Malazan Empire: Just finished Dust of Dreams and I'm really scared - Malazan Empire

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Just finished Dust of Dreams and I'm really scared can he pull this off?!?! Rate Topic: -----

#1 User is offline   flat_lander 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 12:06 AM

Hey all, first time poster, I just finished Dust of Dreams and finally broke down and created an account (found myself lurking here each time I finished a book in this series). Just wanted to share some thoughts and concerns.

Namely, I'm really really worried, The Crippled God is waiting on my bookshelf and I'm half excited and half filled with dread. I keep wondering can he pull this off, will it satisfy? will it meet expectations? how many characters/storylines will go unfulfilled or completely untouched?

I've loved this series so far, I think near the end I've started to get a bit weary (DoD really brought this out, I'll explain more below). When I first picked up this series I read some criticism that SE loses hold of the story, and this close to the end I now understand that criticism. There is just so damn much going on! Of course somethings slip through the cracks, I just hope he pulled enough of the pieces together to make it work in the end. Nine books into a ten book series I expected to have some idea of where things were heading, but I still feel just as lost as most the characters. I'm not sure that is a good thing, and I can't tell if it is by design or not.

DoD gave me the sense that Adjunct Tavore gives nothing away not because its part of her character development, but only because SE didn't want to give us anything to go on. QuickBen and Fid and Bottle are all cagey just because SE is being cagey. Sure he built characters around that, but it is still annoying when you spend multiple books having no idea where anything is going or what the bonehunters are doing. Perhaps it is all by design, SE puts us in the shoes of the soldiers that are equally frustrated and ready to desert (is this a test of what readers are faithful?). I know he said DoD was part 1 of a two part novel, but quick and tavore have been nothing but cagey since we met them, SE has constantly kept us in the dark about the big picture, and this late in the game I'm starting to get annoyed by that. Why do I even care about the crippled go again? he hasn't really done anything since corrupting Rhulad (I think TtH might have worked better if the dying god hadn't been introduced and instead it was the crippled god going after the redeemer in some new deranged plot, instead we got a mental fragment of an expendable character killed in the first novel...great).

So those are my worries and feelings going into CG, hope it pans out. Below, some more general thoughts about DoD..

The barghast storyline, particularly hetan's fate, has seen a lot of discussion I know, just my two cents here. It was obviously grisly and miserable to read but I was most frustrated how obviously it meant to piss us off and make us hate the barghast. THe whole things just existed to make Tool a Tlan Imass again for who knows what purpose. I felt like Hetan's character underwent some uncharacteristic changes, I feel the Hetan of MOI could have handled the three housewives who hobbled her weapon or no. So it seemed out of place that she would go down so meekly (I know losing Tool rocked her, but it she still seemed far to passive). I also saw a lot of discussion that the depiction of the Barghast was a critique of the "noble savage" myth. I really don't that is true, or atleast not entirerly true, it feels far to heavy handed for that. They are depicted with absolutely no redeeming qualities, and we are largely invited to cheer their demise (much like most of the letherii and other noble born personages). The "noble savage" is a myth, but so is "the savage" and that is all we are presented with in the Barghast of DoD, so it hardly feels like a fair critique of the former. I think he achieves such a critique to much greater effect (and with more subtlety) with the musing of Onrack about the destruction of the Ay and Emlava and other beasts (not the mention Jaghut) by the Tlan. Setoc also does a good job in that role as well, and I can't help but sympathize with the wolves who just want to be left alone.

Also,

TOC,

Gods below! can't the poor guy get a break! Toc the unlucky indeed!

I like him in this herald role, but he is still getting jerked around so much it drives me nuts. I'm still waiting for the wolves to help him out a bit more, they sorta owe their dominion of the beast hold to him. CG better close out his storyline with Toc being content. That is all I ask.
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#2 User is offline   Kanese S's 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 02:36 AM

Look, you're essentially stopping in the middle of a book (as you mentioned, DoD and TCG are two halves of a whole), so just finish it see if it answers your questions for you. Some of those, it definitely does.
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#3 User is offline   Vengeance 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 02:59 AM

Trust in Steve. You have made it this far it isn't that much more of a step to take to see the whole thing through.
How many fucking people do I have to hammer in order to get that across.
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#4 User is offline   Sinisdar Toste 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 03:57 AM

and it's not just that SE is being cagey, though he is, but he has left plenty of clues for us to roughly parse things out. not completely, and not really until we've read tCG. believe you me, and plenty of others, tCG gives us a good resolution and, imo, does exactly what he intended it to do. i'm interested to hear you're opinion of the Crippled God once you've read his book. so much takes on a different meaning. so many nuggets spread throughout the entire series add up to an amazing revelation. forge on, my friend.
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#5 User is offline   D'rek 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 05:37 AM

re: Tavore, actually it is just part of her character. Or, you could say its part of how "history" has recorded her. SE likened her to Alexander, in that we know her deeds but not her mind. Not that there won't be some info on her in tCG...

