[werewolfv2]

***********SOME REPLYS CONTAIN SPOILERS, BEWARE!!!!!!*************************



(I know 98% of the folks here know this, but I'm posting for the other 2%)
:cool:


Ok, this isn't much of a review since typing up a 5 page synopsis of a book bores me close to tears.

answers to a few common questions
1: If you are a fan of The Malazan Book of the Fallen then buy this book.
2: Esslemont (hereafter referred to as ICE) co-created the Malazan world with Erikson back in 1982.
3: This is the first book from ICE, more should be coming.
4: It isn't the best written book out there, but overall it is decent and worth reading.

NoK takes place in the course of one night in the city of Malaz. The book however does include some very interesting info on Dassem. Not to mention how Surly rose to the throne of Empire and how Kellanved (with Dancer at his side) made it to another throne. We get to meet new potential players in the world and of course a new group of "people". :eek3:

Plenty of intrigue and a ton of magic make this book typical of any story based in the Malazan world. The hardest part I had with the whole book was dealing with the fact that I was reading a story based in Malaz that wasn't written by Erikson, once I got that truth down things became much easier.

Hopefully Nok will be mass produced in the US so that folks can buy a cheaper version, but till then I will covet #181.

The next book from ICE will deal with the Crimson Guard.

[garden_rake]

good timing - i just finished NOK yesterday and have more than afew opinions on it....

firstly, before reading it i remember people talking about how it contains some elements of the crimson guard, them fighting with dassem etc. But unless someone sneaked into my room and removed those pages (very possible) then they were lieing because i didnt even catch a sniff of the crimson guard in there?! Someone please explain!

on the book itself - overall more than a little dissapointed. Some of the book's failings can be explained by high expectations from reading Erikson and the difficulty in reading a different writing style regarding the same world. This doesnt however excuse what i found to be a very poor style of writing. Characters had none of the subtle differentiation of erikson or indeed many other fantasy author's books, and there was little or no development throughout the book either.

The use of american-specific slang really annoyed me. Maybe once or twice in five books does erikson actually use a swear word, but in NOK we're treated to quite afew 'sh*t's and 'ass's. One of the great attributes of good fantasy writers is that they use language which differentiates the world from our own- making it a 'real' fantasy world - so it really saddened me to hear ICE's characters talking in much the same way as would an average person from north america. On the occasions where characters did use world-specific curses ( 'what in hood's name' etc) it seemed forced and not in keeping with the story.

The dialogue is pretty average, if its compared to Erikson's Tehol/Bugg or the bridgeburners it makes you wonder how much better a book it could have been if Erikson had indeed written it.

If it was normal price for a book then i would accept NOK for what is was, but after paying ?35 for it i have to say its nowhere near good enough, not for that price anyway. I was really looking forward to reading about the crimson guard, but i now fear it could be a big dissapointment, i really hope (and pray to hood every night ) that he develops as a writer and produces a book worthy of the malazan world.

[werewolfv2]

@Rake:

Well, I guess I missed where people were saying this book had the Crimson Guard in it, so that didn't bother me at all. In fact it had more backstory with Dassum than I expected.

True he does use more ****/ass/etc than Erikson and yeah, on those occasions he used Malazan "based" swears it often didn't feel right.

Price wise if it were a mass produced book then the price would be insane. As it is, we all have bought some form of a limited printing.

I think must of the problems you (and I) have with his work is that he is a new author and this book was basically written.. what? 10 years ago? Hopefully his next book will show growth as an author, sorta like Erikson and Gardens v. Deadhouse.

[garden_rake]

cheers people, i admit some of my .... angst towards the book may have resulted from false expectations - damn those loose lipped forum members!

[Abyss]

Hetan id'd the Cg discussion correctly - one of Temper's co-guards goes on about how the CGs massacred them in Genabackis and basically lies about how he faced Lazar or someone and lived.

Somewhere there's also a reference to Dassem having faced some of the Avowed and won. Or lived. Or given them a wedgie, not really sure...

- Abyss, bets Dassem gave wicked wedgie.

[Valgard]

Dassem Killed at least three avowed and only skinner escaped with his life. I my opinion this makes dassem much more powerful than them.

