[pat5150]

Imagine my pleasure when this was waiting for me on my doorstep when I came back from work this evening!

Sadly for you, Simon Taylor, SE and ICE's editor at Bantam requested that I hold off my review until just before the pub date. So I won't be able to provide an advance review, as is usually my wont. . .

But I'll keep you posted as I read along, and I'm still working on getting you the two new maps and an extract!

And now, I'm hitting the shower and then I'm going to start reading this bad boy!

Patrick

[Gabriel Chase]

Well, at least tell us if you’re enjoying it as you go along!

[Defiance]

Damn, was hoping there wouldn't be any sort of review embargo on this one. Still looking forward to it regardless.

[nacht]

Pat, i think some neg rep would compensate for your pleasure :-)

[tiam]

pat5150, on 08 July 2014 - 11:04 PM, said:

Imagine my pleasure when this was waiting for me on my doorstep when I came back from work this evening!

Sadly for you, Simon Taylor, SE and ICE's editor at Bantam requested that I hold off my review until just before the pub date. So I won't be able to provide an advance review, as is usually my wont. . .

But I'll keep you posted as I read along, and I'm still working on getting you the two new maps and an extract!

And now, I'm hitting the shower and then I'm going to start reading this bad boy!

Patrick

Id have to have a long 'shower' if I knew the Assail mystery was about to be revealed.

This is a family site Pat, keep it clean

[Abyss]

I hate you Pat.

Please stand closer to a window and leave the lights on.

[pat5150]

Most of you probably remember that I found Blood and Bone to be atrociously boring and by far the weakest Malazan installment to date. . .

Hence, I'm not going into this one with very high expectations, what with having been burned by the last two Esslemont offering. But about 100 pages into Assail, so far I'm enjoying it as much as I enjoyed The Return of the Crimson Guard and Stonewielder. This is the final chapter in the Malazan saga, which means that Assail will be to ICE what The Crippled God was to SE. And as such, the author must be on top of his game.

Based on the Dramatis Personae, it appears that we'll witness one hell of a convergence. So one can only hope that Esslemont can pull it off. And though it's too early to tell if that will be the case, we're off to a good start...

Patrick

[Abyss]

Hate.


SO HAAAAAAATE

[tiam]

pat5150, on 09 July 2014 - 03:48 PM, said:

Most of you probably remember that I found Blood and Bone to be atrociously boring and by far the weakest Malazan installment to date. . .

Hence, I'm not going into this one with very high expectations, what with having been burned by the last two Esslemont offering. But about 100 pages into Assail, so far I'm enjoying it as much as I enjoyed The Return of the Crimson Guard and Stonewielder. This is the final chapter in the Malazan saga, which means that Assail will be to ICE what The Crippled God was to SE. And as such, the author must be on top of his game.

Based on the Dramatis Personae, it appears that we'll witness one hell of a convergence. So one can only hope that Esslemont can pull it off. And though it's too early to tell if that will be the case, we're off to a good start...

Patrick

Can you spoiler tag a dp for us? Or does that fall under the embargo aswell? Also yes BaB was a pile of wank.

[pat5150]

Nope, can't spoiler tag anything that might give something away. . .

Patrick

[Messremb]

pat5150, on 09 July 2014 - 06:41 PM, said:

Nope, can't spoiler tag anything that might give something away. . .

Patrick

And nor should you no matter what some depraved souls want. We can all find out when we read it, no spoiling at all

[Spoilsport Stonny]

Can you post the library data and every fourth word from the acknowledgements?

[pat5150]

So about 150 pages into it and it's the usual slower-paced Malazan set-up part of the book. The storylines are not drifting aimlessly the way they did in Blood and Bone, which is good. Still, more than 25% into it and not much has happened yet. But everything seems to hint about the proverbial shit hitting the fan in a major way.

Was expecting more of Silverfox, but there is still plenty of time for her plotline to shine...

Reading on...

Patrick

[Abalieno]

That confirms it's in the ballpark of the 544 pages of Tor edition.

I'm rather skeptical you can give a worthwhile conclusion to the whole cycle when the last volume is even shorter than the preceding ones... Not in Malazan.

[nacht]

Abalieno, on 10 July 2014 - 05:11 AM, said:

That confirms it's in the ballpark of the 544 pages of Tor edition.

I'm rather skeptical you can give a worthwhile conclusion to the whole cycle when the last volume is even shorter than the preceding ones... Not in Malazan.

That is inline with the fact that ICE will leave a lot to your imagination :-)

[pat5150]

With the glossary, the UK edition of Assail is 540 pages long.

Patrick

[pat5150]

More than a third in and the book is still moving rather slowly. I'm beginning to fear that ICE will most probably fail to wrap his own part of the Malazan arc the way fans expected him to. Sure, there are more than 300 pages left to go. But unless the pace changes dramatically, my concern is that a lot of plotlines likely won't get resolved until ICE's "epilogue" book(s).

Although it's much better than his last two Malazan offerings, Assail doesn't have that awesome vibe that made TRotCG and SW such great reads. Thus far, the novel hasn't offered much in terms of answers. Most of the storylines feel extraneous and have nothing to do with what we have been expecting since MoI. The Silverfox and T'lan Imass plotline is mostly kept in the background...

And there is a problem with Assail itself. I mean, everything we've heard about this land hints at it being the most hostile and dangerous environment in the entire Malazan universe. And yet, so far it's pretty much akin to British Columbia. All the characters have heard about the legends and the rumors of the many dangers of Assail, but so far we haven't really witnessed anything that makes this place any dangerous than Quon Tali or Lether.

As I said, there a good chunk left to read. But I'm slowly losing faith in the author. . .

Patrick

This post has been edited by pat5150: 11 July 2014 - 03:42 AM

[Andorion]

pat5150, on 11 July 2014 - 03:42 AM, said:

More than a third in and the book is still moving rather slowly. I'm beginning to fear that ICE will most probably fail to wrap his own part of the Malazan arc the way fans expected him to. Sure, there are more than 300 pages left to go. But unless the pace changes dramatically, my concern is that a lot of plotlines likely won't get resolved until ICE's "epilogue" book(s).

Although it's much better than his last two Malazan offerings, Assail doesn't have that awesome vibe that made TRotCG and SW such great reads. Thus far, the novel hasn't offered much in terms of answers. Most of the storylines feel extraneous and have nothing to do with what we have been expecting since MoI. The Silverfox and T'lan Imass plotline is mostly kept in the background...

And there is a problem with Assail itself. I mean, everything we've heard about this land hints at it being the most hostile and dangerous environment in the entire Malazan universe. And yet, so far it's pretty much akin to British Columbia. All the characters have heard about the legends and the rumors of the many dangers of Assail, but so far we haven't really witnessed anything that makes this place any dangerous than Quon Tali or Lether.

As I said, there a good chunk left to read. But I'm slowly losing faith in the author. . .

Patrick

This is something I have been fearing since I understood that ICE would be writing the concluding book. For myself I think I will always regard TCG as the conclusion to the Malazan cycle. Still never say die he may just pull off a miracle at the end.

[worry]

Sounds good to me. I don't want any answers. Just sweet sweet wandering.

[pat5150]

Well, Assail has been so far, for the most part, a travelogue featuring several characters... So if you like sweet wandering, you'll be happy!

Patrick