Too many Hood-damned POV's in Return of the Crimson Guard!
I’ve marked this post with NO SPOILERS, but there is light information about POV's from the first two chapters of Return of the Crimson Guard.
I’m on my first read-through of the books. I probably have one of the oddest reading orders among new Malazan fans, since I read Night of Knives while in the midst of Gardens of the Moon. I also binge-read all the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach stories before I got to their part in The Book of the Fallen.
To be honest, this order really worked for me, and I think I ended up liking Night of Knives a lot more because of it.
That said, I’m now reading Reaper’s Gale and trying to read Return of the Crimson Guard at the same time. The reason is that The Bonehunters left me wanting more from many of the plotlines set up in that book, most of which play a part in ICE's book.
So, my story has brought me here, where there are three continents’ worth of characters floating around in my head. Crimson Guard is open right now in front of me on page 189.
And why does chapter 2 of Return of the Crimson Guard have to include 10 POV characters and be 100 pages long?
A lot of the storylines already feel a little pointless, except for providing information on “what’s happening on different frontiers of the empire.” I think Kyle’s story is the core narrative, and it’s a bit of a shame that I also have to follow random Untan nobles, harbour guards, Li Heng defenders, Seti warlords, the Wickan Plains, Ereko’s buddy-cop journey, and Urko Crust’s brief appearances.
Instead of gradually becoming invested in the story, I keep thinking, “Another one?” whenever a new POV character - and with them, a new plotline - is introduced. Taken by themselves, each of these threads could be interesting, but right now it just feels like too much.
Do you have any tips on how to approach the reading so I can better enjoy (for lack of a better term) the “fruitcake” aspect of this book?
In terms of quality, I see Erikson’s books as not just some of the best in the genre, but among the best in all North American literature, while Esslemont’s books feel more like conventional fantasy novels with strong world-building (though they still deliver occasional Malazan-style moral gut punches -- none of which I’ve encountered yet in RotCG). This is not to be taken as (another) hate-post on ICE's books. I really enjoyed Night of Knives and I'm also enjoying my time in Return of the Crimson Guard, especially when I'm with what actually feels like the "main*"-*main characters.