#Malazan series

[emmalovesfitzloved]

Welcome! These are a few of my favourite things...♡

Bare min starter-pack to get to know a bit about me :)

she/her. 26 y/o lives in the UK.

My favourite hobbies are reading, dreaming, drinking coffee and obsessing over pets.

My favourite movies tv shows: Blue Eye Samurai, LOTR, Arcane, Haunting of Bly Manor/Hill House and the Office.

I work in the legal profession.

My guilty pleasure is reality shows...

I read fanficton of my fav novels every night to sleep and to wake and have for the past decade.

If you like:

Fitzloved (Realm of the Elderlings; Of Cats and Closed Doors)

Shadowhunter Chronicles;

18th 19th century classical literature;

Mauraders & Drarry Era (specifically, jegulus & wolfstar, rosekiller etc.);

All Souls series.

Relevant Posts/Essays ͙͡★

My Love Letter to OCACD and Fitzloved

Magnus Bane is the best Downworlder

Wessa is the Best!!!!!

Tessa Tessa Tessa

Ranking of SHC Novels

My response to Booktok turning the book community into fast fashion

Top 5 in the Shadowhunter Characters, Ships

I also love to make moodboards for the All Souls universe by Deborah Harkness which you can find: here !

Please let's be moots and friends :D Have a lovely day scrolling 😊

Gorgeous art by pandyals_art on instagram

[ertrunkenerwassergeist]

Can you tell us about flow laying? Like what are some of the cards used and what do they mean, how it's decided there should do one and who should be invited to it?

Do I have more info about flow laying? Oh boy, do I have more info about flow laying. (I have hand drawn charts!)

(This will be all over the place and very long, but please, bear with me.)

First off, the name. Why is it called flow laying? Well, because the cards literally read the flow of power travelling through the world. That way they can give information about the past and present, while they can only make guesses about the future. (Though most of the time they're very good guesses.)

Each card represents a person, a being, a concept, or a seat of power. Like the Black Ships represent the concept of unsuspecting danger drawing closer.

To your last question: In the case of The Games We Play, Rhea - as the owner of the cards - made the decision to lay them. (The reason was the too long and too cold winter) There's a preliminary reading upon which Rhea decides which people need to be present. It's an art form to read the cards and interpret who represents who and who to invite.

There are three big categories the cards fall into:

Active cards, sleeping cards and dead cards.

Active cards are depicting those beings/people/concepts which are actively part of what you want to know. Sleeping cards depict those who don't/can't actively play a part, but are still a factor to be considered. And dead cards are remnants that are still important, but are quite literally dead.

The next biggest categories are the domains in which the cards take their places. There are two of them. The Greater Domains and the Lesser Domains. Which Domain (group of cards) falls into which is dependent on infulence and power, so there's a certain amount of fluidity. Though it is considered a Big Deal when a Domain changes place.

Under the Greater Domains fall The Hunt, The Astrals, The Night, The Day and The Wilds. The Lesser Domains contain The Fire, The Black and the Royal Domain. There's also a group of neutral cards that don't owe their allegiance to one Domain or another, so they make a group of their own.

How many cards there are exactly constantly changes and depends on what the person/people laying the cards want to know. (The Greater Domain of The Astrals is the most stable at 30 cards. The six Astrals and the 24 messengers.)

The Domains of The Hunt and The Wilds represent those belonging to the Wooden Throne, which represents Galahd. The card Wooden Throne itself is considered neutral, since it doesn't belong to one Domain or another.

The Astrals are pretty self explanatory, I think.

The Night and The Day represent the Sister Goddesses and their servants. (Etro, for example, it the Queen of The Night. She is a sleeping card, because she cannot actively intervene in anything going on. Eos is the Queen of The Day. She is a dead card for obvious reasons.)

The Black is the starscourge with Ardyn as the Herold. He switches from a sleeping card to an active one, and it makes people in the kow very nervous.

The Royal Domain represents the roayal houses of Lucis and Tenebrae. The King is the king of Lucis, the Queen the queen of Tenebrae. There's also cards called the Shield (Amicitia), and the General (currently Cor).

The Fire is an interesting one because no one is quite sure what that one is about. It slowly cropped up over the span of decades and is mostly made up of sleeping cards with the odd active one.

Neutral cards other than the Black Ships and the Wooden Throne would be the Gates (Death) and the Chained Heart (the Crystal/Light/healing).

[kleioscanvas]

Blend and Picker, retired marines of the Malazan Empire and proud owners of a former Elder God Temple turned tavern

[angelsonthesideline]

“If all honest observation ends up sounding critical, is it the honesty you reject, or the act of observation?”

