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Dude! Thank you. But slow down for me will you? Do you mean to say The Stormlight Archive are better in your opinion than the Malazan book of the Fallen series

Dude! Thank you. But slow down for me will you? Do you mean to say The Stormlight Archive are better in your opinion than the Malazan book of the Fallen series? And KKC is the best of those three series? Sidenote: Reading about KKC from other comments, seems like I might drop the idea of reading it for reason you too highlighted. I also checked out the Malazan Book for Fallen series properly, I was aware it was a series of 10 books but just now discovered Steven Erikson is a beast, that series including the prequels is a set of possibly 26 books! That is so exciting! Okay so I ask again, worth getting into? And some advice to survive the 1st book as you mentioned its the most difficult read? OR is The Stormlight series easier or first to read?

beezlebroxxxxxx 3y ago
Stormlight is significantly easier to read than Malazan and, at least in my opinion, significantly simpler in almost every way. Malazan is really a narrative tour-de-force with an extremely satisfying way of bringing a number of storylines together and to conclusion in each book. It's also an interesting meditation on history, regret, and the arc of empires over time. The complexity and in media res nature of the beginning throws a lot of people off but you just have to keep reading. It's written in a way that has no handholding; the world is already built and ancient and you're dropped into it, while Sanderson, honestly, seems to be kind of making it up as you go along. (This is, in part, because Erikson had the entire Malazan world as a tabletop RPG before writing the books.) Sanderson's books, in comparison, are more like Marvel movies. They're entertaining, but I don't find that they reinvent the wheel or do anything too interesting. Stormlight is also much less grim and mature in many ways than Malazan, which is either a pro or a con for some people.
- vidyesh 3y ago
  Thank you. I think I am getting the clear picture of what to expect from Malazan. But I guess I will consider starting with Stormlight then, I haven't read epic fantasy in a while. Interesting, I read that Sanderson's book are more like each book is concluded by the end like you described for the Eriksons'. Would I be at a disadvantage of not knowing anything about Malazan world or its tabletop RPG?
  - beezlebroxxxxxx 3y ago
    > Would I be at a disadvantage of not knowing anything about Malazan world or its tabletop RPG? No. My understanding is the RPG world was entirely private and there is no published campaign or book about the specific RPG world at all. It was just what Erikson made before he started the Malazan series. It's not required at all. Malazan is decidedly more demanding as a reader though than Stormlight. I would say if you find Stormlight complicated or demanding then you might not enjoy Malazan, which is operating on a fundamentally more complex (on sheer number of characters, for an example) and mature level than Stormlight on almost every level. There is a reason Malazan is often brought up when discussing the greatest fantasy series of all time. (I still would put neither Malazan or Stormlight as really complex books though. They're fairly straightforward compared to more creative and formally interesting books like Ulysses or Finnegan's Wake, for instance. In general people who read fantasy tend to be rather hyperbolic when it comes to how complex the books are.)

beezlebroxxxxxx 3y ago

Stormlight is significantly easier to read than Malazan and, at least in my opinion, significantly simpler in almost every way. Malazan is really a narrative tour-de-force with an extremely satisfying way of bringing a number of storylines together and to conclusion in each book. It's also an interesting meditation on history, regret, and the arc of empires over time. The complexity and in media res nature of the beginning throws a lot of people off but you just have to keep reading. It's written in a way that has no handholding; the world is already built and ancient and you're dropped into it, while Sanderson, honestly, seems to be kind of making it up as you go along. (This is, in part, because Erikson had the entire Malazan world as a tabletop RPG before writing the books.) Sanderson's books, in comparison, are more like Marvel movies. They're entertaining, but I don't find that they reinvent the wheel or do anything too interesting. Stormlight is also much less grim and mature in many ways than Malazan, which is either a pro or a con for some people.

vidyesh 3y ago
Thank you. I think I am getting the clear picture of what to expect from Malazan. But I guess I will consider starting with Stormlight then, I haven't read epic fantasy in a while. Interesting, I read that Sanderson's book are more like each book is concluded by the end like you described for the Eriksons'. Would I be at a disadvantage of not knowing anything about Malazan world or its tabletop RPG?
- beezlebroxxxxxx 3y ago
  > Would I be at a disadvantage of not knowing anything about Malazan world or its tabletop RPG? No. My understanding is the RPG world was entirely private and there is no published campaign or book about the specific RPG world at all. It was just what Erikson made before he started the Malazan series. It's not required at all. Malazan is decidedly more demanding as a reader though than Stormlight. I would say if you find Stormlight complicated or demanding then you might not enjoy Malazan, which is operating on a fundamentally more complex (on sheer number of characters, for an example) and mature level than Stormlight on almost every level. There is a reason Malazan is often brought up when discussing the greatest fantasy series of all time. (I still would put neither Malazan or Stormlight as really complex books though. They're fairly straightforward compared to more creative and formally interesting books like Ulysses or Finnegan's Wake, for instance. In general people who read fantasy tend to be rather hyperbolic when it comes to how complex the books are.)