Toll the Hounds: Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen | Steven Erikson

Toll the Hounds: Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen | Steven Erikson | The Malazan Saga continues on...but with a struggle...3.5 Stars

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Toll the Hounds: B...

	Toll the Hounds: Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen Steven Erikson Tor Books, 2008 - 832 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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In Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, it is said that love and death shall arrive dancing. It is summer and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins skulk in alleyways, but the quarry has turned and the hunters become the hunted. Hidden hands pluck the strings of tyranny like a fell chorus. While the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of Hounds...And in the distant city of Black Coral, where rules Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, ancient crimes awaken, intent on revenge. It seems Love and Death are indeed about to arrive...hand in hand, dancing. A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, Toll the Hounds is the new chapter in Erikson's monumental series - epic fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most exciting.

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Another fantastic chapter in an amazing series

Regardless of your taste in genre, Erikson's ability to develop literally dozens of characters, each with different and fully realized personalities, and place them into world's and cultures as vast and complex as our own makes this book worth getting to know. It's an insight into laughter and despair, hope and futility...it's an insight into our own lives in a way that leaves you entertained and wanting more.

The Malazan Saga continues on...but with a struggle...3.5 Stars

This is the 8th book in Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen" series.

Of all the books in the Malazan series, this is, without a doubt, my least favorite...I will explain

First, the pros;

Overall, this series is epic fantasy at its best; in fact 829 pages in this book alone. There is intrigue, magic, unexpected enemies and friends and even some erotic moments; not to mention the usually backstabbing and clandestine plotting. In this book we are reacquainted with some old friends from previous tales, e.g. Cutter, Druiker, Karso Orlong (Toblakai warrior), Anomander Rake and last but not least, the ever loquacious, forever famished, mound of round, Kruppe.

Erikson's strength is his use of prose to describe people and their surrounding, all the while weaving a tale his characters come alive in; this latest installment is no exception. In fact, this may be the first in all the books that may be somewhat overwritten because of some of these perceived strengths. Which leads me into commenting on...

The cons;

1.)As with previous Erikson works, the book starts off by given brief glimpses of several different developing stories. The problem here, in my opinion, is that unlike previous books, most of these story lines do not really develop into something resembling a plot until well after the first 200+ pages.

2.)In addition to the slow development, the writing seems heavy and difficult to follow; I had to almost 'study' sections to try to figure out what Erikson had his characters doing and saying.

3.)I found I became 'weary' of trying to interpret the vague, unclear conversations and happenings that occurred through out most of the entire novel. Eventually I stopped trying to figure out the difficult passages and just concentrated on sections that I found easy to understand; I don't think I'd have finished the book otherwise.

4.)I never thought I'd ever hear myself saying this about an Erikson book; I found myself somewhat bored by some of the dragged out, confusing descriptions and tales; almost to the point of skimming them.

5.)And last, I can't remember the last time I've been so happy to have finally finished a book.

Conclusion:

An intriguing Malazan tale that had potential, but unfortunately, this story got mired down with a sluggish beginning, middle and end. That is not to say there weren't some great moments in this book, because there were, many in fact; and this was my main reason for rating the book as high as I did.

I seems to me that Erikson has 'stumbled' with this book; he knows what he's talking about, but I can't say the same for me. I wonder about other readers; I'm I the only one to notice this tendency towards 'unreadability'?

I hope Erikson gets back on track with his next installment; one more book like this and he may begin to lose some of his loyal followers. Difficult to rate this book, so I settled for a 3.5 and rounded it up to a 4.0 (rather than down to a 3.0 ) because I decided to give Erikson the benefit of the doubt...for this one.

R.Nicholson

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Erikson has done it again

I really enjoyed this book. It brings together many of the story lines that were started in other books, while continuing to move the plot along and to shock the reader, every now and then, in true Erikson fashion. While it wasn't my favorite book of the series (no Quick Ben), I found it difficult to put down and was sad to see it end. I will certianly read it again, and I am looking forward to Dust of Dreams.

If you can pick out what he actually is saying...

I'm a proud owner of all of the books set in the Malazan universe and a fierce partisan that promotes them tirelessly. However, I can't help but feel that this latest addition to the series is not quite up to par with previous books.

One of my main gripes with the book has to be its languorous writing style. I'm used to Erikson doing this to some extent and have always enjoyed parsing apart the occasional paragraphs where he has truly embellished. However, now it feels like every second paragraph requires a second read through and it really slows the book down in terms of reader weariness. This had the effect of obfuscating the plot unnecessarily.

That criticism aside, I did enjoy the book. Just not as much as I would have without the unnecessary fluorishes.

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For Whom the Hounds TOll

Toll the Hounds as previously mentioned in other reviews is a long book. Three fourths of which is character exposition framing a conclusion worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster.

The series comes full circle to where it started in Gardens of the Moon with many of the same characters and some surprising reveals. One thing about Steven Erikson is he is not afraid for his characters to die, both mortals and deities. What sets him apart even more is that Death seems to be a transient thing (no spoilers here).

I would have rated this higher if not for the length of the first part where I have to admit I skipped through the dialogues of the lesser/minor characters. But definitely a must buy for the serious fantasy reader.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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