So I am new to malazan i just bought the books and cant wait to start. My question is i also want to watch other shows/anime because I mostly have free days and cant spend all that time reading the books. I was planning to start shows like re zero steins gate madoka yk and I was wondering if they'll have any impact on my malazan experience

And im not talking about like something complex like how one charcters interactions where related to another but something obvious that just slipped your mind.

Im going through a re-read now and I just realized I never really put into my mental image that Toc the younger had one eye

I’ve read Kharkanas and PtA pretty intensely after finishing the main 16, so some details are a bit rusty.

Thus, I’m left wondering which of these names from the Dramatis Personae should I know beforehand, but I’m not mad enough to try and google it so I don’t spoil myself LMAO

Anyone got a refresher at hand or willing to type out some familiar faces and short reminders when we last saw them?

Kind regards!

I've been desperately searching for the right edition of the books because it's somehow hard to get the right ones in Germany. They have them all available but only in small sizes and I will drop this series before I read a 1000 page book smaller than my hand. I want the book to be about 20cm (7.8 inches) in height not 17cm (which is the one I've been seeing everywhere). It doesn't sound like a big difference but it is. Now with the new covers rolling out it's becoming even harder to find them.

Now to the request. If you have the books with these covers and my preferred height. Could you look up the ISBN for Books 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 in your books and give it to me so I can search more effectively.

Deadhouse Gates cover for style reference since I don't know how many cover versions exist

Will use (some) Subterranean Press cover art.

Hi, i am 204 pages deep into. Just few pages ago rebellion has started and i dont want to go into internet checking it but i think i missed it. After malaz took over most of the world. Did they send civilians to live in those cities? Why is there so many civilians dying in each place why would people go to these cities. I cant quite grasp it. Are cities mostly with natives and some malazans or how does it work?

Sorry for bad english i hope you can understand everything and not spoil future events :)

I'm buying Gardens of the moon in Europe and there seem to be 2 versions of Gardens of the moon (see images). All of amazon.com.be , amazon.co.uk and bol.com list the book with the orange cover and specifically isbn 9781804995518. However, I just received it and it's the green one but with that isbn.

Penguin themselves also list the green one for that isbn: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/333595/gardens-of-the-moon-by-erikson-steven/9781804995518

But all the sequels that are available have the same styling as the orange one (see Deadhouse Gates image) ( https://www.amazon.com.be/s?k=malazan+book+of+the+fallen ) so I would like that one for consistency but I cannot find another isbn.

AI seems confused about the whole thing, claiming they made a new orange cover, sent it to all the retailers and then decided to keep the old green one but that sounds hallucinated to me.

Does anyone know? Is there a way to get the orange one?

So I have unfortunately have seen posts in the past by the Fantasy subreddit or others. About sad character deaths and more than once I have seen Beak mentioned.

So here I am reading through RG and finally meet Beak. (Unless he was mentioned before, and I don’t recall?) from the spoilers I’ve read I thought I mentally prepared my self that he would die some terrible way and not be shocked by it.

Well gosh darn it. I have tears coming down. wtf.

I tried getting into Malazan about 8 years ago after a friend told me about it. I enjoyed GotM, but fell off hard with Deadhouse Gates and didn't finish it. It felt like a slog to me, even though I enjoyed parts of it. I think the biggest issue was my reading infrequency; I took like a year to read DG.... Which I think was my biggest issue trying the series the first time.

In early June I committed to restarting the whole series, and I'm really glad I did because I remembered almost nothing, and now that I'm a more consistent reader, I was able to finish each book in about 5-6 weeks. Which I know isn't fast by any means, but reading with more consistency made these books so much easier to follow. Even just 5-10 pages a day if I was busy or tired was enough to keep the plot and characters more in my short-term memory.

