Just done with the Big 10. Thought I'd leave some thoughts while they're still fresh

The very short version of this is - enjoyed it. Will probably re-read it again at some point. Will struggle to recommend it wholeheartedly to others.

A little about my background coming into this. Like many of you, I tried GotM multiple times before it 'stuck'. 3 times, in fact - once when I was 16 (fresh from having finished WoT and Malazan was 'new'), once when I was 22 (fresh from having finished ASOIAF and KKC) and then now in my mid-30s. I did a mix of audiobook and Kindle and don't think I'd say there's a meaningful difference between them - though the change in narrator is jarring at first.

I'd call myself fairly familiar with the fantasy genre though I've soured on it a little in recent years for reasons I'm not sure I can articulate beyond becoming a middle-aged grump.

Naturally this sub consists of mostly superfans of the series so I should warn you - this series has put me in a position where I'm going to have a hard time saying something good about this series without immediately adding a corresponding negative and vice versa. Let me try anyway:

1. World-building. It's what drew me to the series in the beginning. In some ways, the depth of the world-building is simply masterful. The interweaving races, and their ancient histories and bitter feuds - incredibly well done and it feels so very real. And yet - I can't help but feel like a lot happened a very long time ago and a lot happened fairly recently, but very little seemed to have happened in between. And that feeling often gives me the feeling of the world feeling a little hollow. There are characters that are millennia old acting on grudges and motivations that are at least that old and there are characters much younger doing the same but in my mind, there is often a throughline between events of the ancient past, the more recent past and the present and I'm missing the middle. That said, culturally the world feels alive and real, the cultures distinct - the Malazan empire, the Letherii, the Bolkando, Darujhistan (which feels like it should be part of Seven Cities, but isn't) and so on. The world feels big enough that even with all places we did see, I can sense enough mystery around the places we didn't visit to feel that sense of intrigue

2. Plot. So much of so many of these books are 'characters lost in the wilderness, trudging along till they get to where the action is / will be'. I suspect this is a consequence of each book hinging on the big convergence - it's hard to get everyone in one place all at the exact same time organically, so some people need to get stuck in traffic, so to speak. But the examples stand out and there's at least one storyline in each book. To boot:

- GotM - Lorn and Tool set out to free Raest
- DG - the hunt for the Path
- MoI - the treks to Capustan / Corral
- HoC - Karsa's wandering journey to get a horse in the second half
- MT - Think this one might be the only one without one that drags - but the Sengar brothers quest for the sword and the conquest of Lether both sort of count
- TBH - Post Yghatan marching, Hedge wandering
- RG - Silchas and the gang roam the mountains and KG. From here on out it started to feel egregious
- TtH - Karsa and gang wander their way to Darujhistan
- DoD - BH march to the Nahruk's tummies + snake
- TCG - literally the glass desert + snake

Aside from that, the convergences themselves kind of vary in quality for me. Some are incredible - loved DG, TtH, DoD and TCG all stand out for me. For others, I often walked away with the sense of 'I have no idea what just happened but I guess it all worked out?' The magic is opaque - clearly intentionally so - but that also means it gives off a very 'if the vibes are right, it'll work' sense. Sometimes the magic just feels like a cop-out, like in HoC's ending - I have no real idea why Raraku decide it identified as an ocean again but it was cool to see, so I just went with it. Likewise for the ending - I was like 'I'm glad that worked out, but I don't know who did what and why'. I'm sure a closer second read will slow a lot of this, I'm just not sure if it's worth it right now

Some plotlines, I just straight up did not understand and don't appreciate. The dying god (please just fucking die already, no one cares about you), everything involving Clip (no one likes a tryhard), Tiste Andii depression got annoying after a while (just do douse yourself in sugar and liquor like the rest of us, this isn't hard) and I don't see L'oric's value.

