Genabackis

Sometimes, you read a book and through the pages, you feel the words, the flesh of the characters and their thoughts, that are, slowly but powerfully, anchoring in your deepest self.

This book is one of them.

The best book of the trilogy imo !

I loved how all the characters interacted with each other, the links are very interesting and well exploited: soldiers and general, a bro-mance, old lovers, new lovers, father and son, father and daughter, gods and men.

The end with Taniel convinced me a lot. I was surprised the author used the perspective of Two-shot, and not our self-expectations as readers, that's the best ending we could have.

Now let's get to the novellas !

Un début assez difficile, puis une remontée très intéressante avec des interactions originales et prenantes. Les personnages sont creusés, ils semblent humains et ne sont pas des représentations de soldats, mais d'Hommes qui luttent dans un monde propice aux douleurs de la guerre.

10 books, 9962 pages, 6 months.

But these are only number and don't reflect what I felt reading the Malazan book of the fallen. The depth I need in every books I read, was in the ten thick books.

This is not an easy story, neither the most complex one, but it's one of the most sincere I've ever read. When I started it with The gardens of the moon, I've never thought I'ld read such empathy, compassion, tragedy, social essays, human essays, philosophical passages...
It was way more than fantasy books. It was indeed epic and grandiose sometimes, but it wasn't the point of what Steven Erikson wanted to write. I can't compare with any other fantasy books because it's such a unique series, you'll never find another similar series.

The themes are powerful, you go through every forms of love, grief, you feel like a father, like a mother, like a child, like a sister, like a brother, like a soldier, a commander, a betrayer, a murderer, a friend, a lover ... through all the povs and that's what I enjoy about reading: having a pov I've never/ won't feel or live, and Erikson put a lot of efforts in building these povs and make me feel like them. I lived the struggle with the characters. I lived the death of some characters like I knew them. I felt the dryness of the desert. I felt the hunger of children. I felt the harshness of life. I felt injustice.

The diversity of the characters is so realistic, from different skin colour people to autistic persons, without forgetting the 300 000 old living people (not realistic but ... you'll get an idea when reading the wise (?) words of the T'lan Imass

I have no words for this novel.
This was my favorite Malazan book of the fallen so far. I was impressed, now I'm just wordless.