[h4stur]

Hi everyone, I'm new on the forum


I started reading the books because a friend of mine recommended them to me, and I've already reached the end of House of chains,I like the series in general (the construction of the world, the interaction of plots, etc.), but there is something that does not motivate me to continue with it and it is the way in which the author leads the story of certain characters.


I mean, when you're reading the chapters of a character for hundreds and hundreds of pages you hope that his story will go somewhere.


That all the time you invest in reading his story makes some sense. As far as i have read that's not the case of the arc of Felisin, all I've read is the girl being miserable and making other people miserable along the way, and I don't see this as a bad thing if at some point it had an influence on the story beyond being a filler plot.


But it has not been like that, she simply disappears from history without having caused any impact on it either before ,during or after her death. Non on her sister (from what I have been told, Tavore will not even find out who she killed in the following books) nor in any of the other main plots reading all the terrible things that happen to Felisin without without it leading to anything is like watching one of those provegan videos where they show you how a pig is butchered as part of an awareness campaign.
Like, i just see gore, now what ? What's the point of this ?, what am I supposed to feel?
I know that the path of a character is not simply to see how his story ends, if that were the case, we could skip the whole trip of Sam and Frodo to Mordor and say "and the hobbits returned to the shire, the end.", but I think that at some point the development has to lead us to some conclusion, or have some impact within the story that is told. Whatever,I find it a bit frustrating to continue with the series from here.


Does the other characters are going to have a similar development ? it's almost like reading by obligation at this point (lol) even if i'm curious about the other main ones (kalam, apsalar the pocket dimension sword dude etc ) Nothing motivates me to continue if everything is going to be a "life is hard sometimes" with the others.


Sorry for my bad English Im not a native English speaker

This post has been edited by h4stur: 26 January 2023 - 04:18 AM

[Tsundoku]

Hi and welcome

The books are written as multi-Point of view (POV) and are ostensibly more a contemporary "history" than a traditional story arc. Sometimes there will be resolutions you hate, some you enjoy, and some that just ... stop. Sort of like real history, they don't get the ending we may feel they deserve, just an ending.

I agree that poor old Felisin was hard done by, but all-in-all I would suggest sticking with it. You will find characters and arcs you love and some you don't quite get, but overall I believe it's worth it.

Spoiler

Felisin was more an erratic passenger than arbiter of her fate IMHO even when she was Sha'ik Reborn, but she serves as one of those less-than-heroic POVs that shows different aspects of the story. It's not so much her direct effect on the story but how she affected others and so on and so forth.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 26 January 2023 - 05:19 AM

[ContrarianMalazanReader]

Personally I think the main book series by Steven Erikson peaked with The Bonehunters. In the latter four books Erikson got his head so far up his own ass that it's mostly pretentious writing, concluding with The Crippled God which is just a plain clusterfuck of two stories that have no bearing on each other.

Ian Cameron Esslemont's Novels of the Malazan Empire on the other hand got better and better for me, with the frustrating caveat that they end on cliffhangers that lead nowhere.

[Abyss]

h4stur, on 26 January 2023 - 04:15 AM, said:

...That all the time you invest in reading his story makes some sense. As far as i have read that's not the case of the arc of Felisin, all I've read is the girl being miserable and making other people miserable along the way, and I don't see this as a bad thing if at some point it had an influence on the story beyond being a filler plot.

This is a common feeling about Felisin on a first read.

Quote

But it has not been like that, she simply disappears from history without having caused any impact on it either before ,during or after her death. Non on her sister (from what I have been told, Tavore will not even find out who she killed in the following books) nor in any of the other main plots reading all the terrible things that happen to Felisin without without it leading to anything is like watching one of those provegan videos where they show you how a pig is butchered as part of an awareness campaign.
Like, i just see gore, now what ? What's the point of this ?, what am I supposed to feel?

You're four books into a 10 (or 19) book series, so your impression of Felisin having no impact is premature.

BUT... just where you are in the series... look at Baudin, Kulp, Leoman, Karsa, Heboric, Shaik's various lieutenants, the child she adopts, and yes Tavore and The Bonehunters ... did she really have no impact on those characters or their actions after interacting with her?


I'd suggest she did. In a few cases a HUGE impact.

Quote

...Does the other characters are going to have a similar development ?...

Many characters go through various arcs through the rest of the series. Some are similar. Some are darker. Some are radically different. If you enjoyed most of the series so far and Felisin is just an outlier i'd say keep going. If you're majorly hung up on her storyline, hey, there's lost of other stuff to read out there.

[Abyss]

ContrarianMalazanReader, on 26 January 2023 - 06:03 PM, said:

Personally I think the main book series by Steven Erikson peaked with The Bonehunters. In the latter four books Erikson got his head so far up his own ass that it's mostly pretentious writing, concluding with The Crippled God which is just a plain clusterfuck of two stories that have no bearing on each other....

Awww.... did someone get up on the not feel like he was being edgy enough side of the bed this morning?

[ContrarianMalazanReader]

Abyss, on 26 January 2023 - 07:01 PM, said:

ContrarianMalazanReader, on 26 January 2023 - 06:03 PM, said:

Personally I think the main book series by Steven Erikson peaked with The Bonehunters. In the latter four books Erikson got his head so far up his own ass that it's mostly pretentious writing, concluding with The Crippled God which is just a plain clusterfuck of two stories that have no bearing on each other....

Awww.... did someone get up on the not feel like he was being edgy enough side of the bed this morning?

Not trying to be edgy, just giving my honest opinion.

[Abyss]

ContrarianMalazanReader, on 26 January 2023 - 07:10 PM, said:

Abyss, on 26 January 2023 - 07:01 PM, said:

ContrarianMalazanReader, on 26 January 2023 - 06:03 PM, said:

Personally I think the main book series by Steven Erikson peaked with The Bonehunters. In the latter four books Erikson got his head so far up his own ass that it's mostly pretentious writing, concluding with The Crippled God which is just a plain clusterfuck of two stories that have no bearing on each other....

Awww.... did someone get up on the not feel like he was being edgy enough side of the bed this morning?

Not trying to be edgy, just giving my honest opinion.

Awww.... did someone get up on the not feel like he was being edgy enough so he'll jump into a thread and give his honest opinion that has nothing to do with the thread side of the bed this morning?