Malazan Empire: worry - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

Tsundoku, on 07 January 2026 - 09:45 PM, said:

AKA take an "Australian bath"

I might hold off on more fantasy from her for the near future. I am curious what she can do with a different protagonist for sure, but I am also a little wary now. I'll probably read Yellowface this year though.

Goodness gracious!

So one sucks, one is British (aka sucks), and one is good. Sounds like a no-brainer.

Finished book 3 of The Poppy War by RF Kuang, which is called The Burning God. My feelings, as with the series as a whole, are very mixed. If you know anything about the influences for this story, then you know it's really dark stuff, but it's not really the surface subject matter that left me feeling this way. As a finale, it's a very logical end to the story -- both at the micro and macro levels -- so in that sense it's quite satisfying. But in another sense, it's almost never satisfying being in this particular protagonist's head, as you are pretty much the whole way through. It's deeply uncomfortable and often maddening. My copy came with a bonus short story from another character's POV, and it was a breath of fresh air. But I wouldn't say either of those things is non-deliberate. It's all a choice, and it all serves a purpose, whether I liked it or not. The prose is very readable/digestible, not particularly beholden to old-fashioned fantasy phrasing or word choice, and I got through it pretty quickly in 50-100 page chunks, which is pretty good for me lately. Partly because I wanted to know what happened next, partly because I wanted to get it over with because it's exhausting and never really fun to read. I can't imagine writing from this character's POV for so long. Kuang sticks with it, and never really cops out of honestly depicting this character she created. It takes chutzpah and it takes gall. Story-wise, it's got plenty of action, travel, unpredictable twists and turns, all that kind of stuff. Anyway: I don't recommend reading it or not reading it.