3. Style. Generally a fan of how well SE writes such a wide range of characters from the respectable and noble to the despicable and deranged and balances tragedy with humor. That said, I love his depiction of non-magical or limited magic battles - like DG, or even large parts of TBH and DoD/TCG. When the magic gets too involved, he loses me quickly.

Sometimes the tweaking of tropes gives a 'subversion of readers' expectations' vibe - like Trull just getting offed randomly. Like yeah, shit happens in real life, but this isn't real life and I don't see why you had to do that. It was annoying more than anything cos it just made me wonder what was the point of investing in his character at all.

My biggest gripe is the philosophical / intellectual tint that so many characters have. Like at some point, it started getting on my nerves - yes, humans bad, nature good, but also everyone else also bad, nature too etc. Like characters started to feel a little like self inserts for diatribes that people in SE's life didn't want to listen to anymore. And it felt odds when random, barely literate soldiers started deep philosophizing. Don't get me wrong, everyone's allowed a good ol intellectual rub n tug but when so many characters start doing it, I find myself rolling my eyes "here we go again with the deep thinking"

4. On the ending. I think the last couple of books will stay with me for a while. I find myself coming back to the idea of what unwitnessed compassion is and what it means. On one hand, I can't really explain to myself, much less anyone else, why the Bonehunters and their allies did what they did - they owed the CG nothing, and there was nothing in it for them even at the very end. And on one hand, that makes it all feel empty like they did it because authorial intent made them. But on the other hand, isn't that what made them so special? That of all the characters, that group was the only one willing to sacrifice themselves in return for nothing. Yes, I think it'll take up some brain space for a while to chew on that. I'm glad that Fiddler and remain BBs got a reasonably happy ending though I'm puzzled that Korlat/WJ fate got so much of the epilogue's 'screentime'

I do think I'll eventually get around to the other books in the universe. But I'm not in any rush to do so. I finished these books in about 11 months and it's almost all I've been reading in that time so a palate cleanse is probably in order.

Thanks for reading my little spiel! I'll leave you with my rankings of the books:

- Midnight Tides: didn't mind the location change and found it a nice and tight tragic tale of the Sengars and the empire of Lether

- Toll the Hounds: really enjoyed this from start to finish. Actually loved having Kruppe as a narrator - think audiobook works really well here - and what an ending

- Deadhouse Gates: loved the Chain of Dogs, not as much of a fan of Fidder's journey but the strength of the Chain of Dogs pulls this high up, especially the ending

- The Bonehunters: loved Yghatan, didn't really dig Malaz City as much but still solid overall

- The Crippled God: the finale didn't disappoint - storylines got wrapped up here and SE really landed the plane well, I'd say

- House of Chains: loved Karsa's story from the start and the introduction of the Bonehunters. Nice way to wrap up the end of the whirlwind too (sort of wrap it up anyway)

- Memories of Ice: Loved the Grey Swords, especially Itkovian and Gruntle. Great cast of characters all around. Had a little bit of the '2edgy4me' vibe with all the cannibalism (clearly not a sustainable form of governance, Pannion) but enough great setpieces with Capustan and Corral to work with

- Dust of Dreams: wanted to put this higher just because of Draconus but honestly I'm blanking on what happened in this book aside from the ending. Barghast politics and culture kind of bored me and I thought Tool was being a real idiot for most of the book, which made it worse when others bore the cost of his naivete

- Reaper's Gale: eh. Too much Clip, Silchas kind of ruined it for me too. Karsa vs Rhulad was nice though. And it features my absolute favorite scene in this whole series - Quick Ben and Hedge no scoping three Ancient dragons (you guys seriously lived for 1000s of years, plotted for ages, just to die to an insane mage and an arguably insane-r sapper?)

- Garden of the Moon: suffers a bit too much of early series wonkiness in my view. It reads a little like the pilot of a TV show that the creators weren't sure would get a full season. Like once the TV show gets picked up, the characters change slightly and the plots get more nuanced and interwoven. Not a bad book though