Also I was wondering whether Lubber the gate guard might have been a bridgeburner because when Corrin is given to him to look after he seemed to recognise her or something about her at any rate like he had run into them before.

[werewolfv2]

***********SOME REPLYS CONTAIN SPOILERS, BEWARE!!!!!!*************************



(I know 98% of the folks here know this, but I'm posting for the other 2%)
:cool:


Ok, this isn't much of a review since typing up a 5 page synopsis of a book bores me close to tears.

answers to a few common questions
1: If you are a fan of The Malazan Book of the Fallen then buy this book.
2: Esslemont (hereafter referred to as ICE) co-created the Malazan world with Erikson back in 1982.
3: This is the first book from ICE, more should be coming.
4: It isn't the best written book out there, but overall it is decent and worth reading.

NoK takes place in the course of one night in the city of Malaz. The book however does include some very interesting info on Dassem. Not to mention how Surly rose to the throne of Empire and how Kellanved (with Dancer at his side) made it to another throne. We get to meet new potential players in the world and of course a new group of "people". :eek3:

Plenty of intrigue and a ton of magic make this book typical of any story based in the Malazan world. The hardest part I had with the whole book was dealing with the fact that I was reading a story based in Malaz that wasn't written by Erikson, once I got that truth down things became much easier.

Hopefully Nok will be mass produced in the US so that folks can buy a cheaper version, but till then I will covet #181.

The next book from ICE will deal with the Crimson Guard.

[garden_rake]

good timing - i just finished NOK yesterday and have more than afew opinions on it....

firstly, before reading it i remember people talking about how it contains some elements of the crimson guard, them fighting with dassem etc. But unless someone sneaked into my room and removed those pages (very possible) then they were lieing because i didnt even catch a sniff of the crimson guard in there?! Someone please explain!

on the book itself - overall more than a little dissapointed. Some of the book's failings can be explained by high expectations from reading Erikson and the difficulty in reading a different writing style regarding the same world. This doesnt however excuse what i found to be a very poor style of writing. Characters had none of the subtle differentiation of erikson or indeed many other fantasy author's books, and there was little or no development throughout the book either.

The use of american-specific slang really annoyed me. Maybe once or twice in five books does erikson actually use a swear word, but in NOK we're treated to quite afew 'sh*t's and 'ass's. One of the great attributes of good fantasy writers is that they use language which differentiates the world from our own- making it a 'real' fantasy world - so it really saddened me to hear ICE's characters talking in much the same way as would an average person from north america. On the occasions where characters did use world-specific curses ( 'what in hood's name' etc) it seemed forced and not in keeping with the story.

The dialogue is pretty average, if its compared to Erikson's Tehol/Bugg or the bridgeburners it makes you wonder how much better a book it could have been if Erikson had indeed written it.

If it was normal price for a book then i would accept NOK for what is was, but after paying ?35 for it i have to say its nowhere near good enough, not for that price anyway. I was really looking forward to reading about the crimson guard, but i now fear it could be a big dissapointment, i really hope (and pray to hood every night ) that he develops as a writer and produces a book worthy of the malazan world.

[werewolfv2]

@Rake:

Well, I guess I missed where people were saying this book had the Crimson Guard in it, so that didn't bother me at all. In fact it had more backstory with Dassum than I expected.

True he does use more ****/ass/etc than Erikson and yeah, on those occasions he used Malazan "based" swears it often didn't feel right.

Price wise if it were a mass produced book then the price would be insane. As it is, we all have bought some form of a limited printing.

I think must of the problems you (and I) have with his work is that he is a new author and this book was basically written.. what? 10 years ago? Hopefully his next book will show growth as an author, sorta like Erikson and Gardens v. Deadhouse.

[garden_rake]

cheers people, i admit some of my .... angst towards the book may have resulted from false expectations - damn those loose lipped forum members!

[Abyss]

Hetan id'd the Cg discussion correctly - one of Temper's co-guards goes on about how the CGs massacred them in Genabackis and basically lies about how he faced Lazar or someone and lived.

Somewhere there's also a reference to Dassem having faced some of the Avowed and won. Or lived. Or given them a wedgie, not really sure...

- Abyss, bets Dassem gave wicked wedgie.

[Valgard]

Dassem Killed at least three avowed and only skinner escaped with his life. I my opinion this makes dassem much more powerful than them.

