Reaper's Gale: Book Seven of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
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18 Customer Reviews Posted
- Brilliant!! Erikson keeps it coming!
- Another fantastic installment in Erikson's epic series. My personal favorite of the series is Memories of Ice, but Reaper's Gale comes very close to taking that spot. So many plot lines through the previous books start to come together here. Erikson's mastery of the military angle of his fantasy is highlighted in Reaper's Gale. The descriptions of the Malazan Marines invasion of and progress through Lether is some of the best military fantasy writing I have seen.
Despite its length (1260 pages for mmpb edition), this book flies by. You will not be disappointed. - 2008-10-31, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Complex but worthwhile
- As Erikson continues this series his stories become far more complex than the previous volumes. While not an easy, light fantasy the rewards of paying attention to everything from the poetry at the beginning of each chapter to the nuances of the characters (the many,many characters) makes the effort worthwhile. When first considering reading this series, I read a reveiw of the first book that described this body of work as a tapestry and find that it is an accurate description.
It might be an easier series of plotlines to follow if each chapter was consolidated from the many shorter scenes, but as presented it is a marvelous read. The depth of the characters is phenomemal and the story continues. I have just received my copy of Toll of the Hounds and look forward to as many more of this series as Mr. Erikson cares to write. - 2008-10-01, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Main Storyline Elements Strong, New Storylines are Filler
- The main storylines of this book following the situation in Letheras between the Edur and Letherii as well as the guerilla war waged by the Bonehunters when they hit the continent at about the halfway point are excellent.
That being said, is there anyone that can justify the Twilight/Shake storyline or the Redmask/Awl war as being anything more than fat to satisfy Tor's need to publish obscenely long fantasy novels?
The fifth major storyline, involving Silcas Ruin, Seren, Udinaas et al seems a bit more necessary as we push closer to the truth of what these ascendants did to the dragons way back when, but did anyone actually find any of these characters likable?
And for god's sake, can we stop inventing storylines where a character such as Quick Ben may be needed for something near the end of the book, so we are forced to spend 800 pages watching them wander a featureless, barren realm until the story needs them? This happens far too often in Erikson's books as he cannot let go of certain characters, and I am convinced that the vagueness surrounding the idea of 'ascendancy' is deliberate so that he can bring dead characters back at will.
Any chance that Toll the Hounds can focus on the main story without having to invent 300 or 400 pages of filler? Imagine, a Malazan book that wraps up in about 500 or 600 pages. - 2008-09-02, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Not the best in the series, but still decent.
- Steven Erikson, Reaper's Gale (Tor, 2007)
Erikson finally ties the Malazan and Letherii storylines together in Reaper's Gale, the seventh entry in his Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Reaper's Gale takes place a year or so after the end of The Bonehunters, when the Letherii have grown somewhat complacent under Edur rule, and the Bonehunters have sailed for Letheras in order to avenge the wiping out of an entire Malazan island's population (the why of this is explained at one point in the book). As well, some of the rogue elements get tied back in; it seems everything's happening on Letheras these days.
As always, to read an Erikson book is to gradually get lost in the story, so totally immersed that one forgets to do things like sleep and eat. Still, this isn't Erikson's strongest work, as has been pointed out by many others; to me, however, that doesn't make it any less worth reading. Erikson has created an incredible world here, and he knows how to lay out the pieces to come up with a wonderful story. If you're already invested in the series, this one's an obvious must; if you haven't yet discovered the brilliance of Erikson, the first book in the series is Gardens of the Moon, and you should start there. **** - 2008-07-18, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- A quick hint for the whole series
- For those of you who have only been introduced to the Malazan Empire through American publishers, you should know that you can order these same books through amazon.uk.co (you get the books from Europe). Erikson's eighth (8th) book has been released and like all the others it is fantastic. I strongly urge you to order the books through the European sellers, mainly because the content has not been as edited or watered down as the American versions. If you compare his Gardens of the Moon through the UK publisher to TOR there is a significant difference in book length. He's a fantastic author. His books and Ian Cameron Esslemont's books come out ahead of time through the European vendors and are not as diluted. Plus you are not paying $65.00 for a book in the U.S. when you can pay much less through the UK site. I know that this is not a book review (they are all awesome) as much as it is advice for you to check out other amazon vendors. Sorry, I really enjoy his books, I live in NY and I always order and pre-order through amazon.uk.co to get the books ahead of time and to not have them watered down.
- 2008-07-11, 0 of 2 people found this review helpful, Rated:
