[Sir Bob]

Soooo im pretty new here and i really dont want to be putting my foot in my mouth or doing things im not ment to but i had a quick look around and could not find anything like this...

Anyway real easy question!! i ask cause i dont bother! i start off reading them for the first few chapters then just cant be bothered and am too eager to read the actual story!! what can i say im like a kid a christmas when i get a new mbotf novel!!!

[Roldom]

sometimes i read the little story ones, or the book extracts, but usually i skip the poems unless i recognize the author

[Illuyankas]

There's a lot of excellent stuff hidden in them, so I always check them out. The Lay of Skinner is a particularly good one.

[Sir Bob]

oh i forgot to vote on my own poll, doh!! oh when i said poems it was an umbrella term for "random stuff at start of chapters" yep thats what it was..

[miriya]

Generally I do, especially if it's Fisher -- Felisin was okay, but some of the others kinda drag. I loved all the excerpts of Anomandaris, especially.

Okay, Toc the Younger wasn't too bad, either. Which is saying a lot since me and poetry are kindasorta mortal enemies.

I was actually kinda disappointed in some of the ones in TCG & DoD; they just didn't seem as awesome and I admit I skipped through some of them.

[Defiance]

I always do. I won't try to say that SE is an amazing poet, but there's some great ideas in some of the poems. A lot of them have a healthy amount of pathos within them as well.

My favorite is at the beginning of The Bonehunters.

For all that is made real
In this age of descending
Where heroes leave naught
But the iron ring of their names
From bardic throats
I stand in this silent heart
Yearning the fading beat
Of lives fallen to dust
And the sifting whisper
Proclaims glory's passing
As the songs fail
In dwindling echoes
For all that is made real
The chambers and halls
Yawn empty to my cries -
For someone must
Give answer
Give answer
To all of this
Someone

[Aptorian]

I actually got really frustrated with the poems in TCG. In the earlier books we had all kinds of infodumps and small hints at the plots via the chapter openers, in TCG it was pretty much just hard to discern poetry.

I guess the poetry in itself may not be so bad, I wouldn't know I'm not really into poetry, so I skimmed the stuff to see if something interesting popped out. The problem to me is that when you're really into it and just want to start the next chapter right away, it's something of a tempo shift to have to analyse a two page long poem about pottery or what ever.

[SpectreofEschaton]

 Clockwork Apt, on 23 March 2011 - 04:14 AM, said:

I actually got really frustrated with the poems in TCG. In the earlier books we had all kinds of infodumps and small hints at the plots via the chapter openers, in TCG it was pretty much just hard to discern poetry.

I guess the poetry in itself may not be so bad, I wouldn't know I'm not really into poetry, so I skimmed the stuff to see if something interesting popped out. The problem to me is that when you're really into it and just want to start the next chapter right away, it's something of a tempo shift to have to analyse a two page long poem about pottery or what ever.

This, pretty much. Except I like to pretend I'm a poet, which makes it worse. They also seemed a lot longer in the TCG than before, and... honestly, just not as good. I usually enjoy SE's poetry, but it just didn't seem to match the... moving-ness of the rest of the book, which I think is a shame and a wasted opportunity.

[MoK3]

nI agree with most of you guys, the first four books of the series had lots of goodies in them and foreshadowing and stuff which I found got less and less as the series went on. I do however find myself reading the Fisher poems and the Duiker stuff and I keep my eye open for the ones that are dated and might tell me something

[Gothos]

You should include more options in your poll - me, for example, the first time through I only read the non-poetry openers. I go through the poems on a second reading. It's just that, coupled with my general dislike for the poetic form, when I see a 1,5-page long cipher I'd spend as much time deciphering as I would spend reading the next chapter, well, the choice is obvious.

Now that you mention it, though, I'm wondering about one chapter opener - 'He was not a modest man. Contemplatign suicide, he summoned a dragon.' - who was G-man referring to?

[T'renn]

In my oppinion the poetry is all very much worth it, I always read it. The one from Fisher at the epilogue of Toll was almost heartrendingly good. (Part of it is included in my signature)

[Abyss]

On the re-read absolutely. On the first run, despite my best intentions, i tend to read info-bits but only skim poems. That said i do check who the author was, because while Fisher or Bule or whoever tends to be verse barely tanegtial to the next chapter, Toc, Felisin or other 'in play' characters sneak in every so often.


- Abyss, remembers 'Warleader Temul' from MoI.

[champ]

Generally read them now, used to skim read them until I realised you can find some juicy tidbits contained within!

[Bauchelain the Evil]

I tend to read the prose parts, you know the historic bits and such, but I usually don't bother with the poems

[Bulwyf]

I want to, and try to, but I can't get through it!
The excerts etc I can handle, I can't do the poetry thou
Heh, I try to skim it to see if it looks like anything important but I typically can't even do that.

[Sir Bob]

i was at a book signing a few years back(reapers gale i think) and S.E read extracts from his book, including a poem or two, so he must like em, maybe.

@gothos- You should include more options in your poll. i should but im lazy and lack imagination, there is no getting away from it!!

[RSM616]

i think that its important to read the poems, not just because in some cases it gives you hints to future events but because it also helps ad to the scale and history of the world being created and ads and extra dimension to things

[Dmyster]

Absolutely! I really like them actually, I find they help set the mood and further immerse me in the Malazan world.

[Sowilo]

Ya I always do I like how they have clues interwoven into them for the upcoming chapters I particularly love fishers stuff I think it was in toll the hounds or memories of ice where I kept reading over one particular poem cause it was so well put together!

[Dolorous Menhir]

No. I normally skip the songs and poems in fantasy. Though some of the material in Malazan does reward a re-read once you know enough to tease out the meanings. Always read the extracts from other books when they open a chapter.