[Abyss]

a personal favorite: "There are many paths to ascension."

[Dutch]

One word not mentioned yet:

Bridgeburners!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[worry]

That's actually seven words, SE just stuck them together in a funny way.

[Hellian's Keg Lid]

Its only small, but I liked the naming convention for shapeshifters. Soletaken and D'ivers. I facepalmed when the shoe dropped, but it works so nicly as opposed to were-gorilla/beastman.

[Mott]

Quote

One word not mentioned yet:

Bridgeburners!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We get this bunch of veterans who are legendary and are the elite of the empires army, then we get to hear of their birth in Raraku which as a concept was amazing in itself. They storm into Capustan throwing around munitions and then Coral happens and the Bridgeburners are no more. There is something so bittersweet and epic about their storyline and I still can't help but grin any time the Bridgeburners are mentioned six books after Coral.

I thinks its really smart how after the shock of the chain of dogs and the demise of the Bridgeburners we get to see the birth of the Bonehunters.

Another concept that blew me away was giving birth to the realm of the beast thrones through the memories of the T'Lan Imass.

[Gothos]

Bridgeburners rock in their own right, but it goes to a whole new level if you've read the Black Company. Every time I read one of these I keep thinking of parallels and differences with the other.

[TheSurvivor]

I enjoy the concept of the Houses and how each House has its positions taken by both Ascendants/Gods and mortals alike. It's like collect them all but, oh darn, not every spot is filled so it's like "aww..." but then a position is newly filled and it's all "yay!" I'm always excited when someone we've been watching takes up a place in one of the Houses. Like in DoD when Tavore had Fiddler do a reading. I read that more than once to get the whole of it.

The Crimson Guard are also interesting. Granted, a mercenary company isn't exactly unique and nor is a bunch of immortal warriors no one wants to tangle with but somehow they just stand apart from the crowd. On that same note, the Seguleh seem to bring an air of freshness though, once again, their concept isn't new.

This post has been edited by TheSurvivor: 22 July 2010 - 11:31 PM

[Black Winged Lord]

Paraphrase: "if a god had walked into that room right then, 5 fists would have vied to meet it"

Just the thought that mortals actually have the balls and tenacity to view gods in new ways like this.

[Seras]

The whole alternate history of how humans evolved was nothing short of epic. How the Ice Age was caused by the Jaghut raising barriers to stop the Imass (and the ritual as well, makes me wonder what it would be like living alongside Neanderthals and whatnot).
How the Eres'al explored the whole world, and are all Bonecasters. How the Trell and Barghast came from the Thelomen Toblakai, and so on.

Also loved how the Malazan military works, that they're "a civilization that doesn't tolerate fools", and all the distinct roles each soldier played (Marine invasion of Letheras, Heavy Infantry's stand against the Nah'ruk, Sappers at Y'ghatan, blowing up a huge chunk of the wall, Cavalry holding off the Whirlwind soldiers during the Chain of Dogs). Then there's the battles, which are so much more than the standard "heroes battle it out and the rest of the guys run en-masse towards each other, weapons swinging". LOVED the battle in RotCG against the Guard and the Imperials, what with all the magery and Moranth munitions(which is another awesome idea).

That's about it from the top of my head, I'll think up some more later, I suppose...

[Battalion]

T'lan Imass are truely brilliant creations. Not just undead, but undead cavemen that can turn to dust.

I love the scene(in M.O.I i think) where Kallor is standing in the pouring rain watching a raging river through the visor of his helmet. He realises the muddy water is flowing the downstream ... dun dun duuuun! Travel, T'lan Imass style.

Also, D'ivers are an idea I'd not heard of before. And also liked Oppon(sp) from GotM. Two gods with one name.

[SilenceYourTongueAndWitness]

its been said, but Bugg and Tehol's interactions made me laugh harder then any book has even come close to doing

[Calm Bringer Of Peace]

The sengar brothers.....straightup tragic
Prominent black characters
Death of whiskey jack
Mappo having stuffed someone in his pocket warren
karsa meeting his by rape begoten children and childhood dog at the end of toth. And then picker telling him he has to kill a god.
Karsa alone kills anyother conan fantasy style story out there. Ninefingers who.
Sappers .....funniest momments in the book were involving sappers.
How. Braventooth named all the veterans
Beak
Mothers of the dead seed
Seguleh
Apsalar/sorry .....what happens to this tragic character.
Dassem killing rake
How NightOf Knives was like reading a secret.

[worry]

Calm Bringer Of Peace, on 25 July 2010 - 08:05 PM, said:

How NightOf Knives was like reading a secret.

Indeed, there were quite a few eerie similarities to my sister's diary, but I don't wanna get into it.

[foolio]

Abyss beat me to it....

abyss said "An Elder God of the seas content to be a mortal's servant because the mortal is the most entertainment he's had in millenia."

Immediately I was struck with how "the Son of Darkness" was not, in my estimation, a bad guy. I really liked him from the start.

[Abyss]

foolio, on 26 July 2010 - 05:10 PM, said:

...I was struck with how "the Son of Darkness" was not, in my estimation, a bad guy. I really liked him from the start.

While its not exactly novel in fantasy lit that 'dark' isn't all bad and evil, and 'light' is turning out to be populated with assholes, or that the God of Death turned out to be a nice guy while the Quen of Life has been surprisingly cold-blooded, i do think SE has done a really nice job with the ambiguity and sheer diversity of the aspects.

- Abyss, chaotic neutral.

[HiddenOne]

foolio, on 26 July 2010 - 05:10 PM, said:

"the Son of Darkness" was not, in my estimation, a bad guy.

He's so "not a bad guy" that if you call him that again, he'll cleave you in two and imprison your soul...but he'll buy you a drink first.

This post has been edited by HiddenOne: 26 July 2010 - 06:37 PM

[HiddenOne]

Why can't I delete a post?

This post has been edited by HiddenOne: 26 July 2010 - 06:42 PM

[Ulrik]

Your post was dragnipuraked. You can change it, but cant unchain...muehehe... (OK, time to sleep)

[Braden]

So many really to list!! I keep thinking and can't imagine how ONE GUY thought of all this, come-on it's even more inventive and complex than The Silmarillion. I still believe SE has a room full of "Fantasy Imps" scribbling away at his behest.

Ok so to start:

The Age of a world….exactly HOW old is the planet of Wu??? To have spawned multiple sentient races that have then either become extinct or near extinct (Jaghut etc) and then for many others to evolve (humans etc). To me, it's a giant leap forward in fantasy writing to imagine a world where evolution happens but technology more or less stagnates largely due to the use of magic as a replacement…what then happens? Ice ages come and go (forced or natural), races evolve and die off and the world just…….keeps……….going….
History – this links to the age of the world, Steven's background means he can make these ruins come alive for us.

The Tenescowri – ok, twisted and extreme Steven!!! What WHERE you taking when you thought that up?? Sick, sick man…*tisk, tisk*


Soletaken/D'ivers – a concept that covers Shapeshifting in all its previous forms and makes it seem even more possible, an evolution story almost.


I have to say that the creations of many characters are genius…too many to mention here but mostly those whom are most liked or hated of course anyway.


Races such as the Imass and Tiste…their backgrounds mainly but the Imass in particular and their links to the world which is current in the books.

I will mention that the concept of Mortals taking on and beating Gods and even coercing Gods is a very Greek concept just enhanced and make more widespread by SE.

This post has been edited by Braden: 27 July 2010 - 09:53 AM

[worry]

One guy didn't think of all of this, two guys did...but point taken!