World Famous Comics: Toll the Hounds: Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Toll the Hounds: Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
By: Steven Erikson Publisher: Tor Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Tor Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 832 Publication Date: September 16, 2008 Release Date: September 16, 2008
In Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, it is said that love and death shall arrive dancing. It is summer and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins skulk in alleyways, but the quarry has turned and the hunters become the hunted.
Hidden hands pluck the strings of tyranny like a fell chorus. While the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of Hounds...And in the distant city of Black Coral, where rules Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, ancient crimes awaken, intent on revenge. It seems Love and Death are indeed about to arrive...hand in hand, dancing.
A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, Toll the Hounds is the new chapter in Erikson's monumental series - epic fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most exciting.
Another Solid Entry I will say this first off, the book starts slow. But if you have read any of his works, that goes without saying. Outside of Gardens of the Moon, they all pretty much build up and up to a grand earth shattering climax.
I thought this was a better work than Reaper's Gale, Midnight Tides and Deadhouse Gates (which is probably my most disliked of the books) and a bit short of the others.
Many of the old characters are back and better than ever in this epic. Rake, Gruntle, the Rope, Karsa amongst others. Erikson weaves the tales of all the characters with his usual aplomb.
True, at times, the book could flag some in its pacing (its 832 pages for crying out loud), but the last 275 pages of the book more than make up for it. That portion of it alone, makes it a worthwhile read.
In the end it has everything you have come to expect in one of his books. It has tragedy aplenty, it has passion, triumph, tribulations, it pretty much runs the gamut.
I would give it a solid 4.5 stars and recommend it for any who has already read the previous books. For those who haven't, go back to Gardens of the Moon. You'll be hopelessly lost otherwise.
Another fantastic chapter in an amazing series Regardless of your taste in genre, Erikson's ability to develop literally dozens of characters, each with different and fully realized personalities, and place them into world's and cultures as vast and complex as our own makes this book worth getting to know. It's an insight into laughter and despair, hope and futility...it's an insight into our own lives in a way that leaves you entertained and wanting more.
For Whom the Hounds TOll Toll the Hounds as previously mentioned in other reviews is a long book. Three fourths of which is character exposition framing a conclusion worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster.
The series comes full circle to where it started in Gardens of the Moon with many of the same characters and some surprising reveals. One thing about Steven Erikson is he is not afraid for his characters to die, both mortals and deities. What sets him apart even more is that Death seems to be a transient thing (no spoilers here).
I would have rated this higher if not for the length of the first part where I have to admit I skipped through the dialogues of the lesser/minor characters. But definitely a must buy for the serious fantasy reader.
If you can pick out what he actually is saying... I'm a proud owner of all of the books set in the Malazan universe and a fierce partisan that promotes them tirelessly. However, I can't help but feel that this latest addition to the series is not quite up to par with previous books.
One of my main gripes with the book has to be its languorous writing style. I'm used to Erikson doing this to some extent and have always enjoyed parsing apart the occasional paragraphs where he has truly embellished. However, now it feels like every second paragraph requires a second read through and it really slows the book down in terms of reader weariness. This had the effect of obfuscating the plot unnecessarily.
That criticism aside, I did enjoy the book. Just not as much as I would have without the unnecessary fluorishes.
The Malazan Saga continues on...but with a struggle...3.5 Stars This is the 8th book in Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen" series.
Of all the books in the Malazan series, this is, without a doubt, my least favorite...I will explain
First, the pros;
Overall, this series is epic fantasy at its best; in fact 829 pages in this book alone. There is intrigue, magic, unexpected enemies and friends and even some erotic moments; not to mention the usual backstabbing and clandestine plotting. In this book we are reacquainted with some old friends from previous tales, e.g. Cutter, Druiker, Karso Orlong (Toblakai warrior), Anomander Rake and last but not least, the ever loquacious, forever famished, mound of round, Kruppe.
Erikson's strength is his use of prose to describe people and their surrounding, all the while weaving a tale his characters come alive in; this latest installment is no exception. However, this may be the first in all the books of this series that may be deemed somewhat overwritten, mainly because of some of these perceived strengths. Which leads me into commenting on...
The cons;
1.)As with previous Erikson works, the book starts off by given brief glimpses of several different developing stories. The problem here, in my opinion, is that unlike previous books, most of these story lines do not really develop into something resembling a plot until well after the first 200+ pages.
2.)In addition to the slow development, the writing seems disjointed and difficult to follow; I had to almost 'study' sections to try to figure out what Erikson had his characters doing and saying.
3.)I found I became 'weary' of trying to interpret the vague, unclear conversations and happenings that occurred through out most of the entire novel. Eventually I stopped trying to figure out the difficult passages and just concentrated on sections that I found easy to understand; I don't think I'd have finished the book otherwise.
4.)I never thought I'd ever hear myself saying this about an Erikson book; I found myself somewhat bored by some of the dragged out, confusing descriptions and tales; almost to the point of skimming them.
5.)And last, I can't remember the last time I've been so happy to have finally finished a book.
Conclusion:
An intriguing Malazan tale that had potential, but unfortunately got mired down with a sluggish beginning, middle and end, making it a 'difficult' read. That is not to say there weren't some great moments in this book, because there were, many in fact; and this was my main reason for rating the book as high as I did.
I seems to me that Erikson has 'stumbled' with this book; he knows what he's talking about, but I can't say the same for me. I wonder about other readers; I'm I the only one to notice this tendency towards 'unreadability'?
I hope Erikson gets back on track with his next installment; one more book like this and he may begin to lose some of his loyal followers.
Difficult to rate this book, so I settled for a 3.5 and rounded it up to a 4.0 (rather than down to a 3.0 ) because I decided to give Erikson the benefit of the doubt...for this one.
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