I’m a big fan of the Malazan series; there’s a lot of good fantasy fiction out there but only a few of these series can hold a candle to what Steven Erikson (and Ian Cameron Esslemont) has got going on here. Why then, after having ‘Toll the Hounds’ sat on the shelf for the better part of a year, has it taken me three attempts to get through this book?
There are reasons which I will go into, in a little more detail, later on. Other reasons include a train journey whilst hung over (I just cannot read Malazan books when hung over) and the fact that ‘Toll the Hounds’, in hardback, is simply not a practical book to read on the morning commute. Trust me on that one...
However, when it gets to the point where ‘Dust of Dreams’ is about to hit the shelves (and I still haven’t read ‘Toll the Hounds’) then it’s clear that something needs to be done. A week in Egypt was the ideal time to start reading but it still took me a further week (after we got back) to finally get it done. It was heavy going but ultimately very satisfying by the end...
As the Malazan Book of the Fallen nears its conclusion, there are still plenty of twists and turns that will affect the final outcome. Most of these will take place in the cities of Darujhistan and Black Coral where Gods walk the streets and the Guild of Assassins have their eye on the current owners of K’rul’s Bar. When the baying of hounds can be heard, all hell will break loose and only the machinations of a small plump man (with a fondness for pastries and wine) will have any chance of saving the city he loves. Gods born in these tumultuous times will be in mortal peril, who knows what the morning will bring? One thing is clear; the resolution of an ancient and terrible wrong will be decided one way or the other...
It’s the eighth book in an epic multi-volume series and you’ve got any number of characters all engaged in their own plot lines. The thing is though that there are only two books left in the series so you really need to start wrapping things up and pulling it all together. If you’ve got a huge cast list to deal with then this approach can really drag...
I never thought I’d say this but ‘Toll the Hounds’ is Steven Erikson’s ‘Crossroads of Twilight’; a bridging novel that sets things up for the endgame but takes far too long in doing so. This is what made me put the book down twice for something a little more exciting and fast paced.
There is simply far too much going on to be able to get a decent feel for each of the individual plotlines; just as I was getting into something I would find myself shifted onto another story entirely and have to start the whole process again. As far as I was concerned, this made for a particularly disjointed and slow paced affair which was only cancelled out in the closing stages when characters converged and the plot streamlined. There was plenty to get into but the book itself stopped me getting into it. When things streamline however, it’s a whole different story with Erikson writing some amazing stuff that got me teary eyed in a way that I hadn’t been since the Chain of Dogs... Reaching the closing stages, and finally getting the whole of Erikson’s vision for the book, blew my mind and it was a shame that this didn’t happen a little bit sooner.
I was also left wondering whether this part of the series was the best time for Erikson to deliver the whole narrative from the point of view of one particular character, something he hasn’t done before. The character in question is an absolute delight to read but only in small doses; his verbosity only adds to the slow pacing of the plot and made it even more difficult for me to really get my head round things. Again though, credit has to go to Erikson for making this small, plump individual the focal point of potentially world shattering events and the way these are dealt with always bought a smile to my face.
All this must sound like I really didn’t get on with this book at all and there’s no point in denying that I had real trouble getting into it. Despite this though, I found plenty of evidence of Erikson doing what he always does best. If you’ve read this far then you’ll finish the series no matter what but there is still plenty to enjoy in the meantime...
Steven Erikson is a guy who sets off fireworks inside my head not only with his imagination but the way he gets it down onto the page. I’ve already mentioned a couple of ‘teary eyed’ moments; Erikson is a writer that’s not afraid to really let his readers get involved with a character before introducing them to the natural outcome of anyone’s life. It’s not just the main characters he does this with either; Erikson may not spend as much time on the lesser characters but all this seems to do is refine his writing and make his depictions all the more poignant.
He’s also a writer that can make you laugh even in the midst of the tears. In the middle of a particularly apocalyptic conflagration of magic, pieces of prose like this are dropped into the mix...
