Malazan is the name of an empire which is at the centre of a ten book series of fantasy novels by a guy called Steven Eriksson, overall title The Malazan Book of the Fallen. I tried book one ( Gardens of the Moon) a couple of years ago and gave up about two thirds of the way through, but for some reason, possibly the long wait for what will doubtless be yet another underpar offering from George R R Martin when he can be bothered to churn it out, I decided to give Eriksson another go. A lot of GRRM fans and former fans spoke/wrote very highly of Eriksson's work so I thought maybe it was worth giving it another chance.
And as it turns out it certainly was. I am reading the series as rapidly as I can and am about two thirds of the way through Book 3 with Book 4 on the shelf waiting. Erikson trained as an anthropologist and an archaeologist and the depth of his world building really reflects that. I am in awe of his apparently limitless imagination and the originality he brings to the genre.
Given the overall title I decided right at the very beginning that I was not going to get attached to any of the characters since chances were that even if they survived the book in which they first appeared they wouldn't survive the next one. Despite my best efforts some of the characters have drawn me in and when one of them describes the story of Book 2 as one 'to make your heart break', it's not too much of an exaggeration.
Fantasy isn't everyone's cup of tea I know, and given some of the authors I've encountered while exploring the genre I can't say I'm surprised. If you're reading this and you like fantasy I would urge you to read Eriksson, but I won't, because I suspect I'm the last one to the party and you already have.
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