u/retro15920

So I've been having a shitty time as of late. I read wot some time ago where i was also having a shitty time and it helped me a lot back then. Ive been trying to find some fantasy series to just be lost in a story for just some time every day and just forget everything else for a while.

Ive tried many series but i just cant find something that just sucks me in. So I just started rereading some parts of wot. I was rereading the last battle and i got to the chapter after last battle and got hit with this line again:

We are reborn, Rand thought, so we can do better the next time.

So do better.

A lot of people say veins of gold is their favourite chapter and i see why, but man this chapter just hits breaks me. Tam voice telling him to 'let go' of all the things rand had been holding to for so long. This shit means something to me.

I guess rands character just resonates me like no other, his journey is the most complete ive ever read and nothing has come close since. So i wanted to ask, what chapters or lines have remained with you guys the longest?

So I finished the first malazan book last night, and I have thoughts. Firstly the positives -

I generally like the character work in the book, I liked the darujhistan set of characters as their motivations were more clear to me. I could understand what they were doing and why, and if I had to pick a favourite it would be Rallick, he had what felt like somewhat of a complete arc and I could just connect more with him than others. The whiskeyjack crew I did not connect with as I just couldn't figure them out. It felt like Erikson just didn't want to reveal anything about their past and current motivations. It felt like Erikson just did not want to let me in their heads and as a result I felt disconnected by them.

Of course my favourite character is daddy rake, he just has that presence in every scene he is in and I have to say his sword has the coolest concept ever. The fact that its so dreaded that people would rather just be killed in any other way then to be attached to the chains. Also I've heard rake is only in 1 or 2 other books is that right?

The strongest aspect of the book is of course the world. I don't think I've read a fantasy book that feels more lively than this. There is rich history to everything, characters talk to each other like they have lived here all their lives rather than giving exposition every second page. It was a nice change coming from reading stormlight which is so exposition heavy. So many different races and a huge magic system which I don't understand at all lol. I love the scale and wanna know everything about the world eventually.

Also the overall pacing is pretty good, Erikson doesn't waste my time and every scene feels like it has some point and serves some purpose.

Now the negatives -

Before reading the last 100 pages i didn't think this part would be long, but here I am.

When i first read the eye of the world(first book of wheel of time) I thought to myself that was a pretty confusing ending and I didn't really understand what happened and why. Well garden of the moons ending makes it look like a masterpiece to me lol.

I'm sorry I could not understand like half the things that happened in this ending. Erikson spent so long in setting this ending up the entire book, every 10 pages i would have a character say 'shit is about to go down in the end' and well shit did go down, it was a confused cluttered mess where nothing makes sense to me.

What actually happened to Raest, like is this a reading comprehension problem on my part? One moment he was fighting and then paran was transported there, absorbed some power up and did like something to raest? 5 pages later character are declaring he is defeated. Mammot was possessed by some jaghut spirit and died, the master of assassins was defeated by bricks and oh there also a big ass tree house in the estate suddenly. Like what is happening???? I did like parts of the ending, the rallick duel was great, adjuncts death was sad but handled well. Daddy rakes fight in the end was badass and I loved it.

I knew malazan would be a hard read I know its reputation, but I actually did not have a hard time following the book until the end. I get that the characters and magic system will be unveiled slowly and I'm all for it. But if you are going to do so much set up for an ending where I have no idea what is going on then its just not worth it to me.

Overall 5/10. I did overall like it but endings matter a lot to me. I will read the next 2 books at least as the third is pretty well regarded. Please tell me Erikson gets better at endings and also do tell me if this is a me problem and everyone else thought the ending was fine.