View Postworrywort, on 14 September 2012 - 08:07 PM, said:

I kinda love it when D'rek unleashes her nerd wrath, as I knew she would here. Sorry innocent bystanders, but someone's gotta be the kindling.
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#6 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 06:09 AM

I would encourage you, once you have finished TCG, to refrain from posting your immediate reaction. Not for any personal reason, but because I think you should give the TCG forum a pretty good read first. There are some very strong putting-our-heads-together moments in that forum that eased several of my questions, and I think many others' as well. And frankly the finale takes some reflection, it's no easier than the other books in a lot of ways.
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#7 User is offline   Kanese S's 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 10:58 AM

Definitely what Worrywort said. Lots of the answers are there if you just look for them. Or look in the TCG forum where there are lots of interesting discussions about how the dots are all connected and such.
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#8 User is offline   flat_lander 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 01:46 PM

That is why up until now I just lurked as I assumed someone had said everything I would have upon finishing the other novels. I just created this account because nine novels in and I just had to discuss it with someone, anyone, none of my friends have read this series.
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#9 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 03:17 PM

@flat_lander

Stop worrying and go read TCG now.

Go read TCG. Now.

Go read TCG now.

Go read TCG now. NOW. NOW. NOW.

You'll thank us later.
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#10 User is offline   POOPOO MCBUMFACE 

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Posted 29 July 2011 - 04:53 PM

I had the same worries. I was weary of a lot of aspects of the series by the end of DoD, and I really did wonder if he could pull it off in TCG.

He does. It surpassed all my expectations, in all honesty.
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#11 User is offline   BlackMoranthofDoom 

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Posted 15 August 2011 - 02:26 PM

I was pretty worried as well since i found DOD to be the worst novel in the series by a wide margin, mainly because the novel crawls at a snail like pace. The only part i really enjoyed were the 2 climatic battles and a few early scenes in Letheras. I didn't care about the Barghast storyline in the least bit.

Thankfully TCG, redeemed itself. It does answer a lot of questions and contains a few unexpected surprises. However don't expect a complete closure as there are still many threads left open.
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#12 User is offline   Abberon 

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Posted 26 August 2011 - 03:13 PM

View PostBlackMoranthofDoom, on 15 August 2011 - 02:26 PM, said:

I was pretty worried as well since i found DOD to be the worst novel in the series by a wide margin, mainly because the novel crawls at a snail like pace. The only part i really enjoyed were the 2 climatic battles and a few early scenes in Letheras. I didn't care about the Barghast storyline in the least bit.

Thankfully TCG, redeemed itself. It does answer a lot of questions and contains a few unexpected surprises. However don't expect a complete closure as there are still many threads left open.


This is good to know. DoD really disappointed me so I like to hear that it was going somewhere. I'm doing a re-read right now (just finished MoI) but I will probably skip DoD because I thought it was just plain bad.
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#13 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 26 August 2011 - 09:10 PM

You did? Why didn't you mention that earlier?
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#14 User is offline   Kanese S's 

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Posted 27 August 2011 - 02:52 AM

TCG doesn't make all that much sense without DoD. They're two halves of one book, IMO.
Laseen did nothing wrong.

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#15 User is offline   BlackMoranthofDoom 

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Posted 16 September 2011 - 03:46 PM

View PostKanese S, on 27 August 2011 - 02:52 AM, said:

TCG doesn't make all that much sense without DoD. They're two halves of one book, IMO.



True, its just tha I foundt the first half DOD to be quite weak. Even the malazan soldier POV which I highly enjoyed in previous novels were a chore to slug through here. TCG is also rather slow paced but the travelling across the desert was much more interesting this time around.
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#16 User is offline   koryk 

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Posted 20 November 2011 - 11:35 PM

It has been a while siknce I contributed, but I thought that I should get back on the wagon. Anyway, this thread needs a bit of a shake up.

I only read the paperbacks, so I finished DOD some time ago and there is a ridiculous wait until The Crippled God. But what a cliffhanger! We know, we just know, that some of the Bonehunters have survived, but we don't know which ones. Finally Stormy & Gesler find a purpose. I hope that we will see their colleague (alas I forget his name) again. In general, DOD is very downbeat, what with watching the destruction of entire civilsations (White Face Barghast, etc). I do agree that a lot of the Lether-based stuff is slow-going, but the side stories of the Shake and the split personalities inside Icarium provide far better drama. I can easily believe that, it being impossible to close off every plotline in one book, that this series will run and run, much to my delight, although I must also hope that SE can restrain his philsophical musings enough to keep plots advancing at a decent rate. Regardless I will remain an adherent, for the Malazan books are the best single thing that has ever happened to Fantasy writing.

Hats off to Esslemont for providing a thoroughly entertaining companion piece in ROTCG. I am about to start Stonewielder and expect to be equally impressed.

Please let Koryk survive.
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