Welcome to a long-awaited new blog series on tor.com… the Malazan Re-read of the Fallen! Your hosts are Bill and Stefan, and in the coming months we will read, re-read, discuss, summarize, analyze, scratch our heads in confusion, wonder out loud, possibly argue (courteously), occasionally criticize (also courteously), marvel, and at times (we’re sure) bow to the superior knowledge of tor.com’s readers as we attempt to dissect Steven Erikson’s incomparable epic fantasy series: the Malazan Book of the Fallen!
This re-reading project was conceived quite a while back, going back to well before the birth of tor.com! During our first reading of the series, we were—like most people—incredibly impressed with the scope and complexity of the universe described. At the same time, it quickly became clear that Steven Erikson didn’t intend to spoon-feed the story to his readers.
Starting with Gardens of the Moon, we’re basically thrown into the deep: a world with a 300,000-year history, several original non-human races, and a unique and complex magic system. Subsequent volumes offer up Dramatic Personae lists and glossaries that cover several pages per volume, and multiple story lines that aren’t always told in chronological fashion: book 2 is set on an entirely different continent from book 1, book 3 picks up where book 1 left off, book 4 continues book 2, and just when you think there’s a pattern developing, book 5 starts an entirely new storyline. With so many plot strands and hundreds of characters, some of whom change names as they die and get resurrected or die and become gods (as one character says “does nothing dead ever go away around here?”), there is a LOT of material here to keep track of.
If, like us, you read most of these novels as they were released, quite a few years may have gone by since you first read the earlier books. You may have found yourself reading one of the later novels and recognizing the name of a character, but having no idea of who they were or exactly what they did earlier.
Both of us have felt for a while that if we ever had the time we’d want to re-read these books and, hopefully, get a better understanding of this incredibly complex tale. Originally, we were considering hosting this project on Fantasy Literature (where we are both reviewers), but when we were offered the opportunity to join the ranks of esteemed re-readers here at tor.com… well, here we are!
However, we want to be honest: neither of us is a true Malazan expert. This is only our second time reading the series. We’re not promising all the answers (we’re aiming for 82.7% of them) and we’re sure we’ll even make some mistakes (*gasp*). In a nutshell, we’re going to muddle through this together with you, and hopefully with your help we’ll all achieve a better if not complete grasp of this somewhat daunting material.
So, here’s the plan: we’ve broken up the books in parts of roughly 100 to 150 pages each. The page count is based on the US mass-market editions, but we’ll use the chapter divisions as a yardstick so you can follow along regardless of which edition you have. We are planning one article per week—a leisurely pace, so as many people as possible can read along and still otherwise be productive members of society. This means that we’re probably going to take at least a year to cover the books that have been published so far—and by the time we’re done, The Crippled God will hopefully be out, so we can lead right into the final volume.
In each section, we’ll present a summary of events and some analysis based on what we’ve read up to that point, and then open the floor to discussion. Look for our first post (covering the prologue and chapters 1-3 of Gardens of the Moon) in the first week of April. We hope you’re looking forward to this as much as we are!
Here’s a bit more about Bill: I live in Rochester NY with my wife and 8-year-old son and I’ve been reading fantasy/science fiction nearly as long as I can remember, beginning in primary school with the Danny Dunn series (hmm, speaking of a re-read) and moving on to The Borrowers, Narnia, Andre Norton, and that frozen-in-my-mind moment when my father handed me a copy of The Hobbit in the Sibleys’ bookstore and said “I think you’ll like this.” I love sprawling, lengthy, complex works, so long as the length is necessitated by the complexity; I’m not a big fan of a good 350-page novel buried in a 750-page book. I look for strong characterization probably more than anything else—give me some characters to care about and I’ll go pretty far with them (of course, with Erikson that may not be very far as he’s so fond of killing them off. Then again, he’s equally fond of bringing them back so it’s always farther than you think) Along with Erikson, some of my favorite current authors are Daniel Abraham, Brandon Sanderson, China Mieville, and Catherynne Valente (for a more full sense of my tastes, you can check out my reviews at Fantasy Literature). Beyond reading and reviewing fantasy, I write short stories and essays, play ultimate frisbee, teach as an adjunct English instructor at several local colleges, and annoy my wife by complaining about Lost as she’s watching it.
