Malazan Book of The Fallen Book Club (Book 2) Book

The adventure continues!

Due to the interest generated in the Book Thread, we've started an official book club for Steven Erikson's high fantasy series, Malazan Book of the Fallen. We have already completed the first book, so we're moving on to the second one here in a few days. Don't let that dissuade you from joining at any point! The series is not for the faint of heart or for the most casual of fantasy fans (10 books long).



For those of you who use Goodreads, I created a group there as well. Here's the link. Add me as a friend and I'll invite you! Malazan Book Club

Here is a link to the Malazan Reread of the Fallen, an incredibly useful resource where each chapter is discussed at length: Malazan Reread of the Fallen | Series | Tor.com

PLEASE READ: since we'll obviously be posting while we read, please use spoiler texts for discussion posts. Label your post with where you are referring to, for example something like "Spoilers up to Chapter 2" so that people who haven't read to that point yet know to avoid while others who have read past that point can feel safe reading your post. After the end date for each weekly reading, spoilers for that week will no longer be required. Please message me or any of the other seasoned readers in here if you have any questions, or feel free to post any questions here.

Reading Schedule: (Currently reading the second book, Deadhouse Gates)

WEEK ONE: May 7th-13th - prologue, chapters 1-2
WEEK TWO: May 14th-20th - chapters 3-5
WEEK THREE: May 21st-27th - chapters 6-7

 

As mentioned, this a daunting series. Those interested or on the fence should check out this link, as posted by @confettirainfall in the book thread. It will give you an idea of what you would be getting yourself into.

Gardens of the Moon and “Difficult” Fantasy: Advice to First-Time Readers

A quote by the author himself concerning the first book:

"Beginning with Gardens of the Moon, readers will either hate my stuff or love it. There’s no in-between. Naturally, I’d rather everybody loved it, but I understand why this will never be the case. These are not lazy books. You can’t float through, you just can’t. Even more problematic, the first novel begins halfway through a seeming marathon—you either hit the ground running and stay on your feet or you’re toast."

—Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon preface (xii), 2007

Here is a useful resource for discussion that I used while reading:

Malazan Reread of the Fallen | Series | Tor.com

Also I've been informed by @Garrett L. that the audiobook is on sale for $7 at Audible if you are a member until midnight tomorrow.

 

Here for this. :)

 

Yeah! I should be finished my current book (or close to the end) by this date.

 

i ain’t scared

been wanting to dive into this for a while, the series sounds like it is entirely my thing. can’t wait.

 

YESSS! can’t wait to discuss

 

If anyone wants to laugh, here's a spoiler-free blog post I wrote back in 2015 after I finished the whole series. Full of hyperbole and unabashed fanboyisms:

Clueless in Seattle: Three Million Reasons Why I'll Never Read a Fantasy Book Again

 

as someone who is in full-swing Malazan fangirl mode right now, this was amazing to read.
Also good to know someone else found Name of the Wind boring.

I didn’t know about the roleplaying thing with Gardens! That’s so cool

 

here is what we are potentially getting ourselves into. book 3 is not pictured because I let someone borrow it. they gave up...I should get that back...

View attachment 14625

RIP to everyone who likes having the same editions

Wheel of Time readers are probably smiling rn

 

Beautiful!
This has also helped me to know what to expect. If you’re visual like me and want a mental road map, since the order of release does not match up with chronological events. Im only book 4 so someone else can attest to the accuracy (so far it’s good). idk what those blue and red ones are,.. spin offs?

 

I may or may not have already downloaded all 10 audiobooks. 13.6 GBs lol

 

Audiobooks are a looooooot but worth it in this case!

 

I should mention that I posted about this on Instagram and Facebook lol

I already had one person order the book, saying that this came at the perfect time. There are two other people that I had previously attempted to persuade to start the series (they both gave up in book 1) that want to give it another shot.

All is going according to plan...

 

An incredibly long shot, but if anyone likes metal, there is an epic black metal band named Caladan Brood (he's a character in this series) and all their songs are about Malazan:

Echoes of Battle, by Caladan Brood

Also my dad posted on my status saying he wants to get it on the club but I 100% know he'll hate it and it's not his kind of thing at all lol

 

You’re so excited about this

 

only a little tbh

 

i made a grave error and started up another 800 page long fantasy book on my commute this morning but i'll still probably be able to finish that up before i get into this next week (and even if i don't, 100 pages/week isn't that much and i'll be fine juggling...probably).

 

I started Well of Ascension yesterday so i totally feel this.

But I’m also over a third in already.

 

I've been flying through Sabriel by Garth Nix. It's pretty engaging, I look forward to reading all the Abhorsen stuff at some point.

 

Mine is Eye of the World and I'm already almost halfway through so yeah, I'll be fine hah.

 

Eye of the World is love

 

I've never, ever heard of this, but my newfound love of fantasy fiction and some quick research has me deeply intrigued. Guess I'll go ahead and grab book one - 100 pages a week seems more than doable for me.

 

I’ve felt like a kid reading LotR for the first time while going through it, absolutely love it so far.

 

YES WE HAVE ANOTHER

 

So excited for this to start. Should be finished Three Body Problem by then or overlap slightly.