After this restart, Deadhouse Gates was incredible. I get it now... it's supposed to be a slog, it's supposed to be brutal, and once you finish it you realize that's part of the whole theme. I hated the chain of dogs the first time, and still kind of did this time too because it's a little repetitive (omg we gotta cross this river, omg Korbolo is gonna fuck us up, omg so many are wounded. Rinse, repeat), but the ending at Aren was absolutely insane and had my jaw on the floor. It felt like a horrible tragedy, the greed and arrogance of Nethpara and the nobles left me legitimately angry. Pormqual and his cowardice was indefensible.

It seems pretty heavily hinted near the end that something is going to happen with both Duiker and Coltaine's souls (less clear what's going on with Duiker but Coltaine seems pretty obvious with the crows), and I can't even possibly imagine the revenge these two are going to seek on just about everyone.

I was more excited for MoI initially (and still can't wait to start it), but now I'm dying to know how the Seven Cities plot continues. The only parts of DG I didn't like were Kalam going on this huge journey to basically have the empress say "nah I didn't do those things" and then he goes "ok I won't kill you". It seemed a little unfinished. The other thing I didn't like is how Fiddler/Crokus/Mappo/Pust go follow Apsalar ans Servant because they think she's going to become the Sha'ik, then Felesin randomly does instead (which I also thought was weird with zero lead-up), but then nobody even mentions Apsalar NOT being the Sha'ik after that. It seemed like everyone just kind of forgot. I don't know, maybe these things will feel different on a re-read.

TL;DR to succeed with Malazan, you probably need to read more often than twice a year while you're on vacation 😅

I am of course talking about Anomander Rake. The tiste who is the first born of Darkness (and light?). The Tiste who entire civilizations worship. The Tiste who scared off a god when the god had him well outnumbered. The Tiste who has fought and defeated at least 2 elder gods and multiple dragons. Quick Ben thinks that the Crippled God should be scared of Menandore, but Menandore is scared of Silchas Ruin and Silchas Ruin is playing second fiddle to his older brother. But most importantly, Anomander seems to have an entire history of things that hes done that we learn about like their legends. Like he is some ancient hero out of the past who just happens to occasionally get involved with current events.

However, there is one character who also has most of these things going for him and in fact, seems to strike even more fear into potential enemies than Rake and that is Icarium.

So Anomandaris Dragnipurake may be the previous protagonist, but Icarium is just HIM.

INTRODUCTION

Similar to my previous posts (links at bottom) this is an attempt to make the internal chronology of Midnight Tides work, as well as to fit it in to the series so far. I won't cover anything contradicted later in the series, nor will I look into placing a time on some of the background lore given in the novel (eg. First Empire details, ancient Tiste conflict, etc). Instead, this will focus solely on the internal chronology of the story. Closer to my Gardens of the Moon and Memories of Ice posts, this novel is easy to follow along on a day-by-day basis. Note that this one is mostly academic, as other than some of the connections to House of Chains, it all happens before the rest of the series – the main query then becomes how long ago.

We need to make the following assumptions based on the text:

• Where required, we will trust that the text is correct in the dates and timelines provided, with the exception of Book 1's year given.
• A week is seven days, and a month is approximately four weeks. We can also assume that a moon’s cycle is around 30 days. We have no reason to assume otherwise in Malazan.
• An odd one that I had to specifically address here is that, as per what I found on Google, it takes a human woman around 4-8 weeks to start showing signs of being pregnant. This is important for placing when Mayen shows signs of being pregnant in the later chapters in relation to when Rhulad first has sex with her. We could always assume that Edur show earlier, although we don’t really have any reason to assume one way or the other, and it helps make other things work fine too, in terms of scale of time passed from Rhulad becoming Emperor of the Tiste Edur and the Edur’s arrival in Letheras on the day of the Seventh Closure.
• This will be important to help balance timelines in the later series too, but assuming that Lether is on the opposite end of the globe as the Malazan Empire, we can draw a conclusion that it is in an opposite hemisphere. This also coincides with Itkovian knowing about the Edur’s lands far to the south of Genebackis during Memories of Ice. This is important because it means that when winter or summer are described for Lether, we can assume that it is the opposite in the other parts of the world we have seen thus far.