And some info about Stefan: I grew up in Belgium, moved to New York after college, and currently live in sunny San Diego CA with my wife and 2 year old son. After a decade-long career in the exciting world of corporate training, I decided to take a break and stay home with my then-newborn son, which has also allowed me to spend more time on reading and writing. I’ve been hooked on SF and fantasy since age 12 or so, when an exasperated librarian at the children’s library sent me to the “grown-up” section after I’d finished literally every children’s book. Naturally drawn to books with colorful, exciting covers at that age, I picked up my first Jack Vance novel (Planet of Adventure!) and never looked back, working my way through any SF&F I could find in translation, and later in English. Current favorite authors include Guy Gavriel Kay, Steven Brust, C.J. Cherryh, Robin Hobb, Peter F. Hamilton, Neal Stephenson and Janny Wurts – and like Bill, you can get a more complete sense of my tastes by checking my reviews at Fantasy Literature.
I bought the first three books of this and haven’t managed to read them yet–this sounds like a good time to start. Looking forward to it!
Aaaand, now I’m officially overwhelmed. Maybe I’ll come back to this one after some of the other rereads are done.
Sweet! I purchased the most recent Malazan book from amazon.uk just to get it that much sooner. Looking forward to the re-read
This is going to be pretty gi-normous, those are some big books.
I think the Danny Dunn idea is excellent, I’d read along with that.
Excellent, I’d been thinking of checking out this series, so have bought the first book for my Kindle. Looking forward to this.
I have read them all and feel like it is a great glorious mass of a mess in my mind’s eye when I try to sort it out: gods and ships run by the dead and houses by the sea where shipwrecked heroes recover and thieves who run over rooftops and floating citadels of dragon-men-(gods?) and magicians in the armies who cast mighty spells and mad gods in small tents who manipulate wretched driven men and joker-gods and scenes of utter horror on battlefields and strange warrens (portals?) through space and time that give magicians their power girls sold as slaves who gain immense power through immense suffering (or something)and a god of death with his awful hounds. . . and . . . and . . . well, its all mixed up in there, so I look forward to this. So many questions.
Jedikalos
Wow what an awsome attempt at explanation. I’m with you, looking forward to some answers.
Mis-gotta find time for another book to re-read
My brother keeps bothering me to read the series, so once I saw y’all were going to do a re-read I also decided it’d be a good time to start and follow along! I look forward to it :D
I really
I saw that Tor changed the mass market cover of Gardens of the Moon (for the 7th printing) to the one from last year’s paperback edition. I never minded this original art, even the hardcover version with Sorry in the lower left, but the newer art is probably better.
I’m apparently one of the few who actually enjoys the US covers for the Malazan books.
As to Gardens of the Moon, I found it hard to get into, but really enjoyed it as it continued. I look forward to following this re-read as it progresses. I’ve read through book 3, Memories of Ice (along with Esslemont’s Knight of Knives), and will soon begin House of Chains. So I might be done with the books by the time this re-read is done ;-)
Actually, I almost thought that Midnight Tides would make a better first book in some ways. For instance, it’s the first book to have a satisfactory explanation of what a “warren” is. But then, of course, you don’t get back to those characters until Book Six…
What about the Ian Esslemont books, by the way? I haven’t read those yet, but they’re explicitly in the same world, if set earlier in the timeline… Or the Bauchelain & Korbal Broach novellas, ditto?
I’m not nearly ready to reread the series myself, because the books are just so darned thick, and also dense. Heck, I haven’t even read Toll The Hounds yet. But I will try to follow along.
This is a series I’ve wanted to read for awhile, so I might take this opportunity to do it. However, checking, the kindle edition is $2 more than the dead tree version. So I guess it’ll be off to Half Price Books to see if they have these. Of course, the author and publisher lose out in that case, but that’s what they’re promoting, so…
I really wish the idiots who come up with that pricing would have someone strike them with a clue bat.
This will be something to watch.
