My Read Through of Malazan Books of the Fallen

[Patriotic Kaz]

Let me start out saying please do not talk about things further than i am at... which is currently around page 200 in Deadhouse Gates. Felisin, Baudin, and Hobric have just escaped and are hiding in a cave; Fiddler, Crokus, and Apsalar are being chased by Gral; Kalam is off with Shaik's demon; Shaik has been shot; Shadowthrone's and Cottilton's identities have been revealed as The Emporer and Dancer. And Icarius and Mappo are off to find a broom to kill "spiders" at the monestary.

[Bookstore Guy]

Icarium and Mappo are my favs. Iskaral Pust cracks me up - he has so many funny parts in the series. I'm excited for you to read the end of this one. Keep in mind when you start Memories of Ice that it runs concurrent with Deadhouse Gates.

[Renoard]

Yeah the timing is confusing.

Kaz you'll have to let us know which warren you find most fun.  My favorite character is a fly priest won't say which one. ;P

[Patriotic Kaz]

I have come to the belief that the warrens are sentient... i'm at the part where they are trying to get out of the flooded Tiste Edur Warren... i'll give you a more elaborate update with my predictions in another 100 pages or so...

P.S. Felisin is one wicked wretch isn't she

[Renoard]

I do like her. I do.

[Patriotic Kaz]

I just finished Deadhouse Gates half an hour ago...
Heboric is blind with those weird hands and is following Shaik or Felisin who has in turn named her adopted daughter Felisin. Duiker got the refugees to safety and killed that annoying noble... he was crucified on Aren Way with the other soliders but Baruks familars came to get him. The seventh died at the walls or Aren without help from the High Fist. Mappo and Icarium meet up with Fiddler Apsalar and Crokus and they end up going to Tremolor as a group... you find out that Icarium's rage is the result behind a battle with a warren, Azath i believe, the path of hands was put on a detour away from the temple of shadow... Servant is Apsalar's dad and he helped mislead the followers of the path of hands. Tremolour eats a bunch of sole taken and D' ivers moby is a demon who is now the house's guardian. The Azath teleports everyone in seperate groups, Iskaral's spiders happed to be a D' ivers. Kalam kills a bunch of claws and finds love... the aptorian saves him from a large group and they end up in the realm of shadow. Fiddler is off to put down the rebellion in seven cities. Apsalar, Servant, and Crokus end up going back to the coastal town, Kalam stays with Minala in shadow realm with a bunch of kids 1.3k i think...  there is some souless child that Coltaine goes into.

Predictions

Laseen is Dancer's daughter or lover
Icarium and Mappo are forever wandering never finding a cure
Duiker is resurected... and pisted off about it
Gesler's gang ascends into whatever house Fener is in
Fiddler ends up finding Mecker and become buds

[WriterDan]

So, that's a lot of stuff that solidifies in my mind the idea that these books are incredibly packed with things going every which way.

But what did you think about the book?  Did you like it?  Was it fun?  And probably more importantly, did it inspire you to immediately go out and acquire the third one?

[Patriotic Kaz]

I bought the first three all at once and if i didn't Deadhouse Gates was simply so damn good i would have gone out last night and gotten Memories of Ice last night anyways. I thought that Gardens of Moon had less slow points than Deadhouse Gates but it was indeed a lesser book... there is a lot of information so there are a hand full of times where the book drags but this series is as good as the Blood of Amber and barely lesser than WoT (though this is my personal op pinion and bookstore guy would disagree) the scope on this series is as big as LoTR. Overall it is action packed with amazing battle scenes believable characters and an interesting magic system one of the best series you can pick up. And another thing i like is you don't really know what is going to happen next... you are riding on the characters shoulder you don't have the knowledge of a deity and your foresight is limited.

[Renoard]

Yeah some authors forget the word limited in Limited Omniscience.
Erikson handles this better than most.  Again my only problems are the whole warren system and the fact that when he starts dealing with the Tiste Edur and a few others, the narrator becomes as alien as the characters.  That's off-putting because the narrator is supposed to be our friend and guide, our link to why this is speculative fiction and not a hallucinatory episode. ;P

I rally like Whiskey Jack and Felisin. but Felisin is the more sympathetic character.

[Patriotic Kaz]

My favorites so far are Fiddler,  Coltaine, Kruppe, and Paran...

[Bookstore Guy]

i remember feeling so shocked at the end of book 2 with what happens to the whole Chain of Dogs thing. i had come to love those characters because of their ingenuity (how can you not love the sappers?), and then I felt like i got punched in the face at the ending. then the crows turned it around completely, and I decided i loved this series. Book 3 is SOOOOO much more brutal in the end. I didn't read a book for a month after reading book 3.

i am being intentionally vague since some people haven't read it yet.

[Patriotic Kaz]

Well considering this thread is my read through and im on page 266 on book 3 i thank you

[Bookstore Guy]

it was more for those people coming into the thread to see if they should grab the series or not.

now that you have read the prologue to book 3, you understand why the first part of Gardens of the Moon was so crazy. You now know who Nightchill was, and why attention was given to the fact that she gets killed in GotM.

[Patriotic Kaz]

This series has me addicted like crack cocaine!!! i just finished MoI and you all know more or less what happened so i don't think i need to summarize it for you... the ending is the burial of the bridgeburners for those who need a reference point.

Thoughts:
I thought that Baudin may have ascended and that if he did it would be in High House Shadow the fact that he was the Knight of Death surprised me.
Bridgeburners do ascend which was foreshadowed in DHG, this i checked in HoC glossary which i just went out and bought.
I thought it was odd that Toc is in Anasters body i thought he would be born as a child but well they need a mortal sword now so it is appropriate
The rulers of the Hold of Beast surprised me i thought it would be the Barghast gods or Paran
Paran being the King of Shadow was a shock i wonder how pisted off Shadowthrone would be if he knew a mortal out ranked him...
Question: is Erickson mormon i ask this because the fact that all the modern gods where once mortal so i thought the possiblity was rather high...

[Patriotic Kaz]

House of Chains isn't near as enjoyable as DHG or MoI though it is still a good read... how is it that the Jaghut were stronger in sorcery against the T'lan Imass when ice is weak against fire?