- Steven Erikson

The Crippled God - The Final Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen (Sechul Lath - page 617)

[chloristoflora]

There was a long moment when none of the three spoke, then Delum added another stick to the fire. "It may be," he said in a low voice, "that there are no heroes among the Sunyd."

Bairoth laughed. "True. Among all the Teblor, there are but three heroes. Will that be enough, do you think?"

"Three is better than two," Karsa snapped, "but if need be, two will suffice."

"I pray to the Seven, Karsa Orlong, that your mind ever remain free of doubt."

Karsa realized that his hands had closed on the grip of his sword. "Ah, that's your thought, then. The son of the father. Am I being accused of Synyg's weakness?"

Bairoth studied Karsa, then slowly shook his head. "Your father is not weak, Karsa Orlong. If there are doubts to speak of here and now, they concern Pahlk and his heroic raid to Silver Lake."

Karsa was on his feet, the bloodwood sword in his hands.

Bairoth made no move. "You do not see what I see," he said quietly. "There is the potential within you, Karsa Orlong, to be your father's son. I lied earlier when I said I prayed that you would remain free of doubt. I pray for the very opposite, Warleader. I pray that doubt comes to you, that it tempers you with its wisdom. Those heroes in our legends, Karsa Orlong, they were terrible, they were monsters, for they were strangers to uncertainty."

House of Chains, by Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen #4)

[ultimate-swordsmanship-bracket]

ROUND 1 MATCH 6: Clare vs Anomander Rake

"The Fastest Sword Of All Claymores"... vs the hundreds-of-thousands-of-years-old wielder of a sword that devours souls!

VS

Summaries under the cut:

Clare is a super-strong and super-fast warrior with advanced combat training, known as a Claymore. Out of all the Claymores she is the only one to have chosen to become one. The Claymores spend their lives fighting man-eating monsters and are part-monster themselves. Her superstrength allows her to wield her heavy claymore sword single-handed.

Anomander Rake is the leader of the Tiste Andii, powerful unaging beings known as the Children of Darkness. Rake is 7ft tall and his black sword Dragnipur is 6ft long with a dragon's skull pommel. He is both a master swordsman and master of dark magic. He once visited the island of the Seguleh, warriors who view eye contact as a challenge to a duel (though he was unaware of this): he ended up fighting several duels with the various warriors who challenged him and accidentally rose to the rank of seventh greatest fighter in their society. The only reason he hasn't become a god is that he hates being worshipped and frequently has to discourage people from doing so. His sword emits chains made of smoke when unsheathed, and even when sheathed creates a sense of terror in those who look upon it; the souls of everyone killed by the sword are imprisoned inside it. Rake can also turn into a black dragon.

[fiddles-ifs]

hi, i just wanted to say that the king's physician demo desc. sounds very intriguing. i will definitely check it out the moment i hear about it coming out. and also -- have you read the black company's chronicles by glen cook per chance? cause i will lose my shit if you had (in a good way)👍

I haven't, actually!! One of the other bartenders at work recommended it to me, so it's on my reading list!

[optiwashere]

I stopped reading Gardens of the Moon after 250~ pages because frequent character switches got confusing and I couldn't get a solid idea of the magic system. Does it ever get better?

I liked the the prologue, but I feel like they just dropped me into middle of 50 different powers scheming against each other after that. Also the coin is spinning.

TL;DR — This is a series that I love but really struggle to recommend.

Anon, it took me... ten years (?) to finish that book. I still think it's pretty terrible even having read the whole main series. So, I get where you're coming from lol.

That said, the writing quality immediately skyrockets when you hit Deadhouse Gates due to the fact that he wrote that book so many years after the first. But the books fly around a massive world and constantly switch around POVs, so...

If you don't like frequent POV switches, then you won't like the series. Flat out. There's something like 450 POV characters, but some of those brief POVs are some of the most powerful. Some of the characters are really high up in my faves of all time. Onos T'oolan, Tavore & Felisin Paran, Beak... Samar Dev??? Korlat!!! Itkovian, my beloved... there's some amazing characters mixed in with some truly awful ones.

And if you're someone that likes hard magic systems, you won't like Warrens. I don't like hard magic — when a book touts its "magic system" first, I'm immediately negatively biased towards it through no fault of the writer in 99% of cases — so it worked for me.

Pros:

Really broad worldbuilding with lots of cultural influences that aren't Western blended in with traditional Western fantasy.

Erikson has an excellent prose style later on (yeah, I know, it's very difficult to believe considering Gardens) and he has a very elegant way of expressing postmodernist ideas.

Extremely varied women characters (hell, Tattersail in Book 1 is already pretty unusual, sadly, in fantasy for being a fat character who's noted as extremely attractive — and Erikson doesn't stop at her when it comes to hot fat women, what a king.)