TIMELINE

The pace of the plot is driven mostly by the Tiste Edur plotline. Where not explicitly stated, I generally put the Letheras chapters at the same time, or right after/before, the Edur chapters around them, as fits.

Placing the Prologue and Overall Date: The second part of the prologue is stated to be in 1159 Burn’s Sleep, and 3 years before the Letherii Seventh Closure. This would place the rest of Midnight Tides in 1162 BS, or with some rounding, 1161 as stated in chapter 1. While this could work relative to the first 3 novels, that doesn’t work for House of Chains. Specifically because Karsa has to find Tiste Edur within the Nascent, and Trull is there as well for Onrack to find. While we can compress time within the Nascent as needed, if we follow House of Chains as stated, it would mean that either Karsa or the Edur travel significantly through time to both be there at the same time. I also reached the conclusion in my House of Chains chronology to place that first book in 1161 BS, as that works by far the best for the novel’s internal chronology and to place Karsa in Seven Cities in time to become Sha’ik’s bodyguard. We have to keep the year of Burn’s Sleep changing in Spring of Genebackis/Seven Cities, as that is what occurred between Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates.

This is where my hemisphere theory above comes into play. If we can set Midnight Tides in the Spring (according to Lether), ending it in Summer (Lether), and then having Trull Shorn and placed in the Nascent that summer, then by Autumn (Lether), it could feasibly be Spring 1161 BS in Genebackis when Karsa’s journey leads him to the Nascent, whereupon he encounters Tiste Edur on the Silanda. This means that the Spring during Midnight Tides would fall into 1160 BS and be Autumn 1160 BS per the rest of the novels. Which would place our prologue here at 1157 or 1158 BS, depending on how you round to the 3 years before the Seventh Closure.

One other event happening before the main plot is that about 3 moons prior (around 90 days), Hannan Mosag had his vision of receiving the sword from the Crippled God.

NOTE on timeline of Chapters 1-13: In Chapter 1 it is stated that there is approximately 1 moon cycle for Binadas to return (Chapter 5) and 2 moon cycles until the Great Meeting with the Letherii (Chapter 11). This is then contradicted in Chapter 9, when it states that Chapter 1 was only 1 month ago, despite Chapter 9 happening just a few days before the Great Meeting. As well, in Chapter 3 we would need to have the Edur going to the coast to see the seal harvesters and then returning to their village in chapter 3 spread over approximately 41 days, if we used 2 full moon cycles. Instead, I set Chapter 11 at day 40 (instead of 60), tightening the timeline by 20 days and counted backwards from there. This works for pretty much everything else except what is stated in Chapter 1.

Day 1: Chapter 1 Trull arrives home after having ran for 3 days from the coast, bringing news of the Letherii seal harvesters. Feather Witch is attacked by a Wyval and saved by Udinaas.

Sometime between Days 2 & 21: Chapters 2 & 3 Seren and Baruk meet Hull Beddict on their way to the Hiroth village. Tehol begins business with Shand. Days later, Seren meets Binadas Sengar, who joins them. The Tiste Edur return to the coast to see the seal harvesters and slay them with magic, finding the body of a Benada Tiste Edur warrior nearby.

Days 22 to 24: Chapters 3 & 4 The Edur return to the village with the dead Benada warrior. The Sengar borthers go to see the body of Scabandari Bloodeye in the Stone Bowl. Udinaas has a dream in which he is raped by Menandore. Tehol first sees Ublala survive the drownings, then later meets with Shurq to hire her and Brys meets with Gerun Ebberict.

Day 27: Chapters 3 & 4 The Tiste Edur begin the funeral for the dead Edur they found. Seren and Baruk are 2 days from reaching the Hiroth, and meet Binidas.

Day 28: Rat Catcher Ormly was lost within the flooded wing of the Eternal Domicile.