Also I was wondering whether Lubber the gate guard might have been a bridgeburner because when Corrin is given to him to look after he seemed to recognise her or something about her at any rate like he had run into them before.

[werewolfv2]

***********SOME REPLYS CONTAIN SPOILERS, BEWARE!!!!!!*************************



(I know 98% of the folks here know this, but I'm posting for the other 2%)
:cool:


Ok, this isn't much of a review since typing up a 5 page synopsis of a book bores me close to tears.

answers to a few common questions
1: If you are a fan of The Malazan Book of the Fallen then buy this book.
2: Esslemont (hereafter referred to as ICE) co-created the Malazan world with Erikson back in 1982.
3: This is the first book from ICE, more should be coming.
4: It isn't the best written book out there, but overall it is decent and worth reading.

NoK takes place in the course of one night in the city of Malaz. The book however does include some very interesting info on Dassem. Not to mention how Surly rose to the throne of Empire and how Kellanved (with Dancer at his side) made it to another throne. We get to meet new potential players in the world and of course a new group of "people". :eek3:

Plenty of intrigue and a ton of magic make this book typical of any story based in the Malazan world. The hardest part I had with the whole book was dealing with the fact that I was reading a story based in Malaz that wasn't written by Erikson, once I got that truth down things became much easier.

Hopefully Nok will be mass produced in the US so that folks can buy a cheaper version, but till then I will covet #181.

The next book from ICE will deal with the Crimson Guard.

[garden_rake]

good timing - i just finished NOK yesterday and have more than afew opinions on it....

firstly, before reading it i remember people talking about how it contains some elements of the crimson guard, them fighting with dassem etc. But unless someone sneaked into my room and removed those pages (very possible) then they were lieing because i didnt even catch a sniff of the crimson guard in there?! Someone please explain!

on the book itself - overall more than a little dissapointed. Some of the book's failings can be explained by high expectations from reading Erikson and the difficulty in reading a different writing style regarding the same world. This doesnt however excuse what i found to be a very poor style of writing. Characters had none of the subtle differentiation of erikson or indeed many other fantasy author's books, and there was little or no development throughout the book either.

The use of american-specific slang really annoyed me. Maybe once or twice in five books does erikson actually use a swear word, but in NOK we're treated to quite afew 'sh*t's and 'ass's. One of the great attributes of good fantasy writers is that they use language which differentiates the world from our own- making it a 'real' fantasy world - so it really saddened me to hear ICE's characters talking in much the same way as would an average person from north america. On the occasions where characters did use world-specific curses ( 'what in hood's name' etc) it seemed forced and not in keeping with the story.

The dialogue is pretty average, if its compared to Erikson's Tehol/Bugg or the bridgeburners it makes you wonder how much better a book it could have been if Erikson had indeed written it.

If it was normal price for a book then i would accept NOK for what is was, but after paying ?35 for it i have to say its nowhere near good enough, not for that price anyway. I was really looking forward to reading about the crimson guard, but i now fear it could be a big dissapointment, i really hope (and pray to hood every night ) that he develops as a writer and produces a book worthy of the malazan world.

[werewolfv2]

@Rake:

Well, I guess I missed where people were saying this book had the Crimson Guard in it, so that didn't bother me at all. In fact it had more backstory with Dassum than I expected.

True he does use more ****/ass/etc than Erikson and yeah, on those occasions he used Malazan "based" swears it often didn't feel right.

Price wise if it were a mass produced book then the price would be insane. As it is, we all have bought some form of a limited printing.

I think must of the problems you (and I) have with his work is that he is a new author and this book was basically written.. what? 10 years ago? Hopefully his next book will show growth as an author, sorta like Erikson and Gardens v. Deadhouse.

[garden_rake]

cheers people, i admit some of my .... angst towards the book may have resulted from false expectations - damn those loose lipped forum members!

[Abyss]

Hetan id'd the Cg discussion correctly - one of Temper's co-guards goes on about how the CGs massacred them in Genabackis and basically lies about how he faced Lazar or someone and lived.

Somewhere there's also a reference to Dassem having faced some of the Avowed and won. Or lived. Or given them a wedgie, not really sure...

- Abyss, bets Dassem gave wicked wedgie.