Mako2401, on 08 June 2018 - 04:45 PM, said:
Finally finished the book, it took me quite some time (about 20 days) to read through it. Just like the previous book, GotM, the book starts very slowly to the point where I had to force myself to read one chapter per day, ending with such a fantastic emotional writing that I read the entire ending part of the book in one sitting. Have several questions and one question about how to read the book series in general.
1. Was Kellanved the first Emperor? Or was he just one in line of Emperors? Did he create the Empire or was the Empire there before him? Also, am I understanding it correctly that he took the T'Lann Imass and used them as his army to conquer places?
2. Again, in this book I have the same question from before, why doesn't the empire just enter the warrens and invade them , killing the gods in the process ? Especially since Oppon was working against them, Shadowthrone is Kellanved, and Sha'ik (to my understanding) is a Goddess that fights against the Empire. Probably still don't understand the warrens completely, which is weird after 2000+ pages read.
3. The crows taking Coltaine's soul, not quite sure what that means. does he become a D'Iver? Or are they like the Valkyries taking his body to Valhalla?
4. The moment where they're in the Azath in the desert gave me a glimpse of them going to all sorts of different realms ala Siri in the Witcher, would love to see a traveler going through them all, finding even our world or something along those lines.I did love the book, lots and lots of interesting moments. Loved the new characters, with the exception of Felisin. I'd ask for advice here about the reading of the rest of the books, do you advise me taking a break, I bought The expanse series and thought about binging through them , thay are very strightforward simpler books, or continue reading the next Malazan book right now? Thank you in advance for all the answers and advice !
First of all, questions like this can easily lead to spoilers for future moments. So, first recommendation to get your answers is RAFO. Answers may contain mild spoilers.
1) The founding days of the Empire are the main topic of Ian Esslemont's "Path to Ascendancy" books. Yes, the Malazan Empire was founded by Kellanved (and Dancer), and the T'lan Imass (for reasons that you will learn when you get there) recognized him as their leader. On a few known occasions, the T'lan Imass were used in military campaigns. Some of them were already mentioned in passing throughout GotM and DG.
2) Since you read DG, you already know how dangerous and unreliable travelling by warren is for even such a small group as Felisin, Kulp & Co. You can probably imagine how hard (read: impossible) it would be to open a portal into a warren for an entire army. Invading Oponn doesn't really work because (to our/your knowledge) they don't reign over a proper realm, making them hard to track down. The Empire (for the most part) does not know that Shadowthrone is Kellanved. Plus his warren is...weird and hard to access. You can infer that much from Kulp's ramblings. And Sha'iks warren actually cannot be accessed by most people for reasons that you'll learn much later.
Even if you were to enter a warren. There's no way of knowing where you'll land inside of it and once you're there, you're on a god's hometurf which puts you at a disadvantage, I'd wager. Splintered troops, strange, mind-bending place, unknown hazards (e.g. Hounds), no guaranteed way of making your way back....Doesn't really sound like the ideal scenario for a large-scale military campaign. Might also raise an eyebrow or two if you tell your soldiers that you're venturing into essentially a different dimension in order to slay a handful of full-fledged gods and their pet monsters.
3) That's something specific about the Wickans. As one of them puts it "we don't ascend, we re-iterate". The crows take Coltaine's soul and, in the epilogue, you witness a pregnant Wickan woman being engulfed by a murder of crows. I'll leave it up to you to connect the dots.
4) The next book, Memories of Ice, is considered by many to be the best in the entire series. While I prefer Toll the Hounds and Midnight Tides, I have to admit that MoI has some of the greatest individual scenes, and is probably the most action packed novel in the series. So it's, in a way, an easier reading experience. Great novel. Another thing is this: MoI picks up where GotM left off. Its events take place at roughly the same time as the ones in DG. So, in that way, it's maybe a good idea not to put too much time between reading those novels. But that's just a guess - I happened to binge the entire series, so I can't say much about that.
This post has been edited by Zetubal: 09 June 2018 - 06:39 PM
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