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Malazan Book of the Fallen #9
Dust of Dreams
In war everyone loses. This brutal truth can be seen in the eyes of every soldier in every world…
In Letherii, the exiled Malazan army commanded by Adjunct Tavore begins its march into the eastern Wastelands, to fight for an unknown cause against an enemy it has never seen.
And in these same Wastelands, others gather to confront their destinies. The warlike Barghast, thwarted in their vengeance against the Tiste Edur, seek new enemies beyond the border and Onos Toolan, once immortal T'lan Imass now mortal commander of the White Face clan, faces insurrection. To the south, the Perish Grey Helms parlay passage through the treacherous kingdom of Bolkando. Their intention is to rendezvous with the Bonehunters but their vow of allegiance to the Malazans will be sorely tested. And ancient enclaves of an Elder Race are in search of salvation--not among their own kind, but among humans--as an old enemy draws ever closer to the last surviving bastion of the K'Chain Che'Malle.
So this last great army of the Malazan Empire is resolved to make one final defiant, heroic stand in the name of redemption. But can deeds be heroic when there is no one to witness them? And can that which is not witnessed forever change the world? Destines are rarely simple, truths never clear but one certainty is that time is on no one's side. For the Deck of Dragons has been read, unleashing a dread power that none can comprehend…
In a faraway land and beneath indifferent skies, the final chapter of 'The Malazan Book of the Fallen' has begun…
In Letherii, the exiled Malazan army commanded by Adjunct Tavore begins its march into the eastern Wastelands, to fight for an unknown cause against an enemy it has never seen.
And in these same Wastelands, others gather to confront their destinies. The warlike Barghast, thwarted in their vengeance against the Tiste Edur, seek new enemies beyond the border and Onos Toolan, once immortal T'lan Imass now mortal commander of the White Face clan, faces insurrection. To the south, the Perish Grey Helms parlay passage through the treacherous kingdom of Bolkando. Their intention is to rendezvous with the Bonehunters but their vow of allegiance to the Malazans will be sorely tested. And ancient enclaves of an Elder Race are in search of salvation--not among their own kind, but among humans--as an old enemy draws ever closer to the last surviving bastion of the K'Chain Che'Malle.
So this last great army of the Malazan Empire is resolved to make one final defiant, heroic stand in the name of redemption. But can deeds be heroic when there is no one to witness them? And can that which is not witnessed forever change the world? Destines are rarely simple, truths never clear but one certainty is that time is on no one's side. For the Deck of Dragons has been read, unleashing a dread power that none can comprehend…
In a faraway land and beneath indifferent skies, the final chapter of 'The Malazan Book of the Fallen' has begun…
1280 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 18, 2009
About the author
Steven Erikson
127 books13.5k followersSteven Erikson is the pseudonym of Steve Rune Lundin, a Canadian novelist, who was educated and trained as both an archaeologist and anthropologist. His best-known work is the series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/steven...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/steven...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,021 reviews
June 5, 2019
Dust of Dreams lived up to its name, the book sent me to dreamland almost every chapter.
Erikson mentioned at the beginning of the novel that his idea of a finale was so huge that the story had to be done in two books: Dust of Dreams for the first half and The Crippled God for the second half of the story. I haven’t read The Crippled God yet and because of that, I simply have no idea how all the plotlines will converge and concludes in the last entry of the series. However, I’m going to say this, Dust of Dreams to me is easily the weakest book within the entire series, even weaker than House of Chains. If it weren’t due to the fact that this marks the ninth and penultimate installment of the series, I would’ve DNFed the book/series; it was that painful and boring to read.
Dust of Dreams started really strong. The buildup and the execution towards the reading on the Deck of Dragons scene were exhilarating and brilliant. Unfortunately, everything after this Deck of Dragons scene was a major struggle for me to get through. It shouldn’t come as a surprise by now that Erikson has an obsession with introducing new characters to follow no matter how far we are into the series. Honestly speaking, if you’ve been following my reviews you should know by now that I’m not a fan of this kind of storytelling method. When I’m this far into a series—nine out of ten tomes and approximately 3.1 million words in this case—I want to follow the characters that I’ve spent my time with. Erikson instead introduced us to another excessive amount of new characters, factions, and storylines that I simply don't care about. The Malazans and the Letherii do receive some focus and when they do, it was absolutely compelling and great to read. However, the majority of the pages of the tome were taken by the new inclusions. The Barghast, The Snake, the Shake, and they were all a complete boredom to the point that they genuinely felt pointless to read.
To add salt to the wound, Erikson by this point of the series seems to have run out of distinctive voices to give to the characters. Almost all the new characters sounded the same, if Erikson decided to switch around their names, I wouldn’t be able to tell which characters were actually switched. Even though there were brutal events occurring, none of them fazed or moved my emotion one bit because I was too disconnected from the characters and stories.
I don't have much else to say. The only good things about the book for me were when the POV shifted on the Malazans and the Letherii; the rest was a complete boredom festival in which almost every chapter ended up becoming a cure for insomnia. I’m not kidding, to have a book put me to sleep once is insane already but Dust of Dreams was capable of dropping me to sleep at least nine times. I haven’t read the final book yet so I can’t see how this book will be beneficial to the overarching arc but for now, it felt completely unnecessary to divide the last installment into two books because this book could’ve been cut by half and it would’ve been so much better to read. I hope the last book of the series, The Crippled God, will be able to clear the bad taste this installment left on me. With a heart full of ache and hope, I now march onward to finish my journey in Malazan Book of the Fallen.
You can order the book HERE!
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions
Erikson mentioned at the beginning of the novel that his idea of a finale was so huge that the story had to be done in two books: Dust of Dreams for the first half and The Crippled God for the second half of the story. I haven’t read The Crippled God yet and because of that, I simply have no idea how all the plotlines will converge and concludes in the last entry of the series. However, I’m going to say this, Dust of Dreams to me is easily the weakest book within the entire series, even weaker than House of Chains. If it weren’t due to the fact that this marks the ninth and penultimate installment of the series, I would’ve DNFed the book/series; it was that painful and boring to read.
Dust of Dreams started really strong. The buildup and the execution towards the reading on the Deck of Dragons scene were exhilarating and brilliant. Unfortunately, everything after this Deck of Dragons scene was a major struggle for me to get through. It shouldn’t come as a surprise by now that Erikson has an obsession with introducing new characters to follow no matter how far we are into the series. Honestly speaking, if you’ve been following my reviews you should know by now that I’m not a fan of this kind of storytelling method. When I’m this far into a series—nine out of ten tomes and approximately 3.1 million words in this case—I want to follow the characters that I’ve spent my time with. Erikson instead introduced us to another excessive amount of new characters, factions, and storylines that I simply don't care about. The Malazans and the Letherii do receive some focus and when they do, it was absolutely compelling and great to read. However, the majority of the pages of the tome were taken by the new inclusions. The Barghast, The Snake, the Shake, and they were all a complete boredom to the point that they genuinely felt pointless to read.
To add salt to the wound, Erikson by this point of the series seems to have run out of distinctive voices to give to the characters. Almost all the new characters sounded the same, if Erikson decided to switch around their names, I wouldn’t be able to tell which characters were actually switched. Even though there were brutal events occurring, none of them fazed or moved my emotion one bit because I was too disconnected from the characters and stories.
I don't have much else to say. The only good things about the book for me were when the POV shifted on the Malazans and the Letherii; the rest was a complete boredom festival in which almost every chapter ended up becoming a cure for insomnia. I’m not kidding, to have a book put me to sleep once is insane already but Dust of Dreams was capable of dropping me to sleep at least nine times. I haven’t read the final book yet so I can’t see how this book will be beneficial to the overarching arc but for now, it felt completely unnecessary to divide the last installment into two books because this book could’ve been cut by half and it would’ve been so much better to read. I hope the last book of the series, The Crippled God, will be able to clear the bad taste this installment left on me. With a heart full of ache and hope, I now march onward to finish my journey in Malazan Book of the Fallen.
You can order the book HERE!
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions
June 23, 2020
The denouement of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is so long that it had to be written over two enormous books. Dust of Dreams is the first act of this grand finale and it was glorious!
This volume is another polarising one insofar as its ratings are concerned, and it could be due to a very real syndrome called Malazan Fatigue. Admittedly I was 'afflicted' by this during my first attempt to follow the Malazan recommended reading order a couple of years ago and I did not even start on this book. This time around, having a better understanding of the stories being told during my reread and not attempting to read both Erikson and Esslemont in order, I managed to progress into Dust of Dreams and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The opening chapters herein were the strongest ones I’ve read in the entire series to date. The story picked up from the closing events in Reaper’s Gale; taking place in Letheras where the Bonehunters were encamped. The story started with an ominous tone, centred on some of my favourite scenes in this series (as hard to comprehend as it may be most times), i.e. those involving the Deck of Dragons. Erikson thoroughly immerses the reader into the lives of soldiers, providing numerous cut scenes from one individual or squad to another, showing how boredom can be an enemy of a soldier as many amongst them ruminated and bemoaned their fate in the hands of the Adjunct. The humourous reprieve granted by my favourite Malazan duo, usually at the most unexpected or inappropriate time, was a huge welcome.
The timeline in Dust of Dreams ran parallel to that in Toll the Hounds, up to a certain point. Having read the preceding volume bestowed the delicious joy of having inside information of the earth-shattering events which have transpired, as well as the bated anticipation as to how it will play out. There were also a surprising number of expository scenes that finally brought some light to the murkier sections of the vast and intricate tapestry of the series' narrative threads. Suffice to say, many of the seemingly missing pieces of the puzzle were gradually falling into place. Even with all the revelations evident so far, one burning question remained, surrounding the most enigmatic character of all, the awesome Quick Ben.
In the same vein of all the preceding books, we have again a whole new cast of characters introduced even this late into the series. One which I had not expected but was completely thrilled about was that of the perspective of the K’Chain Che’malle, a race of lizard-like beings for which we have only ever seen from a distance as completely alien, supremely advanced and wholly dangerous. This storyline provides the much-needed insights into these ancient beings who inhabited the world way before the humans ever did.
Speaking of humans, the philosophical tone in Dust of Dreams took on an even more bleak and depressing view of the horrors that beset humanity, all which mirrored our real world. Themes of extinction and annihilation, and of desperation to survive. There was one arc, in particular, that was terrifying in its portrayal of children and their ability to adapt. It was also the most plodding subplot in the book which to me didn't seem to have much significance to the larger story.
On the flipside, the commentary on the legacy that we leave behind for future generations rings true like a clarion.
The same goes for neglect, willful or otherwise.
While the Malazan books had been violent and brutal, I will not call it gratuitous. Regardless, I do need to mention that there are scenes in this book which may qualify as a trigger warning for serial rape and torture. Scenes which again draw upon our world. What is the reason behind such a portrayal? Instead of paraphrasing, I’ll put forth the words of the author himself.
I almost cannot believe I am finally at the threshold of the conclusion of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. As Dust of Dreams is merely the beginning of the end, it closed with a heart-rending cliff-hanger (what else would you expect from this series), and for the first time, I’m delving into the next book immediately. The Crippled God, here I come!
You can purchase the book from Book Depository (Free Shipping) | Bookshop.Org (Support Independent Bookstores | Amazon US | Amazon UK
You can find this and my other reviews at Novel Notions.
This volume is another polarising one insofar as its ratings are concerned, and it could be due to a very real syndrome called Malazan Fatigue. Admittedly I was 'afflicted' by this during my first attempt to follow the Malazan recommended reading order a couple of years ago and I did not even start on this book. This time around, having a better understanding of the stories being told during my reread and not attempting to read both Erikson and Esslemont in order, I managed to progress into Dust of Dreams and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The opening chapters herein were the strongest ones I’ve read in the entire series to date. The story picked up from the closing events in Reaper’s Gale; taking place in Letheras where the Bonehunters were encamped. The story started with an ominous tone, centred on some of my favourite scenes in this series (as hard to comprehend as it may be most times), i.e. those involving the Deck of Dragons. Erikson thoroughly immerses the reader into the lives of soldiers, providing numerous cut scenes from one individual or squad to another, showing how boredom can be an enemy of a soldier as many amongst them ruminated and bemoaned their fate in the hands of the Adjunct. The humourous reprieve granted by my favourite Malazan duo, usually at the most unexpected or inappropriate time, was a huge welcome.
The timeline in Dust of Dreams ran parallel to that in Toll the Hounds, up to a certain point. Having read the preceding volume bestowed the delicious joy of having inside information of the earth-shattering events which have transpired, as well as the bated anticipation as to how it will play out. There were also a surprising number of expository scenes that finally brought some light to the murkier sections of the vast and intricate tapestry of the series' narrative threads. Suffice to say, many of the seemingly missing pieces of the puzzle were gradually falling into place. Even with all the revelations evident so far, one burning question remained, surrounding the most enigmatic character of all, the awesome Quick Ben.
