SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED - NO BLOCKS, NO FONT COLOURS JUST SPOILERS
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
SPOILERS
BIG HEAPING GOBS OF GOOEY SPOILERS
BASTED IN SPOILER SAUCE WITH A SIDE OF DEEP FRIED SPOILERY
GOODNESS LIGHTLY DUSTED WITH SPOILERS
FUCKING SPOILERS SPOILERS
RETURN OF THE CRIMSON GUARD SPOILERS
AND SPOILERS
TOLL THE HOUNDS SPOILERS
IF YOU CAN'T SPOILERS FIGURES IT SPOILERS OUT BY SPOILERS NOW YOU DESERVES SPOILERS WHAT YOU
SPOILERS GET AND A WEDGY SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS.
After NoK, i never doubted ICE was going to deliver a solid product. It was clear he 'got' the books even tho by the time NoK was released even in limitted form the MBotF were five books in. And it was clear he was in on the mythology - i wasn't worried about ICE contradicting SE or anything like that - these two clearly worked well in writing parallel stories in the same setting. The real question to my mind was whether he could produce something that hit the same high level of fantasy SE does - in that highly elitist way we Malazan fanatics hold SE to be superior to so many fantasy authors who are higher selling and more widely published. And after to reading RCG, to my mind the answer is, he's already on par with the majority, and well on his way to surpassing them.
This was a great book. I enjoyed it. I was engrossed. I powered thru it the way I have all Malazan books (pre the more cerebral TtH) and then reread the last 200 pages or so again just to graps it. Solid entry into the series, solid addition to SEs work, and i'm totally looking fwd to more of ICE's work (plus bonus if we get TWO Malazan books a year plus a few more after SE finishes his run 10 whatever he decides about continuing in the same setting).
So...
BEST I DID NOT JUST READ THAT MOMENT: I can't even pretend to suggest anything matched Laseen's death. Seriously, ICE worked WONDERS with this character - without ever going into her pov, only showing her thru others' eyes - and then he offed her and holy fuck my reaction was nearly on par with when WJ bought it back in MoI. Laseen. Fucking Laseen. Betrayed Kel and Dancer demoted WJ let Dom and Rel gain power and allowed the Wickan pogrom Laseen. At the moment when it became clear she had planned for everything, secessionist and CrimGrd AND Mallick's plots... AND she took out four or five Avowed by herself... and the reader actually believes that the Malazan Empire is in good hands, he KILLS her. Argh. Seriously, ARGH. I don't fault ICE for this - it worked perfectly and i had what i think was the reaction he was going for but ARGH.
BEST NEW CHARACTER: Nait/Jumpy. probably my favourite storyline in the book, from greedy harbour guard to trying to keep his troops alive sargeant to save the world saboteur, to wanting to shag everyone from overweight high mages to sexually ambiguous gold Moranth... Nait was totally fun to read and i had to resist jumping to his segments. Just a great depiction of an 'ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances' trying to stay alive. I liked the way the harbour guards' story gradually evolved into just Nait's.
Ullen was great, but i never quite felt we got to see enough of him to justify Dessembrae's eulogy at the end.
BEST SUBTLE CLEVER: Ah... in MoI when Trake thought about Ryllandaras becoming soletaken AND d'ivers, THAT'S what he meant. Nice touch.
BEST OTHER SUBTLE CLEVER: Greymane's sword may be like Brood's hammer.
BEST OTHER OTHER SUBTLE CLEVER: Stalker, Coots and Badlands - from scouts to Assail native to badasses. From Assail. Where apparently ghosts hang out. TELL ME MORE. DAMN YOU!!!!!
BEST HUH???: Wait... Osserc was in the tower, and then in the sword... but he was also in the Raraku memory that Loric visitted in HoC... so was he dreaming himself over there...
BEST CLASSIC FANTASY MOMENT: The final confrontation with Ryllandaras, especially the way Hurl notes things didn't happen the way they would have in a faerie tale. All of it, from the fire to Liss' dance to the fight, just a real 'this is what i read fantasy for' sequence.
WORSE CHOICE OF NAMES: Mallick Rel was already on the scene - did we really need 'Rell' and 'Rillish' too? Also, Skinner and Shimmer. Not a big deal in either case, just a thought.
BEST ACTION SEQUENCE BESIDES THE FINALE: While the finale set of confrontations, from the battle against the Secessionists to the battle against the Guard to the mage battle against Yath, were each fantastic, i have to say Storos' squad run at taking the Heng throne room was great to read. And did a lot to build Storos and Rell as great characters.
BEST OLD CHARACTER NICE TO SEE AGAIN: Temper and Ferrule, together again, and them confronting Skinner just to draw Dassem into the conflict. Loved that and nice build on bits of NoK
WORSE DEATH: Ereko. This was a great character, and i realize the idea was that he had all this history culminating in Kallor taking him down, but it was just so random and seemingly pointless that i was dissapointed. kallor walks out of a gate, chats for a minute and then stabs him. The end. Weakest point in the otherwise great story for me. Dassem beating Kallor didn't save it.
BEST/WORSE OMG I NEED TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Mallick Rel. Loses his Jhistal power but becomes Emporer. Holy. Fuck. Strange days ahead for the Malazan Empire.
More to say later but those are my initial thoughts.
- Abyss, ...seriously, LASEEN, how did he DO that....
This post has been edited by Abyss: 25 September 2008 - 07:54 PM