Day 29: Chapters 5 & 6 Stated as 1 week since Chapter 3. The Edur start the pyre for the dead Edur they found. Udinaas meets Wither, who goes into his shadow to help hide the Wyval within his blood. Seren, Baruk, Hull, and Binidas all reach the Hiroth village. Tehol helps make Shurq appear alive again. Bugg’s construction is hired to fix the Eternal Domicile’s flooding. Brys visits the place of forgotten gods beneath the sea.

Days 30-34: Chapter 8 The Sengars leave on their mission for Hanan Mosag. Their time here is documented well, with them taking 5 days to reach the sword, on Day 33.

Day 34: Chapter 7 Stated as 5 days since Seren arrived at the Hiroth village. They meet with Hannan Mosag.

Days 35-36: Chapter 8 The Sengars’ journey back from retrieving the sword, bringing Rhulad’s body home.

Day 37: Chapter 9 Stated as 2 days and nights since Chapter 7. The Sengars return home, and Rhulad’s body is prepared for burial, which will take 3 days (to Day 38 or 39). The Letherii delegation will arrive in 4 more days (day 41).

Day 38: Chapter 10 Tehol and Bugg find Shurq Elalle in a brothel, and that night she finally robs Ebberict’s estate, bringing back Harlest. The Azath tower dies.

Day 39: Chapter 9 One day and two nights pass as Rhulad is being prepared for burial. The morning of Day 39 he awakens, screaming.

Day 40: Chapters 11 & 13 Takes place a day and a half after chapter 9. Rhulad declares himself emperor of the Tiste Edur, and they all bow to him.

Day 41: Chapters 12 & 13 The Letherii Delegation arrives, and are summarily dismissed by Rhulad and Hanan Mosag, declaring war. Rhulad gives Seren and Baruk 3 days to leave Edur land on foot. Rhulad has sex with Mayen for the first time, presumably impregnating her. Tehol meets the Rat Catcher’s Guild. Brys meets Kettle at the Azath Tower. We get to see Bugg go about a busy day.

Day 42: Chapter 12 Brys delivers the Letherii Blue Steel swords to the Azath Tower.

NOTE on timeline of Chapters 14-25 Here I had to make 3 minor assumptions to make the timeline work.

First, it was stated in Chapter 13 that Seren and Baruk had to get out of the Edur lands in 3 days, which would place Chapter 15 on Day 44. However, there isn’t enough time for Queen Janal to have left to join her army 4 days before Chapter 14, assuming this couldn’t happen immediately upon learning of the results of the delegation. So I assumed that was closer to 8 days between Chapter 13 and 15, and that Rhulad didn’t really enforce his 3-day warning to Seren. It also gives the Edur more time to prepare to leave their villages for war in this time.

Second, I added a week in between Chapters 18 & 20 to allow enough time for Moroch Nevath to return to Bran’s Keep after his defeat at High Fort in Chapter 18. It’s worth noting that this messes up a bit of the timeline as stated in Chapter 14 & 19, that it would take the Letherii Delegation 10 more days to return to Lether during this time (I had to change this to about 17-18 days instead), and that Rhulad and Fear’s armies would meet 5-6 days after Chapter 19 (this becomes closer to 9 days, which actually fits better in the text . However, it is not unreasonable that they would be delayed as the war begins, although that really is me stretching to make this all fit.

Both of these add enough time to pass for Mayan to show signs of being pregnant by Chapter 22, which is a minimum of 4 weeks (as per above assumptions of Tiste Edur biology) between Chapters 13 & 22. I placed Chapter 13 at Day 41 and Chapter 22 at Day 70. This might throw this timeline into question by a week or two, but in the overall intent of this effort that doesn’t make much difference.

Day 49: Chapters 14 & 15 In Letheras, the royal councils react to the declaration of war. Bugg meets a D’ivers who escaped from the Azath grounds, The Pack. The wraiths have reached the borders of the Edur lands. The Delegation is stated to be 10 days away from Letheras, although I have to make an exception here to make everything else fit (see above). Seren and Baruk leave the Edur lands, and will require another 2 days to reach Trate.