Image from Subterranean Press
In the same vein of all the preceding books, we have again a whole new cast of characters introduced even this late into the series. One which I had not expected but was completely thrilled about was that of the perspective of the K’Chain Che’malle, a race of lizard-like beings for which we have only ever seen from a distance as completely alien, supremely advanced and wholly dangerous. This storyline provides the much-needed insights into these ancient beings who inhabited the world way before the humans ever did.
Speaking of humans, the philosophical tone in Dust of Dreams took on an even more bleak and depressing view of the horrors that beset humanity, all which mirrored our real world. Themes of extinction and annihilation, and of desperation to survive. There was one arc, in particular, that was terrifying in its portrayal of children and their ability to adapt. It was also the most plodding subplot in the book which to me didn't seem to have much significance to the larger story.
"Children are quickest to necessity. They can make any world normal. Be careful, daughter, with these humans. To live, they will do anything."
On the flipside, the commentary on the legacy that we leave behind for future generations rings true like a clarion.
"The beast that was civilisation ever faced forward, and in making its present world it devoured the world to come. It was an appalling truth that one's own children could be so callously sacrificed to immediate comforts, yet this was so and it had always been so."
The same goes for neglect, willful or otherwise.
"A child starved never grows tall or strong. A child unloved can never find love or give it when grown. A child that does not laugh will become someone who can find nothing in the world to laugh at. And a child hurt deeply enough will spend a lifetime trying to scab that wound – even as they ceaselessly pick at it... all the careless acts and indifferent, impatient gestures... as if they had no time for their own children... and all of that was simply passed on to the next generation, over and over again."
While the Malazan books had been violent and brutal, I will not call it gratuitous. Regardless, I do need to mention that there are scenes in this book which may qualify as a trigger warning for serial rape and torture. Scenes which again draw upon our world. What is the reason behind such a portrayal? Instead of paraphrasing, I’ll put forth the words of the author himself.
"Torture is going on right now. People are being maimed. Some will die. Others will live with pain and trauma for the rest of their lives. And it you’re at all like me, you feel helpless to do anything about it. But one thing you do have a choice over: you can turn away.
… and while such acts of violence are in all likelihood very distant from us readers here, they exist, as a chapter in the history of our own civilisation, our own culture, and future books recounting the history of our present, will note us with clinical clarity, as nations in which torture was both condoned and conducted.
I didn’t write that scene for you. I wrote it for them. And I ask the same of you. Read it for them. As my wife said, whatever we feel is as nothing compared to what the victims have, and will, go through. And in the grand scheme of things, our brief disquiet seems, to me now as it did then, a most pathetic cry in this vast wilderness."
I almost cannot believe I am finally at the threshold of the conclusion of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. As Dust of Dreams is merely the beginning of the end, it closed with a heart-rending cliff-hanger (what else would you expect from this series), and for the first time, I’m delving into the next book immediately. The Crippled God, here I come!
You can purchase the book from Book Depository (Free Shipping) | Bookshop.Org (Support Independent Bookstores | Amazon US | Amazon UK
You can find this and my other reviews at Novel Notions.
March 22, 2022
4.5 stars. Another incredible entry in the series, but lacks the epic conclusion of the other books
The fact that a 4.5 stars book is my least favorite Malazan books is really quite astounding. I absolutely adore this series and can't wait to do a re-read of it as soon as I can.
Unfortunately, I think the publisher is the cause of the chief problem with this book. Originally this book was going to be ~2,000 pages and were books 9/10 combined. But they split it into two volumes, which means the convergence of characters into epic events did not happen in this book, and we have to wait until the final book to get it. That's a shame, because the rest of this book was very good.
I love the fact that the entire plot has focused in on one central thread. You really get the feel that all of these previous books have really mattered, and everything is coming to a head. The journey has been exciting, depressing, epic, and evoked dozens of other emotions through this roller-coaster of a journey.
There was one storyline in this book however that is probably the worst in the entire series, and without spoiling anything it centers around a group of children on a journey. In a series that takes fantasy to the extreme, this one is somehow "too far" and not only gets boring, but made me genuinely not want to read about it anymore. Luckily, the rest of the book is fantastic.
I absolutely cannot wait to start the final book in this series, and I have ever expectation in the world that Erikson will cap it off in the most spectacular way imaginable.
Check out my youtube channel
The fact that a 4.5 stars book is my least favorite Malazan books is really quite astounding. I absolutely adore this series and can't wait to do a re-read of it as soon as I can.
Unfortunately, I think the publisher is the cause of the chief problem with this book. Originally this book was going to be ~2,000 pages and were books 9/10 combined. But they split it into two volumes, which means the convergence of characters into epic events did not happen in this book, and we have to wait until the final book to get it. That's a shame, because the rest of this book was very good.
I love the fact that the entire plot has focused in on one central thread. You really get the feel that all of these previous books have really mattered, and everything is coming to a head. The journey has been exciting, depressing, epic, and evoked dozens of other emotions through this roller-coaster of a journey.
There was one storyline in this book however that is probably the worst in the entire series, and without spoiling anything it centers around a group of children on a journey. In a series that takes fantasy to the extreme, this one is somehow "too far" and not only gets boring, but made me genuinely not want to read about it anymore. Luckily, the rest of the book is fantastic.
I absolutely cannot wait to start the final book in this series, and I have ever expectation in the world that Erikson will cap it off in the most spectacular way imaginable.
Check out my youtube channel
October 25, 2019
Son of a bitch!! These books! Wait, I have one more to go! I can’t fathom it....
Skimmed through anything too triggering. I wasn’t even sure I would continue after the last book when But alas, I have to finish. I’m only going to read these 10 for now. I don’t know if or when I will read the others.
Onto the next ....
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Skimmed through anything too triggering. I wasn’t even sure I would continue after the last book when But alas, I have to finish. I’m only going to read these 10 for now. I don’t know if or when I will read the others.
Onto the next ....
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
January 31, 2019
There shall be none to witness. If existence itself can be said to be poetic, we stand in that silence, unyielding servants to anonymity. None to see, none to even know. Not a single grave, nor stone lifted to cast shade upon our scattered bones. Neither hill nor tomb. We shall rest in emptiness, not forgotten –for forgetting follows remembrance, and there shall be no remembrance.
The Bonehunters are on the march.
Dust of Dreams provides a new set of the philosophical musings which Erikson has set out before the reader particularly in the second half of the series. The nature of history, remembrance and heroism are spoken about, as in the quote above. What do heroic acts matter if nobody is there to seem them and remember their importance? Similarly, the nature of humanity is dealt with to some extent, our fragility and the temporary nature of our lives being mused about to some extent.
Similarly, the atrocity of war gets to centre stage again, particularly in the long descriptions surrounding the absolutely horrific battle in the Wastelands towards the end of the book. Using an exceptionally militaristic series as a critique of war is an interesting narrative choice, but Erikson pulls it off.
I was nearly put off by the absolutely disgustingly graphic violence in the book, particularly centred in the Barghast story arc. Ritualised, systemic rape and mutilation, constant descriptions of barbarism and overall depravity that the readers if forced to go through. I must admit I despise the use of violence for the purpose of shocking the reader. It is a cheap literary tactic, and one Erikson would do well to refrain from, as it diminishes the overall quality of the books. Erikson himself defended it as an act of homage to victims of such vile actions, in a forum post which gave a stronger impression of just not being able to handle criticism.
Aside from that, however, Erikson is of course a brilliant writer. The scenes involving diplomacy, are extremely interesting and sometimes downright amusing. The way Erikson deals with the intricacies of political negotiation on the Letherii continent are quite a highlight of Dust of Dreams, as it also provides some fascinating insights into the inner working of various cultures, civilised and tribal alike.
There are two particular highlights; one is the masterful depiction of the great battle at the end.
The other, however, is the journey of the Shake. There are some wonderful things to be experienced and learned as the Shake go on their pilgrimage to the lost city of Darkness, Kharkanas.
The sea is blind to the road
And the road is blind to the rain
The road welcomes no footfalls
The blind are an ocean’s flood
On the road’s shore
Walk then unseeing
Like children with hands outstretched
Down to valleys of blinding darkness
The road leads down through shadows
Of weeping gods
This sea knows but one tide flowing
Into sorrow’s depthless chambers
The sea is shore to the road
And the road is the sea’s river
To the blind
When I hear the first footfalls
I know the end has come
And the rain shall rise
Like children with hands
Outstretched
I am the road fleeing the sun
And the road is blind to the sea
And the sea is blind to the shore
And the shore is blind
To the sea
The sea is blind…
RIDDLE OF THE ROAD OF GALLAN
SHAKE CHANT
Onwards to the very end...
Malazan Book of the Fallen reviews:
#1 Gardens of the Moon
#2 Deadhouse Gates
#3 Memories of Ice
#4 House of Chains
#5 Midnight Tides
#6 The Bonehunters
#7 Reaper's Gale
#8 Toll the Hounds
#9 Dust of Dreams
#10 The Crippled God
The Bonehunters are on the march.
Dust of Dreams provides a new set of the philosophical musings which Erikson has set out before the reader particularly in the second half of the series. The nature of history, remembrance and heroism are spoken about, as in the quote above. What do heroic acts matter if nobody is there to seem them and remember their importance? Similarly, the nature of humanity is dealt with to some extent, our fragility and the temporary nature of our lives being mused about to some extent.
Similarly, the atrocity of war gets to centre stage again, particularly in the long descriptions surrounding the absolutely horrific battle in the Wastelands towards the end of the book. Using an exceptionally militaristic series as a critique of war is an interesting narrative choice, but Erikson pulls it off.
I was nearly put off by the absolutely disgustingly graphic violence in the book, particularly centred in the Barghast story arc. Ritualised, systemic rape and mutilation, constant descriptions of barbarism and overall depravity that the readers if forced to go through. I must admit I despise the use of violence for the purpose of shocking the reader. It is a cheap literary tactic, and one Erikson would do well to refrain from, as it diminishes the overall quality of the books. Erikson himself defended it as an act of homage to victims of such vile actions, in a forum post which gave a stronger impression of just not being able to handle criticism.
Aside from that, however, Erikson is of course a brilliant writer. The scenes involving diplomacy, are extremely interesting and sometimes downright amusing. The way Erikson deals with the intricacies of political negotiation on the Letherii continent are quite a highlight of Dust of Dreams, as it also provides some fascinating insights into the inner working of various cultures, civilised and tribal alike.
There are two particular highlights; one is the masterful depiction of the great battle at the end.
The other, however, is the journey of the Shake. There are some wonderful things to be experienced and learned as the Shake go on their pilgrimage to the lost city of Darkness, Kharkanas.
The sea is blind to the road
And the road is blind to the rain
The road welcomes no footfalls
The blind are an ocean’s flood
On the road’s shore
Walk then unseeing
Like children with hands outstretched
Down to valleys of blinding darkness
The road leads down through shadows
Of weeping gods
This sea knows but one tide flowing
Into sorrow’s depthless chambers
The sea is shore to the road
And the road is the sea’s river
To the blind
When I hear the first footfalls
I know the end has come
And the rain shall rise
Like children with hands
Outstretched
I am the road fleeing the sun
And the road is blind to the sea
And the sea is blind to the shore
And the shore is blind
To the sea
The sea is blind…
RIDDLE OF THE ROAD OF GALLAN
SHAKE CHANT
Onwards to the very end...
Malazan Book of the Fallen reviews:
#1 Gardens of the Moon
#2 Deadhouse Gates
#3 Memories of Ice
#4 House of Chains
#5 Midnight Tides
#6 The Bonehunters
#7 Reaper's Gale
#8 Toll the Hounds
#9 Dust of Dreams
#10 The Crippled God
October 3, 2017
Full review now up!
Dust of Dreams, the ninth book in the Malazan book of the Fallen, is another epic tale that brings me one step closer to the conclusion of this amazing series. The Bonehunters have settled into the city of Letheras, but Adjunct Tavore Paran has other things in mind. She intends to march the Bonehunters into a desolate part of the Lether continent known as the Wastelands. With allies close at hand and abroad they will need all the help they can get against the threat they are about to face.
With so many different forces at play it’s hard to gauge what is going to happen from scene to scene in this book. Erikson did a great job a mixing things up and keeping me on my toes. His writing hasn’t changed, but I did notice that instead of long drawn out scenes with characters, there are a lot of shortened scenes before moving on to the next POV. I really enjoyed this style. He uses this style a lot in the end sequence of his books, and it worked great throughout Dust of Dreams.
The characters in this book are awesome as with all Malazan books. I wouldn’t say this cast of characters was bigger than previous books, but the diversity of the characters made it feel that way. I certainly enjoyed the new characters and have grown fond of the characters that have been with me for most of this journey. Even though I should know better than to get attached to anyone this close to the end. Gods, Elder Gods, ascendants….no one is safe at this point.
With plenty of action, revelations, heart breaking loss, and Erikson’s gross and at times inappropriate humor (which is my favorite by the way) this was one of the best books in this series. The end sequence was amazing and really left me anticipating what will happen in the final book. All the lines haven’t been drawn for the final conflict. I would have to say some of them are blurry at best. But as the dust settles and the combatants lick their wounds the end draws near.
