thewindrose said (1 month ago):
Hi Tricia - I did get GotM for Christmas - I am so excited to finaly start it. This is a real busy time at work for me so I haven't been able to go gung ho on reading it - like reading it straight through in a couple of days. This may be a good thing though, now I can think about what little I have read while at work. I hope to catch up with you all in a month, maybe? Hope you had a great Christmas, and now New Years Eve is almost here - have a good one! Tess

thewindrose said (2 months ago):
Hi Tricia - My kids are bugging me about what I want for Christmas. I know you are a fan of the Malazan Empire:) Generally, when I buy books, I buy ones I know I will reread - otherwise there is the library. I am thinking that the Mazalan books fall into the definite reread category - would you agree? I finally broke down and read through the aSoIaF series, and I am glad I brought them(although I admit to skipping the Eddard scene when I reread GoT)and I am not too attached to any of the characters. From the little I have seen from the Malazan thread here, it looks like it would be a good idea to have the books handy, and rereads are a must. Agree? Thanks Tess

thewindrose said (3 months ago):
Hi Tricia - Great to hear from you - sorry for the late reply - there is no longer the 'you have a shout message'. I don't have a facebook account, but I am considering opening one up. I will tell you when I do. (Husband is in IT and is always telling horror stories about it - but I think if you use it with your brain on(!) it should be alright.) Look forward to joining you guys. I wasn't very active on here during KoD(even though I enjoyed it) but I am back:) Tess

Robin55077 said (4 months ago):
Based on Kalam's "just like old times" comment, I'm not even sure that the acorn that fell near Kalam had anything to do with Cotillion but came directly from QB. LOL Gotta love the way SE makes us dissect the smallest things! It truly does make this the best series for re-read that I have ever come across.

Robin55077 said (4 months ago):
Yes, my first thought as well was oneof the black diamonds (demon diamonds) that may have fallen from Kalam's clothing when he entered the Whirlwind but I never saw where Cotillion gave it to anyone later so I scratched that. LOL Anyway, thanks for sharing!

Robin55077 said (4 months ago):
Thanks Tricia! That's the popular opinion out there so it is probably correct. It just doesn't quite feel right to me but nothing else does either. :-) I mean, I'm sure I am being dense, but I just don't see how Lostara's one (and as far as I can find in the series, only that one) night of sex with QB, and that one "night" not even being a full night as it was also the night that QB destroyed the cult of Rashan, would result in her now, years later, in the wake of the wall coming down, and all the debris falling back to the ground, would have recognized an acorn as being from QB? And further, even if I buy that, why would she have thought it belonged to Cotillion? I mean, I think there must have been various acorns falling back to the ground as we know there were oak trees in the area because Kalam is lying under a toppled oak tree when the acorn falls to the ground beside him. I believe the acorn that falls by Kalam definitely comes from QB, it just doesn't feel right to me that Kalam's acorn is the same object that Lostara picked up and gave to Cotillion. All of that having been said, I have not yet found a better explanation for what Lostara picked up, so I have to allow that everyone else is most likely correct and I am just dumb! LOL

Robin55077 said (4 months ago):
Hey Tek. I am still a bit lost on the "acorn" understanding. Can you explain to me what you know? Thanks

toryx said (8 months ago):
No problem, that happens to me too! Anyway, yeah I think the GS definitely is learning, slowly over time. And now that I've been following the new Read posts, I just saw evidence that I'd missed the first time I read the revised version that suggests that he's just starting over again.

toryx said (8 months ago):

toryx said (8 months ago):

toryx said (8 months ago):
Hi Tektonica! I'm glad to see that you enjoyed the end of the Dark Tower series too. I was starting to think I might be the only one around these here parts.

Kah-thurak said (10 months ago):
So now you will move on to Dust of Dreams? That one was really hard on me. I liked it better on the second read, as with all malazan books after MoI, but there are parts of it, that are really strenous and exhausting. I guess the word "hobble" will forever make me cringe.

Kah-thurak said (10 months ago):
The dying god story really seems "alien" to the rest of the book. There is allmost no connection. The only purpose that comes to mind is to show the strength of Nimander's party. I liked allmost all other parts of the novel though. Longwinded as they are, they are intersting and well written. The evil stepbrother was particulary well done in my opinion as it is rare for an author to admit that some people, even kids, are just simply assholes ;-) Karsa, Dassem and Samar Dev are also great, and Shadowthrone and Cotillion also make good appearences ("Saw his head off Cotillion, I hate him allready."). And the final is allmost to great to digest in one read ;-)

Kah-thurak said (10 months ago):
Hi Tricia, I only read TTH twice yet, so there are probably a lot of things in there I havent caught yet and I just tried to write an explanation but, realized that I didnt make much sense even to myself if I try to go into detail, so I will limit this to a few core points of which I am reasonabls sure ;-) 1) Dragnupire forged by Draconus to protect Gate to Darkness from Chaos. Threat maybe caused by K'Chain Che'Malle Matron 2)Somehow the Gate isnt safe anymore inside the sword. 3) Rake plans with Hood and some other gods what to do about is (I think this is in the prologue of TtH) 4) Draconus somehow manages to help in this scheme by letting the mad artist in Dragnupir "design" some sort of god. 5) Hood and Rake are slain by Dragnupir and Hoods army in coalition with the souls in Dragnupir hold back chaos until the gate is free. 6)Rake rejoins Mother Dark 7) Brood uses Burns Hammer to destroy Dragnupir, all the souls in the sword are freed 8) I have no idea why the dying god story line was included AT ALL ;-) I hope this helps in some way, but I guess I have to re-read the book myself ^^

Taitastigon said (10 months ago):
Darned. 6 weeks for amazon.uk to deliver tCG. I wonder whether they used Kruppe´s or Pust´s mule to deliver that thing to Brazil...

toryx said (10 months ago):
Thanks for the comments. But what, exactly, did you think was well said?

lostinshadow said (10 months ago):
Heyla Tek, yeah life's been a grind lately - too many boring adult things to do, not enough time for the fun stuff. well unless one of the more careful gurus corrects me no silverfox all the way through the dust of dreams - no claims on tCG because though I downloaded it to my kindle, still haven't managed to find the time to read it - SE isn't exactly light reading :) how's the new house? all moved in and liking it?

