Dust of Dreams

After a long long hiatus from the Malazans, I have finally finished Book 9, what can I say everything is converging and nothing, I do not have any inkling on how this series will end...........

It just shows how Mr. Erikson, with 8 books in this series, IS still able to make you guess on what will happen and how...........a lot of readers really feel lost on his style of writing and yes I do too (I am still lost with Badalle's story), but by the books end some of this questions are answered!!!

An apt description of this book, it's title, some of the things go back to being dust, and every major player/character is dreaming of something!!!! Trying to review the Malazans, before maybe books 1 to 6 was easy, the story is linear, you have the start, fights, middle, more fighting and end, but the latter part of this series, it seems Mr. Erikson changed pace, we have more procrastinations, too much self analysis and less linear story...........

Looking at the end part of the book, I can not help but notice Mr. Erikson is an archaelogist, a real one, maybe just maybe, just like his calling, his stories are meant to be dug deeper???

Still an entertaining read minus some of those uhhhhhhh......chapters........and finally the Malazans one of the best army, I have ever read meet their match.......and we also have the different deities, ascendants, their part is almost over...............

Je viens de terminer Dust of Dreams, le neuvième et avant-dernier tome du cycle de fantasy Malazan Book of the Fallen de Steven Erikson, et je dois dire que j'ai été un peu déçu, c'est probablement le tome le plus faible pour moi.

J'ai eu un peu de mal pendant la lecture, notamment car l'auteur continue d'introduire de nouveaux personnages, pas toujours captivants, alors que nous approchons de l'épilogue de cette longue saga épique. Je dois avouer avoir survolé certains passages, tant certains personnages et leurs mésaventures m'ennuyaient, sans que je comprenne en quoi cela contribuait à l'histoire globale que nous suivons depuis le début.

Je vais désormais attaquer le dixième et dernier tome, avec un mélange d'espoir, d'appréhension, et d'émotion.

As she watched, they began, one by one, falling into dust.None to witness. Dust of dreams, dust of all that we never achieved. Dust of what we might have been and what we cannot help but be.

The opinions about this book vary greatly among Malazan fans. Erikson states at the beginning of Dust of Dream that this book and the next one are actually one book. The apotheosis of an epic fantasy series of 10,000 pages. As a reader, you expect the focus to be on the endpoint. That all story arcs are being wrapped up.

The beginning is powerful; the reader is immediately drawn into an epic event. It seems like the prelude to a rapid progression towards the end. Then Erikson suddenly introduces a whole army of new characters. This leads to the building of new story arcs, and Erikson, in passing, picks up a storyline from book three. By the middle of the book, you might feel that there is no more movement in the overarching storyline. And there's only one book left to rectify that...
This middle part is intense and dark. Very good character descriptions and developments, though.

The ending is epic. Erikson goes all out; it seems like he has incorporated every fantasy he had as a 12-year-old boy into the end of this book. A true meaning of epic fantasy.

The beginning and the end are 5 stars for me. The rather large middle part could have been more compact. This book is almost 1100 pages long and could have benefited from some trimming. Ultimately, 4.5 stars.