Dust of Dreams, the ninth book in the Malazan book of the Fallen, is another epic tale that brings me one step closer to the conclusion of this amazing series. The Bonehunters have settled into the city of Letheras, but Adjunct Tavore Paran has other things in mind. She intends to march the Bonehunters into a desolate part of the Lether continent known as the Wastelands. With allies close at hand and abroad they will need all the help they can get against the threat they are about to face.
With so many different forces at play it’s hard to gauge what is going to happen from scene to scene in this book. Erikson did a great job a mixing things up and keeping me on my toes. His writing hasn’t changed, but I did notice that instead of long drawn out scenes with characters, there are a lot of shortened scenes before moving on to the next POV. I really enjoyed this style. He uses this style a lot in the end sequence of his books, and it worked great throughout Dust of Dreams.
The characters in this book are awesome as with all Malazan books. I wouldn’t say this cast of characters was bigger than previous books, but the diversity of the characters made it feel that way. I certainly enjoyed the new characters and have grown fond of the characters that have been with me for most of this journey. Even though I should know better than to get attached to anyone this close to the end. Gods, Elder Gods, ascendants….no one is safe at this point.
‘One day, even the gods will answer to death.’
With plenty of action, revelations, heart breaking loss, and Erikson’s gross and at times inappropriate humor (which is my favorite by the way) this was one of the best books in this series. The end sequence was amazing and really left me anticipating what will happen in the final book. All the lines haven’t been drawn for the final conflict. I would have to say some of them are blurry at best. But as the dust settles and the combatants lick their wounds the end draws near.
‘Dust of dreams, dust of all that we never achieved. Dust of what we might have been and what we cannot help be.
Statues are never mute. Their silence is a roar of words. Will you hear? Will you listen?'
March 12, 2018
"I am throwing away
Words. You and me
It's a good place to start
We got to lighten the load
Cut down on what we carry
Today I stop carrying
You
Tomorrow I'll stop carrying
Me."
Just a little bit more of buildup. Just a little bit more of setting the right pieces on the board.
Just a bit more of listening to those selfish secrets and mysteries characters are trying to protect - until comes in Fiddler, kicking with his rusty, old helmet, and everything starts to reveal itself.
After eight books in the main Malazan Book of the Fallen series, and twenty four books overall - an end.
And like Fiddler himself, you'll weep for asking too much.
Story.
"He saw a rider ahead, a figure hunched and cowled as it waited astride a gaunt, grey horse from which no breath plumed. He saw a recurved Rhivi bow gripped in one bony hand, and he realized that he knew this rider.
This Herald of War."
We find the Bonehunters in Lether, ready to march on Kolanse, across the Wasteland and Glass Desert, to their destiny. To challenge their fate, the unknown and the gods themselves.
But, they are exhausted. And worse, they are bored. Adjunct Tavore Paran seems distant more than ever, and soldiers are starting to lose their faith in their commander.
For the first time - after the Fall of Aren;
after their first victory was taken away from them in Raraku Desert;
after they had paid a heavy price for their real first victory beneath the walls of Y'Ghatan;
after their own Empress took away the truth from them on the streets of Malaz City;
and after they have finally made the peace with themselves that on distant continent of Lether nobody will witness their true birth - Bonehunters are on the brink of mutiny.
And they have yet to start a deathly march. To seemingly nowhere. To nothing but their death.
While Malazan Army doesn't know what is it in Kolanse that Adjunct is hurrying to, other, ancient, forces in this world have a pretty good guess what awaits them there.
So the run begins.
Worldbuilding, History and Lore.
"Kneel to one or many, but never, never hold to a belief that but one god exists. Should you hold to such a belief, then by any path of reasoning that follows, you cannot but conclude that your one god is cursed, a thing of impossible aspirations and deafening injustice, whimsical in its cruelty, blind to mercy and devoid of pity."
For the first time in this series we get inside of the point of view of reptilian dinosaur-look-like race known as K'Chain Che'Malle. And, oh my god (or gods in this case?), what a profound minds they are.
So far, everything we have seen from them was physical superiority and monstrous brutality; this horde-like behavior against anyone who opposes them. And to be honest, in their badassery, they gave the sense of exactly that for which they were introduced to: a geek's dream come true.
We have also learned that they were extremely intelligent species and we were led to believe that they were pretty much extinct.
"Humans, welcome us. The K'Chain Che'Malle have returned to the world."
And here, in this book, we see their hierarchy, we see how they behave with each other and with other species, and we have our suspicions confirmed when we realize that they are indeed, not just on the brink of extinction, but that, what's left of the K'Chain Che'Malle's, have lost themselves.
Not so much in their purpose - their purpose is to survive - as much as in the terms of their faith.
Now, humans tend to believe how Elder God K'rull is responsible for releasing magic into this world, when he cut his veins; but Che'Malle's believe that life itself is magical as is everything in it.
"When we kill the beasts living on this plain, when we close our jaws about the back of the neck. When we grip hard to choke off the wind pipe. When we do all this, we watch, with intimate compassion, with profound understanding, the light of life leave our victim's eyes. We see the struggle give away to acceptance, and in our souls, we weep."
They also believe that, suitably, there are forces that work in opposition to this magic, this life, and that is naturally: death. But, in this battle of opposition between life and death, they form a balance. Balance that should not be compromised.
Now, if you remember, in this world there's something called Otataral. A rare, reddish ore, that negates magic.
Che'Malles have on multiple occasions failed to move themselves from their stupor, so they have to turn to the only thing that was left to them, the only thing they still believe in: freedom of choice.
And in that freedom they chose human Destriant to show them their way.
Yes. We might as well weep.
Magic System.
"'One long scream of horror, Badalle. Ten thousand pages long. No one will hear it.'
'No,' she agreed. 'No one will hear it.'
'But you will write it anyway, won't you?'
'I am Badalle, and all I have is words.'"
It's really hard to create a character and say to him: "You are powerful. And the way you'll express your powers is through: poems." - and not come out with something childish and cheesy.
Children of the Snake are refugees running from 'Quitors', species that have ravaged their homeland.
Somewhere along the way, in their exodus, their own parents tried to eat them when hunger struck, but they managed to escape from them and now there are children running across the wastelands.
Soon to be very hungry.
"Pendulums Were Once Toys."
One of the leaders of these children is Badalle, a child herself, who had a tendency to write and sing sad poetry. And through that poetry she would reflect on hardship they were going through.
And even more importantly, she would find the meaning of words they have lost in that wandering; she had to create new ones in order to communicate about them.
And yes, through your expressed emotions words can have power; if your words are eloquent enough they can have power.
But how can you make words, in this world, stop a physical or a magical threat? To go even further, how can you yourself impose physical or magical power as a response - and not deviate from what we already learned of basic functioning of this world's magic and not introduce this as something that is far-fetched even in Malazan world?
Her purpose in the story of the Snake is to show how incredibly powerful words can be even in the hands of a destitute child. Her words and her poetry are not only potent weapons against threats and foes but also as having the potential to reconstitute the existence and reality of the Snake.
"YIELD to your own lies!
HALT in the breathless moment!
Your lungs scream
And silence answers
Your heart drums
Brittle surfaces
BLEED!"
In a world devoid of purpose, meaning and direction for these children, where they have no authorities to consult or social structures to shape them and give them guidance and instruction, these kids cleave to Badalle's words and her poetry as the singular means of making sense of their world.
Symbolism and Allegory.
"The Hobbling."
A reminder why I cannot bring myself to like Karsa Orlong.
Without giving away any of the spoilers, I'll be very brief, because it's really hard to write about this topic. I won't be going into specifics, but I hope that you'll understand in-between the lines of which topic I'm talking about.
It's extremely important to read this chapter. Be that on your first or fourth read, like mine.
It is excruciatingly painful chapter to get through and on your first read you'll be shocked. Maybe you'll feel tempted to skip those pages - especially if you are a rereader - or to simply put book down and start cursing this author because, damn it, this is fantasy, and you're looking for an escape or a safe haven just for an hour or two from the real world.
I completely understand if you decide not to, but I would like for you to stay. At least so that you could understand why Erikson did what he did and why he wrote this chapter and what he actually tried to achieve.
There's a message here that Erikson tried to convey.
There are certain monsters in this world. They walk among us. They talk to us, they smile at us, they behave just like everyone else. And we would never know, we would never see for what they are, until it's too late. We then catch them, sentence them and they rot. But, that's an ending to an already tragic tale.
But, there are other kinds of monstrosities that happen in real world. Same in their nature. But still different. In these monstrous, backdoor, societies that exist in our world, sometimes society itself is so monstrous that they willingly participate. As part of their religious or cultural zeal. As part of their customs. They have existed through history, and they exist even today.
And as it is in human nature to be shocked, to feel disgusted, to condemn and resent them - it is also in human nature to look away. To turn their heads.
"Oh my God, that's awful. Thank God, it didn't happen to me."
Well, here, for couple of pages, for few paragraphs, nobody gets to look away.
If this entire series is about anything at all - it is about compassion.
And here, in this scenes, in this chapter, Steven implores you more than ever to show it.
Which will just briefly bring me back to this monster Karsa Orlong again.
While parts of the story he is in are indeed interesting (mostly because of the characters around him), Karsa Orlong himself is not.
For me, he is not a bad-ass warrior. He is not an amazing character. I am unable and unwilling to define him by anything more than by his first act in the beginning of his story.
I am not going to look away.
Prose.
"The machinery was coated in oily dust that gleamed in the darkness as the faint glow of the lantern slid across it, conveying motion where none existed, the illusion of silent slippage, as of reptilian scales that seamed, as ever, cruelly appropriate..."
Am I the only one who sees a rhythm here? Am I reading too much into this? Let's try another paragraph then:
"She could not find her way amount the countless twisting corridors, or through the vast chamber of silent, frozen machines, evading the pits in the floors over which flagstones had never been installed, and staying clear of the metal and cables spilling out from unpanelled walls..."
I don't know. Probably there is something there, given his history with constructing Kadaspala in Forge of Darkness
Deconstructing Fiction (For Writers and Readers): Excerpt Deconstructed (1)
and, just recently, his explanation on constructing The Siege of Pale in Gardens of the Moon.
Deconstructing The Siege of Pale Aftermath Scene
(I love his commentary on realizing just now that maybe we were overwhelmed with mini info-dumps. We were, Steven. We were.)
Anyhow, as for the quoted paragraphs above: there probably is something, and while I'm definitely going around all of this completely wrong, painfully mistaking in my illiterate ignorance, it's quite amusing for me, a casual reader, to make notice of such details.
3.58/5
Kharkanas Trilogy
Forge of Darkness
Fall of Light
Path to Ascendancy series
Dancer's Lament
Deadhouse Landing
Malazan Empire series
Night Of Knives
Return of the Crimson Guard
Stonewielder
Orb Sceptre Throne
Blood and Bone
Assail
Malazan Book of the Fallen series
Gardens of the Moon
Deadhouse Gates
Memories of Ice
Midnight Tides
House of Chains
The Bonehunters
Reaper's Gale
Toll the Hounds
Ultimate Malazan Chronological Reading Order
July 14, 2021
Still contemplating my final rating. Loved a lot. Disliked some things as well.
July 25, 2019
*** 5+ ***
Pain, despair, pain, demoralization, pain, beautiful writing, pain, more pain... I need a drink and maybe a month of very mindless chick-lit, then possibly I could return to write a review... Pain...
"...“Giving advice to a child is like flinging sand at an obsidian wall. Nothing sticks. The brutal truth is that we each suffer our own lessons—they can’t be danced round. They can’t be slipped past. You cannot gift a child with your scars—they arrive like webs, constricting, suffocating, and that child will struggle and strain until they break. No matter how noble your intent, the only scars that teach them anything are the ones they earn themselves.”..."
Pain, despair, pain, demoralization, pain, beautiful writing, pain, more pain... I need a drink and maybe a month of very mindless chick-lit, then possibly I could return to write a review... Pain...
"...“Giving advice to a child is like flinging sand at an obsidian wall. Nothing sticks. The brutal truth is that we each suffer our own lessons—they can’t be danced round. They can’t be slipped past. You cannot gift a child with your scars—they arrive like webs, constricting, suffocating, and that child will struggle and strain until they break. No matter how noble your intent, the only scars that teach them anything are the ones they earn themselves.”..."
September 2, 2018
Book 9 and I still love this series. Steven Erickson adapted a different method here, instead of his usual, that a book ends with all strings tied, this ended in a cliffhanger, the worst kind so prepare yourselves, this has a few new characters, apart from those almost everyone that survive the first 8 books are in this and the rest will be in The Crippled God cause this book is the first part of the conclusion to the series. I still don't know who is alive or who is dead cause the book ended during a major battle.
