Malazan Book Of The Fallen
- Thread starter Intrinsic
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Valorath
Trakanon Raider
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I think initially I was just going to reread The Crippled God. When I finished it, I couldn't think of anything else to read, so I grabbed Dust of Dreams. After that book I think I just decided I'd go for it and read the whole thing in reverse order.
My brother, and a few of our friends are working on the series, though none of them has made it past Reaper's Gale yet (I don't think, anyhow). They've been working on the series for a few years, and talk about "not having time to read," or being "distracted by new characters, losing interest," that type of stuff.
So I think part of the backwards reread was to show them what pussies they are for not being able to read an epic fantasy series. Another part of it is being able to actually say I know the story forwards and backwards. Kind of embarrassing, but it is what it is.
My brother, and a few of our friends are working on the series, though none of them has made it past Reaper's Gale yet (I don't think, anyhow). They've been working on the series for a few years, and talk about "not having time to read," or being "distracted by new characters, losing interest," that type of stuff.
So I think part of the backwards reread was to show them what pussies they are for not being able to read an epic fantasy series. Another part of it is being able to actually say I know the story forwards and backwards. Kind of embarrassing, but it is what it is.
Kiroy
Marine Biologist
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Well in defense of your buddies, unless you are the type of reader that is always reading something anyways for a hour or two a day (at least), you're not going to get through malazan ever. It's not one of those books / series you can take weeks off from on your first read through.
Assuming a person is into fantasy, this is the series to separate the men from the boys.
Assuming a person is into fantasy, this is the series to separate the men from the boys.
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Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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Yeah when I was recreating threads here I was just copy / pasting the thread titles. Didn't even occur to me it was written that way.
Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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I'd start with the main series and read a few of the ICE stuff as they fit in the timeline, then go back to Forge. At some point you can decide if you like the supplemental stories from ICE and want to continue and finish them. They kind of vary in quality.
Rezz
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Yeah, read the main series first would be my opinion as well. A -lot- of the draw (for me at least, especially after the first book) was the unraveling of backstories for the major players in the world and the slow unveiling of the limits/origins of their power(s). Forge is good once you are attached to characters referenced in it as kind of a "behind the scenes" after reading the main books. I think it would definitely lose a lot by reading it first and it would really dampen the impact of certain characters in the main series.
Springbok
Karen
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God damn, I hope that is true. One of the reasons the last book fell flat for me was not enough Karsa - all the build up as him being the savior of the people, and then his big fight and then nothing.
Kiroy
Marine Biologist
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I actually just read through that part last night, where they find the words in the cave as they set off. I don't think we'll ever know the full story unless he does a Karsa book, but it sounds like the Teblor had a civilization and they did some bad stuff with it. Their civ was likely destroyed in the jaghut wars and I think Icarum set up the survivors with the rules/culture they have so they always stay warring and raping each other instead of a nation building type thing again, which maybe was their disposition to begin with.
Rezz
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Honestly, when I read that part I got something totally different. It seemed like the T'lan Imass were trying to wipe them out (possibly due to them siding with the Jaghut or something) and there was that massive staircase of slain T'lan that might have been made by Icarium or the old Teblor. He saw that they had been incestuous or something (or had overbred with other races, thus the "thinness" of their blood) and he broke up family units and split them into different clans in order to purify their blood. He wanted them banging other people than their own relatives or something, and if they did it would only happen during raids through rape. Icarium apparently lived among the Teblor and felt bad for them, so he was probably trying to help them in some way. The T'lan saw what he had done and then made them as the Faces in the Rock to be deities to try and undo Icarium's efforts to purify their blood, hence all the focus on raiding and rape.
At least that's what I read into it. Like a lot of stuff in Malazan, there's just a lot of information left up as "lost in the annals of history" or "unreliable narrator" types of tropes. I really hope that whenever the Karsa books happen they go way more deeply into his past and his plans for the future.
At least that's what I read into it. Like a lot of stuff in Malazan, there's just a lot of information left up as "lost in the annals of history" or "unreliable narrator" types of tropes. I really hope that whenever the Karsa books happen they go way more deeply into his past and his plans for the future.
In the mood for some Malazan. Read the Book of the Fallen and Night of Knives...what should I pick up now?
Cool, I will pick that up. I know that between ICE and SE, there are a good amount of books out there now outside the primary 10 of MBotF, just wanted some direction on where to start.