Comments | grrrm: Reader's Poll Hurry Hurry

grrrm

Reader's Poll Hurry Hurry

Oct 19, 2009 09:51

Poll Dust vs. Dance

Comments 47

Malazan primer ashen_verdict October 26 2009, 12:00:58 UTC

I tried starting 'Gardens of the Moon' twice but I never could get into it. However reviews of the series make it seem tailored to my tastes.

I was wondering if there was a prequel, a primer or just anything I could do to help me understand what was going on. Because I really want to like these books.

Re: Malazan primer ashen_verdict October 26 2009, 12:09:47 UTC

Gardens of the Moon isn't IMO an ideal starting point for the Malazan series - the second book, Deadhouse Gates, is a better one.

Mind you, I've come to dislike the series because of a single character, the Jerk Sue Karsa Orlong (go to TVTropes if you'd like to see the definition of a Jerk Sue), but that's another matter.

- Krafus

Re: Malazan primer fubatsu October 27 2009, 01:13:44 UTC

I'm having the exact same problem. I feel liked I walked into a D&D player's narrative.

I may try and finish off Gardens, and might even give the 2nd book a chance - but so far this is not to my liking.

With that being said, I have a lot more respect for Erikson given the reliable pace at which he is producing the series.

Re: Malazan primer ashen_verdict October 27 2009, 01:44:39 UTC

I suffered through half of Gardens of the Moon before issues with plotting, pacing, characterization, dialogue, sentence and paragraph construction, and word choice (especially the terrible names) forced me to put it down. It's like the platonic ideal of Extruded Fantasy Product: young writer takes a home RPG campaign and spins it off into a doorstopper fantasy first novel, shopping it around for a decade before finding a buyer. Had Erikson spent an apprenticeship writing licensed D&D novels or something, he would've been better off. Instead Malazan is his apprenticeship, and his writing does improve after GotM; but I don't think it's good enough for a five thousand page investment. Try Deadhouse Gates if you want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

(Fast forward a decade, and the scenario is being repeated with Pat Rothfuss in the Erikson role.)

Thread 5

brnmajik October 26 2009, 16:14:31 UTC

have you seen the latest crap from GRRM? Feeling guilty about what happens to Sansa and Arya bc he met the actresses who will play them? I call his bullshit. I think he's actually excited to see horrible things happen to those two little girls on screen. In FACT, he might even write something worse for them just to SEE it happen on screen. That is, if he sets aside of the Colonel's spicy bucket, wipes the chicken grease off his fingers and actually WRITES something.

F that guy. I'm gonna rot my brains with video games instead.

grrrm October 26 2009, 18:32:22 UTC

Hahaha...yes, I saw it, but I figured he was being facetious.

Gods be good, Ned, I hope he was being facetious.

I would have voted, but you forgot an option anonymous October 26 2009, 19:16:01 UTC

e) Who the fuck is Erikson?

Never heard of him. And seriously, what the fuck is a Manasquan? It's one of the captcha words I have to type in.

light a fire under this guys ass. anonymous November 5 2009, 06:04:06 UTC

Seriously, I bet if you stick Karsa Orlong in GRRM's house that entire series is done by Christmas.

anonymous November 10 2009, 22:27:31 UTC

I give up. I've stopped checking the NAB, stopped caring. He's made me wait so long that I just can't seem to bother anymore. If the book ever does get released, I may not even notice, as I read all of my books on the Kindle now and rarely go to the bookstore.

Doubt I'll even notice the series, as I don't get HBO, and no way will I order it just for a series that will exhasut itself before he finishes the entire story in print...

Sorry Georgie Pordgie Puddin' Pie, you snooze, you lose.