I’ve mentioned this series on this blog before, using it as an example of how not to do things…however, I don’t think it’s a bad series. Whether you like it or not will strongly depend on your tastes.
It’s a ten-book epic, following a large cast of characters over many lands and time periods, but in general concerned with the struggles of the Malazan Empire to conquer and to maintain control of conquered lands during a war of the gods (based on the three books I’ve read; I won’t be reading the rest of the series). There’s a lot of plot going on here and it’s hard to summarise, but in general it’s military based, so there’s lots of exciting battles and death and heroics, and a great deal of somewhat heavy-handed humour too.
I can say with some surety that if you like worldbuilding and plot-driven books, you’ll like this series. Erikson’s world is complex, just like ours: there’s a multitude of peoples, with their various cultures, histories, gods, customs, etc, and in particular the idea of the ghosts of civilisations comes through time and time again, especially as an awful lot of characters appear to be immortal and/or have memories stretching back thousands of years.
Erikson drops the reader right in it; there’s not too much explanation of who or what these various races are and how the magic system works, but if you just generally bear with it, you can work things out (or at least comfortably accept that you can’t just yet), and it rewards re-reading, for people who like re-reading, in the context of information received later in the series. Having to work it out is better than being spoon-fed it in giant info-dumps, that’s for sure.
However. If you like character-driven books, you will probably fall on my side of the divide: I admire these books for their scope and breadth and I think there’s some great ideas, but I cannot bring myself to continue on reading them now I’ve exhausted the three books I was given. And that is because the characters, to me, are one-dimensional and repetitive, and many of the scenes too long and unnecessary.
Erikson’s series is often compared to Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire; I can see why, and I like Martin’s series, but it differs from this one in one vital regard: Martin also has loads of characters, but he limits the points of view to the handful of characters you really get to know.
Erikson, on the other hand, basically put the point of view into the hands of any character he needs it to be in at any one time. This greatly increases the number of characters you have to get involved with but also beats you over the head with the inescapable conclusion: there are really only three or four characters in this book, they’ve just been given different names and backgrounds. They all talk the same (with notable exceptions like Kruppe and Iskarl Pust, but then they talk just like each other), think the same, act the same ie as they are required to act to forward the plot. It’s hard to get drawn in.
For example, I got a spoiler for a character’s death in Erikson’s series. Apparently, for fans of the series, this death is on the same level as that fateful death in the first book of Martin’s series. If I had gotten a spoiler for that latter death, I would have been pretty darned pissed. But the death-spoiler I got for Erikson’s series…meh, plenty more exactly like him where he came from.
Similarly, despite the impressive range of non-human races present, they’re not all that different from each other or from the humans: in general, the only way to tell them apart is to try to memorise which warren (source of magic) they use; otherwise, they’re interchangeably arrogant, long-lived/immortal/undead, supernaturally good warriors.
Lastly, I had a lot of trouble picking a side, among the many sides, to root for. I know we’re supposed to strongly support at least the super-competent Bridgeburners, if not the Malazan Empire as a whole, but…they’re the invaders. They’re invading other nations for the purpose of conquest and control. Yes, it’s meant to be a Roman Empire parallel and they spread peaceful trade and administration along with conquest and are viewed positively at this far remove. Unfortunately, Erikson is writing in an era in which another ‘empire’ is invading other nations for questionable reasons, and with that fresh in the mind, it’s hard to barrack for the Malazan soldiers; but no-one else is much more sympathetic, really.
If I can’t be fond of, or even slightly care about, characters I’ve just spent 800 or more pages with, then the series does not work for me. If I spend time wondering what the point of a scene was, then the series does not work for me. If I find the story progress and denouements murky and confused despite (because of…) the volume of information given, then the series does not work for me. The ideas are fantastic; wading through 10,000 pages to see their fulfillment…not so much.
But I can clearly see that there are many people this series would work for, and I have to congratulate Erikson both on his in-depth worldbuilding and his unfussy use of lots and lots of women characters (mainly soldiers)…even if they are all the same as each other and the male characters.
Interested? Buy it through Fishpond.com.au
