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Reaper’s Gale (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #7)

Reaper’s Gale (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #7)

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Reaper's Gale (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #7)Reaper’s Gale by Steven Erikson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Reaper used his scythe to chop onions in an attempt to bring tears to my eyes. Unfortunately, he didn’t succeed.

By this point of the series, I think it’s safe to say now that Malazan Book of the Fallen will never break my heart the way it did a lot of readers. People always told me that Erikson was more brutal towards his characters more than George R. R. Martin or all the conclusion of his books will leave my soul crushed; I strongly disagree with these as I found none of the books in the series so far to ever move me to the point of making my soul crushed or on the brink of tears. This series is amazing in many other aspects but for characterizations (which is the most important aspect of any story for me), in my opinion there are several authors who did it better. …

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A Time of Dread (Of Blood and Bone, #1)

A Time of Dread (Of Blood and Bone, #1)

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ARC provided by the publisher—Pan Macmillan—in exchange for an honest review.

A Time of Dread by John Gwynne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Time of Dread is a work conceived in the mind of a genius.

Simply amazing and almost impossible to put down, A Time of Dread is truly a masterful start to a trilogy which I envision will be crowned as one of the best series I’ve ever read by its end. John Gwynne has proven himself once again to be the constant harbinger of superlative epic fantasy that only the greatest of authors can achieve. …

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City of Miracles (The Divine Cities, #3)

City of Miracles (The Divine Cities, #3)

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City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 6 of 5 stars

City of Miracles is a stunning accomplishment; it is a marvelous ending to what I now consider my favorite trilogy, and a fast-paced, addictive story in its own right.

“One should not seek ugliness in this world. There is no lack of it. You will find it soon enough, or it will find you.”

Sigrud je Harkvaldsson was one of my favorite side characters in both City of Stairs and City of Blades, and I was both incredibly excited and more than a little nervous to read his story. Sometimes when a side character becomes the focal point of the story, they seem to lose a bit of their appeal for some reason. That was definitely not the case here. Sigrud has a wealth of experiences under his belt, most of them not good ones. Those experiences have shaped him into the man he is today, for better or for worse. He feels that he really only excels at one thing: violence. Once again, he finds himself in a position calling for violent action, and he revels in it. Until he doesn’t. Sigrud grows so much throughout this book, and I loved seeing him learn from past mistakes and struggle with his past and who that past made him. …

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The Bonehunters (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #6)

The Bonehunters (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #6)

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The Bonehunters (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #6)The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Brilliant is an understatement, The Bonehunters is a leviathan of a masterpiece in convergence.

With this installment, Steven Erikson has cemented himself as an irreplaceable author for the genre of epic and military fantasy. This is the already the sixth book in the series and it’s simply unbelievable how he was able to keep producing such an amazing book. I thought Memories of Ice would end up being the absolute best installment of the series but as it turns out, The Bonehunters ended up being another best of the series so far; it’s truly up to the masterpiece quality of Memories of Ice and I can’t decide which one I loved more between the two. Let’s just say I’m honestly shocked by how incredible this installment was. It took six books of the series but I’m extremely confident about putting Erikson into my list of favorite authors of all time now. …

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Night of Knives (Malazan Empire, #1)

Night of Knives (Malazan Empire, #1)

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Night of Knives (Malazan Empire, #1)Night of Knives by Ian C. Esslemont
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Just like the main series, I was determined to finish the Malazan Empire this year but I may have to rethink that decision after my experience of reading this book.

Night of Knives is the first book in the Malazan Empire series, a spin-off to the main series that’s written by the other creator of the Malazan universe, Ian Esslemont. A lot of people mentioned that Esslemont is not Erikson (these four words must’ve haunted Esslemont for years by now) and usually, I’ll say that it’s really not really fair for everyone to endlessly compare these two; it’s obvious that every author has a different style. But in this special situation, I must say that the comparison is really well deserved because both of them write canon stories in the same universe which they created together. …

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Book Review: Bloody Rose (The Band, #2) by Nicholas Eames

Book Review: Bloody Rose (The Band, #2) by Nicholas Eames

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ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Band (Book #2 of 3)

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Comedy

Pages: 544 pages (UK paperback edition)

Published: 30th August 2018 by Orbit (UK) & 28th August 2018 by Orbit (US)

Attention avid fantasy readers; it’s time for me to ask for your consideration once again. Nicholas Eames did it again. As of now, I’m calling Bloody Rose one of the best sequels of all time.

Last year, Kings of the Wyld made it into my small “favorite debuts of all-time” list. Since then its sequel, Bloody Rose, has easily become my most anticipated new release of the year. Expectations were high, and a fear of disappointment was certainly there, but as it turns out I needn’t have worried. It is with a heart full of joy that I proclaim Bloody Rose’s tour to be another successful tale; this is truly an excellent sequel to Kings of the Wyld, which was already amazing on its own. Those who follow my reviews should know by now that I’m a devoted series binge reader. When I started a new series to read and review, I usually finish every book available in the series first before moving to a different series or standalone. Bloody Rose however was one of the incredibly rare exceptions where I simply had to drop everything in my TBR pile immediately; it was completely irresistible. …

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Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1)

Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1)

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Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m so glad that I finally read Gardens of the Moon. It was every bit as lush and intricate and well written as I had been told, and it’s so exciting that this is just setting the stage for something bigger and even more elaborate. Malazan is a series that has been on my list of things to read for years, since before I became active on Goodreads and made all of my wonderful bookish friends. I bought the complete series sometime in 2014 (Brand new! For $50! Thanks, eBay!), and they’ve been just sitting on my shelf staring at me ever since. …

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Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #5)

Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #5)

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Midnight Tides (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #5)Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After the huge disappointment I had with House of Chains, Midnight Tides brought my love for Malazan Book of the Fallen back magnificently.

Midnight Tides marks the fifth book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. That’s right, this means that I’m halfway through the series now! Knowing that this is the fifth book in the series, it surprised me at first that instead of continuing the story from everything that has been built in the previous four books, the narrative shifted its focus back to several years before the time in Gardens of the Moon; in a completely new continent with a new conflict and shockingly—with the exception of one character from House of Chains—a completely new set of characters. I mean, this is the fifth book of the series already! Isn’t it crazy that we don’t get to see the majority of the previous four book characters in it? Well, it IS crazy but please don’t be intimidated by this fact. …

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House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #4)

House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #4)

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House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #4) House of Chains by Steven Erikson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A huge downgrade after the masterpiece in Memories of Ice

Erikson started House of Chains, the fourth book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, in an unprecedented step. Unlike the previous three books, House of Chains started as a totally character-driven book that focuses solely on a completely new character, Karsa Orlong. This made for an awkward start because at first the story didn’t feel like reading the same series and Karsa took a while to warm up to due to his primitive and savage culture. However, Karsa ended up being one of my favorite parts of the book because of his spectacular character development and how pivotal he became to the overall story.

Picture: Karsa Orlong by Sam Burley

…

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Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)

Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)

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Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A peerless and jaw-dropping epic installment; I consider myself damn lucky to have witnessed this powerfully evocative tale.

I’ve stated that it’s mandatory to read at least two books of the series in order to truly find out whether you’ll love this series or not. I retract that statement now and change it to three books instead. Trust me, if you don’t love Memories of Ice, you might as well drop the series now. And that’s okay because no series can work for everyone. Honestly speaking, I had a bit of doubt about the series, but this incredibly mesmerizing installment has convinced me to finally become a fan of the series. …

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