Toll the Hounds (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #8) in Beyond Reality

Oct 09, 2008 John rated it really liked it

A recent column by Orson Scott Card enumerated four qualities that he felt defined true greatness in novels. Briefly, they are 1) clear writing 2) memorable, powerful characters 3) "pivotal moral and philosophical issues of universal concern," and 4) "such a thorough experience of the culture in which it is set that readers experience and comprehend it as reality, regardless of how far removed from it in space and time they might be." I bring this up because I think that Steven Erikson, in his A recent column by Orson Scott Card enumerated four qualities that he felt defined true greatness in novels. Briefly, they are 1) clear writing 2) memorable, powerful characters 3) "pivotal moral and philosophical issues of universal concern," and 4) "such a thorough experience of the culture in which it is set that readers experience and comprehend it as reality, regardless of how far removed from it in space and time they might be." I bring this up because I think that Steven Erikson, in his Malazan Book of the Fallen series, is working toward the kind of greatness to which Card's criteria point. Whether or not he's always successful is another matter, but he has it in his sights.

Toll the Hounds is volume eight in what is projected to be a 10-volume work of epic fantasy. Each novel is, itself, epic in scope: this volume, in a quality paperback edition, clocks in at 829 pages, and though not all entries in the series are quite this long, several are and one or two are longer. That cast here is, as usual, huge. Some of the characters and locales from previous books return here, others do not. At times, the cast seems too big. Some readers will complain about the rapidity with which Erikson shifts point-of-view, but I don't have a problem with that per se. Certainly, I haven't felt it as much of a problem before now. If there's a subtle commentary implicit in the works of writers like Erikson and George R. R. Martin with their large casts, it's that stories on an epic scale that have only one main character are unrealistic. For anything as big as the world-shaking events that high fantasy shoots for, the decisions and motivations of one character just aren't sufficient. One person may be crucial to success or failure, but chances are that another and another (and another and another) also were. As much as we like to tell history as the shaping of great individuals, it's simply not true. The history of World War II is not simply Churchill, Roosevelt, Hitler, and Stalin, much less any one of them. They're necessary but not sufficient. This kind of fantasy acknowledges this complexity.

Toll the Hounds, for instance, culminates in essentially two places with convergences of a large cast of characters in one and a smaller cast in the other. The pages leading up to that point are essentially the stories of how each of those characters arrived at the decisive moments (as well as some side-tracks along the way). In order to get all of these characters' stories in, such shifting of p.o.v. is necessary. At times in this volume, though, I felt like it got to be too much only because it often felt like we weren't getting to know all the characters well enough to care about them as much as the story seemed to indicate we should. I felt the same problem in some earlier volumes, and it's perhaps unavoidable to a certain extent when following armies around--it's hard to keep all the characters straight, much less to care about them. In Toll the Hounds, however, we aren't following armies, and so it seems like Erikson should be able to invest more in these characters, but we flit around so much that it's hard to do. Another author might have made 4 or 5 novels out of the various storylines here, and taken the time to show us these characters more deeply. On the other hand, Erikson might have cut some of the storylines to offer a sharper focus on the ones that remain.

However, as these characters converge by the end, it's easy to see why Erikson included so many--and how could he have added more characterization to an already-long novel without overburdening it?

Nonetheless, I think Erikson is aiming at greatness and coming relatively close. Certainly, his work engages with philosophical issues: at times it seems to do so a bit heavy-handedly, until you step back and realize the depth and variety of the exploration that occurring. Certainly, the cultures here are rendered with a depth that makes them feel more real than reality: at times alien and strange, at times eerily similar to what we see or have seen in our own world, they're always deeply thought-out and rendered accordingly. Certainly, there are characters who command places in our memories, even if some we feel we should like to have known better.

Of course, as the eighth book in the series, I can't really recommend this novel to readers who haven't read the first seven in the series: even having read them, I felt that I suffered for not having read them more recently than I have, but they're so long that I'm holding off on a complete re-read of the series until the whole is finished. ...more

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Dec 15, 2008 seak rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2022-tbr, 2010, 2023-tbr

Erikson is just great and few authors can top him in scope. Toll is another great installment, but with a bit different set up than usual, i.e. Kruppe narrates, yes, long-winded Kruppe narrates the entire book. Don't get me wrong, I love Kruppe, but just because you have the Midas touch in terms of book sales doesn't mean you don't still need an editor.

Still loved the book. Great ending with the usual unexpected elements. Being too long is the only real complaint. ...more

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Apr 25, 2010 Duffy Pratt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, shared-world

6/30/2012 - First off, I doubt anyone will be reading this review to decide whether they will continue with the series. If you are, then make up your own mind, but read on at your peril: There may be SPOILERS.

Perhaps the most annoying characters in this series so far have been Kruppe, the pastry eating fence who is pleasantly pleased with his own turn of phrase and thus tends to repeat himself repeatedly. And Iksarial Pust, the high magus of Shadow, who thinks he is pretending to be insane, but 6/30/2012 - First off, I doubt anyone will be reading this review to decide whether they will continue with the series. If you are, then make up your own mind, but read on at your peril: There may be SPOILERS.

Perhaps the most annoying characters in this series so far have been Kruppe, the pastry eating fence who is pleasantly pleased with his own turn of phrase and thus tends to repeat himself repeatedly. And Iksarial Pust, the high magus of Shadow, who thinks he is pretending to be insane, but actually happens to be insane (I think). If you told me that half of a book would be narrated by Kruppe, and that the climactic moment of the book would be an anti-climactic standoff between Pust and Kruppe, I'd be tempted not to read. But Erikson pulls all of this off, and more, and he does it beautifully in what I think is probably the tightest construction of any of the books in the series so far.

