/lit/ - Literature

>>23967396
>>23970521
it's complicated

>>23908444
Now I doubt your reading comprehension. ASoI&F greatly similar to Dying Earth? Mate.

>>23797930
>malazan

>>23607222
>what am I in for?
First book that filters most people. Second one is ironically a lot more straightforward.

>>23595490
It's almost Malazan isn't driven by characters or something. Which would explain the distaste people have as there's no character drama to latch onto. They're all just players in bigger events.

>>22765178
it wipes the board clean by taking place on another continent with only some old characters returning. I would argue it's a better introduction than gardens of the moon, though.

>>21910979
Erikson is THE MAN.

>One example of this can be gleaned from my own beginnings as a writer of fantasy, which I suspect was commonplace among my colleagues. In my youth, I sidestepped Tolkien entirely, finding my inspiration and pleasure in the genre through Howard, Burroughs, and Leiber. And as with many of my fellow epic fantasy writers, our first experience of the Tolkien tropes of epic fantasy came not from books, but from Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying games ... As my own gaming experience advanced, it was not long before I abandoned those tropes ... Accordingly, my influences in terms of fiction are post-Tolkien, and they came from conscious responses to Tolkien (Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series) and unconscious responses to Tolkien (Cook's Dread Empire and Black Company series).

>>21890539
Is it? I've only seen people be divided on Malazan.

>>21875248
malazan is very love or hate as it throws you in deep with the first book. it also doesn't neatly tie everything together by the end. I would say it's one of the few epic fantasy examples that doesn't shirk away from the scale of it.

>>21836719
OOOOOOH
STILL WE RIDE

>>20686963
It's divisive, but I like the fact it's one of the few works that makes use of being EPIC FANTASY in the true sense. This means not everything builds to a single focal point, not everything sees conclusion because some rule says it must, etc. Basically, expect a revolving door cast and story that goes to many directions. GotM is a good filter.

>>20502701
>have to read all of the main malazan books first
shit

>>20247156
>>20247215
They're army nicknames. Really outlandish names are usually reserved for equally as outlandish character.
>mfw K'Chain Che'Malle

>>20018613
Malazan is essentially the anti-thesis of modern fantasy where people fetisthistically worship relating to characters and how emotionally invested they get in the first 50 pages as primary indicators of whether they like the book or not.

>>19433753
That very book is a pleb filter because it's densely written and throws you into things without explaining anything. I would say it resonates more with older fantasy than modern people today are used to as they expect character drama and easy stories to follow. Malazan is the opposite of that.

>>19408299
Malazan is really divisive because it loves to wipe the slate clean every other book. Also, the very first book is a huge filter for your average reader. Series is an example of epic fantasy where not everything has to build to a single conclusion that ties it all up.

>>18755368
>Not him but first and foremost, it jumps to a completely new cast of characters in basically every book, the fifth book even jumps to a completely new *setting* which is essentially completely unrelated to the previous books. None of the character arcs or plotlines are ever carried to completion, instead each book gives you the premise of a trilogy, then cuts away, and by the time the characters are reintroduced they've completed their character arc and morphed into someone completely different entirely off "screen".
See, I don't really consider these as negatives. It's not like everything has to build to ONE specific event. Also, having a fuck huge setting and so many books to work with lets you explore shit. On top of non-core series novels and spin-offs. I just have no problem with the way Malazan is structured while many people seem to do.

>>17929629
Good news is the struggle continues in book two as well. Although I'd say Erikson got a lot better at TELLING a story.

>>17413810
>>17413833
>>17413859
There are surprisingly good metal tracks for some fantasy works out there. I wish I was into Black Metal as Caladan Brood does Malazan well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUlvIq-TDGI

>>16840110
No. Malazan is simply not character-driven like modern fantasy in general tends to be. It's also an exercise in world building more than anything else.

>>16672913
Malazan's deal is that it's actually NOT character driven and this is what drives people up the wall when they try reading it because most are looking for instantly relatable characters. Malazan goes through entire casts like tissues.

>>15512585

>>14148949
Coltaine did his role just fine. Having more of him would've probably diminished the effect.

>native who embraced the Imperial way
>turned out to be an excellent general

I love the scene at the end where a priest gloats about how they finally got him and his Chain of Dogs. Only for others to point out what the odds were and how disparate the two forces involves were, on-top of one side protecting a civilian caravan.

>>13537601
>so the second book will be about totally different characters?
For the most part. It also switches continents. Deadhouse Gates is a way more memorable books and you'll be in tears by the end.