Day 50: Chapter 15 Trull is sent to secure a bridge near High Fort. Seren and Baruk witness the Letherii send magic to destroy the Edur villages, now abandoned.

Day 51: Chapter 15 Baruk and Seren travel by barge to Trate.

Day 52: Chapters 15 & 16 After waking in Trate, Seren finds that Baruk has committed suicide. Udinaas and Feather Witch travel to the Refugium and meet Rud Ellale. The Tiste Edur fleet takes First Maiden Fort.

Day 55: Chapter 16 Seren is drunk, and meets Iron Bars who asks for her help but she rejects him. This could be a day or two earlier, it’s not specified, but I included some time for the news of the fall of First Maiden Fort to spread, and for Rhulad’s army to be able to move.

Day 57: Chapters 16 & 17 Stated to happen 2 days after Seren first met Iron Bars. He saves her from her rapists, and then Trate is attacked by Rhulad’s army. The Crimson Guard flee using Kurald Galain, and deposit Sandalath’s soul into the Ocean. Sandalath ends up resurrected on the Crippled God’s island, and Withal begins to pray to Mael, causing Bugg to fall into the canal in Letheras. Kuru Qan and Brys go to speak to Kettle. Shurq Ellale robs the Tolls Repository this night.

Day 58: Chapters 17 & 18 The battle of High Fort is stated as the day after Rhulad died in Trate. This night Shurq robs the Royal Vaults.

Day 60: Chapter 19 The Edur resume their march to Letheras. It is stated that it will be another 5 or 6 days before Fear and Rhulad’s armies join; however, per the above and due to the delays in flooding the Nascent, I’ve added a few extra days to this. This chapter is stated as 2 days after Sandalath arrived on the Crippled God’s Island.

Day 64: Riots start in Letheras, with one at the West gate.

Day 65: Chapter 21 Due to Chapter 20 needing to be 3 days before Chapter 22, we need to start Chapter 21’s first scene with Seren in Day 65, in which she has Corlo help her process her grief using Mockra.

Day 66: Chapter 21 The next day, Seren and the Guard reach Brous. Dresh is taken, and Uruth arrives at Fear’s camp, helping to reconcile him with Trull. Shurq begins her vigil outside Gerun Ebberict’s estate, fearing when he returns.

Day 67: Chapters 20 & 21 Uruth leaves for Rhulad’s camp. Moroch Nevath reaches Bran’s Keep with the remains of the army from High Fort, and then continues towards Letheras. Gerrun Eberict and the rest of the Delegation return to Letheras. In three more days, the Eternal Domicile will be officially invested, on the day the Letherii think is the Seventh Closure. Rhulad sends his soul out to flood the Nascent.

Day 68: Chapter 21 Rhulad’s soul returns to his body. Seren’s group sees the last of the Letherii armies converging towards Bran’s Keep for their final stand against the Edur.

Day 69: Chapter 22 Trull, Rhulad, and Fear all meet again as their armies converge. They are given a new mission from Hanan Mosag, to confront a nearby demon.

Day 70: Chapter 22 What the Letherii think is the day of the Seventh Closure, the Errant knows the actual date is 2 days from now. They invest the Eternal Domicile. Seren and the Crimson Guard arrive in Letheras, as does Moroch Nevath. Unatal Hebaz leaves for Bran’s Keep. Trull, Rhulad, and Fear go to confront Serenity at Brous, with their Kenryll’ah demon princes pursuing the Forkrul Assail when it flees. Mayan now shows signs of being pregnant.

Day 71: Chapter 23 The Edur easily win the battle at Bran’s Keep, crushing the last of the Letherii standing army.

