Hmm suppose I should actually do the recommendation:
An anthropologist decides his ADND setting is a great vehicle to write a deconstruction of epic fantasy and gives us the story of some poor bastards trying to survive while being ground between the gears of decadent weirdos who ascended to political power and decadent weirdos who ascended to godhood.
Tehol/Bugg for President. A podsherd in every home.
I started reading WoT, then started and finished Malazan main, then tried going back to WoT and I just couldn't do it. Started re-reading Malazan again.
Erikson's background in sociology/anthropology/historiography and Iowa Writer's workshop chops just puts Malazan in a different tier from pretty much everything, especially Sanderson.
You will likely be confused for almost the entirety of the first book. It doesn’t hold your hand at any point. The metatextual nature of the many very unfamiliar aspects of the setting is a big part of the experience and sets the stage for other norms the author challenges. You start to develop a framework for how things work in the second book.
Yes but it's a commitment. I'm on my second read, and I've read a few Esselmont books, and even I'm unsure about a lot stuff. But I like not knowing everything and having to slowly piece it together.
There’s always the Malazan Book of The Fallen if you don’t mind being confused for the entire first book.
deleted by creator
Hmm suppose I should actually do the recommendation:
An anthropologist decides his ADND setting is a great vehicle to write a deconstruction of epic fantasy and gives us the story of some poor bastards trying to survive while being ground between the gears of decadent weirdos who ascended to political power and decadent weirdos who ascended to godhood.
deleted by creator
Tehol/Bugg for President. A podsherd in every home.
I started reading WoT, then started and finished Malazan main, then tried going back to WoT and I just couldn't do it. Started re-reading Malazan again.
Erikson's background in sociology/anthropology/historiography and Iowa Writer's workshop chops just puts Malazan in a different tier from pretty much everything, especially Sanderson.
I just started the first book and it's such a slog. Please tell me it will be worth it.
You will likely be confused for almost the entirety of the first book. It doesn’t hold your hand at any point. The metatextual nature of the many very unfamiliar aspects of the setting is a big part of the experience and sets the stage for other norms the author challenges. You start to develop a framework for how things work in the second book.
Yes but it's a commitment. I'm on my second read, and I've read a few Esselmont books, and even I'm unsure about a lot stuff. But I like not knowing everything and having to slowly piece it together.