This book is as interesting as its predeccessors, its action packed, great dialogue amazing plot,sub plot etc. The races and creatures in this book is mind blowing. We got to know more about the Forkral Assail, K'chain Nahruk and K'chain Chemelle. I just cannot wait to see the convergence in the final book, I hope its as good as everyone says, cause I have one problem with this book, despite everything it was too slow paced, compared to the previous books.
World building and Writing
I don't think anyone can surpass Steven Erickson when it comes to world building, am sorry Brandon Sanderson but after nine books and still the world just keeps getting better, no mix up or anything, perfect depiction and all. The writing is still great, the conversations between the Bonehunters always crack me up. Still multiple POVs, you can go from laughing to crying when the POV shifts. cause the snake is just so sad.
Characters and Plot
Technically there are no spoilers here but if you are spoiler sensitive or haven't read the first 8 books, I suggest you don't read this cause I'll mention character names.
The Malazans
Mainly the Bonehunters, Tavore and her armies, are on a match to Kolanse to do the most craziest thing ever, thery didn't even arrive before battle met them on the way, I lost some favourites there, but some still survived,I think. Lastora did the shadow dance and I just cannot get it out of my head, that scene is amazing, Fiddler and Gesler are still trying to keep everyone together even though Tavore is still nonchalant about almost everything.
The Letheriis
Tehol and Bugg was just in the first half of the book and even that was sparodic, and I enjoyed every single scene. Brys was more in this, of course the convergence will involve him, even though I have no idea what his role will be, but one thing is for sure, he wasn't brought back before a major convergence for nothing,
The Barghast
Oh how I hate them now, the only person I like is Hetan and Cafan, the rest can go and die for all I care, they went too far this time.
The Snake
Is just a term used for a group of children who have being through the worst in life and still manages to move on, I wish am as strong as these children.
Silchas,Rudd(Ryad), Tool, Torrent,Udinaas, Draconus,Kilmandoras, Twilight, The Watch,The Khudryl burned tear,Gruntle,Mappo and many more are also in this.
This book is as interesting as its predeccessors, its action packed, great dialogue amazing plot,sub plot etc. The races and creatures in this book is mind blowing. We got to know more about the Forkral Assail, K'chain Nahruk and K'chain Chemelle. I just cannot wait to see the convergence in the final book, I hope its as good as everyone says, cause I have one problem with this book, despite everything it was too slow paced, compared to the previous books.
World building and Writing
I don't think anyone can surpass Steven Erickson when it comes to world building, am sorry Brandon Sanderson but after nine books and still the world just keeps getting better, no mix up or anything, perfect depiction and all. The writing is still great, the conversations between the Bonehunters always crack me up. Still multiple POVs, you can go from laughing to crying when the POV shifts. cause the snake is just so sad.
Characters and Plot
Technically there are no spoilers here but if you are spoiler sensitive or haven't read the first 8 books, I suggest you don't read this cause I'll mention character names.
The Malazans
Mainly the Bonehunters, Tavore and her armies, are on a match to Kolanse to do the most craziest thing ever, thery didn't even arrive before battle met them on the way, I lost some favourites there, but some still survived,I think. Lastora did the shadow dance and I just cannot get it out of my head, that scene is amazing, Fiddler and Gesler are still trying to keep everyone together even though Tavore is still nonchalant about almost everything.
The Letheriis
Tehol and Bugg was just in the first half of the book and even that was sparodic, and I enjoyed every single scene. Brys was more in this, of course the convergence will involve him, even though I have no idea what his role will be, but one thing is for sure, he wasn't brought back before a major convergence for nothing,
The Barghast
Oh how I hate them now, the only person I like is Hetan and Cafan, the rest can go and die for all I care, they went too far this time.
The Snake
Is just a term used for a group of children who have being through the worst in life and still manages to move on, I wish am as strong as these children.
Silchas,Rudd(Ryad), Tool, Torrent,Udinaas, Draconus,Kilmandoras, Twilight, The Watch,The Khudryl burned tear,Gruntle,Mappo and many more are also in this.
November 18, 2016
I found this Malazan book the most difficult so far. Originally I made it half way through and had to give up.
The reason being that although it is the 9th book of the series - I felt that the characters POV's we were following - I could only really follow/ enjoy about 1/3 of what was going on (the Letherri/ Malazan army scenes with familiar faces). The other 2/3 I found it difficult to distinguish which groups were which, who was where on the map etc... Once again so many new factions, people and plot threads. Also, the pace seemed like a bit of a grind. I was flicking 4 chapters forwards and being happy when I say saw a Bottle/ Fiddler scene and that would be my ammunition to carry on.
I tried again and the 2nd time I took it slower, re-read certain sections and abused the dramatis persone section every five minutes. I think you get out of Malazan what you up in and when I upped the effort I got the reward.
Scene highlights for me were the reading of the deck of dragons, the bickering's of the Elder God's (Mael is so cool), Draconus & Ublula Pung are like an awesome comedy duo and it all comes together for an awesome cliff-hanger huge ending involving a whole plethora of people, races, magics..... well everything.
Negative - I didn't really care much for the Snake even on my re-read. Nothing seemed to happen.
It was worth going back to and I have started The Crippled God and the pace starts nearly as frantic as this one ends. I am up for a hell of a thrill ride I imagine!! Peace. x
www.youandibooks.wordpress.com
The reason being that although it is the 9th book of the series - I felt that the characters POV's we were following - I could only really follow/ enjoy about 1/3 of what was going on (the Letherri/ Malazan army scenes with familiar faces). The other 2/3 I found it difficult to distinguish which groups were which, who was where on the map etc... Once again so many new factions, people and plot threads. Also, the pace seemed like a bit of a grind. I was flicking 4 chapters forwards and being happy when I say saw a Bottle/ Fiddler scene and that would be my ammunition to carry on.
I tried again and the 2nd time I took it slower, re-read certain sections and abused the dramatis persone section every five minutes. I think you get out of Malazan what you up in and when I upped the effort I got the reward.
Scene highlights for me were the reading of the deck of dragons, the bickering's of the Elder God's (Mael is so cool), Draconus & Ublula Pung are like an awesome comedy duo and it all comes together for an awesome cliff-hanger huge ending involving a whole plethora of people, races, magics..... well everything.
Negative - I didn't really care much for the Snake even on my re-read. Nothing seemed to happen.
It was worth going back to and I have started The Crippled God and the pace starts nearly as frantic as this one ends. I am up for a hell of a thrill ride I imagine!! Peace. x
www.youandibooks.wordpress.com
April 2, 2016
After struggling through most of Toll the Hounds before a strong finish went some way to redeeming the book for me this one easily surpassed it as my least favourite Malazan to date. While some of the plotlines in this had interesting and enjoyable parts they were outnumbered by the amount of boring shit going on involving characters I couldn't remember/didn't really care as Erikson slow pacing and verbose philosphising reached a boredom inducing critical mass. Also for the first time in this series Erikson failed to deliver an awesome ending.
There were a load of different plotlines in this one as usual, many featuring new characters despite this being the 9th book (and all those books being bricks) in the series. I wish Erikson would have forgotten about introducing new stuff at this juncture and instead focused on the characters and plotlines already established. If he had this one and Toll the Hounds could have been combined into a very good installment, rather than a mediocre book and a shitty book.
My favourite plotline in this one was easily the one which featured the Malazans, Brys and Tehol. However despite enjoying the chance to spend more time with these characters, and funny scenes/dialogue throughout this plotline really lost it's way at some point. The early stages had interesting stuff going on (the reading of the Deck of Dragons was really cool) but the middle stages and on seemed to lose direction. Maybe this was intentional as a major plot point is that no one in the army knows why they are marching into an empty,barren wasteland but the lack of action and constant air of boredom, depression and frustration didn't make for fun reading.
The early clash between the Grey Helms, Bolkando and Burned Tears made for some cool, intriguingly tactical military campaigning scenes while also doing a really cool job of introducing the Bolkando. However this storyline also lost it's way about half-way through and was overcome by inaction and philosophizing (although the Bolkando Queen remained a cool character).
The Barghast plotline also provided some really cool, tactical battle-scenes as well as intriguign plots and schemes for power but it was undermined by the fact that I only cared about 1 character (Tool) that was involved. I also found the scenes with Hetan to be both horrifying and hard to understand in the context of how Bargast culture had previously been established
There were a load of different plotlines in this one as usual, many featuring new characters despite this being the 9th book (and all those books being bricks) in the series. I wish Erikson would have forgotten about introducing new stuff at this juncture and instead focused on the characters and plotlines already established. If he had this one and Toll the Hounds could have been combined into a very good installment, rather than a mediocre book and a shitty book.
My favourite plotline in this one was easily the one which featured the Malazans, Brys and Tehol. However despite enjoying the chance to spend more time with these characters, and funny scenes/dialogue throughout this plotline really lost it's way at some point. The early stages had interesting stuff going on (the reading of the Deck of Dragons was really cool) but the middle stages and on seemed to lose direction. Maybe this was intentional as a major plot point is that no one in the army knows why they are marching into an empty,barren wasteland but the lack of action and constant air of boredom, depression and frustration didn't make for fun reading.
The early clash between the Grey Helms, Bolkando and Burned Tears made for some cool, intriguingly tactical military campaigning scenes while also doing a really cool job of introducing the Bolkando. However this storyline also lost it's way about half-way through and was overcome by inaction and philosophizing (although the Bolkando Queen remained a cool character).
The Barghast plotline also provided some really cool, tactical battle-scenes as well as intriguign plots and schemes for power but it was undermined by the fact that I only cared about 1 character (Tool) that was involved. I also found the scenes with Hetan to be both horrifying and hard to understand in the context of how Bargast culture had previously been established
January 28, 2019
I'm not really sure what to say about this 9th and penultimate volume of Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. The series on the whole is one of the true epics of the fantasy genre but this was one of its weakest instalments. That is not to say it was bad as it still had a lot of the stuff that makes the Malazan series so great. By that I mean the fantastic world building, the complex plot, the huge cast of characters each with their own set of motivations and goals, the incredibly cool magic system, fantastic action scenes featuring battles that were both mundane and sorcerous in nature, dragons, demons, strange non-human creatures, and a whole bunch of meddlesome gods! Add to that the fact that Erikson has an engaging writing style and his dialogue is always witty and entertaining and that he does a decent job of mixing in some fun social commentary to the story in a smooth way (most of the time!) and it is easy to see why there is still plenty to admire even in a weaker Malazan book.
The happenings in this one were focused on the continent of Lethar and the story was basically just getting everyone present, be they gods or mortal, into position for the epic battle in Kolanse. The story itself was fine as the continent of Lether ranks up there with Darujistan and Quon Tali as my favourite Malzan setting. The setting is made even better by the fact that we have a bunch of characters like the Bonehunters all in this part of the world! I felt like the story had good bits and bad bits.
Things I liked:
-The feel of everything building to a massive final confrontation in Kolanse.
-All the cool scenes with the Elder Gods. They were fun and informative:)
-Most of the Letharii and Bonehunter stuff.
-Learning more about both the K'Chain and the Forkrul Assail.
-The action. I'm not always a giant fan of action but I felt like Erikson did a great job of engaging me and holding my attention during the action sequences in this one so credit to him for that!
-Some of Erikson's themes and messages. I liked most of them but I did not actually always like the way he went about delivering them.
-The Bolkando stuff. I was wary of these guys to begin with and they do seem to be a bit awful but I have to admit I was always quite caught up in their scheming ways and enjoyed a lot of the happenings featuring characters from the region.
Things I was not keen on:
-The super bleak tone and overall depressing feel to the story. Malazan is always at its very best for me when Erikson achieves a better balance between the triumph/tragedy and the hope/despair elements in his story. I feel like both the happenings and the messages in the story were too bleak and negative to make for a truly enjoyable story. Pity as I do feel like Erikson has been going over the top with the bleakness in the last few Malazan books and it is to the detriment of the story!
-The sexual violence. Suddenly everyone is a rapist or daydreaming about that sort of thing. I know Erikson mentioned Stephen Donaldson in the dedication at the start but I did not expect him to dedicate the whole book to emulating the guys style!!!
-The sexist humour and constant sexualization of the female characters. I put the boot into Esslemont when I reviewed Return of the Crimson Guard as I felt like he failed to properly envisage the Malazans as a society that were relatively free of gender bias to the same degree as we get in Erikson's Malazan books but turns out I was doing poor Esslemont a disservice with that bit of criticism as there was plenty of sexism present in this one via the constant, annoying, sexist humour and the over sexualision of most of the female characters. I'm not sure if that has always been the case with the Malazan series, I suspect it has been, but I do feel like Erikson really ratcheted it up in this one so it was impossible to ignore!
-The Snake story arc. I was actually OK with the way this one ended but it was super depressing to read page after page of kids suffering and dying as they fled across the Wasteland. It also did not help that Badelle's poetry and ramblings were just annoying or that I failed to emotionally engage with any of the kids. Mostly because they screamed Walking Corpse from the first page of the book!
