Malazan Empire: Assail excerpt @ Tor.com - Malazan Empire

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Assail excerpt @ Tor.com

#21 User is online   worry 

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Posted 04 July 2014 - 09:24 PM

Oh yah. I should probably read the Malazan books some day.
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#22 User is offline   Spoilsport Stonny 

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Posted 05 July 2014 - 02:25 PM

Well, he's certainly had some bad names, Kyle not being the least of them. Monosyllabic silliness, at times. He ain't winning any awards, but more Malazan is more Malazan.

Interesting that Silverfox has continued to age rapidly. And mentions of the Heel clan, the return of Bars, the possibility of Cal-Brinn could make up for Shimmer's whiny indecisiveness, and the fact that we're probably dealing with some kind of soul-shifted Jaghut horsecrap.

What I really hope for is that ICE continues his ability to channel horror imagery. The Bakune investigation in SW was pulpy and noir-ish, almost Lovecraftian, and the shaduwam attack on the thaumaturg's from Jatal's POV in BaB were particularly well done, as were the OST scenes where the Tyrant awoke. ICE can do spooky tension. He can also do shrimp people robot gods.
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#23 User is offline   tiam 

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Posted 05 July 2014 - 07:00 PM

The writing feels very clunky as others have said, especially that Sea of Dread bit and Kyles info dump introspective name giving nature, but I am looking forward to it.
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#24 User is offline   Egwene 

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 11:30 AM

Have to agree that the intro seems a bit laboured. To have typos in your promotional material is never going to be the best introduction. Will I buy it? Yes, but mostly because of the guaranteed extra bits of information about the Malazan world, not because I am gripped by this extract.

I never had a problem with the name Kyle but sincerely hope that the author knew his full name all along and didn't just make it up to please those readers who moaned about it. If anything, he should have included a few more unpalatable names. After all, in real life we come across out-of-place names. Everyone here surly must know someone who got lumbered with an unfortunate name by parents or an unhelpful nickname by 'friends'.

One observation about names - there are not enough repetitions amongst them when compared to real life. However, I can understand that with such a huge cast the authors might have been concerned about confusing themselves, never mind the reader.

All in all, I am looking forward to 'Assail' in the hope that it will shed more light on events within the main series. I think, in the short term, ICE was very financially astute as a business man to follow SE into publishing in the Malazan world but I am not sure that it was the best move for him where establishing himself long-term as a writer is concerned. Most writers starting out probably get more 'interference', more constructive criticism by editors etc. and thus will have to refine their style, put the whole thing through the sieve more often. ICE is running before he has spent time walking and may never develop his full potential because of it.

As a Malazan addict I am just grateful for any crumbs that are falling off this particular table.
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#25 User is offline   Shadow of Shadowthrone 

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 06:20 PM

I thought this excerpt read just fine and it really made me want to sink my teeth into the whole novel. What I miss (and the same goes for Erikson's novels and the other Esslemont novels) is some more...local cultural color to set places apart. When I read through the first section I wasn't sure what I was supposed to envision. Just another medieval-like port city? It feels as if Kyle is on the other side of the world, yet it feels as if he could just as easily have been in one of the cities we've already seen (actually perhaps only Darujhistan feels like a fully fleshed out location, and the city where Duiker is in the beginning of Deadhouse Gates when he is out exploring)
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#26 User is offline   Tarcanus 

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 07:13 PM

I just hope ICE doesn't keep up with being as horrifically vague in his story telling like was particularly bad in B&B. Hopefully all of the plotlines matter, as well.
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#27 User is offline   tiam 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 12:58 PM

View PostTarcanus, on 08 July 2014 - 07:13 PM, said:

I just hope ICE doesn't keep up with being as horrifically vague in his story telling like was particularly bad in B&B. Hopefully all of the plotlines matter, as well.


Blood and Bone would have worked without the shoehorning in of Malazan influences or even the incredibly frustrating and vague CGRD references. It could have been ICE MT with a new world to start from that wasnt really linked to the other books. More on the nature of the forest and the ancient entities that found refuge there with more flashbacks to the HFE or even earlier would have been a much better book than the CGRD boat ride we got that was simply Kazz question dodging. I still cant bring myself to reread it making it a Malaz first.

Also Assail will deliver. BandB was stalling, plain and simple. We have the Imass plotline, the CGRD plotline and the wars in the North of Assail in this book. ICE had plenty of interesting characters to work with in ROTCG and, no matter how well you believe it was written, it was still a very good world building book with plenty of action.

ICE style of writing never bothered me. Plot points and stuff does but I think with the writing he just comes off badly in comparison to SE which isnt his fault. Like I said upthread the opening we have here seems a bit clumsy, full of info dumps and such, but its not badly written.

I am greatly looking forward to this and believe that ICE can deliver.
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#28 User is offline   champ 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 02:18 PM

Am I going to miss anything by not reading B&B as I don't think I can bring myself to read it at the minute.

OST just put me off ICE but this book been Assail and one I have looked forward to since MoI I really have no choice but to read it!

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#29 User is offline   tiam 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 05:30 PM

I would read it for plot. Its about the same as OST. If its the writing that puts you off its doesnt improve. If its nonsensical plot points and things like that I say grin and bear it.
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#30 User is offline   D'rek 

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Posted 11 July 2014 - 05:36 PM

Quote

But then came tales of foreigners arriving in the south. Just a trickle at first. A few tow-headed ignoramuses easily done away with. Then bands of them. Some even pushing upland, ignoring all the warnings. A few of them reappeared only as heads tossed across streams or left on stakes next to forest trails.


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A few tow-headed ignoramuses easily done away with.


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tow-headed ignoramuses easily


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ignoramuses


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ignoramuses


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ignoramuses


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ignoramuses


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ignoramuses



...seriously?

This post has been edited by D'rek: 11 July 2014 - 05:37 PM

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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#31 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 11 July 2014 - 07:42 PM

View Postchamp, on 09 July 2014 - 02:18 PM, said:

Am I going to miss anything by not reading B&B as I don't think I can bring myself to read it at the minute.

OST just put me off ICE but this book been Assail and one I have looked forward to since MoI I really have no choice but to read it!

Blood and Bone is his best book, marred by a couple flaws though (bad beginnings, particularly with Shimmer and one plot thread ending that didn't quite come off as intended).

Orb Sceptre and Throne is half a good book and half a terrible book.

So if you can make it through OST, you can certainly make it through B&B.
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#32 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 21 July 2014 - 04:47 PM

View Postchamp, on 09 July 2014 - 02:18 PM, said:

Am I going to miss anything by not reading B&B as I don't think I can bring myself to read it at the minute.
...


Hard to say with certainty without actually reading Assail, but a few key things did happen in B&B on a worldwide/ongoing plots level.
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