Tales of the Malazan Empire.Follow

YES!!!!

I was looking for a post like this. Steven Erikson is far and away my favorite of the new crop of fantasy authors. R Scott Bakker is well and good and all, as is China Mieville and Jeff VanderMeer, but Steven Erikson is the only one I can say compares favorably to my favorites in the old guard (Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, Michael Moorcock, M John Harrison, so on).

I am currently on my second read through the books I own in the series (first four) and I'm going to make it farther, hopefully to the sixth if it is released here yet. I'm liking it even more the second time. This may end up being my favorite epic high fantasy series ever. It's long, crazy complex, but always engrossing. It can be excessively violent, but that's a good thing in my book. Absolutely wonderful series.

Authors like Erikson? Some of his stylistic quirks, such as the character Kruppe, really remind me of Jack Vance. I would suggest starting with Tales of the Dying Earth for him. R Scott Bakker is a reasonably similar newer author. His trilogy The Prince of Nothing is rather excellent.

Edited, Jul 29th 2007 9:36pm by Lorimath

I've been saying I <3 the Malazan books for a looooong time. However I just couldn't get into the Midnight Tides storyline, I felt it was introduced too late and I felt nothing for any of the characters.

Also, I didn't like the Prince of Nothing. I couldn't give a reason why, just didn't enjoy them.

A week or so ago, I ordered Midnight Tides and The Bonehunters, which was just released in the US last week. Should be here tomorrow. I can't wait to read them. It's just too bad I'll have to wait 9 more months to read the 7th book.

Bonehunters was good. He needs to write faster.

This is definitely one of my most favourite series of all time, at the moment. I can't put it into the "high literature" category of all world fiction, but as far as straight out reading for pleasure goes, this is amazingly well done.

The only draw-back I can see is for people who get impatient with his endless fractal fragmentation and evolution of a hundred different plots, and a cast of thousands.

For myself, I am fascinated and attached to so many of the characters. I love the convolutions and the massiveness of the plots. I love how things chop and change from epic, godly magic, down to the petty grittiness of plodding across continents, wounds, starvation and little ***** fights around the campfire.

I like that there is somewhat of a death toll, although some deaths have been heartbreaking. I LOVED the tragic irony of what happened with Paran's sisters.

I'm in love with Paran, Apsalar and Cutter, Fiddler and all the Bridgeburners. I love the characters of Ben and that plump mage woman from early on and that mad priest of shadow and his spider wife. The shadow god and the assassin god are so often funny, and Krupe is such a zany creation.

The march of the Chain of Dogs was just such a fantastic book, and so heartwrenching.

So far I'm happy to let him just keep gong with no end in sight, because this is truly the largest, most convoluted story I've ever come across.

The battles have been amazing. I think the favourite has to be the one with the destriants and sheild hammers and stuff, and Treach the Tiger of Summer taking over from the boar god of battle, and the corpses piling up so high in the hand to hand battles in the city that the avatar of Treach ends up on top of a three story house with the ENTIRE building stuffed full of corpses, and the sides of the building ramped with them.

I love the whole Warrens thing, and Deck thing, it's a very interesting twist on gods and magic.


At the moment, the only author I would compare to Erikson in sophistication in fantasy is Robin Hobb.