@6 – You summed up one of the main reasons why I really wanted to do this re-read.
@9 – I agree, GotM is hard to get into. It made more sense on the second read-through, but I still feel that the series gets much better as of book 2.
@10 – We’ll initially be tackling the main books of the series by Steven Erikson only. We may refer to the Ian C. Esslemont novels (because they fill in some gaps in the time line) and the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas, but the re-read will mostly focus on the core series.
By the way, Fantasy Literature (http://www.fantasyliterature.com – this is the site where Bill and I review) currently has a give-away of the 10th anniversary edition of Gardens of the Moon, thanks to Tor’s generosity. I think it’s not too late to enter yet!
Wow, and I thought that Leigh Butler had her work cut for her with the Wheel of Time!
Nonetheless, I am eager to join this project (I got lost about book four or five, in Malazan), and good luck gentlemen!
omg!
Man, this is gonna be some re-read effort. Much thanks for starting this though, maybe this’ll help me figure out the several billion or so questions I have….
Thank goodness! I’m usually excited when the new book in a series comes out, but my excitement about every new Malazan novel is always tinged with a bit of anxiety.
My usual method of reading a Malazan novel: start-stop(due to confusion)-waiting period(work up resolve)-start again. I fear I will never finish “Toll the Hounds”.
Looking forward to following the re-read!
Just stumbled across this post while browsing the Tor website – I’m a big fan of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, but I’ve never read any of the Malazan books.
Any WoT fans here that can give me a good comparison between the two and suggest whether I would enjoy the Malazan books as well? For that matter, I’d welcome comments / mini-reviews from anyone that could help me decide.
Thanks in advance!
Interesting, just started a reread myself about 6 weeks ago and am about 1/3rd of the way through Deadhouse Gates. May follow along a bit.
I know you guys say that the analysis will only be done based up to the point of the reread, but I’ve found on my reread that its paid enormous dividends to think and analyze based on things that I know have happened in later books. Are you going to try to keep things spoiler free for later or open up discussion about the series as a whole (where it pertains)?
Yes! I just finished Toll the Hounds, and am actually starting re-reading the series. (I still need to track down book 9). I’m so excited about this!
If you run into any problems with your rereads, head over to malazanempire.com (the forums) for the best answers out there.
@18 – Ok, so imagine the wheel of time, then take the amount of complexity and mystery and multiply it by four continents, at least a dozen other worlds, add a magic system nowhere near as straightforward as the One Power and subtract the droves of indistinguishable female magic users and their general annoying demeanour. then multiply the awesome by fifty and you’ve got the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
any and all questions would be more than welcome over at malazanempire.com ;)
Hi all,
Glad to see the interest here. Just a clarification on spoilers (in response to Dan1’s comment). While the summaries will be spoiler-free, the discussions will be wide open. My guess is most spoilers will be limited to whichever book we’re on at that point, not out of any principle or plan, but because
a) we’ll have just re-read the whole novel before posting, while later books will still be somewhat fuzzy in our minds, it having been years since we’ve read them
and
b) we’ll want to save ourselves something to talk about when we get to those later books
That said, we won’t be limiting ourselves (or those of you that know all the books by heart) to discussing only particular chapters or books; the whole series will be fair game at all times.
Oh wow, this is a series that I stopped reading after the third book because that was when I realized the series still had a long way to go and nothing had been published on it for a while. And at the time I was very annoyed with the length of books in another Tor series, the Wheel of Time, and my best friend I had made a deal not to read any more long convoluted series with apparently no end.
le sigh – trying to catch up on the Wheel of Time reread now and I’ve been wondering why no one on that thread has ever suggested Malazan Book of the Fallen when people ask for reading suggestions.
@22 – I agree with that pithy comparison with the added caveat that IIRC more people tend to die in the Malazan as well (for those who complain that RJ liked to conserve his characters a bit too much) and that it is overall a much darker grittier work.