Iskaral Pust rode like a madman. Unfortunately, the mule beneath him had decided that a plodding walk would suffice, making the two of them a most incongruous pair.’
Made me laugh! On top of all this, Erikson retains his ability to write a spectacle like no other, the events at the end of the book have to be seen to be believed!
Once you get past the issues regarding its presentation (and this may take some doing), ‘Toll the Hounds’ has plenty to offer the long term Malazan fan. I won't be waiting quite so long before picking up 'Dust of Dreams'...
Eight out of Ten
8 comments:
Good review! I felt the same as you about the pace in the first part of the book but as in almost all of Erikson's novels, you know that when the convergence comes it makes it all worthwhile.
I'm not so sure about the Crossroads of Twilight comparison. There's no storyline resolution in Crossroads but I felt that in TTH, the Tiste Andii's story arc was pretty much coming to an end... maybe I'm mistaken but with the focus on Letherii in the two following novels, I'm not sure I would consider TTH a bridging novel.
Phil
A Fantasy Reader
My thoughts are really a minority with TtH. I really think that it's one of the best books in the series - only MT stands out as better. Yes, there are issues, and yes I think that his chosen style would have worked better in a stand-alone than as a book late in a series. But, I still think that Erikson really did well with it.
The mixture of horror, philosophizing and humor is turning the Malazan series into the "Catch-22" of fantasy. The bar scene with the line "...and sometimes the poison kills the person SITTING NEXT TO the person that took it" almost made me choke on my coffee. He crams so much into this that you just have to excuse the occasional messiness of the plot and pacing.
At the risk of spoilers, TTH's status as a bridging novel becomes clearer in DUST OF DREAMS. Whilst not taking place on Genabackis, the events of TTH do set up events in DoD and the Tiste Andii storyline does continue depsite the absence of TTH's Tiste Andii characters (remember that Nimander did leave some of his cohorts back in Bluerose).
Something I am distrustful of with TTH is that it's purpose (at least partially) is to set up the prequel trilogy with Anomander Rake, hence the endless flashbacks to Kharkanas. Remove those and the book would be considerably shorter and more streamlined.
I like some of the ideas Erikson came up with in TTH, but in retrospect my own review was far too generous. The pacing is severely flawed, the end-of-book convergence one of the dampest squibs in the series (outsquibbed only by HoC's) and I could not engage with Harllo's storyline as he simply cannot be the age Erikson describes him as. Based on the time elapsed since MoI, he should be 2-3 years old maximum (and even that is insanely generous) and barely capable of talking, let alone getting into the shenanigans he does in this book.
Graeme, now what about "Return of the Crimson Guard"? While not a part of Erikson's main sequence, definitely a worthwhile read and a big improvement on "Night of Knives". I read it after TtH and while it doesn't matter too much found that I should have read RotCG first. ICE does a great job with it - read it and enjoy!
Phil - I see what you're saying but there were other Arcs, as well as the Tiste Andii, that are still going... It felt to me like Erikson had to consolidate everyone's position before moving them on and that screams out 'bridging novel' to me ;o)
Neth - I also think that Erikson did a good job but I ended up feeling as if it could have been even better if he had stuck to what he does best rather than experimenting with a new approach.
Anon - That's one of my favourite lines! :o)
Adam - I'm with you as far as Harllo and the Tiste Andii storylines go. I liked the convergence though! Not a damp squib at all ;op
Marduk - I haven't forgotten 'Return of the Crimson Guard', one of my 'books of shame' that I really need to get round to reading. It won't happen just yet but it will happen soon!
I agree that RotCG was actually enjoyable throughout, better than TTH and actually better than any of Erikson's books since at least MIDNIGHT TIDES, if not MEMORIES OF ICE.
Well, I wasn't so hot on RotCG. It was OK, but if I were to put it in an overall ranking for all Malazan novels, it certainly be in the lower half. In many ways I actually liked Night of Knives better, though it had weeknesses of it's own.
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