[Felisin Fatter]

Hm, I hope this is vague enough not be considered a spoiler:

Upon rereading the series, very few of the randomness still looks random. It is fascinating experience, really. What might help you is to remember that in this world, power draws power. When something spectacular happens, powerful beings take notice and most of these also take an interest and like to push or pull events a little (or a lot...). On top of that, the malazans are plotters and planners themselves and always bring a 'shaved knuckle in the hole'. And some of those solutions can be (literally?) considered 'deus ex machina', but random they are not.

I feel you though, upon my first read it all seemed a jumble, I didn't get why many storylines were even included. Some things I was convinced were peripheral actually turned out to be central and vice versa. The books are structured in an unusual way. What I love about it is the amount of trust Erikson puts in his readers, and his fearlessness in challenging us.