-The Barghast story arc. This really sucked. Not just because the Barghast themselves were disgusting pieces of shit that were super unpleasant to read about but also because my feeling is we had to suffer through the whole brutality of it all just so it could prove a bit of emotional motivation for Tool's
Erikson warned us readers in the intro that Dust of Dreams would lack the same epic conclusion as the typical Malazan tale as the last two books in the series were really just the one book split into two parts for ease of publishing due to the pure size of the story and forewarned with that knowledge I feel like I ended up pretty happy with the mini-convergence and battle we got at the end of this instalment. It was fairly epic in its own way and we know the best is yet to come when things really hit the fan and more big hitters arrive for the mega convergence in The Crippled God!
Star characters in this instalment? I always love Tehol and Bugg and they were as awesome as ever in this one and got supported well by fellow Letharii like Brys (who had a fantastic book), Janath, Shurq, and Ublala. From the Malazans the stand outs were Fiddler and Quick Ben but I always like the likes of Keneb, Tavore, Lostara, and Bottle. Sunrise was the best of the Bonehunter newcomers! Most of the Elder Gods who popped up in this one were pretty awesome even if most were villains lol!
To balance out the star characters we had to suffer Erikson really botching Tool's character. Guy had such a poor outing that I feel the character is forever ruined for me and that I'll not even be able to enjoy his parts in the earlier instalments when the time to reread them rolls around. Way to turn Onos T'oolan into an actual Tool!!! It was also not fun being stuck in the heads of the Barghast or the bickering ghosts.
Another big flaw of this 9th Malazan book is that the deaths have lost any emotional impact on me. I'm not sure if that is because Erikson has overdone it in the series to the point where I do not really bother emotionally investing in the characters to the same degree I did earlier in the series or if my lack of emotional investment is a side effect of the ultra negative and bleak tone.
All in all I'd rate this as one of the weaker Malazan books due to the overly bleak tone, a few too many dud story arcs, and all the other flaws I moaned about but that it was still OK and no worse than Reaper's Gale. It probably does still rank a little behind the similarly flawed Toll the Hounds and Deadhouse Gates.
Before I forget I have to mention the prologue. It was really awful! So depressing and negative and introducing too many story arcs that seemed like they were going to completely suck that if this had not been a Malazan book (with 11 books of goodwill already in the bank) I might have quit right after reading it because it did such a job of killing my enthusiasm for the story. I'd have DNF'ed any new-to-me fantasy book that fed me an intro that awful for sure!
Rating: 4 stars. I pondered 3.5 stars due to all the flaws and issues I had with this one but that just feels too harsh considering some of the other stuff I happily give 3.5 star ratings to lol. Despite its flaws this still has a lot of the strengths of the Malazan series. It gets a 4 star rating but if I was rating on a special Malazan scale I'd rate it 3 or 3.5 stars lol!
The happenings in this one were focused on the continent of Lethar and the story was basically just getting everyone present, be they gods or mortal, into position for the epic battle in Kolanse. The story itself was fine as the continent of Lether ranks up there with Darujistan and Quon Tali as my favourite Malzan setting. The setting is made even better by the fact that we have a bunch of characters like the Bonehunters all in this part of the world! I felt like the story had good bits and bad bits.
Things I liked:
-The feel of everything building to a massive final confrontation in Kolanse.
-All the cool scenes with the Elder Gods. They were fun and informative:)
-Most of the Letharii and Bonehunter stuff.
-Learning more about both the K'Chain and the Forkrul Assail.
-The action. I'm not always a giant fan of action but I felt like Erikson did a great job of engaging me and holding my attention during the action sequences in this one so credit to him for that!
-Some of Erikson's themes and messages. I liked most of them but I did not actually always like the way he went about delivering them.
-The Bolkando stuff. I was wary of these guys to begin with and they do seem to be a bit awful but I have to admit I was always quite caught up in their scheming ways and enjoyed a lot of the happenings featuring characters from the region.
Things I was not keen on:
-The super bleak tone and overall depressing feel to the story. Malazan is always at its very best for me when Erikson achieves a better balance between the triumph/tragedy and the hope/despair elements in his story. I feel like both the happenings and the messages in the story were too bleak and negative to make for a truly enjoyable story. Pity as I do feel like Erikson has been going over the top with the bleakness in the last few Malazan books and it is to the detriment of the story!
-The sexual violence. Suddenly everyone is a rapist or daydreaming about that sort of thing. I know Erikson mentioned Stephen Donaldson in the dedication at the start but I did not expect him to dedicate the whole book to emulating the guys style!!!
-The sexist humour and constant sexualization of the female characters. I put the boot into Esslemont when I reviewed Return of the Crimson Guard as I felt like he failed to properly envisage the Malazans as a society that were relatively free of gender bias to the same degree as we get in Erikson's Malazan books but turns out I was doing poor Esslemont a disservice with that bit of criticism as there was plenty of sexism present in this one via the constant, annoying, sexist humour and the over sexualision of most of the female characters. I'm not sure if that has always been the case with the Malazan series, I suspect it has been, but I do feel like Erikson really ratcheted it up in this one so it was impossible to ignore!
-The Snake story arc. I was actually OK with the way this one ended but it was super depressing to read page after page of kids suffering and dying as they fled across the Wasteland. It also did not help that Badelle's poetry and ramblings were just annoying or that I failed to emotionally engage with any of the kids. Mostly because they screamed Walking Corpse from the first page of the book!
-The Barghast story arc. This really sucked. Not just because the Barghast themselves were disgusting pieces of shit that were super unpleasant to read about but also because my feeling is we had to suffer through the whole brutality of it all just so it could prove a bit of emotional motivation for Tool's
Erikson warned us readers in the intro that Dust of Dreams would lack the same epic conclusion as the typical Malazan tale as the last two books in the series were really just the one book split into two parts for ease of publishing due to the pure size of the story and forewarned with that knowledge I feel like I ended up pretty happy with the mini-convergence and battle we got at the end of this instalment. It was fairly epic in its own way and we know the best is yet to come when things really hit the fan and more big hitters arrive for the mega convergence in The Crippled God!
Star characters in this instalment? I always love Tehol and Bugg and they were as awesome as ever in this one and got supported well by fellow Letharii like Brys (who had a fantastic book), Janath, Shurq, and Ublala. From the Malazans the stand outs were Fiddler and Quick Ben but I always like the likes of Keneb, Tavore, Lostara, and Bottle. Sunrise was the best of the Bonehunter newcomers! Most of the Elder Gods who popped up in this one were pretty awesome even if most were villains lol!
To balance out the star characters we had to suffer Erikson really botching Tool's character. Guy had such a poor outing that I feel the character is forever ruined for me and that I'll not even be able to enjoy his parts in the earlier instalments when the time to reread them rolls around. Way to turn Onos T'oolan into an actual Tool!!! It was also not fun being stuck in the heads of the Barghast or the bickering ghosts.
Another big flaw of this 9th Malazan book is that the deaths have lost any emotional impact on me. I'm not sure if that is because Erikson has overdone it in the series to the point where I do not really bother emotionally investing in the characters to the same degree I did earlier in the series or if my lack of emotional investment is a side effect of the ultra negative and bleak tone.
All in all I'd rate this as one of the weaker Malazan books due to the overly bleak tone, a few too many dud story arcs, and all the other flaws I moaned about but that it was still OK and no worse than Reaper's Gale. It probably does still rank a little behind the similarly flawed Toll the Hounds and Deadhouse Gates.
Before I forget I have to mention the prologue. It was really awful! So depressing and negative and introducing too many story arcs that seemed like they were going to completely suck that if this had not been a Malazan book (with 11 books of goodwill already in the bank) I might have quit right after reading it because it did such a job of killing my enthusiasm for the story. I'd have DNF'ed any new-to-me fantasy book that fed me an intro that awful for sure!
Rating: 4 stars. I pondered 3.5 stars due to all the flaws and issues I had with this one but that just feels too harsh considering some of the other stuff I happily give 3.5 star ratings to lol. Despite its flaws this still has a lot of the strengths of the Malazan series. It gets a 4 star rating but if I was rating on a special Malazan scale I'd rate it 3 or 3.5 stars lol!
May 23, 2017
Real rating: First 90%= 3 stars. Last 10%= 5 stars
Man, this one is tough. On one hand, this is the first Malazan book where I was wanting it to end. On the other hand, that battle at the end almost completely made up for how boring this book was. I know it's essentially Part 1 of 2 for the end of the main series, but knowing that still didn't help.
We get some truly awesome POV's. The K'Chain Che'Malle definitely stole the show. We get to see they're way more than what we saw from the Kell Hunters previously. I got the impression they were just dinosaurs with swords for hands. But they're way more than that, even the Kell Hunters. I'll leave that discovery to you. They were definitely the stars of the show, though.
When I look back at the story, I don't see how I got bored. The story is very strong. So maybe it was just how drawn out it seemed at times. This book is very philosophically heavy. I think that's where it got bogged down for me. Also, introducing even *more* new characters made me exhausted from the beginning. Trying to remember everything that's happened up to this point and trying to remember what's going on with the newcomers was a bit much. I honestly gave up trying to get things straight in my mind quite a few times. I hated doing that, but it was just too much. I'm sure I probably missed so much in this novel, but I just didnt have the mental strength at times.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the violence in this one, especially that one scene, was ramped up. This was a pretty brutal book, at times. I really wish I could say more about the revenge scene at the end, but, ya know, spoilers lol.
It's well known that Erikson likes to "bring people back" so I loved the line that was spoken, near the end, where a character says, "doesn't anything stay dead around here?" That made me legit lol.
This one definitely makes Crippled God look extremely promising. The very last line of dialogue got a fist pump in the air from me haha.
This is in no way a bad book, just a very long and drawn out book. I feel bad for this being my first 4 star Malazan book, but it was too much of a slog to get 5 stars from me.
Man, this one is tough. On one hand, this is the first Malazan book where I was wanting it to end. On the other hand, that battle at the end almost completely made up for how boring this book was. I know it's essentially Part 1 of 2 for the end of the main series, but knowing that still didn't help.
We get some truly awesome POV's. The K'Chain Che'Malle definitely stole the show. We get to see they're way more than what we saw from the Kell Hunters previously. I got the impression they were just dinosaurs with swords for hands. But they're way more than that, even the Kell Hunters. I'll leave that discovery to you. They were definitely the stars of the show, though.
When I look back at the story, I don't see how I got bored. The story is very strong. So maybe it was just how drawn out it seemed at times. This book is very philosophically heavy. I think that's where it got bogged down for me. Also, introducing even *more* new characters made me exhausted from the beginning. Trying to remember everything that's happened up to this point and trying to remember what's going on with the newcomers was a bit much. I honestly gave up trying to get things straight in my mind quite a few times. I hated doing that, but it was just too much. I'm sure I probably missed so much in this novel, but I just didnt have the mental strength at times.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the violence in this one, especially that one scene, was ramped up. This was a pretty brutal book, at times. I really wish I could say more about the revenge scene at the end, but, ya know, spoilers lol.
It's well known that Erikson likes to "bring people back" so I loved the line that was spoken, near the end, where a character says, "doesn't anything stay dead around here?" That made me legit lol.
This one definitely makes Crippled God look extremely promising. The very last line of dialogue got a fist pump in the air from me haha.
This is in no way a bad book, just a very long and drawn out book. I feel bad for this being my first 4 star Malazan book, but it was too much of a slog to get 5 stars from me.
October 28, 2019
Chapter 24: These kids saving the day. Hmpf. Is all I can say. Done and dusted.*
Chapter 23: That was just so fast and so pointless I am entirely underwhelmed.
Chapter 22: High Mage Quick Ben needs to commune with his gods. What a phenomenal scene that was. Ha!
Chapter 21: May, it is crowded in these wastelands.
Chapter 20: Finally, saving the world vibe. Hight time.
Chapter 19: Ublala Pung and the divine chicken collection. (it is better than his boa)
Chapter 18: The city is empty no more.
Chapter 17: Really?! Does not anybody ever go away in this series?
Chapter 16: When things posses the necessary weight to acquire a will of their own - whe know what is coming. A convergence.
Chapter 15: I thought I am a grimdark pro. I am not. Brace yourselves for this one. So brutal.
Chapter 14: Why, why are you doing this to her???
Chapter 13: The last and only army of Jaghut (still more numerous than the punitive army of three, if you ask me).
Chapter 12: Barghast, I really do not like you. Not a one bit.
Chapter 11: LOL, a thousand Hedges with a Hedge in charge. I know the word for it: apocalypse.
Chapter 10: I kind of wish I had Kellanved as my teacher back at school (is there anything more worthless than your excuses, de Vries?)
Chapter 9: My other twin, also known as Captain Lieutenant Master Sergeant, is to be blamed for everything.
Chapter 8: The tale of these children escaping death by entering never-ending suffering undid me already.
Chapter 7: For the first time in this series I have a single sentence highlighted in the whole chapter. I am petrified.
Chapter 6: I really don't think entering a giant dragon mountain is a great idea.
Chapter 5: "Imagine, an entire civilization that does not suffer fools." Where can I sign up?!
