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I liked it, it's ICE's best yet, but it could have been better. Below is and excerpt from my review:
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Esslemont shares many similarities with Erikson but generally sticks to the plot without getting as philosophical as Erikson is prone to. Whether you consider this a positive or negative varies quite a bit across the spectrum of Malazan fans (for example I tend to enjoy Erikson’s philosophical wanderings). Esslemont’s books are shorter (though at 600+ pages far from short), more to the point and a bit longer in the action. This is great when we get scenes of a Moranth navy battling an undefeatable Mare navy, running battles through caverns, Crimson Guard Avowed fighting Stormriders, etc.
Esslemont also shows improvement in his characters – Kyle from Return of the Crimson Guard has grown significantly, as has Kiska of Night of Knives (though she’s still a fair bit annoying), and he populates Stonewielder with a few new, green recruits. All in all, I felt that his writing was simply far more interesting this time around and I was very pleased to find a lack of the last-minute, dues ex machina super mage from nowhere who saves the day.
Stonewielder follows a few plot arcs – the invasion, a local magistrate, the Stormwall, a few Crimson Guard, a peasant rebellion, a journey into Shadow, and a couple of cross-overs. Not all offer nice, neat conclusions and some are more interesting than others. And some seem a bit pointless. In this respect, Stonewielder could have benefited significantly from a tighter bond and more overlap between these subplots. As it is now, some seem to be wasted space, though they were interesting enough stories on their own.
One of the over-arching aspects of Stonewielder is the annual invasion of the Stormriders and the soldiers of the Stormwall that repel them. What are the Stormriders? What do they want? These two simple questions seem to be at the heart of mystery that is Korel and these two questions remain largely unanswered in the book. This is one of the most frustrating aspects of all. Either Esslemont is being too subtle or too evasive – either way, it’s a big letdown in an otherwise decent volume in the Malazan saga.
Esslemont also shows improvement in his characters – Kyle from Return of the Crimson Guard has grown significantly, as has Kiska of Night of Knives (though she’s still a fair bit annoying), and he populates Stonewielder with a few new, green recruits. All in all, I felt that his writing was simply far more interesting this time around and I was very pleased to find a lack of the last-minute, dues ex machina super mage from nowhere who saves the day.
Stonewielder follows a few plot arcs – the invasion, a local magistrate, the Stormwall, a few Crimson Guard, a peasant rebellion, a journey into Shadow, and a couple of cross-overs. Not all offer nice, neat conclusions and some are more interesting than others. And some seem a bit pointless. In this respect, Stonewielder could have benefited significantly from a tighter bond and more overlap between these subplots. As it is now, some seem to be wasted space, though they were interesting enough stories on their own.
One of the over-arching aspects of Stonewielder is the annual invasion of the Stormriders and the soldiers of the Stormwall that repel them. What are the Stormriders? What do they want? These two simple questions seem to be at the heart of mystery that is Korel and these two questions remain largely unanswered in the book. This is one of the most frustrating aspects of all. Either Esslemont is being too subtle or too evasive – either way, it’s a big letdown in an otherwise decent volume in the Malazan saga.