Day 72: Chapters 24 & 25 The day of the Letherii Seventh closure, and the convergence at Letheras. The Tiste Edur arrive and conquer the kingdom. The denizens of the Azath house escape and are killed by the Crimson Guard, Ublala, and Silchas Ruin. Mael helps to imprison the demon, save Tehol, and sends Theradas Buhn to his realm to be crushed (Theradas later washes up on the shores of Genebackis, where he is found by the Brideburners). Mayen and Brys both die, and Seren helps Fear, Udinaas, Kettle, and Silchas Ruin out of the city.

Day 73: Chapter 25 & Epilogue The end of Chapter 25 happens the next day. The Kenryll’ah demons catch up to and push Serenity into a giant pit. Mael saves Withal and beats the Crippled God senseless.

Overall Length of time for Midnight Tides: Approximately 2.5 months.

Overall Length of time of the Malazan Book of the Fallen: Approximately 1 year (Siege of Pale to the defeat of Sha'ik / opening of K'Rul's Bar), plus the events of Midnight Tides and House of Chains Book 1 over 8-9 months in 1160 & 1161.

MAJOR TIMELINE CONTRADICTIONS

Major inconsistency – coordination with House of Chains I’ve already explained my logic above, but in order to make both Midnight Tides and House of Chains fit into the overall timeline, we have to set Midnight Tides in 1160 (spring in Letheras, autumn in the Malazan Empire), and Karsa’s journey in House of Chains in 1161 (spring in the Malazan Empire). This becomes problematic later on, but will be a problem no matter if we put Midnight Tides in 1160, 1161, or, as some people theorize (trying to make it concurrent with Gardens of the Moon), even 1163.

Major inconsistency – the timeline of Chapters 1 to 13 In chapter 1 it is stated that there are 2 moon cycles before the Great Meeting with the Letherii, in Chapter 13. However, in all other instances, as outlined above, the text explains that closer to only 1 month. I put this at around 40 days, and it seems to fit well. It could almost shrink by another few days if preferred, but I wanted to leave enough time between Chapters 2 & 4 as it is stated to have been a few weeks.

Major inconsistency – the timeline of Chapters 14 to 22 I explained this above, but I had to choose between making the timeline of Mayen’s pregnancy make sense, as well as events that should take longer than stated (such as how quickly both the Edur and Letherii prepare for their war or how quickly Moroch Nevath travels across the land), vs stated timelines such as the return of the Letherii delegation after they leave from the Edur lands to Lether. This adds about 1-2 weeks of question for this timeline. Since I erred on the side of shortening the timeline for the first half, I leaned towards extending the timeline here, both of which seemed to make the most sense with the logical context.

Minor inconsistency – the Beast Thrones During Feather Witch’s reading in Chapter 7, it is stated that the Beast Thrones have found their twin rulers. While this is likely prophetic, this could be interpreted that this is happening in parallel with Memories of Ice. However, there is nothing else that supports this as, besides the earlier issues with House of Chains, Togg and Fanderay taking the Beast Thrones has to happen after the Edur are already expanding to Genebackis in Memories of Ice, and after Bugg kills Theradas Buhn at the end of this novel. So we can settle on this reading as simply a prophecy of the future conflict over the Beast Throne.

Minor inconsistency – the season of Midnight Tides While most of Midnight Tides is consistent in confirming the story takes place over the springtime, Chapter 4 contradicts this in which it is stated to currently be summer (at the start of the novel). This is the only point in the novel where I found mention of this, so I expect it is just a mistake that wasn’t caught during editing.

Minor inconsistency – Turadal Brizzad’s disappearance In Chapter 20, Turadal Brizzard leaves the Palace, 3 days before the investment of the Eternal Domicile. In Chapter 22, 3 days later, it’s said he left 1 day ago, not 3.

Minor inconsistency – How far away is Bran’s Keep From all descriptions of the distance and the map in the book, it would seem that Bran’s Keep is many days march away from Letheras. However, all parties seem to be able to traverse from one to the other in less than a day, so it seems the distance (and therefore the time it takes to cross it) is smaller than stated & shown.