@7 *waves at misfortuana* hey you – didn’t I see you in the bunker just the other day? I see that Leigh’s one post a week is giving you too much free time. ;-)
Oh and Bill and Stefan…thanks for taking this on!you’re really tempting me here because I really would enjoy someone to discuss these since they are a bit confusing. Now I have to come up with how to get to the rest of the books without losing them to customs…
@18 – I agree with most of what 22 said, but would maybe change a bit in the explanation of the complexity of the book.
RJ starts you off softly, which an intentional LotR-esque warm up. You don’t need to worry about how saidar works, or who is leading what country, or keep lists of Black Ajah next to you as you read the books. For me, it doesn’t really hit the fan until about book 5, where the main characters really split, and you start getting *many* other PoVs.
Erickson drops you in the deep end immediately. There is no sugar coating of the fact that this is going to be one massive plot with a huge amount of complexity. If you can, just read the intro that he wrote in the anniversary addition. It basically says something like, “I didn’t want to write ‘easy’ fantasy.” And it’s not — this is never a book I’d recommend to any first time fantasy reader. It’s like a Russian novel except everyone keeps changing their names.
That said, when you figure something out before the author explicitly tells you, it feels like you climbed a mountain and shouted off it. So overall I’d say definitely go for it. Just don’t get nervous when, 100 pages in, you still don’t really understand what’s going on; or in book 2 where you don’t know pretty much any of the characters. Don’t worry, they’ll be back, with one name or another…
@25 – yes you make an excellent point.
people who have not read much fantasy could easily get into Wheel of Time but the Malazan requires dedication and love for the world of fantasy literature.
but if you enjoy complex world building and have been reading fantasy for a while this is a great series to delve into.
Yeah I think the trick with Erikson is to take it at a slow pace. I have a tendency to skim read a bit which is fine with WoT for the most part (though you can find it hard to keep track of characters a bit that way), however, it took me untik my 3rd re-read and a visit to the malazan empire site to realise that one of the characters has blue skin, even though it was mentioned in some of the opening paragraphs.
I think this is the most challenging work of fantasy fiction I have ever read and would appreciate the discussion and comments that will come out of this re-read.
As UK Chris stated earlier, don’t worry if you get a bit lost – I still have those moments having read the full series so far!!
Yay guys! I wanted to see (or volunteer to write) this re-read since I found the WoT re-read here many moons ago!
Strapping in for the ride…
As for those debating whether to give the series a try: yes. Just f-ing yes. You will want to stop, or coast by reading the posts here. Do not.
It’s tough, no doubt. It’s dense and full of details that make no sense and don’t float themselves above the rest of the verbiage in any way, but one detail can, five books later, be the key to understanding some critical conversation between totally unrelated characters. UK Chris @25 has the right of it with the Russian novel comparison, which made me snort my coffee quite enjoyably…thanks for that man!
Oh, and a couple more warning for 1st-timers, the characters lie to one another. While lying is a commonplace occurrence in reality, fantasy tends to tell the truth when the exposition ramps up, if for no other reason than the characters can then inform the reader of known facts. Not so in Malazan. The conversations are not held for the reader’s benefit AT ALL. Sometimes that means a ten-line dialogue is maddeningly confusing and disjointed, sometimes it sets the “truth” in the reader’s mind so firmly that when it turns out to be lie (or was just plain wrong) later, you really come to appreciate the guts of an author to tell their story in such a way.
Really, don’t stop when it gets hard. The first novel is the trial-by-fire. Not that others are easy, just easier.
@@@@@ 28 thomstel – Totally agree about the lying thing. What’s even worse is that in some points that in most novels would flag up as the author doing some world-building or exposition that you’re supposed to consider as “true” (e.g. Moiraine first explaining saidar to Egwene), this is also not the case.
As earlier mentioned, I still couldn’t quite tell you what a Warren is. But I know how at least four different magic users believe how they work and what they are. They unfortunately (to some extent) are not quite on the same page.
But yes, if you want a novel that is fiercely complex AND enjoyable, go get yourself a copy of this. Some of the best character development I’ve ever seen, and have sent this book to about 5 friends as birthday gifts!
I am more confused by warrens every time they get brought up. Each new detail Erikson puts in just adds to that original “huh?” And that’s a lot of details.
