Why Is god of war Trending Today?

Valid sure…. but man how can you not shed a tear for Coltaine? Ooof.

I would like to recommend, to those people who are interested in certain aspects of the series but find it to be too “relentlessly dark”, to not read Malazan books back to back. They are *very* emotionally heavy, so read a few lighter books in between entries as a palate cleanser before diving back in. I’ve been doing this since Deadhouse Gates (I’m now on book 9), and find that after a few of these, they stop acting as palate cleansers and start acting as appetizers! I’m always hungry for more Malazan by the time I pick up the next one.

How do you remember who is who and what happened? Every time I took a break I forgot characters and the wiki was obnoxious because there were too many spoilers.   There’s a companion app for Wheel of Time where you chose what book you’re reading and you can look up a character and it will display only what you know up to the beginning of the book you’re on. I wouldn’t have finished WoT without it. I couldn’t find anything similar for Malazan.

I dunno I just do I guess… You tend to remember who and what is important, and get hazy on the things that aren’t. Reviewing the Dramatis Personae at the beginning helps to refresh your memory by giving you a brief description of who they are, and perhaps just as important, what group they are associated with, so you can remember what plot line they were involved in. The hardest characters to remember are the Malazan marines, but you don’t really need to remember each one individually. They are just various personalities all moving toward the same objective and going through the same shit. They’re not that different, and most are just there as cannon fodder anyway. You can almost look at them collectively as one character. The ones that are more important get more page time, so they are easier to remember— Fiddler, Bottle, Hellian, etc. As for the plot, even though there is an overarching plot that threads through the series, each book can stand as its own story that begins and ends between the front and back cover. So as long as you can remember the major beats of the previous story, you’re good. I also listen to the Ten Very Big Books read along podcast, and listening their discussions helps to further refresh my memory on anything I’ve forgotten.

Im half way through book 10 and cant wait to be done with the series. I wanted to give it a full chance but I have so many criticisms of the series at this point that I dont see how any ending could salvage the experience for me.

I can’t think of anything worse than forcing my way through ten books I don’t like. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster that I didn’t want to end from Bonehunters onwards the first time through.

It’s a symptom of people saying “It gets good in book 3, trust me!” When you’re several bricks deep into the series it’s easy to get stubborn and finish the whole thing out of spite so that at least you can hate on it from an informed perspective

This was me with the FromSoft games. Hated them (or maybe the fandom, idk) for years, decided I should be an informed hater. Played every single one out of spite in the lead up to Elden Ring, turned out I was actually good at them, ended up loving them lol.

Kind of same. I love Elden Ring and all the insane lore, and I stay away from the fandom so that the gatekeeping doesn’t poison that appreciation. Sometimes that hate tips over into genuine appreciation when you push through. I finished the first Prince of Nothing book out of spite and around the 90% mark it tipped over into being the best thing I’d read all year.

I did that with Sword of Truth, had a buddy who loved them for the magic rules but they quickly stop giving a fuck about the rules and more about SA.

This is me currently hate reading WoT just so I can hate it from an informed perspective. I’ve wasted countless time reading the first 8. I’m gonna finish the damn thing.

I loved WoT but you’re totally right. Sometimes you just need closure and the authority to shout at people why they’re wrong.

are you talking about me? this is so true. I was told it was a masterpiece, i read the first 3 book and though it was Ok with some moment of brilliance. I think the exact same thing 7 books later and at least i can discuss the thousand plot hole and non realistic reaction of character in the book.

This is an unpopular opinion, but I semi-hated WoT and read them all anyways for reasons I cannot explain even to myself. Sometimes you just push through.

5, 6 and 7 are such a great ride.

I liked books 3 and 4. They were great. Some parts of the later books too including the invasion of lether. I really like any scenes involving God’s. Its just the rest is a ridiculous slog. The ending of book 3 and book 4 are up there with the best of fantasy. I often want to shake the author and ask him why are we wasting even more time with another background character who’s depressed and likes to talk about how depressed they are. Jesus the tiste andi and shake would be like watching paint dry if not for my anger with the author for dragging their story out so much. Toll the hounds was the worst book ive ever read (not technically but from a pacing and storytelling POV). Basically he avoids writing about all the characters and plotlines im interested in and it drives me insane.

See, I loved TTH. I am totally biased by sentimentality on these books though- I fall in the “they are life changing” camp for sure.

TTH is my favourite book ever but your opinion is super justifiable. Different strokes for different folks

I’m up to Reapers Gale, and I don’t think there was a single book up to this point in the series that I read without taking a break in the middle. I loved DG and MoI (all but GotM, really) – they had the highest of highs – but there was always a point where I just put it down for a few months. Erikson does a bit too much philosophizing for me.

How can you not be depressed if you are an ordinary person in that world. Even the wealthy/nobles who are non powered best hope is that they meet a quick death where they are not tortured in an afterlife.

