[Selush]

For the first time, SE has actually made me care about a romance


Kagamandra Tulas and Sharenas Ankhadu


Yes, it's destined to be tragic. He's supposed to marry someone else and she's.... well she's become a cannibal.

SE may be king of the bromance novelists but as far as romances go, his writing sucks.
Some of you might say "What about Apsalar and Crokus?" Blah... Blah... Blah...boring.

He totally botched it in the consummation with Karsa and Samar Dev.

All the other ones seemed liked after-thoughts.

[Andorion]

Ahem... ONrack and Kilava.. had the most long-running historical consequences ever

[Selush]

Although, not an afterthought, Onarack and Kilava were very one-dimensional. As a reader of countless romance novels and watcher of an endless number of romantic movies, I am a professional assessor of romance stories, and the only one worth mentioning in the Malazan universe so far is Kagamandra and Sharenas.

This post has been edited by Selush: 14 May 2016 - 10:50 AM

[nacht]

You mean you didnt like the subtle romance of Lasa and Hanako.


Just in case you missed it

Quote

Lasa rose and drew close. She set to examining his wounds touching here and there, standing all too close - close enough to have something brush her thigh. Glancing down, Lasa hummed under her breath. She lifted her gaze and arched one brow. 'Not a mountain's mantle of bitter snow can shrivel bold Hanako. I pronounce you fit in no need awl and gut'

This post has been edited by nacht: 14 May 2016 - 08:03 PM

[Puck]

Selush, on 14 May 2016 - 06:01 AM, said:

Although, not an afterthought, Onarack and Kilava were very one-dimensional. As a reader of countless romance novels and watcher of an endless number of romantic movies, I am a professional assessor of romance stories, and the only one worth mentioning in the Malazan universe so far is Kagamandra and Sharenas.

Well, that's what those romance novels are for, no need to drag anything else into that particular quagmire. Personally, just thinking of them makes me want to bleach my brain.

I'll take the love stories in SE'S writing any day, as I find them both believable and touching (well, aside from Crokus/Apsalar). More importantly, while some may think the abundance of bromances silly, as someone who'd put friendship over romance any day I appreciate SE'S uncompromising approach to the former. Furthermore, the story doesn't really allow for more Tulas/Sharenas style romance and those two only work because it's such a rarity and because they're both believable characters capable of standing on their own. In fact, the Kharkanas trilogy so far has quite a few romancy couples. The interesting part is, of course, for me, how due to the Shakespeare-inspired style, some come off as LESS believable than those couples found in the MBoT, despite getting more screentime.

Onrack/Kilava is actually, imo, very multidimensional, but not spelled out like a textbook. Each layer of their story is only implied but needs to be understood and connected to develop fully. Tulas/Sharenas, on the other hand - as much as I adore them - , are very simple and straightforward. From what we get in FoD, I had been hoping for something.. less straightforward with them, but it does fit with the mood, I guess, in retrospect.

[worry]

I think my favorite is the everyday, lived-in partnership between Blend and Picker. Struck me as a particularly well drawn settled-in couple. Pithy and Brevity hit me the same way. Overall though I appreciate that SE is going for breadth more often than depth. The it-takes-all-kinds approach suits the MO of the series, and the occasional stabs at fleshed out romances tend to hit for me as a result. And I think it's basically the same for all his relationships: romantic, familiar, friendly, antagonistic...there's a panoramic take on how these things play out, a broad impressionistic view, and then a few chosen examples get more close-up attention (and even those ones don't get samey, usually).