I just say “warrens…yeah…where magic comes from, or alternate worlds parallel to Wu, or the new version of Holds, or something that happened when Krul and the prime Elient did…wait, back to the story. Quick Ben is about to kick some ass.”
It gets me by. ;)
I’ll echo the comments on the value of using both malazanempire and Encylopediamalazica (http://encyclopediamalazica.pbworks.com/) for reference.
I’ve introduced a dozen folks to this series; 3 have stuck it out all the way. The general comment is that it’s all a ‘little too dark’ and that favourite characters tend to die. The comments are valid; there are no obvious white or black hats in these books and some of my favourite characters died at least 3 books back.
I’ve enjoyed the series and look forward to the last book coming out. I would suggest that the group include the ICE books as they really round out the story (particularly the ROTCG).
I’ve just recently picked up the Subterranean Press edition of GOTM, so I’ll follow along with that edition. Cheers, Karlo
Absolutely agree with the above. This is one of the most rewarding series of books you can read. For me, strangely, it was the second book that I struggled with the first time round. It wasn’t until I re-read that I really appreciated that one.
Quite frankly outstanding series. And (not pointing any elbows at GRRM) it looks like it may get finished within my lifetime!!
Hmm. I’m tempted. The series has been strongly recommended to me a couple of times and I’m definitely fond of really good, immense fantasy.
On the other hand, it’s really difficult to get my hands on a copy of Gardens and as someone else already mentioned, the cost for the Kindle version is pretty outrageous.
I’ve read a sample chapter and I still don’t know if I want to give it a shot or not. But having a re-read to go with it makes me more interested. Hmm.
I’d say that the series is more like a blend of “A Song of Ice And Fire” and Glen Cook’s “The Black Company” than Robert Jordan. The military bits are more Cook, the other bits are more Martin. One thing you can say for it, though–despite its length, it’s not overwritten, the say that, say, Michelle West or C.S. Friedman’s are. It really needs all of those pages.
I confess I keep getting all the elder races confused–T’lan Imass, Tiste Edur, Forkrul Assail, K’Chain Che’Malle etc. Not to mention keeping track of all the warrens.
I’m looking forward to this one.
I was thinking about rereading the series. Now seems to be a good time to start. :)
I agree with those suggesting that the re-read include Ian Cameron Esslemonts Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard.
If you want to get the whole picture and the best understanding of the series events, you should read Night of Knives just before or right after Bone hunters (the 6th book) and read Return of the Crimson Guard after Bonehunters or at least before Toll the Hounds (the 8th book) since Esslemonts book has some spoilers for the events in TTH and vice versa.
Looking forward to seeing a semi-professional discussion on the series events. I’ve been partaking in the discussion on the Malazan forums for years, so it will be interesting to see what conclusions you reach.
Would it be possible to give us a list of the books in the order of the planned reread so that those of us in countries without easy access to english sf/fan (or at least me) can get the series?
the novellas (?) some people are suggesting might particularly be a bit difficult to get to without considerable advance notice.
I recently bought a Nook and I would like to read this series on it. It looks like Amazon has a monopoly on these ebooks. Are there any plans to release these as ebooks to distributors such as Barnes & Noble?
glad to have you here, guys!
As far as Ian C. Esslemont’s books, we’re going to keep our focus on the main series. That isn’t to say we might not make a reference (or several, possibly lengthy ones) to Knight of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard (in fact, I’ll be reviewing the latter shortly over at fantasyliterature.com), but I think we’re all in agreement we’ve got a lot to chew on just with Erikson’s work. So we won’t be looking at them individually or in great detail. If we’re not totally exhausted by the end of this, it’s possible we’ll continue with them (and maybe even Erikson’s novellas as well). That said, as with the spoilers, we’re putting no restrictions on commentary–so those of you who have read those books and think they shine a light on particular moments in the big series, feel free to chime in to let us know.
See you all with our first post in a few days (oh, and for those who requested an order of books, it’s below)
Bill
Gardens of the moon
Deadhouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides
The Bonehunters
Reaper’s Gale
Toll the Hounds
Dust of Dreams
The Crippled God
FYI, that is the exact release order for the books for those who want to read along with the discussion here.