My favorite withdrawn, depressed, badass, ruthless lesbian commander character of all time, Tavore Paran.

Very strong messages about compassion and what it means to do "the right thing" in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Despite largely dealing with militaries and soldiers, the books are really about kindness, loss, and love, as well as finding the space within oneself to reject the notion of unconquerable despair.

Cons:

Erikson has, like, four character archetypes and they all blend together (barring a few standout characters.)

The worldbuilding is so broad that it sometimes feels pretty shallow.

Erikson loves using excessive epithets (the soldier, the ex-priest, etc.) and it's wild that those made it through professional editing.

Sometimes, Erikson likes his own prose style so much that we have to listen to identical characters internally monologue over identical woes and dramas. I love the Tiste Andii, but holy shit...

There are so many cases of plotting being hidden from the reader in transparent ways. Conversations where two people will refuse to elaborate their thoughts where they often cut off one another with inane, oblique reasons so that the reader is left in the lurch in a way that is often personally unsatisfying.

Possibly neutral or possibly a con, but there's a trillion content warnings scattered all through the books that are actually really, really serious (lots of sexual assault, and in several of those cases it's either completely unnecessary or actively detrimental to the story IMO.)

Having said all of that, I'll leave you with some quotes for why I still love the series despite its (to me) many flaws:

Open to them your hand to the shore, watch them walk into the sea. Press upon them all they need, see them yearn for all they want. Gift to them the calm pool of words, watch them draw the sword. Bless upon them the satiation of peace, see them starve for war. Grant them darkness and they will lust for light. Deliver to them death and hear them beg for life. Beget life and they will murder your kin. Be as they are and they see you different. Show wisdom and you are a fool. The shore gives way to the sea. And the sea, my friends, Does not dream of you. —Reaper's Gale

"No tyrant could thrive where every subject says no. The tyrant thrives when the first fucking fool salutes." —Toll the Hounds

Against a broken heart, even absurdity falters. Because words fall away. A dialogue of silence. That deafens. & The failure of hope has a name: it is called suffering. —The Crippled God

[ulfrsmal]

challenge -> you’re starring in a movie with the last person you saved in your camera roll and the last song you listened to is the title

Thank you for the tag @alexagirlie!

Not tagging anyone cause I'm in a hurry lmao, but this was fun! Feels appropriate to have that song too!

[christophernolan]

So anyway taking a break from my stormlight reread to start the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. It’s been on my TBR for a year….

[rivensbane]

march is the month of big chonkers tbh

[sharaishvalda]

I need to hurry up and finish Malazan or my tbr is never gonna end

[joncronshawauthor]

What's the Difference Between Grimdark and Dark Fantasy?

Ah, the world of fantasy literature. A realm brimming with noble heroes, wondrous magic, and epic battles fought for the very fate of existence... But let’s face it, sunshine and rainbows can get a tad boring after a while. Enter dark fantasy and grimdark, the genres where shadows are more than welcome, and heroes sometimes turn out to be not-so-heroic after all. So, let’s take a macabre…

[youaremysunshine-court]

Ice started the saga of the seven suns like 3 times now and every time I get a third of the way through the first book my brain asks me would you rather be reading red rising or hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

[chloristoflora]

Torvald interjected in a soft murmur. "That your mind's lost on the trail or something. Is that what I have observed? You babble meaningless words, sing childhood songs and the like. All right, fine. I'll play along, on one condition."

"What condition?"

"That whenever you manage to escape, you free me as well. A small thing, you might think, but I assure you-"

"Very well. I, Karsa Orlong of the Uryd, give my word."

"Good. I like the formality of that vow. Sounds like it's real."

"It is. Do not mock me, else I kill you once I have freed you."

"Ah, now I see the hidden caveat. I must twist another vow from you, alas-"

The Teblor growled with impatience, then relented and said, "I, Karsa Orlong, shall not kill you once I have freed you, unless given cause."

"Explain the nature of those causes-"

"Are all Daru like you?"

"It needn't be an exhaustive list. 'Cause' being, say, attempted murder, betrayal, and mockery of course. Can you think of any others?"

"Talking too much."

"Well, with that one we're getting into very grey, very murky shades, don't you think? It's a matter of cultural distinctions-"

"I believe Darujhistan shall be the first city I conquer-"

"I've a feeling the Malazans will get there first, I'm afraid. Mind you, my beloved city has never been conquered, despite its being too cheap to hire a standing army. The gods not only look down on Darujhistan with a protective eye, they probably drink in its taverns. In any case - oh, shhh, someone's coming."

House of Chains, by Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen #4)

[rafyki]

Rereading Dancer's lament for the third time and really, the scene at Burn's festival is still the best and funniest scene of the book