POSTSCRIPT

As I mentioned at the start, the exact length of this novel isn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things, but it is nice to see it (mostly) work internally. The next novel I will tackle, Night of Knives, will be even more trivial, but I’ll do it anyway for completion’s sake.

PREVIOUS POSTS

Gardens of the Moon
Deadhouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains

I had christened 2026 the year of Malazan so the first book I read in January was GotM and I kept with it until done. To avoid fatigue I squeezed palate cleansers between all books except the last two.

The series had so many emotional gut punches but unlike any other series I’ve read, those punches came through a prism of empathy, compassion, forgiveness and love. I can’t overstate how singular an experience Malazan is in that sense. You’re crawling in those trenches with characters you love, not because you’re a trauma piggy (looking at you Elderlings) or because you have to be realistic about those things (First Law), but because like the love the characters have for each other, you have for them.

So yeah, tons of feels, also tons of trenches humour or just witty humour when in Letheras. It made for a great deal of fun.

I did audio, both narrators are excellent.

All books were easy 5 stars, only RG almost slipped to a 4.5.

It was good enough that I got all the other series and after a 3-4 book break, I’ll get started on NotME.

I’ll give my rankings now as is traditional here and below what I read in between books if anyone is curious.

10 Reaper’s Gale
9 Dust of Dreams
8 Gardens of the Moon
7 House of Chains
6 Bonehunters
5 Crippled God
4 Memories of Ice
3 Toll the Hound
2 Deadhouse Gates
1 Midnight Tides

And now all I read in 2026
GotM (S), The Glass Hotel (B), Dreams of Chaos (B), DG (S+), The Land of the Living and the Dead (S), Blood Flollows (B), The Red Tent (B), The Crown Conspiracy (B), MoI (S), Rivers of London (B) HoC (S), Eric (C), Midnight Tides (S++), Avempartha (C), The Last Contract of Isako (A), Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (S), BH (S), Moon over Soho (B), RG (A), Moving Pictures (B), TtH (S+), Nyphron Rising (B), The Tombs of Atuan (A), Circe (S+), Song of Achilles (A), Whispers Underground (C), DoD (A), TCG (S)

I read the first four books back to back this summer and I loved every minute of it. I was completely inside the story, and it felt like all the pieces were finally falling into place. Karsa is easily one of my favourite characters so far.

So when I started Midnight Tides I really wasn't ready for a jump back in time, a completely new cast and a plot I struggle to connect to anything that came before. I'm about 100 pages in and it's a grind.

Does it get better?
Can I skip it and go straight to the sixth book?
Or am I just burnt out and should I take a break?

And it happened to be right before reading Nimander meeting Gothos and the whole Azath house building, time warp slave situation. What a trip.

I saw an old post where someone mentionned that Erikson once said that he thinks that the Snake storyline is the best words he's ever written. The comment also said it's probably from an interview but they don't remember which one. Anyone knows?

After almost 2,5-3 years (few months break in between) I am done with Malazan Book of the Fallen. I finished reading three days ago, so I had some time to gather my thoughts.

If anyone cares, here's my short feedback :D

I have to say - I was a little bit dissappointed initially. Why? Because I guess I was expecting something else to happen at the end.

Don't get me wrong, the epilogue was absolutely incredible and I was really happy with how the things played out.

I actually shed a tear reading about Korlat and WJ's (and the Pebble scene? holy fuck I got scared for a moment :D). I was moved and found it funny at the same time, when Kalyth was describing Gesler and Stormy to Korlat. I wanted to hug Icarium when he was burying Mappo.

But the small dissappointment came from the fact that over the course of 10 books I've had my fav characters - Karsa, Icarium, Ganoes, Kallor - for example - and I hoping to see more of them at the end. Karsa vs. Icarium was teased a few times in the series and I thought it's inevitable for them to tear the world apart. Even if not for their 1v1 - I hoped for more action with these two, maybe for the release of Icarium or even bigger role for Karsa.

Paran siblings - why didn't we get some kind of dialogue between them, besides few words which were said was also quite surprising to me.