Chapter 4: Erikson does like to have "the last of..." as his protagonists. We often see this: the last living representative of a race, people or a clan.
Chapter 3: This deck reading was a bit intense. And how aptly was it punctuated with Ublala's punch (not an errant one at all!).
Chapter 2: Word of the chapter: intransigence. (I do love the fact that these books keep teaching me new words)
Chapter 1: If there is an under-appreciated individual person in this series, it is most definitely Lieutenant Pores.
Prologue: Penultimate book already! How has this happened? Have I, my friends, the courage?
* I am not going to even pretend that I could in any way give a pale shadow of justice to this book or indeed a whole series in a proper review. There are many better than me, here on Goodreads (and many of those I'm lucky to have among my friends), who managed to grasp and convey the sheer brilliance of what awaits those who open the Malazan Book of the Fallen. All I can give you is a chapter breakdown of what has been left when the clouds of dust settled.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen:
1. Gardens of the Moon ★★★★★
2. Deadhouse Gates ★★★★★
3. Memories of Ice ★★★★★
4. House of Chains ★★★★★
5. Midnight Tides ★★★★★
6. The Bonehunters ★★★★★
7. Reaper's Gale ★★★★☆
8. Toll the Hounds ★★★★★
10. The Crippled God ★★☆☆☆
Chapter 23: That was just so fast and so pointless I am entirely underwhelmed.
Chapter 22: High Mage Quick Ben needs to commune with his gods. What a phenomenal scene that was. Ha!
Chapter 21: May, it is crowded in these wastelands.
Chapter 20: Finally, saving the world vibe. Hight time.
Chapter 19: Ublala Pung and the divine chicken collection. (it is better than his boa)
Chapter 18: The city is empty no more.
Chapter 17: Really?! Does not anybody ever go away in this series?
Chapter 16: When things posses the necessary weight to acquire a will of their own - whe know what is coming. A convergence.
Chapter 15: I thought I am a grimdark pro. I am not. Brace yourselves for this one. So brutal.
Chapter 14: Why, why are you doing this to her???
Chapter 13: The last and only army of Jaghut (still more numerous than the punitive army of three, if you ask me).
Chapter 12: Barghast, I really do not like you. Not a one bit.
Chapter 11: LOL, a thousand Hedges with a Hedge in charge. I know the word for it: apocalypse.
Chapter 10: I kind of wish I had Kellanved as my teacher back at school (is there anything more worthless than your excuses, de Vries?)
Chapter 9: My other twin, also known as Captain Lieutenant Master Sergeant, is to be blamed for everything.
Chapter 8: The tale of these children escaping death by entering never-ending suffering undid me already.
Chapter 7: For the first time in this series I have a single sentence highlighted in the whole chapter. I am petrified.
Chapter 6: I really don't think entering a giant dragon mountain is a great idea.
Chapter 5: "Imagine, an entire civilization that does not suffer fools." Where can I sign up?!
Chapter 4: Erikson does like to have "the last of..." as his protagonists. We often see this: the last living representative of a race, people or a clan.
Chapter 3: This deck reading was a bit intense. And how aptly was it punctuated with Ublala's punch (not an errant one at all!).
Chapter 2: Word of the chapter: intransigence. (I do love the fact that these books keep teaching me new words)
Chapter 1: If there is an under-appreciated individual person in this series, it is most definitely Lieutenant Pores.
Prologue: Penultimate book already! How has this happened? Have I, my friends, the courage?
* I am not going to even pretend that I could in any way give a pale shadow of justice to this book or indeed a whole series in a proper review. There are many better than me, here on Goodreads (and many of those I'm lucky to have among my friends), who managed to grasp and convey the sheer brilliance of what awaits those who open the Malazan Book of the Fallen. All I can give you is a chapter breakdown of what has been left when the clouds of dust settled.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen:
1. Gardens of the Moon ★★★★★
2. Deadhouse Gates ★★★★★
3. Memories of Ice ★★★★★
4. House of Chains ★★★★★
5. Midnight Tides ★★★★★
6. The Bonehunters ★★★★★
7. Reaper's Gale ★★★★☆
8. Toll the Hounds ★★★★★
10. The Crippled God ★★☆☆☆
May 23, 2023
Steven Erikson doesn’t care about you.
Ok get ready for a tear-soaked, spoiler, raging rant about the absolute worst installment in Malazan Book of the Fallen series. At times, most of the time, I absolutely loathed reading the ridiculously long tome of Dust of Dreams. I didn’t exactly DNF this book but I definitely did not read every word because it became so painful to keep trudging along.
First disclaimers: I love (maybe only like now) this series. It’s flawed and can be a slog, but I’ve kept going because the rewards are numerous. You get some of the best lore, back story and world you will find in fantasy. You will get some of the best characters that you’ll ever read in fantasy. But all of this comes at a great cost: a terrible reader experience. Erikson absolutely does not care about the reader experience and this is the biggest flaw of this series. Erikson forgets that fiction is actually read by modern readers not pored over by forensic socialists 10,000 years in the future that want to know every arcane detail of an ever expanding fantasy world. Erikson forgets that readers only care about a vast world if it’s leisurely digestible. I really dislike doing homework and research constantly on Wiki Fandom just to keep up with a dramatis personae that never ends and only grows even on the penultimate book of a 10 book series, each 1200+ pages!
One of Erikson’s greatest strengths becomes his weakness: the characters. Truly this series has some of the most epic and interesting characters I’ve ever read. Here’s the problem: they’re rarely on stage. From Anomador, Silverfox, Whiskeyjack, Paran, Kharsa and many many more, they get extremely limited screen time. What do we get instead? The dull, dry and repetitive conversations of auxiliary characters hammered over our heads ad nauseam. Why do I know more about the Malaz solider Helian than I do about Ganoes Paran? This type of inbalance is everywhere. I’ve read so much dialogue from secondary Malaz soldiers or war clans that it makes me wonder what in the hell is even the point of this series. It’s truly baffling that Erikson spends so much time on characters and people that the reader knows almost nothing about and in whom zero emotional investment has been given. The Bridgeburners are a super dynamic cast of characters and when’s the last time we even get a glimpse of what’s going on with most of them? BOOK THREE. That was thousands of pages ago once you get to Dust. I’m all for writer’s being coy with their dynamic characters to keep the mystique but this is absolutely not how you do it. Erikson is too smart for his own good to understand that we simply do not care about all the people, armies, kingdoms and cultures he can conjure from the ether of his consciousness. It is certainly impressive and it is certainly no fun at all to read.
There were exactly two scenes in 1200+ pages of Dust that I enjoyed: a scene with the deck of dragons and the final battle scene. That’s it. The rest spent time on the Shake and the Snake and Bolko-something kingdom and it was so incredibly boring with characters that have very little differentiation. The only parts I cared about were with Malazan soldiers and the Letheri happenings and those have been minor points for me in the entire series. I’m a Genebakis guy and love that storyline above else so I was totally set up to hate this book which is a continuation of Reaper’s Gale story which I also was very bored with.
So will I be finishing the series with Crippled God? Of course. But, it just didn’t have to be like this. Seriously, you can just read the first 10% and last 10% of this book and fill in the gaps with plot summaries. Save yourself the time.
If you've been interested in reading this series but are hesitant to start, check out my review for Gardens of the Moon, I give some tips for starting this dense series.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ok get ready for a tear-soaked, spoiler, raging rant about the absolute worst installment in Malazan Book of the Fallen series. At times, most of the time, I absolutely loathed reading the ridiculously long tome of Dust of Dreams. I didn’t exactly DNF this book but I definitely did not read every word because it became so painful to keep trudging along.
First disclaimers: I love (maybe only like now) this series. It’s flawed and can be a slog, but I’ve kept going because the rewards are numerous. You get some of the best lore, back story and world you will find in fantasy. You will get some of the best characters that you’ll ever read in fantasy. But all of this comes at a great cost: a terrible reader experience. Erikson absolutely does not care about the reader experience and this is the biggest flaw of this series. Erikson forgets that fiction is actually read by modern readers not pored over by forensic socialists 10,000 years in the future that want to know every arcane detail of an ever expanding fantasy world. Erikson forgets that readers only care about a vast world if it’s leisurely digestible. I really dislike doing homework and research constantly on Wiki Fandom just to keep up with a dramatis personae that never ends and only grows even on the penultimate book of a 10 book series, each 1200+ pages!
One of Erikson’s greatest strengths becomes his weakness: the characters. Truly this series has some of the most epic and interesting characters I’ve ever read. Here’s the problem: they’re rarely on stage. From Anomador, Silverfox, Whiskeyjack, Paran, Kharsa and many many more, they get extremely limited screen time. What do we get instead? The dull, dry and repetitive conversations of auxiliary characters hammered over our heads ad nauseam. Why do I know more about the Malaz solider Helian than I do about Ganoes Paran? This type of inbalance is everywhere. I’ve read so much dialogue from secondary Malaz soldiers or war clans that it makes me wonder what in the hell is even the point of this series. It’s truly baffling that Erikson spends so much time on characters and people that the reader knows almost nothing about and in whom zero emotional investment has been given. The Bridgeburners are a super dynamic cast of characters and when’s the last time we even get a glimpse of what’s going on with most of them? BOOK THREE. That was thousands of pages ago once you get to Dust. I’m all for writer’s being coy with their dynamic characters to keep the mystique but this is absolutely not how you do it. Erikson is too smart for his own good to understand that we simply do not care about all the people, armies, kingdoms and cultures he can conjure from the ether of his consciousness. It is certainly impressive and it is certainly no fun at all to read.
There were exactly two scenes in 1200+ pages of Dust that I enjoyed: a scene with the deck of dragons and the final battle scene. That’s it. The rest spent time on the Shake and the Snake and Bolko-something kingdom and it was so incredibly boring with characters that have very little differentiation. The only parts I cared about were with Malazan soldiers and the Letheri happenings and those have been minor points for me in the entire series. I’m a Genebakis guy and love that storyline above else so I was totally set up to hate this book which is a continuation of Reaper’s Gale story which I also was very bored with.
So will I be finishing the series with Crippled God? Of course. But, it just didn’t have to be like this. Seriously, you can just read the first 10% and last 10% of this book and fill in the gaps with plot summaries. Save yourself the time.
If you've been interested in reading this series but are hesitant to start, check out my review for Gardens of the Moon, I give some tips for starting this dense series.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
April 7, 2020
The only bad thing about this book is it is the next to last in the series... :(
My ranking so far:
1. Midnight Tides
2. Memories of Ice
3. Deadhouse Gates
4. The Bonehunters
5. Dust of Dreams
6. Reaper's Gale
7. Gardens of the Moon/ House of Chains
.
.
8. Toll the Hounds
My ranking so far:
1. Midnight Tides
2. Memories of Ice
3. Deadhouse Gates
4. The Bonehunters
5. Dust of Dreams
6. Reaper's Gale
7. Gardens of the Moon/ House of Chains
.
.
8. Toll the Hounds
September 1, 2021
حس میکنم دیگه غر زدن هام زیادی تکراری شده در نتیجه این شما و این هم سه ستاره به کتاب نهم مالازان. بیشتر شبیه مکمل کتاب دهمه تا یه کتاب مستقل. البته باید دید چه جوری جمع میکنه داستان رو اریکسون؛ ولی با این جهان گستردهای که ساخته، حتی اگه یه بمب اتم هم رو هر متر مربع قاره هاش بندازه بازم بعید میدونم نصف خط داستانی هاش فقط تو یه کتاب جمع بشن یا همه شخصیت های اصلی به یه سرانجامی برسن! حتی اگه اون کتاب بالای دوهزار صفحه باشه
July 11, 2019
Re-read.
Even better the second time. I even enjoyed the Snake this time around seeing so many more nuances in it's telling.
Rankings this time followed by the first read.
1, 3, TBH
2, 2, MOI
3, 1, DHG
4, 6 DOD
5, 9, TTH
6, 4, MT
7, 5 GotM
8, 8 HoC
9, 7 RG
I know I'm in the minority but I simply love this one. It is so underrated in the Malazan universe. I thought about putting it above Deadhouse Gates this time around.
-----------
Original review:
I think of the first nine this is the most brutal books of the lot. The acts of brutality woven with the empathy are SE's gift. As always what a convergence at the end but certainly not the way I thought.
There are so many loose ends I don't see how it all gets sewn up with one book remaining or even four if you include the three books left in Empire doing the recommending reading order. Some of the characters we've been following since day one are in limbo. I know I'm reading Orb, Sceptre, Throne next but the temptation to go straight into the Crippled God is overwhelming.
A lot of people consider this one of the weaker books of the series. I'd have to disagree and put it in the top half.
Even better the second time. I even enjoyed the Snake this time around seeing so many more nuances in it's telling.
Rankings this time followed by the first read.
1, 3, TBH
2, 2, MOI
3, 1, DHG
4, 6 DOD
5, 9, TTH
6, 4, MT
7, 5 GotM
8, 8 HoC
9, 7 RG
I know I'm in the minority but I simply love this one. It is so underrated in the Malazan universe. I thought about putting it above Deadhouse Gates this time around.
