Rating: 
Summary: World torn asunder
Review: This is a powerful, intriguing and disturbing book with tremendous action and great world-building. Erikson's Malazan world is a land of tyrants, armies, war, pillage, betrayal, destruction that is highlighted with themes of honor, duty, loyalty, perserverance, and some humor. The scope and depth is even greater than Jordan, and the timetable has been much better because Erikson is essentially publishing at a volume per year pace.Memories of Ice, the third in the series, essentially continues the story after Gardens of the Moon. The Malazan warriors seeking to conquer the continent of Genabackis have been deemed traitors by their Empress. They join with former opponents to halt a mad cult that has conquered cities in the southern part of the continent. The reason: the Pannion cult acts as if possessed, and starves its followers; they become an army of cannibals to conquer new territories for (ahem) food. But that's only a small part of the larger scope of these tales. A great war is about to begin that makes the Malazan imperial aspirations seem petty by comparison, and Erikson begins to reveal its major actors in this volume. The war includes gods, demigods, and humans. Erikson's world also is peopled with numerous (usually humanoid) non-human creatures, all of whom have different powers and abilities and different societal structures. It's about time that Steven Erikson has begun to get some well-earned attention and kudos in the US for his Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Previously available only in the UK and Canada (US stores would purchase from Canadian stocks), Tor recently became Erikson's US publisher and the books will come out in Tor editions starting in 2004.
Rating:
Summary: Unknown, but it shouldn't be
Review: When I first read Gardens of the Moon, the first 100 pages were a bit frenetic and confused, but as I got into it I couldn't put it down. The sheer scope of Erikson's imagination is overwhelming. Deadhouse Gates was even better than Gardens of the Moon, even though it introduced a host of new characters. Memories of Ice is even better than the previous two. Erikson ties together many of the characters and events of the first two novels and fits them into the framework of an even larger story. This is by far one of the best series I have ever read. The amount of detail and planning that must have gone into the creation of his world, let alone the story itself, is amazing. This series is pretty unknown, but it deserves to be on the best seller list, or at least in people's Best of lists.
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