[Raz4starr]

After a very long break, I came back and finished this book. I cannot say I was impressed sadly. For me, this is clearly the worst book in the series so far, except for GotM of course. It is still a solid read, but it has a lot of drawbacks that are made worse by the fact that it follows the series high point this far, at least in my opinion (yes, MT).

The main problem with the book in my opinion is that it feels disjointed. There is a ton of different story lines to follow and they are pretty self contained. And even when they converge, with the execption of the finale (as is the case in every Malazan book), there is not really much there. Adding that to the fact that the stories do not really add anything significant to the known characters, no improtant or special new characters are added, we do not get anything new in terms of lore and we do not get to know any new lands, makes the book feel strangely flat and uninteresting, especially in the middle. This makes me think that what made the previous books special was the revelation of new lore and new parts of the world. Now that the story takes the helm, the series dipped a little. I hope that the return to my favourite Lether continent (the reason I loved MT so much was the new evry rich lore and the dark and ominous feel of the land) will impress me once again.

[Takko]

I can understand the criticism, but I don`t necessarily share it. I feel like a lot of depth is added to many characters which helps you understand the overarching storyline. Especially Cotillion and Shadowthrone are given a lot of focus in this book. I enjoyed that a lot. Given a glimpse of how difficult it is to hold together an empire that is assailed from all sides is also one of the strong suits of this entry. On my first read a couple of years ago I found myself not really enjoying the Adjunct Tavore parts too much, because I felt a little more depth and a clearer view of her character would have been nice. On the reread now I really like the way she handles her army and how mysterious she is about the mission and the final goal. Is it Kalam in the latter part of the book who thinks deeply about what leaders should reveal to their troops? I really liked that sequence. And also rest assured, there will be plenty of lore and new lands in the books to come.

[Raz4starr]

Takko, on 03 May 2020 - 01:12 PM, said:

I can understand the criticism, but I don`t necessarily share it. I feel like a lot of depth is added to many characters which helps you understand the overarching storyline. Especially Cotillion and Shadowthrone are given a lot of focus in this book. I enjoyed that a lot. Given a glimpse of how difficult it is to hold together an empire that is assailed from all sides is also one of the strong suits of this entry. On my first read a couple of years ago I found myself not really enjoying the Adjunct Tavore parts too much, because I felt a little more depth and a clearer view of her character would have been nice. On the reread now I really like the way she handles her army and how mysterious she is about the mission and the final goal. Is it Kalam in the latter part of the book who thinks deeply about what leaders should reveal to their troops? I really liked that sequence. And also rest assured, there will be plenty of lore and new lands in the books to come.

Thanks for taking the time to offer your opinion.Yeah, on hindsight, maybe I was a bit too negative. I love Cotillon and Shadowthrone, and the mysteries of Emurlahn is one of the most interesting stories. And I like Tavore as a character (I gather that she is going to be very important in the series from now on), I just think that there was a bit too much aimless wandering in the book (Karsa's journey I didn't enjoy at all). My favourite parts were the Paran ones, as I like the way he is coming in to his role as Master of the Deck. Maybe this just ends up being one of the books that feel better the further removed you are from them (I loved MoI from the start, but I have come to appreciate it so much more now). One third into RG now, and loving it thus far (although most of the books usually suffer a bit in the middle due to pacing issues), maybe Lether just does it for me (the atmosphere, the clash of culture, the freezing ritual, Bluerose, what an ingeneous conception this place is). Really looking forward to the convergence that seems to be coming.