A Tale Of The Malazan Book Of The Fallen

Starting this series is like being thrown into a tornado. Strapped to a cow. With a lightning rod attached to your head. It's chaotic and you'll find yourself confused but exhilarated. And it gets better from there.Why it's on this listThe key word when starting this series is perseverance. Erikson doesn't spoon feed the reader. You enter the world with no cues or explanations and are expected to keep up until the answers to your many thousands of questions are answered. And they do get answered; you just have to be patient. This is part of what makes this series so exceptional – without being bogged down by excessive explanations about the world that he's built, Erikson just gets on with the action and yanks you into the plot with force.The genius of the confusion felt by the reader is that it mirrors what the characters are experiencing: They also don't have all the information and must put together pieces of the puzzle until they have a full understanding of their circumstances. It's a unique thing to encounter in fantasy because, most of the time, the characters have some kind of weird author-provided omniscience that allows them to know the exact path they need to take to reach their destiny.With every title, Erikson's writing improves almost as much as his attention to detail. Many characters enter and exit this world as the plot progresses and each one is as well written and realised as the next.The battles between the characters in this series are epic in the truest sense of the word. These are people with incredible skills – from strategic brilliance to god-like power. There is nothing better than watching the mammoth showdown that happens between beings of such power.Most significantly though, neither the confusion felt nor the epic nature of the characters overwhelms the emotional aspects of the plot. There's tragedy here – the kind that is both beautiful in its intensity and devastating in its sadness. This is the power of good fantasy: To combine elements of magic with emotional depth so that when you put down a book, you feel a deep sense of loss at having finished it.

Books in The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series (11)

Booklists having this book

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Top 25 Best Fantasy Books of the 90's

Ah the 90's. Bad fashion, bad hair and Nickelback.If fashion and hairstyles (and arguably music) took a hit, fantasy certainly did not. The 90's saw the emergence of some of... Read more

Other books by Erikson, Steven

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Malazan Book Of The Fallen

Steven Eriksen has been both lauded and criticized for his extreme detail, and that extends to his magic system. In Malazan, magic comes from warrens, a realm from which mages... Read more

Deadhouse Gates

In the vast dominion of Seven Cities, in the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha'ik and her followers prepare for the long-prophesied uprising known as the Whirlwind. Unprecedented in size... Read more

Memories Of Ice

Fantasy-roman. Read more

House Of Chains

In Northern Genabackis, a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descends from the mountains into the southern flatlands. Their intention is to wreak havoc amongst the despised lowlanders, but for... Read more

A Tale Of The Malazan Book Of The Fallen

Starting this series is like being thrown into a tornado. Strapped to a cow. With a lightning rod attached to your head. It's chaotic and you'll find yourself confused but... Read more

The Bonehunters

The Seven Cities Rebellion is over, Sha'ik is dead, but a last rebel force remains, holed up in the city of Y'Ghatan under the fanatical command of Leoman of the... Read more

Reaper’s Gale

All is not well in the Letherii Empire. Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, spirals into madness, surrounded by sycophants and agents of his Machiavellian chancellor. Meanwhile, the... Read more

Malazan Book Of The Fallen

This book nearly tops the Best Fantasy Books list and a number of other lists on this site; it would be an injustice to omit this series here as well,... Read more

Dust Of Dreams

In a faraway land and beneath indifferent skies, the final chapter of The Malazan Book of the Fallen has begun. This masterwork of imagination may be the high-water mark of... Read more

The Crippled God

Erikson delivers the final installment of his "New York Times"-bestselling series, Malazon Book of the Fallen. Read more

Forge Of Darkness

Steven Erikson entered the pantheon of great fantasy writers with his debut Gardens of the Moon. Now Erikson returns with a trilogy that takes place millennia before the events of... Read more

Fall Of Light

New York Times bestselling author Steven Erikson continues the tragic story of the downfall of an ancient realm begun in the critically acclaimed Forge of Darkness Read more

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