-----------
Original review:
I think of the first nine this is the most brutal books of the lot. The acts of brutality woven with the empathy are SE's gift. As always what a convergence at the end but certainly not the way I thought.
There are so many loose ends I don't see how it all gets sewn up with one book remaining or even four if you include the three books left in Empire doing the recommending reading order. Some of the characters we've been following since day one are in limbo. I know I'm reading Orb, Sceptre, Throne next but the temptation to go straight into the Crippled God is overwhelming.
A lot of people consider this one of the weaker books of the series. I'd have to disagree and put it in the top half.
October 26, 2011
There's a warning at the beginning of Dust of Dreams from the author himself explaining that until this point in the series, there has never been a cliffhanger, but in order to finish this insanely huge series, the penultimate volume in the Malazan Book of the Fallen is the first and only to do so.
Throughout the book, I was prepping myself for lots of buildup with no payoff in the end. Every other ending to every other Malazan book has blown my mind more than anything I've ever read. Erikson's endings are the best in the business and easily make it worth the thousand plus pages it takes to get there.
So, knowing that there would be a cliffhanger, I assumed there wouldn't be any mind-blowingness going on at the end. Well, I'm happy to say that I was wrong. It is epic, tragic, brutal, and lovely all rolled into one. Nothing but the usual.
Now, that's not to say that a cliffhanger doesn't exist, I'm just saying you don't have to go through the entire book not expecting a great ending... like I did.
While I had a bit of a hard time with Toll the Hounds (although I still loved it), Dust of Dreams goes back to Erikson's normal style, which really just means Toll sans narration. We're introduced to more new tribes and peoples and the final setup is underway.
The Bonehunters have been hanging out in Letheras since they rousted the Tiste Edur and Tehol Beddict has been put in charge as king (Awesome!). Brys Beddict, Tehol's brother, is back, and in charge of the Letherii military (More Awesome!). I have to admit, I have a huge man-crush on Brys (great name btw).
Adjunct Tavore has decided the Bonehunters need to head east toward the Wastelands and even further and no one knows why... her usual MO. Their allies, the Perish Grey Helms and the Kundryl Burned Tears, are busy getting things ready in the east of the Letherii kingdom, but things aren't going too well with the Bolkando stirring things up.
We also tag along with the Barghast, led by their Warleader Onos T'oolan (or Tool), who's now no longer T'lan Imass - just Imass now, who are really ancient Barghast ancestors. The Barghast despise his leadership as they prefer their more barbaric traditions to his more civilized way of thinking.
This is a minor spoiler, but: It's interesting to note that Dust of Dreams actually begins before the ending of Toll the Hounds if you were wondering. :)
Why Read The Malazan Book of the Fallen?
The Malazan Book of the Fallen is the most confusing thing you'll never forget. Under the definition of "epic" in the dictionary, you'll find The Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I promise you, IT IS WORTH IT.
Erikson puts you right where the average soldier is, just do as your told and you'll end up all right, you don't need to know all the details just yet.
Add to this the feelings of jubilation when you figure something out, this series will blow your mind. Guaranteed.
4 out of 5 Stars (Compared to the rest of the series)
5 out of 5 Stars (Compared to anything else)
If you need any help remembering some of the characters/races/magics, check out the Malazan Wiki. It's amazing with a WARNING: Don't read too far into anything and especially, DON'T LOOK AT THE DECK OF DRAGONS. Go back to the previous books if you need to.
Throughout the book, I was prepping myself for lots of buildup with no payoff in the end. Every other ending to every other Malazan book has blown my mind more than anything I've ever read. Erikson's endings are the best in the business and easily make it worth the thousand plus pages it takes to get there.
So, knowing that there would be a cliffhanger, I assumed there wouldn't be any mind-blowingness going on at the end. Well, I'm happy to say that I was wrong. It is epic, tragic, brutal, and lovely all rolled into one. Nothing but the usual.
Now, that's not to say that a cliffhanger doesn't exist, I'm just saying you don't have to go through the entire book not expecting a great ending... like I did.
While I had a bit of a hard time with Toll the Hounds (although I still loved it), Dust of Dreams goes back to Erikson's normal style, which really just means Toll sans narration. We're introduced to more new tribes and peoples and the final setup is underway.
The Bonehunters have been hanging out in Letheras since they rousted the Tiste Edur and Tehol Beddict has been put in charge as king (Awesome!). Brys Beddict, Tehol's brother, is back, and in charge of the Letherii military (More Awesome!). I have to admit, I have a huge man-crush on Brys (great name btw).
Adjunct Tavore has decided the Bonehunters need to head east toward the Wastelands and even further and no one knows why... her usual MO. Their allies, the Perish Grey Helms and the Kundryl Burned Tears, are busy getting things ready in the east of the Letherii kingdom, but things aren't going too well with the Bolkando stirring things up.
We also tag along with the Barghast, led by their Warleader Onos T'oolan (or Tool), who's now no longer T'lan Imass - just Imass now, who are really ancient Barghast ancestors. The Barghast despise his leadership as they prefer their more barbaric traditions to his more civilized way of thinking.
This is a minor spoiler, but: It's interesting to note that Dust of Dreams actually begins before the ending of Toll the Hounds if you were wondering. :)
Why Read The Malazan Book of the Fallen?
The Malazan Book of the Fallen is the most confusing thing you'll never forget. Under the definition of "epic" in the dictionary, you'll find The Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I promise you, IT IS WORTH IT.
Erikson puts you right where the average soldier is, just do as your told and you'll end up all right, you don't need to know all the details just yet.
Add to this the feelings of jubilation when you figure something out, this series will blow your mind. Guaranteed.
4 out of 5 Stars (Compared to the rest of the series)
5 out of 5 Stars (Compared to anything else)
If you need any help remembering some of the characters/races/magics, check out the Malazan Wiki. It's amazing with a WARNING: Don't read too far into anything and especially, DON'T LOOK AT THE DECK OF DRAGONS. Go back to the previous books if you need to.
February 26, 2017
Only one left!
Most of this book moved slower than the previous installments which is why it seems to get lower ratings than the other books. While not the weakest Malazan book in my opinion, it definitely doesn't fall into my favourite books of the series category.
As with Toll of the Hounds, I enjoyed the beginning more than some of the other books because I did know some of the characters. You'd think by book 9 that we'd know all of the characters, but it wouldn't really be Malazan without some chaos and confusion added in.
This is largely a set-up book for the grand finale, but that doesn't mean things didn't happen. I honestly don't know how Erikson is going to wrap this all up in one book. I am extremely tempted to just move on to The Crippled God, but I can't give up on the recommended reading order now!
Most of this book moved slower than the previous installments which is why it seems to get lower ratings than the other books. While not the weakest Malazan book in my opinion, it definitely doesn't fall into my favourite books of the series category.
As with Toll of the Hounds, I enjoyed the beginning more than some of the other books because I did know some of the characters. You'd think by book 9 that we'd know all of the characters, but it wouldn't really be Malazan without some chaos and confusion added in.
This is largely a set-up book for the grand finale, but that doesn't mean things didn't happen. I honestly don't know how Erikson is going to wrap this all up in one book. I am extremely tempted to just move on to The Crippled God, but I can't give up on the recommended reading order now!
August 22, 2023
Amazing. This series is truly beyond me.
April 21, 2017
This one was always going to be difficult to review, being the first half of what Erikson conceived as one book. The ending shows this weakness, the last bit tails off somewhat because it makes promises about what comes next rather than offers conclusions for book 9. Even the almost unimaginably epic and devastatingly murderous battles of the final quarter are mere preludes to the final convergence. Yet it would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of these storylines (save the Snake which is tiresome in the extreme), there are massive changes within these pages, necessary to put people where they need to be. Of course, we all wish to spend more time with the characters we love, but the sheer power of our time with them is all the more emotional and effective for its fleeting nature; we know that this time may well be the last, the End is coming, and this is the Book of the Fallen.
December 8, 2020
Paura e disillusione nelle Terre Desolate
"Alcune strade erano più facili da abbandonare di altre. Molti camminavano alla ricerca del futuro, ma trovavano soltanto il passato. Altri cercavano il passato, per rinnovarlo, e scoprivano che il passato non era come lo avevano immaginato."
"Mi guardano morire. Io ho fatto lo stesso. Perché lo facciamo? Perché siamo così affascinati da questo fallimento?
Perché vediamo quanto sia facile. Credo."
"Esistono entità e forze all'opera di cui non sappiamo nulla. Uno appartiene al gelo e all'oscurità. Uno è fuoco dorato alto nei cieli. Un altro gli sta accanto, un ammasso di dolore alato più duro e crudele del diamante più affilato. E poi altri ancora, che si nascondono nell'ululato dei lupi. E un altro ancora...il più feroce e violento di tutti gli altri. Si nasconde nella pietra e aspetta, per il momento."
"Siamo polvere di sogni, polvere di tutto ciò che non siamo mai riusciti a conquistare. Polvere di ciò che avremmo potuto essere e di ciò che non possiamo evitare di essere."
Alla fin della fiera a pagare siamo sempre noi poveri stronzi, con 'sto sole cocente sopra e la puzza di letame che permea l'aria. Qualcosa di misterioso si muove sotto il terreno (no, le latrine ce le siamo lasciate alle spalle qualche giorno fa: la merda non sa camminare da sola).
Non vedo l'eroismo che guida le gambe dei compagni, uno più derelitto dell'altro; né posso elogiare il carisma della nostra leader, che non si spreca con le parole e tiene il pallore di un cadavere.
Aggiunto, perché la landa è così silenziosa? Cosa significa trovarsi nel posto sbagliato, al momento sbagliato?
Ed è vero, alla fine di tutto, che in guerra non ci sono vincitori.
Guardali là, ridicoli nelle loro scaramucce, innocui nel darsele a vicenda; perseguono ideali che solo visti dall'alto tradiscono la ridicolaggine.
Un tempo persi tutto per diventare giudice massimo di questo mondo; ma non esiste individuo che possa fare sua l'incombenza dei destini che precipitano inesorabili nell'oblio.
Cerco la fuga da tutto questo.
Cerco espiazione.
Un solo difetto ha depotenziato questa saga, la cui forza immaginifica è pressoché sterminata: la mancanza di controllo a livello gestionale.
L'aggiungere ulteriori sottotrame parallele alla principale -Snake, Shake, Barghast, Perish, K'Chain Che'Malle - rallenta enormemente il ritmo narrativo; sovraccarica il tomo di promesse da adempiere mentre ci si approssima alla chiusura.
Se la gestione narrativa è sopra la soglia di guardia per i pericolosi rischi che si assume, perdura una fascinazione magnetica nel vedere allacciamenti tentacolari capaci di connettere tasselli tra loro lontani: percorsi incominciati molto lontano trovano chiusura e altri se ne spalancano, la cui portata resta vertiginosamente imprevedibile.
"Alcune strade erano più facili da abbandonare di altre. Molti camminavano alla ricerca del futuro, ma trovavano soltanto il passato. Altri cercavano il passato, per rinnovarlo, e scoprivano che il passato non era come lo avevano immaginato."
"Mi guardano morire. Io ho fatto lo stesso. Perché lo facciamo? Perché siamo così affascinati da questo fallimento?
Perché vediamo quanto sia facile. Credo."
"Esistono entità e forze all'opera di cui non sappiamo nulla. Uno appartiene al gelo e all'oscurità. Uno è fuoco dorato alto nei cieli. Un altro gli sta accanto, un ammasso di dolore alato più duro e crudele del diamante più affilato. E poi altri ancora, che si nascondono nell'ululato dei lupi. E un altro ancora...il più feroce e violento di tutti gli altri. Si nasconde nella pietra e aspetta, per il momento."
"Siamo polvere di sogni, polvere di tutto ciò che non siamo mai riusciti a conquistare. Polvere di ciò che avremmo potuto essere e di ciò che non possiamo evitare di essere."
Alla fin della fiera a pagare siamo sempre noi poveri stronzi, con 'sto sole cocente sopra e la puzza di letame che permea l'aria. Qualcosa di misterioso si muove sotto il terreno (no, le latrine ce le siamo lasciate alle spalle qualche giorno fa: la merda non sa camminare da sola).
Non vedo l'eroismo che guida le gambe dei compagni, uno più derelitto dell'altro; né posso elogiare il carisma della nostra leader, che non si spreca con le parole e tiene il pallore di un cadavere.
Aggiunto, perché la landa è così silenziosa? Cosa significa trovarsi nel posto sbagliato, al momento sbagliato?
Ed è vero, alla fine di tutto, che in guerra non ci sono vincitori.
Guardali là, ridicoli nelle loro scaramucce, innocui nel darsele a vicenda; perseguono ideali che solo visti dall'alto tradiscono la ridicolaggine.
