Reaper's Gale (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #7)
Steven Erikson
A truly epic fantasy series that has confirmed its author as one of the most original and exciting genre storytellers in years. Erikson’s ‘ Malazan Book of the Fallen ’ has been recognised the world-over by writers, critics and fans alike — in a recent review of The Bonehunters, the sixth chapter in this remarkable tale, the UK’s Interzone magazine hailed it ‘a masterpiece’ and ‘the benchmark for all future works in the field’, while the hugely influential genre website, Ottawa-based SF Site, declared ‘this series has clearly established itself as the most significant work of epic fantasy since Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant’. Now comes Reaper’s Gale — the seventh Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen — and neither Erikson nor the excitement are showing any sign of letting up. Mauled and now cut adrift by the Malazan Empire, Tavore and her now infamous 14th army have landed on the coast of a strange, unknown continent and find themselves facing an even more dangerous the Tiste Edur, a nightmarish empire pledged to serve the Crippled God… A brutal, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, this is fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most thrilling. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Publication Year: 2007
Anyone else having a hard time bridging the gap between how great this series is and being excited about continuing in the story with being a bit burned out on reading another 1000+ page book, with three more to go? Like I'm really enjoying my time with it, but the amount of mental energy it takes to read such a vast web of very detailed storylines to only progress 2% in the book feels like such an uphill battle sometimes
3Your rating:
0Reaper's Gale has so many elements of what I've loved in this series, but there was a lot holding me back from truly loving this. I was so happy to continue the Midnight Tides storyline. I loved the Sengar and Beddict storylines, Tehol and Bugg, the brother dynamics, Rhulad's rule, all of it, and was happy to continue that here. Steve also provides a cutting commentary on empire and greed through the interplay of Letheris, the Tiste Edur, the Bonehunters, and the Awl that is the main strength of Reaper's Gale over other installments. Despite loving a lot of the individual components, I had a hard time getting through this. As always, there were a lot of POVs and jumping around and while I was excited for the convergence of multiple storylines, I was less invested in this book's plot overall. By the end, I couldn't help feeling as though a lot of it was unnecessary, but I'm sure those plot points were secretly just seeds planted for the remaining 3 books. Overall this book felt like it suffered from middle book syndrome despite being book 7 or 10, full of getting the right people to the right places with some occasional battles and confrontations, but nothing resolute. Thinking this one will fall to my 6th favorite of 7 before House of Chains.
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