Steven Erikson The Malazan Book of the Fallen
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi...esults-process=default
Here is my review from Amazon.
Remember the Gunslinger?, August 25, 2006
I may be in the minority here but for me the `The Gunslinger' was a hard read. It was slightly confusing and you just didn't really know where the plot was heading. If it wasn't for the prompting of some of my friends I probably would have finished it but I wouldn't have picked up the `The Drawing of the Three'. But I am so glad I did because I would have missed out on the world that King brought forth. `Gardens of the Moon' would come to be a lot like this.
`Gardens of the Moon' is definitely a hard read but like 'The Gunslinger' it is well worth reading. Personally I look at it this way, Erikson has woven a tapestry so huge, so detailed, so friggen incredible that it cannot be looked at as a whole right off the bat. Instead Erikson just gives you a glimpse here and there that allows you to slowly come to terms with the world he has created. This can be very frustrating and if my friend who told me to read this book hadn't been around to answer some of my questions I might have quit too. But this friend was the person responsible for me reading Martin, Donaldson, Farland, Bakker and so on, so I took his opinion seriously. When he said this series was the best he had ever read I believed him and now I share the same opinion.
Here are some tips for reading this book.
1st: Do not try to guess what's going to happen. Just read it with an open mind. I say this because you're going to meet characters and races that are hundreds of thousands of years old. They introduce their own stories into the mix so trying to guess anything while reading the first book is pointless.
2nd: Try to pay attention. I know it's hard at first but honestly I have read this book (the entire series in fact) twice and each time I realize how detailed Erikson has been. I have full confidence that the entire series is already done in his head.
3rd: Do not underestimate anyone. Something might seem insignificant now but in these stories they can be the pebble that started the landslide.
All in all just get to page 350 and you'll probably start to feel things click. Then you can finish it and start the next books which are breathtaking. If you didn't know the next 2 books are on the same timeline but they occur on different continents. It is in these that you truly bond with the characters and see a new world unfold in front of your eyes.
Oh one last thing to the people who said the magic was lame; you ain't seen nothing yet.