logo Sign In

Malazan Book of the Fallen (full spoilers)

Author
Time

I hope this thread gains traction.

Wanting to read an epic fantasy book series I found a few posts online praising this as perhaps the best fantasy book series, so I spent the last five months reading the main series plus the first three Novels of the Malazan Empire and few short stories. Holy shit! This is one massive book series, and right now I’m feeling burned out and have chosen to take some time off.

Let me start by talking about what I liked. The best part for me was the themes of the relationship between the human and the divine, the remnants of civilisations long lost and forgotten and the grand manifestations of magic and other fantastic forces, but there were also several things I didn’t like, for instance setting up events that ultimately lead nowhere, storylines that are left unresolved, and the most boring part for me were the military campaigns.

Considering how well the books have sold and how critically acclaimed they are I have to say I’m surprised there’s not a single pop culture reference anywhere and were it not for a random online comment I would be completely unaware of the series.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I read the first two a couple years ago and liked them, but got diverted by other things I wanted to read/life in general before getting any further. I’d like to go back and read the rest of them when I’m done with grad school and have the time for 1000-page epics again.

If you like Malazan, you should check out R. Scott Bakker’s Second Apocalypse books. I haven’t finished those either, but the ones I did get through had some similar themes. They’re set in a much more grounded world with subtler magic and kind of a Homeric/Hellenistic vibe, but they scratch a lot of the same itches.