As for WoT and MBotF, the comparison is a bit attenuated. These are both epic fantasy, but different forms.
Jordan’s WoT is very much a classic High Fantasy series, with the Hero of a Thousand Faces easily seen early in the series. However, it does a good job of morphing in the middle towards the end into a more contemporary, challenging series. But, it retains its classical tropes and nuanced plays on fantasy cliches. Jordan’s is an expanded and nuanced look at Tolkien’s LotR through the prism of a much larger series, and much larger cast of characters. While WoT presents much mystery for the reader of the series, it also spoonfeeds much along the way. The only challenge the reader faces is the sheer length and depth of Jordan’s universe, which is assuredly top-notch.
Erikson’s MBotF is a more contemporary fantasy. It is gritter, more grey, and assuredly much nastier. Erikson takes on epic fantasy from the viewpoint of the paleontologist nee historian. Everything has a cause, but a good historian knows that every event has many causes and often, depending upon the viewpoint of the historian, a different cause.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen presents the study of a vast universe of high fantasy, presented through lenses ranging from societal, class, and power. There is no “correct” history in the MBotF because there is no source that is without its bias.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen challenges you in every way imaginable. Frankly, some don’t like the shifting narratives and lack of clear-cut answers on every thing presented in the books. But, I can promise you this. You’ll get more back from the MBotF than what you put into it, if you try.
Alfvaen@34:
Does it? I find much of the series hopelessly overwritten, and it is getting worse. I am almost done reading Dust of Dreams (past Draconus’ appearance), and I am having the same problem with it that I had with Toll the Hounds: every single character is a philosopher! Every single character spends pages philosophizing in the abstract about his/her motives, the past, the gods, whatever. Not much of interest happens while the characters are sitting on their butts are philosophizing. I suppose there is going to be a major payoff in the last few pages of DoD with the much-promised confrontation of the gods, but I am finding all the abstract-philosophizing with respect to The Snake, Torrent/Setoc, the KCCM, the Shake, Taxillian’s group, and just about every other character, pretty tough sledding.
It is all very well for those who suggest that putting in the hard work to try and understand the books is worthwhile, but are people reading fantasy for entertainment or for philosophical essays? Should reading fantasy be hard work? I am still reading the books, and have also read ICE’s NoK and RotCG so far, but I much prefer the less grandiose and more human stories being told by Jordan and Martin. I guess tastes differ all right.
@Alisonwonderland
I will admit to some of what you’re saying about the…direction…I suppose that’s the word for it, that Erikson has gone in TtH and DoD.
While not nearly as invigorating as an epic battle, or poignant as the death of a favorite character, in TtH at least I came to realize the time spent was more intended as pauses between the major events, and a way for the speaker in that book (Kruppe) to muse on the nature of things. It’s also Erikson’s stated desire to do something unexpected with the tone of the book.
As I said, I was exasperated with it as well (except the “love” chapter, which I felt was self-contained enough philosophy/events/theme to really stand up well) on my first reading. Second time through when I wasn’t chowing on the bit trying to get the convergence…much more palatable.
As for Dust of Dreams, I still haven’t gone back for seconds, so I’m still with you on that one. I know the philosophy bits weren’t as interesting to me on my read-through, but I’ve heard plenty of others complain that the Marine scenes are a waste of their time. To me, every chapter with a Bonehunter in it is pure gold, so I suppose it’s the age-old “to each his own”?
I thought I had commented on that post, but obiviously didn’t. Oopsie.
I love the series and I will be along for the ride. Thank you for doing this (after the WoT re-read thread I had hoped for some more of the sort, esp. Malazan and ASOIAF).
Hi all,
newbie on Tor.Com here. Thanks Stefan and Bill for taking on this massive project. I am really looking forward to the re-read as I was about to pick up the series again in time for The Chained God release (though if the same publishing schedule is kept in the US, I will go for the UK edition). I love the series, which I re-read twice, because it does not spoonfeed anything to the reader (nine books in and still I have more questions than answers) AND because mr Erikson has kept so far an immaculate record on delivering timely, which is quite a feat given the size of the books.
