[manolantern]

Hi,

I'm working my way through MoI and I'm starting to feel a bit...overwhelmed. Let's just say that Mr. Erikson's imagination is quite vast and my job and life prevent me from taking the time to digest huge chunks of the book at once, so I generally find myself reading something with only vague recognition of its relevance to past passages that I may have read weeks ago.

I've poked around for some kind of summary of things I've already read on the internet, but generally find myself terrified that I'll read myself into some serious spoilage. So my question is: is there someplace I can go to get some sort of summarization of chapters to make sure that I'm getting the full Malazan experience? I'm really enjoying it (and am completely in awe at the scope of Erikson's underataking) but I don't want to feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
MOL

[Sindriss]

Well, there is of course the malazan wiki. But you might find spoilers in that, since I think it is more of an summary of a book and not each chapter. So at least you can get help with the previously two books you read. Otherwise, you can start writing notes on the chapters:)

[Gothos]

With these books, the most effective way of making sure you didn't miss anything is... re-reading the books. Sometimes more than once. Most often more than once.
Also, going back to earlier books after reading a new one might shed some light on stuff. Anyway, I'd say any sort of summaries cheapen the experience, really.

[manolantern]

Thanks for your responses. I got through 3/4ths of GotM, stopped and started again on page one, and found it helpful. As previously intimated however, I don't quite have the time these days to re-read thousand+ page books. It's unfortunate, but I'm stuck looking for quick references.

[Gothos]

Well, on the bright side, there's still many years and books before the series in general are finished, so you've got, potentially, plenty of time.
Anyway, searching forums for individual books should be spoiler-free for the story up until that very book, just make sure you finish one before you visit. Chances are high that most of concerns or questions have been raised before. Good luck anyway.

[Abyss]

My tech fu is weak, but i think you could post specific questions in the appropriate forum and just watch that thread in your control panel as opposed to risking spoilers in the whole forum.

And i'll echo Gothos - most of us don't get 'everything' on the first read thru of these books, in fact, i doubt anyone actually does. Rereads are definitely part of the fun.

Enjoy!

- Abyss, not a luddite but plays one on the internet.

[amphibian]

Abyss, on 24 February 2010 - 03:17 PM, said:

And i'll echo Gothos - most of us don't get 'everything' on the first read thru of these books, in fact, i doubt anyone actually does. Rereads are definitely part of the fun.

I did! Not. Fortunately, I got over the overwhelming shame of not picking up everything first time through and went back - multiple times for every single book.

And I still didn't get it all either. That's why this forum exists and why I stick around.

Keep on plugging, manolantern.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 25 February 2010 - 03:48 AM

[HoosierDaddy]

Just a word to the wise.... you will ALWAYS be playing catch-up. It's the nature of the series. I'd simply recommend reading the book, then coming here for clarification on points you weren't quite sure of, for two reasons:

1. You'll end-run questions that were simply "read and find out" sorts from the get-go, and
2. Many people on here can clue you in real quick to the questions you had at the time, and perhaps combine many of your questions. Further we can warn you when the question you are asking isn't answered in this novel, but will only come a couple novels down the line.

Then, you aren't wasting your time, getting as close to an understanding as you can get without re-reading, and you won't be spoilered.

[champ]

amphibian, on 25 February 2010 - 03:48 AM, said:

Abyss, on 24 February 2010 - 03:17 PM, said:

And i'll echo Gothos - most of us don't get 'everything' on the first read thru of these books, in fact, i doubt anyone actually does. Rereads are definitely part of the fun.

I did! Not. Fortunately, I got over the overwhelming shame of not picking up everything first time through and went back - multiple times for every single book.

And I still didn't get it all either. That's why this forum exists and why I stick around.

Keep on plugging, manolantern.

exactamundo! jst finished my first full reread not long back and enjoyed the books 2nd time around as much as the first, unbelievable how many times you notice things u missed the first time around, what makes SE so good

[manolantern]

Thank you all for your input. I know I'm going to re-read the books at some point - it's just a really daunting task. I've thoroughly enjoyed them so far and stand awestruck by the scope of SE's imagination. What really amazes me is that HE's able to keep track of all this stuff. I guess I'll rely on you friendly folks to guide me through the occasional (and by occasional, I mean chapterly) mazes.

I'm sure I'm not unlike a lot of readers in that I came to the books while I was/am waiting for A Dance with Dragons to come out. To me, the scope and ambition of each series is similar, but with these books, you're dealing with literally dozens of new races, each with a fairly rich and realized history and it's ALL important. With ASoIaF, 99% of the time you're dealing with humans and there's no new level of comprehension to wrap your head around. That's my simplistic view of why this has been such a challenging read. (For the record, I don't know if it's taboo to mention GRRM around here - I don't know if there's some sort of Star Trek vs. Star Wars type of thing going on here. Is there?)

Anyway, thanks again for the help. I guess my post count will be rising quickly.

[Vengeance]

Mentioning GRRM is fine. However if you start to spout stuff about Goodkind then it can get ugly. Brood will show up at your house and cry. It is seriously disturbing. Avoid it if you can....

[Abyss]

You can mention any author you like. In fact, most of my current faves come from suggestions people have made over in the OtherLit subforum, so this is a pretty open place as far as discussion of other writers goes.

Rereads... part of SE's brilliance is that things in later books can change, at time sradically, the perspective on events in earlier books. Just using the obvious example, MoI realy gives you information that alters what you may have thought was happening at Pale early in GotM. On the reread, you can spot a couple of hints, such as what kind of spell takes out which mages... Nightchill getting taken out by a demon isn't significant until you find out it was Tayshrenn who did it (and how the hell did Bellurdan miss that??? )... or that Nightchill's ice took out Akronys and so on... This sort of thing happens throughout the books even up to the most recent, and its awesome.


- Abyss, ...will note that Goodkind makes my eyes bleed...