I am two-thirds of the way through Memories of Ice and I can't help but notice similar feelings that I had while reading Gravity's Rainbow. Specifically:
Pros
- The writing is beautiful and so damn engaging. The prose, structure, and tone in both works has me drooling on every page.
- The events and characters are very interesting. The names, locations, and journeys are some of the most original and intriguing in any book.
Cons
- I don't understand a single character's motives. Things happen, people react, more things happen, more people do stuff. I never really know what drives any certain character.
- I don't care about or connect with any character. I'm over 2,000 pages into Malazan and could care less if any single character were to die.
- I don't understand the major plot points. Things just seem to happen. While cool to read about I never really understand why things are happening.
I wonder how much of this changes with multiple re-reads. I'm not sure if I'll ever find out as I don't have spare decades to read all of this over and over 😆
by stevenwando
2 Comments
Malazan is meant to be read slowly. Once you have an idea what the different factions and gods represent it gets easier. And once you get to book 10 you’ll realize what it’s all about. Don’t stop.
Memories of Ice is one of my favs.
If you aren’t connecting with Tattersail, Whiskeyjack and Quick Ben, I don’t know what to tell you.