Onefinemess

By: Steven Erikson

The cover copy should just say “Shit happens.”  Nothing that can be said in the space of a single page could really cover all the craziness in between these covers.  Meaning: It’s “business as usual” in Malazan book #3.

Seriously though, now I *really* know why the back cover copy for these books was always so off-putting to me.  It’s… like a wordsearch made up of cross-sections of the book.

A) It can’t possibly cover what is going on and

B) I wouldn’t understand any of it without reading the other books

Therefore, more seriously, the back cover copy should just be blank.   Double seriously.

ANYWAY.  I continue to love this series.  I thought it would not be as good as the others, and I would get bored, or all the new characters would throw me.. or whatever.  BUT NOPE.

I love how things that would be huge reveals, built up for a least a book or two in other series (the truth about what warrens are, the history of the Barghast) get dropped into casual conversations here.  That’s how ballsy Erikson is rolling.  He’s not trying to keep you on the hook with hidden revelations and mysteries… no milking here.

Don’t get me wrong – there are secrets indeed, but the fact that he’s not a secret hoarder is awesome.  He’s got 10 secrets to reveal for every 7 he hides (it’s an exact ratio, trust me).

The only thing that was kind of a bummer about this particular incarnation of Malazan was the scene that revealed how Quick Ben and Kalam joined the Bridgeburners.   WTF Ruraku, wtf?  At least in book 2 we got some kind of an illustration of what one goes through on Raraku… this section just felt like “OK, you already know Raraku changes people, so lets skip that shit!”… which works fine for a lot of other stuff Erikson does, but really didn’t work for me here. I was like… REALLY?  You’re just going to up and join the ‘burners now?  And they are just going to let you!??!1101! I need to re-read that just to see if I missed some gibberish.

More Erikson-ery : One of the few characters I thought wouldn’t die, and was being set up for something else died (and actually at least one other that I thought had some kind of crazy destiny as well).  Although… *dun dun dun* it was hinted that something may happen afterwards.  Still, it wasn’t a straight up “reborn as a god or extension of a god” or whatnot that we’ve seen (multiple times already – MAN anyone can get godded up there!) before.

If you’re not fans of plot driven fantasy – this is probably not for you.  Erickson is not so much  character writer as he is a … hmm.  I don’t know what to call it.  Let’s just say the character development is not so much a part of the story as … everything else.  Fate/IE ‘the plot’ is quite obviously the force jerking everyone, god and mortal alike, around.  But it’s not problematic!  Yet.  The lens is so broad, the scene so vast and – as of yet – unmeasurable, that something has to do the driving.

Random question: WTF was Itkovian (sp?) doing hugging the T’lan Imass right at the worst possible time?  He is a grown ass man and should know better – that stunt could have gotten possibly everyone on the planet killed.  And eaten.  And raped.  Not necessarily in that order.

Random answer: One of the places where the plot-tug shone through just a little too much and it didn’t fit character-wise.  He was a soldier, tactician, planner.  He would know what his actions would cost everyone else, including his former companions.  I cannot believe that he, as a character (as much as we are allowed to know) would do that.  As a plot extension, sure.

THREE AND A HALF STARS

Because the series continues at the same level of borderline-crazy-brain-burning-not-so-much-sensemaking-goodness.

Tags: Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson

This entry was posted by onefinemess on Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Book Review, Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.