[Shadow of Shadowthrone]

Hi all, finally finished Forge of Darkness last night. Now to hold my breath until Fall of Light. Ok, Blood and Bone.

Here is my spoiler-free review:


Last night I decided to finish Forge of Darkness no matter what. Hence, I am a bit sleepy at work today. But it was worth it, if only for the satisfaction of actually reading a book from beginning to end without interrupting the read by reading other books at the same time. Like Martin, Erikson manages to pull me into his world and keep my attention focused on his writing from beginning to end, leaving out the desire I often have of reading something else in-between. And yet there is a world - several worlds - of difference between the two authors. Where one is easily accessible, with plot at the forefront, the other is hard to grasp, more experimental with regards to plot and characterization. I have no trouble understanding that Martin's books are much more popular because they are much less demanding - but the more Erikson I read, the more enamored I have become of his unique style, which admittedly has changed a bit over the course of his eleven Malazan works. I find myself, as I have mentioned before, continually thinking about the Malazan empire even when I'm not reading, the same way my thoughts used to be occupied by Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader when I was young, and later pushed into a corner to make room for Gandalf and Aragorn, and after them Tyrion and Daenerys - and now, joining the crew, not characters but the entire mythology that is Malazan Empire: it is not so much about great individual characters (though there are qualifying participants) but a complex tapestry of made-up history, geography etc. Forge of Darkness then is another fine addition to the mythos, although it is, in some respects, quite different from what Erikson did with his ten-book cycle of the Book of the Fallen. This book is, as the title suggests, much darker, with less room for banter and humor; there is an almost Shakespearean slant to it, what with the way dialogue is (carefully) constructed, and it is at times deeply philosophical. Most of the action takes place inside the characters, making Forge of Darkness feel very literary for a fantasy book, if you know what I mean. Characters muse on life and death, faith and sacrifice, and all the other big stuff. It feels profound. Erikson masterfully weaves together such a rich presentation of the early days of his setting, it leaves me in awe and wanting to re-read almost immediately to get a better understanding of it all - which could be considered a weakness, and which is perhaps the main argument from those who've tried to read his work and couldn't finish: You really have to pay attention, be mentally awake so to speak, to get under the skin of these books. Read the rest here:http://slynt.blogspot.no/

This post has been edited by Shadow of Shadowthrone: 06 September 2012 - 11:00 AM

[Sinisdar Toste]

I'd agree with you that this book takes a far more shakespearean direction than MBoTF. it is more traditionally structured, as SE himself said, but its the extremeties of emotion experienced by the characters and how they deal with these things that really made the book standout to me. Case in point: rint burning Olar Ethil out of her tree - one of the best moments of the book.

there are a lot of profound thoughts floating around, and they lead to some very alarming and even disturbing acts. there's a lot of action going on inside the characters, but there's a good bit going on outside as well. for a first book of a trilogy, i certainly feel my action appetite is whetted enough. Fall of Light is going to pop off like a box of chinese toilet busters.

the craziest thing is seeing characters that we've known as timeless demigods acting like mortals. hell, they consider themselves mortals at this point! the tiste society that we see in this book is amazingly eye-opening. it explains so much about the tiste we see in MBotF, even in flashbacks. the idea of each person standing in only their own shadow (ie. makes their own way) once they come of age and sagander's insistence that the hierarchy thus formed is natural and fluid seems slightly randian to me, and i think the fact that the tiste have hunted so many species to extinction and decimated so many forests are the fruits of their philosophies. they seem like a young people carving into a young world.

This post has been edited by Sinisdar Toste: 06 September 2012 - 11:20 PM