The Sword and Laser discussion

Anyone read through this series? I constantly here good reviewer praise on it and nods to GOT, but I never see that many people actually reading the books.

I bought the first book over a year ago on my Kindle for $.99 and never got around to reading it until a couple of months ago. I am now hooked on book #4.

Seems like the books get a lot of high praise, but are not actively in a lot of people's reading cycles.

There are a bunch of currently reading/discussing House of Chains over at Malazan Fallen

I'm a first time reader, and really enjoying it so far. We have a mix of first timers and re-readers that makes for some pretty good discussion in my opinion.

Then again I am one of the mods, so I'm probably biased..

Wow, excellent. I am working through House of Chains right now actually.

I read the first, and i did like it but am taking a long break before I dive into book 2

I am a HUGE Malazan fan! Been reading it for just about ten years. Steven Erikson is on my list of top five favorite writers.

That being said...Gardens of the Moon can be hard to get into. Erikson hits the ground running and does not hold your hand even for a second. It's a massive, lush world with several hundred thousand years of back story, with dozens of characters. Erikson plops you right in the middle with little to no exposition on back story. For me, part of the joy was putting the pieces of the overarching story together. I think he's a brilliant writer, but quite a few people can't seem to get passed book one.

Once you get to Deadhouse Gates, book two, more pieces fit into place and tings really begin to take off.

M. wrote: "Once you get to Deadhouse Gates, book two, more pieces fit into place and tings really begin to take off. "

Deadhouse Gates is by far my favorite book so far. The Chain of Dogs honestly had my crying like a baby at the end of it.

Have you read Toll the Hounds yet?

M. wrote: "Have you read Toll the Hounds yet?"

Nope, just at House of Chains at the moment. After I finish that I will probably take a quick break and read a laser and then jump back in.

I'll be here with a shoulder when you get there.

We'll be reading Toll the Hounds in October (we're reading at roughly a pace of 4 chapters a week to allow for detailed chapter discussion).

The series is like that. It's a tragedy. While the books have some uplifting moments, quite a bit of it is tragic.

I'm reading Toll the Hounds atm, so.... The shoulder thing, should I expect crying my eyes out for several hours?

I'm bitten by these books, they simply blow my mind. The Malazan reading group helps me piece together the previous books as they read them and remember all the details, eventually helping me get the present book.

If you need it, send me a message when you finish it. It choked me up even more than Deadhouse Gates.

Oh no! I've got Toll of the Hounds next after I finish Return of the Crimson guard! I'll keep the tissues handy.

I struggled with the first two, but was totally in after Memories of Ice. I try to read one a month with reading 2-3 books in between them.

That sounds like a great way to read the books.

Working through Memories of Ice right now in dead tree form. I only say that because I listen to books at work and read e-books on my phone at the same time.

I both love and loathe the depth and richness of Malazan. I love it for the depth and story but loathe it for how much of a commitment it takes. To contrast I'm reading the Donovan Creed series by John Locke in e-book form on my phone. Its extremely shallow but its an easy read and is fun and doesn't require me to track 143 simultaneous characters and events that won't pay off for several books. Doing the Dresden Files on audio which is a happy medium.

Been on my radar for some time and coincidentally I picked up a copy of Gardens of the Moon for $1 just last week.

I tried to read Gardens of the Moon and could net get into it but I plan on giving it another try on my vacation in July.

Gardens was hard to get into for me too. All that chaos and confusion tend to throw the reader off, but things do get better--make more sense--by the second book.

I plan to start Memories of Ice some time this summer.

For anyone struggling with the series, we have threads for each chapter of first 3.5 books with detailed discussion.

It's spoiler free for first time readers, though many posts have spoiler tags for the re-readers to discuss events of that chapter in the larger scope of the series because the books are so layered and there is ton of hints and foreshadowing.

Unfortunately for anyone ahead of us you won't have those threads to rely on, but you can always post questions in the Series Discussion section and I'd bet some of the re-readers might be able to help you out.

We're reading at a snails pace (6 weeks/book), but you can check our group bookshelf to see when we might be starting a particular book. Which chapters we'll be discussing which weeks will be posted shortly before we start a new book.

It's the most work I've ever put into reading books, and I don't think I'd be enjoying it nearly as much without the group discussions.

However, I'm finding it very rewarding and haven't been struggling as much with books 3&4 as I did with books 1&2.

It's in some respects my favorite series/fictional world of all.

I've read them all pretty much as they've been published. Now working on The Crippled God.

My problem has been that because the story is so dense, multithreaded, and sprawling, by the time a new volume releases I'm fuzzy on details of the back story, so I have to go back and reread, etc. Makes for slow sledding, as it were.

I've always wanted to read these books but it's such a big series...with my queue as bit as it is these days, I'm really hesitant to dive into another huge series. Are the audiobooks any good?

terpkristin wrote: "I've always wanted to read these books but it's such a big series...with my queue as bit as it is these days, I'm really hesitant to dive into another huge series. Are the audiobooks any good?"

I believe the audio books are just being released. I know someone from SFF audio snagged books 2 & 3, I'm not sure if they've been reviewed yet. Jenny could probably tell you for sure.

Personally, I find myself rereading parts often. I think it might be too complex for audio, but I haven't listened to them, and maybe 1st time comprehension might be better that way.

As a rereader, I can say that the payoff in this series comes on the reread. It's one of the only series I've read where rereading it is a superior experience.
But I think, unless you absolutely hate the books, this series makes for great discussions. There are so many layered mysteries that Erikson presents and then allows the reader to uncover for themselves. I imagine it's what his fields of anthropology and archeaology are like - peeling back layers and then interpreting the evidence through imperfect eyes. I love it. And I agree with Rob - check out the Malazan Fallen group. There's an active core of posters and the more the merrier. http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/8...

I was reading online that Erikson's and Esselmont actually created this world for the GURPS role playing game. Pretty amazing that they both are running with this world for separate series.

Have to say I really love the magic system in this world. I won't spoil any of the reveals, but the first introduction with Tattersail and her explanation of the smells and how her magic conflicts with Tayschrenn I thought was brilliant.