Malazan Empire: Brainzzz! Brainzzz! I know. . . ;-) - Malazan Empire

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Brainzzz! Brainzzz! I know. . . ;-)

#1 User is offline   pat5150 

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 11:04 PM

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

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. . . :p

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! :p

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

Patrick
For book reviews, author interviews, giveaways, related articles and news, and much more, check out www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
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#2 User is offline   Gabriel Chase 

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 11:26 PM

Well, at least tell us if you’re enjoying it as you go along!
لا إلــــــــــــــــــــــــه
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#3 User is offline   Defiance 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 01:54 AM

Damn, was hoping there wouldn't be any sort of review embargo on this one. Still looking forward to it regardless.
uhm, that should be 'stuff.' My stiff is never nihilistic.
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#4 User is offline   nacht 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 02:34 AM

Pat, i think some neg rep would compensate for your pleasure :-)
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#5 User is offline   tiam 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 12:46 PM

View Postpat5150, 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! :p

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. . . :p

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! :p

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

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 :p
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#6 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 03:08 PM

I hate you Pat.

Please stand closer to a window and leave the lights on.
THIS IS YOUR REMINDER THAT THERE IS A
'VIEW NEW CONTENT' BUTTON THAT
ALLOWS YOU TO VIEW NEW CONTENT
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#7 User is offline   pat5150 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 03:48 PM

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

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... :p

Patrick
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#8 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 04:20 PM

Hate.


SO HAAAAAAATE
THIS IS YOUR REMINDER THAT THERE IS A
'VIEW NEW CONTENT' BUTTON THAT
ALLOWS YOU TO VIEW NEW CONTENT
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#9 User is offline   tiam 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 05:32 PM

View Postpat5150, 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. . . :p

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... :p

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.
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#10 User is offline   pat5150 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 06:41 PM

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

Patrick
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#11 User is offline   Messremb 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 06:58 PM

View Postpat5150, 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 :p
"see that stranger's arm crushing the life from him - do you understand? Not an eternal prison for Messremb"
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#12 User is offline   Spoilsport Stonny 

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 07:46 PM

Can you post the library data and every fourth word from the acknowledgements?
Theorizing that one could poop within his own lifetime, Doctor Poopet led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top secret project, known as QUANTUM POOP. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Doctor Poopet, prematurely stepped into the Poop Accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own bowels was made through brainwave transmissions, with Al the Poop Observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Doctor Poopet could see and hear. Trapped in the past, Doctor Poopet finds himself pooping from life to life, pooping things right, that once went wrong and hoping each time, that his next poop will be the poop home.
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#13 User is offline   pat5150 

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 02:24 AM

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... :p

Patrick
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#14 User is offline   Abalieno 

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 05:11 AM

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.
#MrSkimpole

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#15 User is offline   nacht 

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 08:45 AM

View PostAbalieno, 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 :-)
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#16 User is offline   pat5150 

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 01:22 PM

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

Patrick
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#17 User is offline   pat5150 

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Posted 11 July 2014 - 03:42 AM

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

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#18 User is offline   Andorion 

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Posted 11 July 2014 - 04:18 AM

View Postpat5150, 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.
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#19 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 11 July 2014 - 04:20 AM

Sounds good to me. I don't want any answers. Just sweet sweet wandering.
They came with white hands and left with red hands.
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#20 User is offline   pat5150 

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Posted 11 July 2014 - 04:27 AM

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
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