I just started and wanted to hear wether it was worth it

I got halfway through the eighth book out of the ten in the series before life got too busy and I had to stop, but I really loved it. The first book is pretty rough going because Erikson kinda just throws you straight into a huge world with a ton of different characters, factions, cultures, history, etc., but if you get past the initial filter its relatively smooth sailing. I find that the majority of fans (me included) find the second book to be where the series really starts to click.

Once it really gets going I'd describe it as a geopolitics simulator with a healthy dose of philosophical musing and lots of archeology/anthropology.

Do the plotlines ever merge from previous books

Yes, from where I left off it seemed like the main plotlines from previous books were all either converged or starting to converge.

Currently on my first read of the series & on The Bonehunters
Absolutely love it. It’s so complex & even confusing af but makes me appreciate it even more. Keeps the mind going lol
I was using the google doc companion for the first 5 books. Helped a lot !

link to doc?

Restarted again. Left of on ch. 5 of the first book lmao.

I followed along with this website tor.com/series/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen when I did my initial reading of the series which I found really helpful. If you're gonna use it, don't read Bill's commentary since he's a re-reader so he does talk about overarching series themes and foreshadowing.

I've had a google doc since I began reading it last year:docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GLRmiaFcxe_cGc93ckE5UItRq5rYsfeU0BhvqcaNq9E/edit#slide=id.g310a86df92_1_18

Also spoils a bit in regards to whose important and whatnot, but very helpful.

It’s that confusing?

in

At times yes but I wouldn’t let that discourage you. At the time I posted that I was only on the 6th book. After have finished the series it all adds up.

Greatest series of all time

Been making progress, not as much as I want because I'm also reading the Stormlight Archives, but this fire.

I recommend this podcast along your read through. Each ep is a few chapters.

open.spotify.com/show/6hRvE4B5zwZE2mkHp8JMrT?si=5a7821e3e7d54d07

My parents are big fans of the books and just finished the series they've hyped it up a lot and got me wanting to read it too it seems super crazy and creative

I like that the guy is an anthropologist/archeologist as someone who studies anthropology it has me very curious as to how it informs the way he creates his universe

"With a background in archaeology and anthropology we set out to create a realistic world disconnected from whatever cultural assumptions in this world that tend to (often unconsciously) bleed across into fantasy fiction. That was the ambition, anyway. What do I mean by cultural assumptions? Well, an example would be fantasy novels where the hordes come from the east, or down from the north, with the former looking like Mongols and the latter looking Vikings. The bias is both European and North Hemisphere, and you'll find those motifs rife in fantasy literature, which always bugged us. Accordingly, we dismantled those motifs and set out to work against them. We also dispensed with social prejudices (specifically in regard to women) and loosened up the hierarchies by making an avenue to power (magic) gender neutral. Again, in reaction to genre tropes, we moved away from the Eurocentric medieval social structures, and elected something more akin to Late Roman Empire in terms of culture, technology, with an almost Byzantine egalitarianism regarding skin colour, religion, traits, etc (Constantinople was remarkably multicultural at its height)."

There's also just general stuff that shows up such as the amount of focus he puts on fleshing out the cultures of a world that has thousands of years of history. He'll often explore how modern cultures in the story were built on the backs of previous civilizations for example.

Finished the first book. 4/5. Took a while to get going. and was kind of confusing. But it was absolutely fire.

Halfway through Deadhouse Gates. This s*** fire as f***.

Even though its only the second book in the series, Deadhouse Gates was when I knew Malazan would be my GOAT. I think for a lot of people, Deadhouse Gates was when the series really started to click for them. Enjoy the rest of it

Finished Deadhouse Gates. What a book. Excited to read memories of Ice.

Ok. I'm receiving the next 8 books in a few days. Can't wait to start memories of ice.

Starting Memories of Ice now