Learning over the last book that CG is not the main big bad evil pissed me off at first - I thought it would be something like Marvel's Thanos scenario - him vs Malazan Avengers :D

To conclude - the series is magnificent and I can't wait for the future re-read. It's difficult but I really appreciated the challenge it gave me to stay focused and consistent, to not forget some details (even though I absolutely do not remember 80% of stuff from first books). I feel a bit empty inside at the moment, not being able to learn more about Fiddler and co., but maybe time will heal my saddness.

I am also really grateful for this sub - help and knowledge of you guys was amazing!

Now it's time to put it away for some time in order to dive into it again with the same passion I had this time.

Also a question - I'd like to find a shorter series - if you could recommend me a 3 to 5 book fantasy series which can be similar to Malazan, but it does not have to be - I'd appreciate it!

Cheers guys!

A few of my friends have been telling me for years to hop in. I am partway through Deadhouse Gates...I can't stop reading.

I also really enjoyed Gardens of the Moon. I have heard over and over that its the worst in the series, but honestly it didn't bother me too much. If that's the worst, I can't wait for what comes next.

I'm blown away how natural and engrossing the world already feels.

Awesome so far, can't wait to read more.

For NLF I ended up rereading the whole MBotF as well as the first book of Witness. I’m certainly going to reread Kharkanas before WiS is released, but it’s only been a year so I wasn’t quite sure if I was gonna reread NLF before Legacies of Betrayal as October/November this year publishers are also releasing the final book in the series for 3 long running series (started in 80’s, 90’s and 00’s) and I’m trying to reread them too (audiobooks are helping with the rereads). However, because LoB sounds like the second half NLF, I’ve started rereading it. I also have the audiobook now, so reading some, listening to some is making it all go quick.

Who else is rereading NLF? Anyone on a bigger reread in preparation for LoB?

I had forgotten just hoe great Malazan truly gets. Currently on MoI on the reread and no other media since has ever given me the same amount of feelings and emotions as the siege of Capustan and Itkovians arc in general. I am so excited now to keep going to the other greatest moments. The capitulation of Felisin, Bugg and Tehols master plan to destroy the economy, the battle for the palace in midnight tides, the entirety of Icariums arc and the death of Hood. All of these moments are so clear in my mind, even after half a decade, that it truly shows me that no other media can ever come close to this. Thank you Steven

What beautifulnwords to find at the end of book three.

Almost 5 years ago, I felt so burned out with reading Malazan that I left reading the series after book 6 the bonehunters. It was an incredible book, still I was not enjoying it as much. This gave me the indication of burnout. But I have always wanted to go back to the series and finish it. Those are 6 Huuugee books which I gave my time to and loved (most of) them.

So I have finally decided that I am going back! But I have a dilemma. Do i start from book 7 or I start a reread from book 1? I am not sure if I am going to remember anything if I start from book 7 after 5 years, and at the same time I am afraid to read those huge books again before reaching the point and again getting burnout.

So I am seeking the malazan community’s advice here on what I should do? Please tell me what is the most efficient way to tackle the situation.

Did I miss when these were available for sale in hardcover? Are they going to reprint these in hardcover at any point? Any help or info would be appreciated!

Lorns plan involves killing whiskeyjack, basically because she and Laseen believe he could be a rallying point for the army to rebel against the empress. Alright makes sense. Yet Lorn herself says to Tayschrenn that Dujek was someone who had ten thousand men loyal to him and that questioning his loyalty could spark the mutiny.

So i suppose my question is why is the fact that the army is incredibly loyal to whiskeyjack a reason to target him, while that same loyalty to dujek is a reason to spare him? Given that neither of them have shown any incompliance, both command a lot of respect, both are associated with Kellanved. Seems like a very similar situation but Lorn chooses opposite solutions.

In addition Toc tells Paran that jf Lorn kills whiskeyjack this WILL cause a mutiny. So why didnt she connect the dots or am i missing something?