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/lit/ - Literature

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4109912 No.4109912[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

I am planning on beginning this series soon. Could some people give me their thoughts on the series; if they enjoyed it and what they thought about it? I mostly read fantasy and sci-fi, and Black Company is probably my favorite 'dark' fantasy series overall.

>> No.4109943

>>4109912
I'm only on the 3rd book at the moment. It took me until about half way through that first book until I knew what the fuck was going on. He doesn't really explain things and doesn't apologise for doing so.

That said, it is a seems a decent enough series to pass the time. At least for now.

>> No.4109952

After reading ASOIAF I figured I might give more fantasy a try. Started Gardens of the Moon and gave up partway in.

>> No.4109978

First things first: it's a whole lot more epic fantasy than The Black Company. Sure, Malazan has a big focus on grunts-on-the-front like TBC, but it has a much more vast scope and god-like beings are pretty common. As a result, the feel of the novels is extremely different. I'm sure a BC fan will enjoy the Malazan series (as I too love TBC), just don't expect a carbon copy, is all.

As to my thoughts on Malazan itself... I've read through to the end of book 7. Personally I thought books 2 and 4 were pretty boring and they almost had me giving up. However, book 1 is pretty good and book 3 is one of the best slabs of epic fantasy ever written. Book 5 and the switch to Lether and book 6 finally getting away from Seven Cities put the series on much more solid ground.

Overall, it's a great series. It has failings, certainly. Erikson's character's are often flat, despite being likeable; there's too much power-level bullshit and gods walking around; occasionally Erikson's way of having characters say mysterious things and to not reply when questioned about them gets tedious.

I also think the chronology of the books is whack. To my mind it would make much more satisfying reading to read books 1 and 3 back to back; then read Karsa's opening chunk of book 4, then read the remainder in order. I think the ordering of books 1-4 is just odd... I don't know why the Genabackis and Seven Cities books were published alternately, when it seems to make much more sense reading the Genabackis couple first (as they serve almost as a prologue to the series main) and then get on with Seven Cities and what comes after.

Anyway, criticisms aside, what's good? The world building is great (though sometimes Erikson goes too far - do we really need so much history for the Jaghut, Imass and whoever the fuck else died 10,000 years ago and no longer exists?), the actions scenes are excellent, the magic system interesting, the scope incredibly broad, the writing is good for the genre and it's solidly plotted.

It's not perfect, but I'd definitely recommend it and would say just read the first book. If you like it, stick with the series, if you don't, move on to something else. The series doesn't significantly change in tone or anything, so what you see is what you're going to get.

>> No.4109996
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4109996

>>4109912
I've read it all.

Just... just get through Gardens of the Moon. It's fantastic beyond that point. It's very much inspired by The Black Company, but lacks the down-to-earth tone of Cook's works.

Oh, and attached is a handy reading order. The "Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach" novellas are highly optional, but the rest of the works are pretty important (picking up on plot points unfulfilled in the "main" series). If you like the series I'd heavily recommend reading it all.

>> No.4110008
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4110008

>>4109996
>reading the ICE books

>> No.4110048

>>4110008
The ICE books are alright, although the prose is slightly worse.

At least he skips the hundreds of pages of personal anguish Erikson puts in every goddamn book.

>> No.4110056

>>4109978
What makes good epic fantasy?

>> No.4110176

>>4110056
Brevity.

>> No.4110841

>>4109978
Right. That's what I plan to do. I'll read the first book and go from there. I have a bunch of other books on my Kindle but nothing I have a huge desire to read, if that makes sense, so after I finish my current book, I'm not too sure what I'll read or where I'll go from there if I can't get into Malazan.

>>4109996
Alright, saved this image. Thanks man.

>> No.4110980

if you're a teen craving lol so epic and cool then go ahead, but the writing is shit, and gardens of the moon will probably put you off anyway

I recommend don't bother, read Way of Kings

>> No.4111124

>>4110980
I've already read Way of Kings twice. And Sanderson's other Cosmere books.