I hope this hasn't been asked and answered a million times, and apologize if this is the case.
I'm uncertain whether or not I want to continue reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen.I've read the first one (GotM) and am currently at 12% of the second one (Deadhouse Gates).
Pro:
I very much enjoy the worldbuilding and general atmosphere. The world seems very believable, vast, mysterious and real to me.Erikson has quickly managed to make me curious about the deep inner workings of his world and the true motives of his characters and parties.
I love the apparent scope and complexity of the over-all plot, and understand that it requires thorough introduction of setting and characters.The prospect of the "initial work" paying off and leaving me with a 10 book series at hand that I'll enjoy amazes me.Also, there's a lot of deep meaning to be found in between the lines - I've already marked a nice collection of quotes that spoke to me in the first book alone. Kruppe, for one, made me laugh out loud, which, sadly, is rare is enough.
Con:
English isn't my first language. Nevertheless, I've been reading English fantasy for the last 10-15 or so years (Sanderson, Hobb, Martin, Rothfuss, Abercrombie etc.) without any problems whatsoever. Somehow I seem to struggle with Erikson though - I keep rereading sentences and am generally struggling with getting a good reading session in. Getting into the flow. But that's alright, I think I'm getting used to his writing style. What's bugging me the most is the following: I'm not feeling much for any of the characters. I wish I did, but I just don't. At this point, he could pretty much kill off anyone and I wouldn't be too bothered. Alright, I'd like to hear more about Kruppe and Quick Ben, maybe Paran, but..
I think for my personal taste, Erikson's jumping around a bit too much, changing POV chars, cities or even continents, focussing more on introducing concepts/races/places than on shining light on the inner workings/conflicts of the particular POV char. When looking back to my best reads thus far, I vividly remember the characters like old friends, people I've once known intimately because I got a glimpse at their true selfs, saw the world from their perspective. World building and plot -for my personal taste- don't suffice. I want believable, complex personalities who struggle with conflicting emotions. It's Boromir's acknowledgement of Aragorn upon his last breath (my brother. my captain. my king.) that still sends goosebumps all over me, not the epic battle for Helm's deep.
Question:
Can I expect that to change? Can you recommend anything like "read till the end of book two and if you still dislike it, stop"?
Thanks for reading my post and for potential advice! I hope nobody got offended by hearing their favourite author being critized.
Cheers,
Steffen
This post has been edited by Steffen: 28 February 2019 - 09:40 AM