Totally agree on Alfvaen @34 on the Glenn Cook’s influence – I read a quote someplace where Mr Erikson stated that Glenn Cook changed single handedly the genre by his portrait of “real life” soldiers.
For El Fitcho @18, I am also a huge fan of WoT (followed Leigh’s re-read since the start though I never posted there), and I agree with the comment @25. While I think it’s somewhat easier to keep track of characters in MBOTF than in WOT, you always have to employ your “little gray cells” in order to understand what is really going on in MBOTF, which is something mr Jordan did only occasionally.
Final consideration – as many already mentioned, I would agree that copious references (if not a proper re-read of) to ICE’s work are needed to keep things straight.
Hope to see the first post coming soon!
I’ll be along for the ride. I bought all these as they first came out, and my copy of the first book is long buried, so I bought another copy from the charity bookstall at the Eastercon.
I am new to this site so maybe I don’t know the protocol but when is this reread suppose to begin. The main post said they would have the first section by the end of the first week of april but nothing has come up. Am I missing something? Is there another place where this is actually being done by these two people that I don’t know about? I’m not complaining, I’m just wondering if I’m at the wrong place or whether it is just taking longer than usual to start. Like I said, I am new so I might be completely off base here.
No, you’re not missing anything – I’m assuming by first week of April they meant a Microsoft Standard Week, which means it should start sometime before July 15th or so, with the year notably not supplied.
Ah, _that’s_ what Amazon uses to get their release dates. I thought they’d throw darts at a calendar. :)
Hi guys — Putting on my official tor.com hat: We apologize for the delay. Tor.com had a scheduling conflict and asked Stefan and Bill if they could push back the start of this re-read a few weeks. They will be back in mid June to begin. In the meantime, they are getting a jump on the series. We are very excited to be working with Stefan and Bill on this.
I just finished the 2009 trade paperback of “Gardens of The Moon”. I must say I have found my fantasy home! I am curious to know when and if further volumes in the series with be re-released with the newer styling as well. Or (even better) if they are already available in a matching format?
Is this still going to happen in June?
Looking forward to this — is it still going on?
still hoping to see this by at least the end of june *fingers crossed*
What’s hilarious is that Artarian @@@@@ 49 is going to be the most correct out of anyone as to when this will start.
Would be nice to get a blue post on this. Oh wait, wrong website.
Next week, guys. I promise!
Oh crap, I better pick up the pace of my reading!
Uh oh I’m only half way through Deadhouse Gates. I’m loving this series so far. Picked up the entire series in paperback at B&N for just under $100 – pretty reasonable and if even half of the books are as good as the first two are it’ll be a bargain.
Bill and Amandalathi, I love you guys! It’s like having Cliff notes for the Shakespeare festival.
I stumbled in here looking for stuff as good as Malazan, which isn’t for everyone. Here is a short list of long series that I like:
Amber by Zelazny. Give it 60 pages.
Bone by Jeff Smith. Gandalph meets Bugs Bunny.
Tanith Lee, her Flat Earth and Paradys series, plus some others. Skip the French book and the vampire stories.
Tad Williams. Otherland and Shadowmarch. Not as wild as Erikson, but LOOOOOng.
Cath Valente Spelling,? Orphans Tales and Circumnavigated Fairyland. Thousand and one Nights inspired her, as well as Tanith Lee.
Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell, on TAPE.
Yeah, I like long stuff. Glutton for punishment. I hope some of you discover Tanith and Cath because of this post!
But wait, there’s more!
Michael Moorcock’s Elric series. Bloodthirsty magic sword in a multiple universe.
Gaiman’s Sandman comics. Or anything Gaiman.
Magician King series by Grossman.
Connie Willis’s Blackout and All Clear. ON TAPE
Golden Compass ON TAPE. Jim Butcher on tape. Girl who kicked the Hornet’s Nest , ON TAPE
Odin Thor and Loki books from Norse Mythology. Thousand and one Nights.
This might keep you busy for a few years. I for one don’t give a glazed jelly doughnut if GRRRRR Martin ever finishes his silly little trilogy!