Thursday 21 August 2008

Malazan Book Of The Fallen

Oh no, not yet another epic multi volume fantasy series I hear you cry but yes it is with a planned 10 books from Steven Erikson and 5 accompanying novels from a different author.

Read the first one around 5 or so years ago and was immediately hooked by a few aspects of it, the first was that it felt like you were joining a story that had started in an earlier book, the large and diverse set of characters, the labyrinthine plot lines and an air of darkness to it.

There are no obvious heroes underpinning the multiple story arcs, nor is there a single dark lord who must be defeated but it does contain various gods pursuing their own agendas, mages and the use of explosive munitions by the Malazan forces. Multiple races appear throughout and the action switches between locations inside the Malazan empire and without it.

The first book Gardens Of The Moon was published over here in 1999, seven years after it had been written and the good news was that the publishers contracted the author to write another nine for a very large advance. Book 8 was published this year so the end of the tale is in sight but how it is all going to end is far from apparent.

So, an epic fantasy series which is well written and with some great characters within the dizzying number of parallel story arcs – what's not to like.

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