There are so many threads in this novel that its breathtaking how easily Erikson manages to interweave them, and ultimately to bring them all together in a way that is both satisfying and understandable. Not only that, but here he has both cosmic and intensely personal stories standing side by side, and he doesn't give short shrift to either. The personal is at least as important as the cosmic. And this book has a conglomeration of fairly happy endings despite the carnage that comes with the Tolling of the Hounds. Harllo returns how and is accepted by Stonny. Cutter finds a kind of separate peace and sails off with Spite. Picker returns to Blend. The Tistii Andii see the return of their god. And so on...

The amazing thing is that, with the exception of Karsa and Gruntle, this book really did not have too many of my favorite characters in it. The Bridgeburners at Krul's Bar were all minor players for me before this book. Cutter has been a little annoying. Torvald Nom was minor as well. (And how did Erikson resist putting Karsa and Torvald in the same town and not have them ever in the same scene?) Toc is here, but he is very minor as is Whiskeyjack. I always thought that Rake was a promising character, but so distant that it was hard to feel much of anything for him. This is the one point where I'm not sure Erikson pulled off what he was aiming for. The immensity of Rake's foreplanning, and also of his sacrifice, are mindblowing. But they aren't at all touching. Frankly, I find more to like in the undead Jaghut tyrant's desire for an undead kitty to keep him company.) But Erikson managed to raise some of these characters (or new ones) to favorites; Harllo is great, as were Spinnock and Seerdomin. Traveller/Daseem took on a whole new level. Even annoying Kruppe and Pust ended up favorably as characters in my estimation (well, at least Kruppe).

I don't often comment on my rating, but I have to note that this is the first 5 star ranking I've given for a book I've read since joining Goodreads. As much as I liked some of the earlier entries, I think this is easily the best book in the series so far (and that's saying quite a bit). At this point, I think my only real reservation about the series is the enormous complexity and the WTF moments that that complexity sometimes yields. It's the only series I've ever read that I looked forward to re-reading while in the middle of it. But I also have some fear that if I actually started to understand some of the details better, I would also be able to start poking some holes into it. That's probably just me fearing that Erikson could not really have planned this all out so well, and the WTF moments simply have to be a kind of magician's misdirection. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong and maybe there actually is a kind of magic in this writing.

ON REREAD -

In earlier books, Erikson had done tragedy and elegy, and done them both amazingly well. Here, he takes on a harder thing. More than anything, this is a book about redemption. Almost every story line has the possibility of redemption as a key aspect. And we get lots of different flavors of redemption (or the failure of redemption) in the various endings: from the tragic fall of Challice, to Kallor's stubborn insistence to neither change nor learn, to the touching union of Barathol and Scillara, to Seerdomin's amazing self-sacrifice to a god he does not even worship, to Rake's cosmic reunion with Mother Dark.

The only thing I would like to amend from the earlier review is that this time around I was more personally moved by Rake. I'm not sure exactly why, but perhaps its because I had a better understanding of what was going on with Dragnipur in the first place.

Having re-read the first eight books, I still think this one is the best of the series, and that's saying a lot.

ON SECOND REREAD -

Still think this is the best of the first eight books. I'm surprised at the different reactions I've had each time I've read this. I was more involved in the Nimander/Clip storyline this time, and in the Harlo storyline. And in Crokus. I had a little less patience for Seerdomin, the Tygdale Trade Union, and the Dragnipur lines. Usually, on a re-read, when I can remember what happened in a book, I will find myself liking the parts I loved even more, and having less use for the parts I did not like as much. With Erikson, for some reason, it doesn't seem to work that way. I find more depth and emotional content in things I had kind of passed over before, and am conversely a little less blown away by the things that were, at first, overwhelming and spectacular. A strange thing, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it.

Looking forward to rereading the last two books, sometime this year. I've enjoyed going through these at a much more leisurely pace. It's still my favorite fantasy series, and up there with The Pallisers for my favorite series in any genre. ...more

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Oct 29, 2015 Kathi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

There is a powerful balance of action, character development, and philosophizing in this seventh installment of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Some of the plot twists were heart-rending and many of the seeds planted way back in Gardens of the Moon come to fruition here. Such complexity, such compelling storytelling!

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May 13, 2021 Flying Monkey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, audible, 2021

5 Stars!!!

Wow, one of the best books Steven Erikson has written. It seemed as though every favorite character from the entire series made an appearance in Toll of Hounds.

I loved it. Starting book 9.

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Jan 23, 2016 Tani rated it really liked it

Shelves: male-author, sff-2016, 2016-novels, epic-fantasy

Whenever I finish one of these books, I'm faced with a terrible dilemma, and it is this. What can I possibly say about this book that will do it justice? It's such a different experience to read the 8th book in a series than it is to read the trilogies that are so popular today, and the fact that this is part of the Malazan Book of the Fallen makes it even more drastic of a difference. The background is richer. The characters more plentiful. The work is harder. And yet, it's so satisfying! Epic ...more

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Jul 05, 2021 Brian rated it it was amazing

It took a while (almost all the books) but I think I finally see why this series is good. I really enjoyed the story in this one and the writing is by far the best in the series so far. Looking forward to the next one.

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