The entire march across the desert was a slog I had to force myself through. But I thought that was intentional and I found it one of the most moving literary experiences of my life

I was at a county fair this summer and they had it set up so you paid an admission and then the rides were included. With no impetus to cut the rides short, I was going full bore with my 9 year old on the Tilt-a-Whirl (known as the “Tilt and Hurl” for a reason) for like 5 minutes when a usual ride is two. Not an experience I would recommend. Much like reading Malazan or mid-series Wheel of Time books 🙂 Agree with the OP here on so much. I’ve never understood the love for the series. I love that people love it through.

I respect the hate-reading of a 10-book series just for closure. Closest I came was 3 of 4. Salute.

I’m afraid that this is going to be me eventually. I stopped after 3, but if I run out of things to read I know I’ll be coming back. I got the whole series during an old humble bundle.

>I got the whole series during an old humble bundle Me too

I saw that sale, decided to wait for payday, then missed it lol. This thread has me wondering if that’s not such a bad thing

I think Malazan is *orders of magnitude* darker than something like The First Law, which I think is not actually all that dark. It’s nice to finally read at least one opinion that agrees Malazan is bleak as fuck for most of the time, without the consistent jokes that First Law has to lighten the mood.

Exactly. First Law felt almost like a dark comedy. Malazan is just suffering.

Yeah, and hey Don’t sweat dropping Malazan btw man! Reading fantasy novels is all for fun, I’ve become a big supporter of dropping a book I’m not enjoying. Time is precious. For what it’s worth, I actually did finish the main series of Malazan and in hindsight I wish I could get all my hours back instead. It’s got cool world building and some interesting characters but the overall narrative is a convoluted mess that I felt strung me along for hundreds and hundreds of pages.

Jumping on this. I just started alchemised by SunYinLu and I dropped it (atleast for a while), because it just felt everything was so so dramatic. The tone was just this stressful ambiance and feelings.. Decided that “you know what, I want to go back to Abercrombie and see what the offspring of the heroes of ages are up to”. Have not regretted it and will do it again in the future. Also dropped malazan the first book but in my Defence, it was an audiobook and that just does not work at all, way too much to try to keep in your head without being able to go back or re read a part.

It’s very interesting to read your comments on this. I haven’t read Malazan, and had considered it with as much as it gets recommended, but I hadn’t seen any comments about it being dark. I have a pretty hefty tolerance for Dark generally, but I found stuff like Poppy War leaving me wondering if I really enjoyed the read.

While Malazan is definitely dark, I wouldn’t say it’s like Poppy War. Poppy War borders on torture porn in places and really dials up the violence for what to me felt like shock value. Malazan feels more like reading a history of the crusades or the Spanish inquisition or something – yes, there are horrible atrocities that occur, but the tone is more somber and factual in describing them.

Taste is a funny thing, I think the Malazan books are often quite funny and while I’d accept the argument that it’s darker by sheer volume of the bad shit that happens in it, it’s overall outlook on humanity is much less bleak to me than I found First Law.

Yeah, sorry there *is* humor in Malazan for sure but it’s not so upfront as it is in First Law (just a style choice of course, not like that’s the main thing that makes something good or bad lol)

I stopped after book 8. Your points are all valid. In some ways it gets a little more interesting sometimes, but mostly your 3 complaints continue to be an issue. After 8 books, my problem was… I just didn’t care. For the reasons you listed, I never felt truly invested in any of the characters. I might get into a plot for a while, but then it would totally change and have very little to no relevance to the next plot. Same with the characters. Malazon is not a bad series, but it can be hard to become invested in for some readers.

Yeah, I gave up after 3 (maybe 2? I know at least 2) and saw it wasn’t for me. I didn’t care about any characters, the setting was thrown at us in a way that didn’t make me interested in it, and alongside the plot felt like I’d been thrown into an TTRPG mid-campaign with a DM that didn’t care about making sure I knew anything about it. For those that love it, all the better for them! I think it’s great that we have books for a variety of people’s tastes, it’s just not for me.

As a Malazan lover, I agree with all of this. I always tell people about Malazan as a “theme” centered story. Each plotline isn’t centered around characters, but about something Steven Erikson wants to examine in humanity. If you like Steven Erikson lamenting on themes for 1000+ pages, thats where the investment is. If you get bored with him talking about themes for 1000+ pages, you may not connect with the books. The thing on page isn’t necessarily what you have to connect with – its the idea he’s trying to push using that story. So I totally get why it doesn’t connect with some people. And as someone who loves it, sometimes it is boring!!!

I made it to book 7, mostly because I bought all of the books that were published at the time based on how highly recommended they were. That it took me until book 7 to find a character I actually liked and cared about is ridiculous. And then he dies. I’m glad that so many people like it, even if I can’t understand why they like it.

I made it through book 10, and after the end all I could think was “why do I do this?”

Yeah the characters are the weakest part by far. There are hundreds of POVs by the last books, more and more and more with each book. It’s completely unnecessary and takes away from actually getting to know the main characters. And I mean there are barely any main characters to begin with. There are just far too many, with a different focus on different ones each book. It’s impossible to get invested in them.