KiManiak said (11 months ago):
Hey Tricia! I’m really enjoying the Malazan series; my thanks again for you and the others encouraging me to read it! I’m just now starting Book 2 of MoI, and Erikson definitely isn’t shy about having plot develop (and characters evolve), while at the same time providing a lot of backstory/infodumps. I hear you about this being a favored series, although I don’t know if I’d label it my favorite yet; I’ll need to read all of the books first! WoT still remains my favorite, but Malazan has ascended up my list and ranks solidly in the number 2 position, and that’s only after reading the first 2 books! I’m also enjoying part of the Malazan reread, and am trying to find the proper…um, “voice” I guess is the best word for it. Trying to balance being a newby, with knowing a little more about what’s happening than the reread currently does, but nowhere near the amount of info that the Malazan vets do. I’m doing a lot of reflection and then speculating/thinking-out-loud. But, the folks on the reread are friendly, helpful and encouraging. Gotta give it up to Tor.com: most of the blogs they maintain are well managed and inhabited by good folks (with the occasional troll appearing every now and then). I applaud you reading ahead while also rereading the material discussed in the post; if I get more than a book ahead of the reread post I may try the same. There is so much depth in these books, I’m sure that I’ll pick up something I missed. Anyway, thanks again for the kind words and all of the support. Enjoy the sunny weather down there in Florida!

KiManiak said (11 months ago):
Hi Tek/Tricia! Thanks for the (incredibly) quick response! Thanks for clearing things up for me. I thought that was kinda what I was supposed to think (how’s that for a confusing sentence) regarding the warrens and Shadowthrone/Cotillion; I just wanted to make sure that I hadn’t missed some obvious explanation during GotM (I didn’t read most of the reread summaries by Amanda/Bill in GotM as I was trying to hasten to catch up and that book itself took a looong time; not to mention I kinda put it away for awhile before getting swept back up into it). To answer your questions, I’m currently at Chapter 20 of Deathhouse Gates (gonna dive back in after I thank you and Fiddler) and, assuming I catch up to the reread by the end of this weekend, I will plan to read all of the comments for the first time; crossing my fingers that there aren’t any moderate to major spoilers. Have I mentioned I’m sometimes irrationally paranoid about spoilers? :-) Anyway, if it makes sense, I may try to post on the most recent reread. I’ll probably stay close to the reread for the next few weeks as I finish DG and then progress on to Memories of Ice, but if MoI is anywhere close to as good as DG, I’ll probably try to finish that as quickly as possible and then continue on. I’ve decided that minor spoilers are just going to happen, and I’ve come to peace with it (which, if you knew me, is proof of me taking a major- and honestly probably necessary and healthy- step regarding slight foreknowledge of a good book before reading). For instance, the blurb for Bill’s spoiler-free review of The Crippled God mentions that Icarium is one of the “rogue players in the game,” so I’ve been working under the assumption that the Azath doesn’t take him; and although it’s relieved some of the good tension and suspense in the story arc as of Chpt 19, I’m still enjoying how Erikson is telling the story (while having a horrible feeling that something bad happens to Mappo before The Crippled God book; hopefully later as opposed to sooner). Anyway, this was my longwinded way of saying Thanks! If other things become really confusing, I’ll be sure to ask you or Fiddler.

KiManiak said (11 months ago):
Hi Tek and Fiddler. I’m writing both of you because I’ve got a Malazan question/need for clarification, if you would be so kind, and I figured that running this by a newby and a seasoned vet would let me know if this is a common/shared experience or if I’m just waaay out in left field. The first time I tried to compose this it got really long, so I’m gonna try for succinctness, but as you’ve seen on WoT rereads, I’m kinda long winded and don’t do succinct well. Here goes: I’m confused, and don’t know if I missed clarification in GotM or DG (I’m currently up to Chapt 20 and have read all of the rereads -but stayed away from most of the comments due to my paranoiac fear of moderate to major spoilers- except the most recent one of Chpt 20-21) or if this is something that the series hasn’t explained yet and we’re supposed to have these questions/uncertainties in the back of our minds (in which case, I’m not asking for any spoilers; if you don’t mind, you could just tell me that I’m supposed to be asking these questions or whatever you feel is appropriate and non-spoilery). If Shadowthrone was Emperor Kallanved (and Cotillion was Dancer) and they ascended approximately 11 years ago (as of DG), then how are the Hounds of Shadow ancient, powerful and well known? How could Quick Ben have been a High Priest of Shadow, know all of his Hounds’ names, etc, if Shadowthrone appeared only 11 years ago? How could Kulp (and other mages) be practiced in the use of Meanas if it only had an Ascendant/god in the recent past? And other unnamed and subtle clues that give me the impression that Shadowthrone/Meanas has been worshipped/used by mortals for longer than 10 years. If Shadowthrone (and Cotillion) existed before the Emperor and Dancer, then how were they allowed to become mortals without other Ascendants coming down to meddle, as we’ve been informed Ascendants will do when other Ascendants participate in mortal affairs? I don’t know if I’m being clear or not; please let me know if you don’t get my questions. Thanks for taking the time; I’m really enjoying Malazan, despite the fact that it takes so much time and focus.