Malazan Book of the Fallen

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kangaspurs said:
The prologue of Memories of Ice feels ******* massive in scope and importance to the series. In about 20-odd pages, it feels like it sets out the road map for the rest of the series when it comes to the overarching narrative. I might be wrong, but after reading it, it just feels important.
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I'm 351 pages in.
 
kangaspurs said:
The prologue of Memories of Ice feels ******* massive in scope and importance to the series. In about 20-odd pages, it feels like it sets out the road map for the rest of the series when it comes to the overarching narrative. I might be wrong, but after reading it, it just feels important.
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Yep, very important. Memories of Ice is, IMHO, where Erikson gets his shit together with the overall plot. It was vaguely hinted at in books 1 and 2 and the title of book 4 is a dead giveaway, but MoI is where it starts to coalesce.
 
So 300-odd pages into Memories of Ice, and **** me, this is spectacular. Easily my favourite of the series so far, mainly because everything is really starting to coalesce and the connections are being made. It's actually really satisfying.

Had one of those nights last night where I intended to read a few pages, and the next think I knew it was about 2 am. Made playing footy today a lot more difficult haha.

EDIT: Haha Norwegian Blue I'm just looking at your comment now, after I posted this, and it seems I said exactly what you said.
 
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Finally finished Memories of Ice a few days ago. When you think you're close to finishing that book, it just keeps going and going, and then there's even another massive set piece to finish it off, with the last 200 pages or so just stunning in every conceivable way. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It immediately goes into my top 5 fantasy books of all time, and probably even my top 5 in general. I don't think a fantasy novel has evoked as much emotion from me since I read A Storm of Swords and its Red Wedding for the first time. It doesn't happen often for me, but I genuinely got a little emotional at times, with the Itkovian thing (haha trying to avoid spoilers) hitting me particularly hard for some reason.

It feels like the conclusion of a series though with everything that happens at the end, and yet there's still 7 books left in the main series. I'm fascinated to see where it goes from here because this was the book where everything finally came together for me and the series properly clicked. In saying that though, I'm taking a small break from Malazan before reading House of Chains by reading a 200 page non-fantasy novel. I feel like I needed an extended deep breath after MOI so I don't get burnt out.
 
126 pages into book 5 Midnight Tides. Series until now largely avoided royal households and court intrigue so feel this will have some real Game of Thrones (TV) stuff :)
 
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To anyone that has read all the books in the Malazan universe, what is the reading order you'd recommend?

On the wiki it says that Erikson and Esslemont recommend this order, which includes the other books rather than the main 10:
  1. Gardens of the Moon
  2. Deadhouse Gates
  3. Memories of Ice
  4. House of Chains
  5. Midnight Tides
  6. Night of Knives
  7. The Bonehunters
  8. The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 1
  9. Reaper's Gale
  10. Return of the Crimson Guard
  11. Toll the Hounds
  12. Dust of Dreams
  13. Stonewielder
  14. The Crippled God
  15. Orb Sceptre Throne
  16. Blood and Bone
  17. Assail
  18. Forge of Darkness
  19. Fall of Light
  20. Dancer’s Lament
  21. The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 2
  22. Deadhouse Landing
  23. Kellanved's Reach
Or should I just go with the main 10 then catch up on the others afterwards?
 
Hojuman said:
Struggling a bit with the start of book 2. It is worth though yeh ?
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Very much so.

Once you get a handle on the world, story, and characters, it becomes a lot easier.
 
BEaston said:
To anyone that has read all the books in the Malazan universe, what is the reading order you'd recommend?

On the wiki it says that Erikson and Esslemont recommend this order, which includes the other books rather than the main 10:
  1. Gardens of the Moon
  2. Deadhouse Gates
  3. Memories of Ice
  4. House of Chains
  5. Midnight Tides
  6. Night of Knives
  7. The Bonehunters
  8. The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 1
  9. Reaper's Gale
  10. Return of the Crimson Guard
  11. Toll the Hounds
  12. Dust of Dreams
  13. Stonewielder
  14. The Crippled God
  15. Orb Sceptre Throne
  16. Blood and Bone
  17. Assail
  18. Forge of Darkness
  19. Fall of Light
  20. Dancer’s Lament
  21. The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 2
  22. Deadhouse Landing
  23. Kellanved's Reach
Or should I just go with the main 10 then catch up on the others afterwards?
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Heard it's best to read the 10-book main series first. In part because some of the other books are written by a different author.
 
Unless you're 1000% committed to reading all 21 books (who bothers with novellas?), publishing order seems a massive ask. From what I can tell a more realistic reading order is:

Malazan Book of the Fallen 10-book main/original series (1999-2011) by Steven Erikson.

Decide how much you liked it. If you want more:

Novels of the Malazan Empire 6-book series set adjacent to the main/original series (2004-2014) by Ian C Esslemont.

Path to Ascendancy 3-book prequel series (2016-2019) by Ian C Esslemont.

Kharkanas Trilogy Unfinished 3-book prequel series (2012-TBD) by Steven Erikson.
 

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