Hood’s Breath! What a ride! (The Crippled God)

The Crippled God by Steven Erikson

The Crippled God
Steven Erikson
Tor, 2011

I remember all those years ago, lurking in the wotmania OF Forums looking for something, anything, to read while I waited anxiously for the next Wheel of Time novel. I remember reading glowing posts about this guy named Steven Erikson and his first book Gardens of the Moon. I remember finally giving in and ordering the paperback from amazon.co.uk. The following years were filled with ridiculous battles, philosophic soldiers, and more powerful beings than any world should ever really contain. Along the way I laughed, I cried (maybe a little when a certain someone died), I cringed, and I occasionally struggled my way through the increasingly massive tomes of Erikson’s vibrant Malazan world. Finally here we are. The “final” volume, the confrontation that everything has been leading up to and the characters, so newer some older, now ready to make one final desperate last stand.

Review: Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson

Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson

Dust of Dreams
Steven Erikson
Bantam, 2009 [UK] (Forthcoming Jan. 2010 U.S.)

More and more I find that reviewing Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series a difficult prospect.  There is a less of a problem reviewing Ian C. Esselmont’s books set in the same world, they are typically stand-alone novels, but in series as large and sprawling as this one it becomes harder and harder to review as the series has gone on.  Which makes Dust of Dreams, the penultimate volume (really part 1 of a 2 part novel), a bit difficult to review.  Things are even more difficult here because for some reason my heart just wasn’t in this read.  890 pages read in half hour spurts (my lunch break) since I received the book in August means things aren’t exactly fresh in my mind.  Even my co-workers, frequently observant of the near roulette speed with which my lunching reads change, were quick to point out (and chide) at my glacial trek through Dust of Dreams.

As with any late series review I recommend not reading on if you’ve haven’t read earlier volumes.