thing you mentioned about characters being carried over in TtH mean that we might get RotCG spoilers in Toll?
I don't think that's what you mean, but it is possible.....

I can't see SE letting his book ruin some of CAM's book or vice versa....these guys know what they are doing...I'm sure you can read either in order you want but TtH is probably meant to come first since it's released to the mass public first.

[Silencer]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. But it was just the way Dancer said it....although I suppose he is reading the "wrong" book first. Still, should be interesting to see how the two books work together. And nice to hear that Cam is really starting to shape up!

[Optimus Prime]

LOL. I thought NoK was AWESOME. I haven't doubted CAM's ability from the first chapter of NoK. I think a lot of people want him to be some sort of extension of SE...but we forget, CAM was probably just as responsible for all the Malazan backstory and worldbuilding. He's a great writer, just different from SE.

[FilthyGnome]

Read half of Volume One now, and i'm just itching to get back in there, but stuff keeps popping up to stop me. Oh, well, i'll eventually get there.

I agree with Dancer, the thing that did bother me is the small stuff like the spelling and one or two conversation points. However, i'd have to say that this speaks volumes for how fantastic this book is when you have to nitpick on spelling to say something bad about it!

I'll grade it once i've finished the books, but so far i can't see anything going wrongw ith it.

[Aptorian]

Sweet review, Dancer.

[Quick~]

Thanks Dancer ^__^

was really hoping we'd see a non spoilery review xD that further whet my appetite and I'm looking forward to seeing things with my own eyes in 3 months xD

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Thanks D. i was getting pissed off at you for making all these topics, but its cool.

Where do I pre-order?

[Dancer+]

Silencer;311022 said:

Cool Dancer! Sounds good.....but now I can't wait to read it!
Does the thing you mentioned about characters being carried over in TtH mean that we might get RotCG spoilers in Toll?
I don't think that's what you mean, but it is possible.....

I don't know, I expect to see a few characters from RotCG in Toll. You can never be quite sure, unless they will be handled in Cam's next book, they sound fairly pressing/important so should be included in the main series.

@AIJ: You can preorder from Amazon.co.uk. Go through the link at the top of this site (I think the other Amazons will be slightly slower)

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Dancer;311245 said:

I don't know, I expect to see a few characters from RotCG in Toll. You can never be quite sure, unless they will be handled in Cam's next book, they sound fairly pressing/important so should be included in the main series.

@AIJ: You can preorder from Amazon.co.uk. Go through the link at the top of this site (I think the other Amazons will be slightly slower)

Thanks Dancer, but 2 questions:

1. Are there unlimiteed copies of RotCG on Amazon? I don't want to pre-order and find out there are no copies left.

2. Do you know when it will be available in Australia?

[Dancer+]

There should be no shortage of books on Amazon, if more books are needed Bantam will print more. The normal paperbacks/hardbacks are more flexible in this way.

Apparently according to Amazon.com the 23rd of September, as opposed to the 14th of August from Amazon.co.uk. I assume Australia is in line with the international release rather than the British one. I've tried to search for other information but none seems to be available.