Un tempo persi tutto per diventare giudice massimo di questo mondo; ma non esiste individuo che possa fare sua l'incombenza dei destini che precipitano inesorabili nell'oblio.
Cerco la fuga da tutto questo.
Cerco espiazione.
Un solo difetto ha depotenziato questa saga, la cui forza immaginifica è pressoché sterminata: la mancanza di controllo a livello gestionale.
L'aggiungere ulteriori sottotrame parallele alla principale -Snake, Shake, Barghast, Perish, K'Chain Che'Malle - rallenta enormemente il ritmo narrativo; sovraccarica il tomo di promesse da adempiere mentre ci si approssima alla chiusura.
Se la gestione narrativa è sopra la soglia di guardia per i pericolosi rischi che si assume, perdura una fascinazione magnetica nel vedere allacciamenti tentacolari capaci di connettere tasselli tra loro lontani: percorsi incominciati molto lontano trovano chiusura e altri se ne spalancano, la cui portata resta vertiginosamente imprevedibile.
May 31, 2021
Simply put Dust of Dreams was overwhelming in its boringness, that I honestly didn’t know what to say. What was this book about? Death, suffering, random chances, humans as absolute destroyer, dozens POVs existed as excuse to have the medium for social commentary. Why should I care about some clans wars this late in the series? Faceless names all. Three stars because of Badalle, the fourteen dead Jaghut, Tehol & crews, Bonehunters being ridiculous as always.
August 1, 2016
Executive Summary: I found this to be a disappointment. It's not a bad book by any means, just not the book I was hoping for.
Full Review
So here we are in the home stretch of this epic 10 book series. Mr. Erikson starts this with an author's note saying how this is really part one of a two book finale to the series.
That colored my expectations some that we would start getting more answers than questions and that the new characters and subplots would be kept to a minimum as we finally start to wrap up what Mr. Erikson has been building for the last books.
I guess I can hope that it happens in The Crippled God, because I certainly set myself up for disappointment here. Once again Mr. Erikson writes some amazing chapters and an exciting climax. Unfortunately there is also an abundance of chapters, characters and subplots I just didn't care about. This series suffers from far too many minor characters that could often be interchangeable with one another and Mr. Erikson spends too much time for my liking with them.
As with previous books, I found the chapters focusing on the Malazans themselves to be the most fun and interesting. This has some of the best scenes and events in the series thus far, and somehow that just makes me mad. I look at those and wonder "why couldn't the whole book be like this?".
This has been a much more negative review than I had originally planned to write. Especially for a 3 star book. There is a lot to like here, I just wish there was more of it. More of my favorite characters. More cool battle scenes. More badass magic. More answers to questions.
This book has me pretty apprehensive for the final book and how Mr. Erikson is going to wrap things up. Maybe that book will help to better put this one in perspective. Or maybe it will take a re-read for me to appreciate the chapters I found uninteresting on my first read through. Only time will tell.
Full Review
So here we are in the home stretch of this epic 10 book series. Mr. Erikson starts this with an author's note saying how this is really part one of a two book finale to the series.
That colored my expectations some that we would start getting more answers than questions and that the new characters and subplots would be kept to a minimum as we finally start to wrap up what Mr. Erikson has been building for the last books.
I guess I can hope that it happens in The Crippled God, because I certainly set myself up for disappointment here. Once again Mr. Erikson writes some amazing chapters and an exciting climax. Unfortunately there is also an abundance of chapters, characters and subplots I just didn't care about. This series suffers from far too many minor characters that could often be interchangeable with one another and Mr. Erikson spends too much time for my liking with them.
As with previous books, I found the chapters focusing on the Malazans themselves to be the most fun and interesting. This has some of the best scenes and events in the series thus far, and somehow that just makes me mad. I look at those and wonder "why couldn't the whole book be like this?".
This has been a much more negative review than I had originally planned to write. Especially for a 3 star book. There is a lot to like here, I just wish there was more of it. More of my favorite characters. More cool battle scenes. More badass magic. More answers to questions.
This book has me pretty apprehensive for the final book and how Mr. Erikson is going to wrap things up. Maybe that book will help to better put this one in perspective. Or maybe it will take a re-read for me to appreciate the chapters I found uninteresting on my first read through. Only time will tell.
February 2, 2023
Every volume of this series has been five stars for me except this one. Too much focus on characters and plot lines that I just wasn’t fully invested in. But ten stars for the last hundred pages. As epic as it gets! Death on a massive scale, so much heartbreak one monster of a cliffhanger. Can’t believe there is only one more to go!
May 15, 2024
It was possible (perhaps) through book three (Memories of Ice) to offer a reasonably concise summary of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. By this point, however, trying to untangle all of the threads Erikson’s woven is like trying to untangle the Gordian Knot of politics in the Middle East. Which is one of the more attractive elements in Erikson’s opus – he refuses to simplify his characters’ motivations and the complicated clash of their many goals.
And, boy, are things beginning to clash.
In Reaper’s Gale, the Bonehunters arrived on the Letherii empire’s continent like the title’s storm reference as they marched to their fated, unwitnessed final battle. At the end of that book, Letheras had fallen; Rhulad Sengar, the undying Edur emperor was dead (by Karsa Orlong’s hand); a friendly regime under Tehol Beddict had assumed power; and the Errant had been chased from the city of Letheras. But there were intimations of the coming apocalypse – for example, the K’Chain Che’Malle were again active, and despite his defeat, the Errant was gathering together the Elder Gods in a bid to return to power.
In Dust of Dreams, the ultimate “enemy” remains elusive. Is it the Crippled God? Maybe. But Tavore may be marching to free him. Is it the Forkrul Assail? Perhaps. Their concept of “justice” would erase all intelligent life on the planet. Is it the K’Chain Nah’ruk? The K’Chain Che’Malle? Is the ultimate enemy the Elder Gods? And it seems like every side aims, to some extent, to wipe the slate clean and begin the cycle over again.
A short list of the vying factions would include:
The Bonehunters Tavore continues to be an enigma to her troops, apparently so crushed by what she sees ahead that she can’t burden the people relying upon her with the knowledge lest they succumb entirely to despair. Of course, that’s doing nothing for the morale of the legion. Despite Y’Ghatan and Malaz City, the army remains shaky and unsure of itself.
The Khundryl and the Perish Greywolves Though the Khundryl remain firm allies of the Adjunct they appear to have been broken by the “wrong” battle that engulfs the armies when they run into the K’Chain Nah’ruk. And Tanakalian, the Shield Anvil of the Perish, is corrupted by ambition and may break in the final battle.
The Letherii Under Brys Beddict, I think they’ll remain allies of Tavore.
The K’Chain Che’Malle The last group of K’Chain (the Acyl) have gained a new lease on life under humans – the Destriant Kalyth, the Mortal Sword Gesler and the Shield Anvil Stormy (the latter two kidnapped from the Bonehunters to lead the K’Chain legions against the Nah’ruk). They also are instrumental in deciding the fate of Icarium (yes, that long journey finally comes to an end).
The T’lan Imass Actually there are several factions emerging among the Imass – Onos T’oolan has died again and Olar Ethil resurrected him to be her tool of vengeance; the Unbound have returned and are moving to join the Bonehunters; and Rud Elalle, the half-human son of Menandore and Udinaas, has left the Refugium to protect it and the newborn Azath (Kettle).
The Jaghut A hitherto unknown group of Jaghut, connected to Hood in some way, have appeared. What their motivations and goals are remain hidden.
And then there’s the Forkrul Assail, the Elder Gods, the new gods (the Elders’ children), Shadowthrone and Cotillion, etc. The mind reels trying to sort things out…
Erikson continues to maintain a good balance between the particular lives of his characters and the “macrocosmic” aspects of the novel. And despite the novel’s deep rooted pessimism, individuals’ actions continue to mean something. Just like the hope of rebirth after Ragnarok, there’s hope of survival after whatever the Adjunct is marching into in the Wastelands.
Another element in Erikson’s work that I find attractive is that he also refuses to identify a “good” and an “evil.” Even the Crippled God receives a measure of sympathy. After all, he didn’t ask to come to the Malazan’s world; he was dragged here by a cabal of wizards who were attempting to bring down Kallor’s empire. He’s been chained so that the gods can feed off of his power. Who wouldn’t be a little bit irritated by that? Or there’s the matter of the Pannion Seer – she was an undead K’Chain Matron, driven insane. And speaking of the K’Chain Che’Malle, even they get a sympathetic nod in Dust. The only race who remain wholly inimical are the Forkrul Assail.
I look forward to Book 10 with an anticipation I haven’t felt for a similar series in a long time.
And, boy, are things beginning to clash.
In Reaper’s Gale, the Bonehunters arrived on the Letherii empire’s continent like the title’s storm reference as they marched to their fated, unwitnessed final battle. At the end of that book, Letheras had fallen; Rhulad Sengar, the undying Edur emperor was dead (by Karsa Orlong’s hand); a friendly regime under Tehol Beddict had assumed power; and the Errant had been chased from the city of Letheras. But there were intimations of the coming apocalypse – for example, the K’Chain Che’Malle were again active, and despite his defeat, the Errant was gathering together the Elder Gods in a bid to return to power.
In Dust of Dreams, the ultimate “enemy” remains elusive. Is it the Crippled God? Maybe. But Tavore may be marching to free him. Is it the Forkrul Assail? Perhaps. Their concept of “justice” would erase all intelligent life on the planet. Is it the K’Chain Nah’ruk? The K’Chain Che’Malle? Is the ultimate enemy the Elder Gods? And it seems like every side aims, to some extent, to wipe the slate clean and begin the cycle over again.
A short list of the vying factions would include:
The Bonehunters Tavore continues to be an enigma to her troops, apparently so crushed by what she sees ahead that she can’t burden the people relying upon her with the knowledge lest they succumb entirely to despair. Of course, that’s doing nothing for the morale of the legion. Despite Y’Ghatan and Malaz City, the army remains shaky and unsure of itself.
The Khundryl and the Perish Greywolves Though the Khundryl remain firm allies of the Adjunct they appear to have been broken by the “wrong” battle that engulfs the armies when they run into the K’Chain Nah’ruk. And Tanakalian, the Shield Anvil of the Perish, is corrupted by ambition and may break in the final battle.
The Letherii Under Brys Beddict, I think they’ll remain allies of Tavore.
The K’Chain Che’Malle The last group of K’Chain (the Acyl) have gained a new lease on life under humans – the Destriant Kalyth, the Mortal Sword Gesler and the Shield Anvil Stormy (the latter two kidnapped from the Bonehunters to lead the K’Chain legions against the Nah’ruk). They also are instrumental in deciding the fate of Icarium (yes, that long journey finally comes to an end).
The T’lan Imass Actually there are several factions emerging among the Imass – Onos T’oolan has died again and Olar Ethil resurrected him to be her tool of vengeance; the Unbound have returned and are moving to join the Bonehunters; and Rud Elalle, the half-human son of Menandore and Udinaas, has left the Refugium to protect it and the newborn Azath (Kettle).
The Jaghut A hitherto unknown group of Jaghut, connected to Hood in some way, have appeared. What their motivations and goals are remain hidden.
And then there’s the Forkrul Assail, the Elder Gods, the new gods (the Elders’ children), Shadowthrone and Cotillion, etc. The mind reels trying to sort things out…
Erikson continues to maintain a good balance between the particular lives of his characters and the “macrocosmic” aspects of the novel. And despite the novel’s deep rooted pessimism, individuals’ actions continue to mean something. Just like the hope of rebirth after Ragnarok, there’s hope of survival after whatever the Adjunct is marching into in the Wastelands.
Another element in Erikson’s work that I find attractive is that he also refuses to identify a “good” and an “evil.” Even the Crippled God receives a measure of sympathy. After all, he didn’t ask to come to the Malazan’s world; he was dragged here by a cabal of wizards who were attempting to bring down Kallor’s empire. He’s been chained so that the gods can feed off of his power. Who wouldn’t be a little bit irritated by that? Or there’s the matter of the Pannion Seer – she was an undead K’Chain Matron, driven insane. And speaking of the K’Chain Che’Malle, even they get a sympathetic nod in Dust. The only race who remain wholly inimical are the Forkrul Assail.
I look forward to Book 10 with an anticipation I haven’t felt for a similar series in a long time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2023
"All life is sorcery. In its very essence, the soul is magical, and each process of chemistry, of obeisance and cooperation, of surrender and of struggle—at every scale conceivable—is a consort of sorcery. Destroy magic and you destroy life."
The ninth tale of Malazan Book of the Fallen has been one intense read that kept me engaged with the story right to the end.
What's really interesting about Dust of Dreams is the fact that it happens to be some sort of a prelude to the last and final act of the series, while it also reveals the grand masterplan that revolves behind the entire plot of the series.
The ninth tale of Malazan Book of the Fallen has been one intense read that kept me engaged with the story right to the end.
What's really interesting about Dust of Dreams is the fact that it happens to be some sort of a prelude to the last and final act of the series, while it also reveals the grand masterplan that revolves behind the entire plot of the series.
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