Erik

Incredible finish to the first subseries of the Second Apocalypse. This is intelligent, thought provoking, epic fantasy. No doubt some of the best the genre has to offer. Less action heavy apart from the fantastic finale, this book is more focused on the fascinating lore and characters of the world of Eärwa, which is where these books really shine imo. Just unforgettable stuff. Cnaiür urs Skiötha has to be one of the best characters in fantasy.

Holy shit. This book will be on my mind for a very long time.

1) because its ideas are utterly fascinating and call into question everything we think we know about the human consciousness. This book genuinely makes you contemplate your everyday experience as a human being.
2) because it's absolutely horrifying stuff. It's incredibly dark and some scenes and descriptions will probably haunt me forever. 

This book is so effective because it's also fucking great at making you care about the characters. There's some genuinely loveable characters here that feel like real people. So you cannot turn away and really worry for their well being. The suspense due to that is incredible. I could not put this book down. 
This also meant that there were some dramatic moments that really hit hard. I got genuinely emotional and really felt affected which I didn't expect. 

All of that makes this a 5 star read for me. 

I'll say it. This is one of the best fantasy books of all time. Erikson is at his absolute best here. This is epic thought provoking fantasy with a depth that is hard to match within the genre.

The Kharkanas trilogy details the descent into civil war of the Tiste race. It can be read on it's own but I would personally not recommend that, as it's even more impressive and rewarding if you finished The Malazan Book of the Fallen, the main series set in this world.

The worldbuilding is incredible. Erikson creates a civilization that feels so authentic, you'd think it really existed somewhere. He gives us glimpses into every class, every sort of person living in the realm of the Tiste. His fantasy is not just concerned with the noble men or the people doing heroic deeds, but with every day people like you and me and always shows how they're affected by what is happening. He uses the genre to ask questions about society and examine the human nature. There's deeply tragic personal stories in here that you would not ordinarily expect from a fantasy novel, mixed with an epic story set in a world as imaginative as any ever created.

Erikson is sometimes criticised for coming across as too preachy on occasion, when characters engage in lengthy discussions of philophical questions, but the way it is worked into the story is excellent and suits the tone of this book especially well. The story has a very Shakespearean feel to it, heightened by the way the dialog is written and the whole novel is permeated by a sense of imminent tragedy, creating an incredible dense atmosphere. That effect only becomes stronger with knowledge of the Book of fhe Fallen, as certain events being built up to are already established, even though the why and how is unclear. Forge of Darkness is a story of the downfall of a civilization, a morally and politically complex story that feels like an epic tragedy. I have never read anything like it and every time I think about it, it just gets even better. 

One of my favorite horror short stories. Creates an absolutely hypnotic pull. Haven't read anything quite like it. 

Amazing. Arguably the best book in the series so far. The themes of politics and religion are stronger than ever, the political intrigue and mind games are fantastic, the scope even bigger. And the protagonist is just fascinating. I have never seen a story deal with future sight and visions in a smarter, more compelling way.
Don't listen to anyone saying Dune gets worse after the first book. You cannot fully understand Dune without its sequels and they're fantastic books in their own right.