Toll the Hounds (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #8) in The Bridgeburners

Dec 15, 2008 seak rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010, 2022-tbr, 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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Sep 22, 2008 The Crimson Fucker rated it it was amazing

Toll the Hounds!

fuck! i haven't write a review in ages... still! i need to give this shit a try! god damn this shit its good! as some of y'all know and by some i mean 2... i've been re-reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen series! not only because its awesome... but also cuz i'm broke and i aint got no money for new shit! so suck it!!! here is my review:

I know I joke a lot about world domination! the big ol' fantasy of me taking over and imposing my will over everything that lives in this sad Toll the Hounds!

fuck! i haven't write a review in ages... still! i need to give this shit a try! god damn this shit its good! as some of y'all know and by some i mean 2... i've been re-reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen series! not only because its awesome... but also cuz i'm broke and i aint got no money for new shit! so suck it!!! here is my review:

I know I joke a lot about world domination! the big ol' fantasy of me taking over and imposing my will over everything that lives in this sad ball of fucked up that we call our home planet... but deep down i have huge issues with tyranny! i think it be retarded! still! its fun to imagine my sexy self as Supreme Dominator! dressed all sexy, with a red cape and awesome leather clothes like Neo! giving some retarded orders from my Fuzzy Throne (its big and pink and fuzzy! just like my inner me!) screaming crazy shit like "i'll finish what y'all started!!! i'll end y'all holy wars!!!!!" guaaaaa! but again... those thoughts are there just for my own amusement! nothing serious!

Then you start reading about the real Tyrants in Erickson's world! and you get sad and shit! i hate feeling sad! and i hate feeling shit! maybe Tyranny ain't as fun as i imagine... maybe all it does is spread misery all over the place... enter Kallor!!! that High King! cursed to rise and fall... damn it! i'm already feeling it! the "alfonso, nobody cares about what you think is "deep shit" from those nerdy fantasy books you read! shut up! shut up! shut up! nobody cares!!!!" but this time... this time a nerd will have it his way!!!! i will talk about Kallor! and you gonna like it!!!! fuck you!

where was i? oh yeah! Kallor! he this dude who was into dominating people! cuz let's face it! its fun! tell me you dont wanna wear funky capes and sit in fuzzy thrones and i will think you crazy! so... back to Kallor! (i really wish i could stay focused on one subject!!! it will make so much sense!)
[

meh! i lost interest! maybe i'll come back and finish this review later! now i need to go and cook dinner!!!!

y'all suck!!! ...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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May 28, 2009 Lori rated it it was amazing

The fact that I've read this series back to back with only a few breaks, and only for other books that were group reads, pretty much says it all. This is a series not to be missed.

Other reviews have stated this is too slow-moving, at least until the last 1/3, but I disagree. Sure, there's not as much action and there's more social and political musings, but that only adds to it for me. And there's also complaints that Erikson spends a bit too much time on more minor characters that seem extraneo ...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Bee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, audiobook, favourite, epic-fantasy, military-fantasy

It started a little slower than I liked and actually put it down for a book or two (after having read all the previous books pretty much in order for the last 2 years). But having finished it I am left breathless...
Erikson is undeniably brilliant at the climactic congregation of forces and culminations of multiple plot-lines over various books and timelines. However nothing prepared me for this grand finale, and it's only book 8 of 10 for Gods sake?!
So yes, read it, and then again, and again, t ...more

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Apr 16, 2009 Matt rated it really liked it

It has a momentous conclusion - both epic and moving - but it just takes way, way too long to get there.

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Sep 21, 2008 Jason rated it really liked it

I found this book hard to get into. So far out of all the Malazan books this has been my least favorite and I think part of the problem why is that I had to wait about 3 months for this book to come out since I finished the previous one. Erikson is a damn good writer and I honestly feel I would have liked this book more if I was able to read it right after Reaper's Gale. I felt like I was trying to hard to remember who was who in this book. This is the first series I have read ever where I belie ...more

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Dec 01, 2010 John rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: epic-fantasy

All I can say is WOW Erikson continues to amaze me this is definitely becoming one of my all time favorite series alongside Donaldson Thomas Covenant and Jordan's Wheel of Time , cant wait to read the last remaining books. ...more

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Sep 23, 2009 Eric rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, malazan

Wow, Hounds did not disappoint. A great finish to this book, and am pushing through to the finale once I read Stormwielder and Dust of Dreams. This series gets better and better.

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