Malazan

[Tabris]

Erikson will finish. You will have to wait for Esselmont to finish his cycle of 5 books too in order to have the 'complete' story, which means it will not likely be until 2013-2014 for the entire Malazan Book of the Fallen to be completed.

Jordan will die before finishing A Memory of Light and it will be finished by a ghost writer. I bet it'll be Salvatore. I expect that to be all done by 2009 or so.

Martin is morbidly obese. He is extremely unhealthy. It would surprise no one for him to keel over from a heart attack any day now. He took 5 years to write a piece of shit book in his series and the series keeps getting longer. I remain skeptical that he will finish.

[Arbuste]

Originally Posted by Tabris

Martin is morbidly obese. He is extremely unhealthy. It would surprise no one for him to keel over from a heart attack any day now. He took 5 years to write a piece of shit book in his series and the series keeps getting longer. I remain skeptical that he will finish.

Don't say that. In my dreams he looks like Jaime and is very gentle.
Now, I can see the whole "Misery" story under a very different light.

[Khorum]

well he's not MORBIDLY obese, but he does kinda look like a dwarven king.

[Hateyou]

Originally Posted by Khorum

well he's not MORBIDLY obese, but he does kinda look like a dwarven king.

Haha, yea he doesn't look too hot.

George R. R. Martin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Nebuchadnezzar]

And there isn't anything written down for Martin, its not like Jordan, GRRM has it all in his head.

[Hateyou]

So I'm almost done with book 2 and my god this book is awesome. Way better than book 1, there's just always something crazy going on. The Coltaine march is badass. I also like the characters in this book alot more. Glad I stuck with it, this ranks right up there with ASoIaF for me.

[Khorum]

Originally Posted by Hateyou

So I'm almost done with book 2 and my god this book is awesome. Way better than book 1, there's just always something crazy going on. The Coltaine march is badass. I also like the characters in this book alot more. Glad I stuck with it, this ranks right up there with ASoIaF for me.

Me I just liked Felisin taking it in every hole.

[Tabris]

Originally Posted by Khorum

well he's not MORBIDLY obese, but he does kinda look like a dwarven king.

I'm willing to bet money that he is clinically morbidly obese.

[Teleyn]

Originally Posted by Hateyou

So I'm almost done with book 2 and my god this book is awesome. Way better than book 1, there's just always something crazy going on. The Coltaine march is badass. I also like the characters in this book alot more. Glad I stuck with it, this ranks right up there with ASoIaF for me.

You're over the 'hump' now - it only gets better from here. Book 3/4 are insane; I'm currently reading back through the entire series and loving it just as much the second time through. Last time I read it was when Midnight Tides got released, so since I got Bonehunters I wanted to refresh myself on all the nuances of the story.

Also, The Healthy Dead and Blood Follows are awesome if you can find a copy of them. I'd hold off on reading them until after Book 3 at the least since they involve two characters introduced in that book, they are kind of morbid comic relief novellas if that makes any sense.

[tad10]

Originally Posted by Tabris

Erikson will finish. You will have to wait for Esselmont to finish his cycle of 5 books too in order to have the 'complete' story, which means it will not likely be until 2013-2014 for the entire Malazan Book of the Fallen to be completed.

Jordan will die before finishing A Memory of Light and it will be finished by a ghost writer. I bet it'll be Salvatore. I expect that to be all done by 2009 or so.

Martin is morbidly obese. He is extremely unhealthy. It would surprise no one for him to keel over from a heart attack any day now. He took 5 years to write a piece of shit book in his series and the series keeps getting longer. I remain skeptical that he will finish.

You guys have sold me on the series, but I refuse to start this until at least book 8 is out and book 9 is due. Jordan ruined me on unfinshed multi-book sagas. I don't read ASoIaF for the same reason.

I think there is about a 60% chance that you're correct about Jordan. And as I wrote on the other thread -- I feel sorry for the guy but I wish he hadn't written crap for 10 years since Book 4. He would have died with a terrific legacy now he'll die as a might-have-been. :-(

[Khorum]

I have every sympathy for Jordan and his family, but WoT doesn't compare to either ASoIAF or Malazan. Not even close. You're doing yourself a disservice by not getting into either series if you're even vaguely amused by epic fantasy.

Start with either series, but start it soon... whatever will happen to Martin will happen anyway, and Erikson needs to sell as many books as he can to gain publication in the US, since you still need to import his novellas.

[Velk]

Originally Posted by Hateyou

Ok, so Warrens are where the Gods live, and where Mages draw thier magic from? Also, mages can go inside them?

Roughly yes. The ascendants are not exactly Gods though in the classical sense, they are more demigod status - kind of a like norse mythology I guess. Almost everyone in the series has no idea why they are there or where they came from, but is more than happy to take advantage of them. You get more information about their origins as the series progresses.

Bridgeburners are just soldiers left over from the Emperor? Is there something special about them? I can't really figure them out.

Yeah, the elite of the elite troops from the previous ruler. Unsurprisingly they feel somewhat paranoid that the new ruler wants to get them killed off. If I remember correctly they are a engineer brigade.

Also, that Magic fight near the begining, where Tattersails lover was killed...was that an actual moon or something? The way he was describing it, I couldn't tell.

Moon's Spawn is a flying castle like in dragonlance.

Those are the main things I'm confused about, but there are also other things, minor explainations about other people/mechanics without spoilers would be appreciated.

Quick rundown of races that is pretty much spoiler free :

Jhaghut - ruled the world prior to the start of human evolution. Extremely long lived, powerful in magic. Almost extinct. Exceptionally anti-social due to thousands of years of relentless persecution by the T'lan Imass.

Imass - Neanderthals. Started a war with the Jhaghut with varying degrees of success. Extinct.

T'Lan Imass - Undead Neaderthals. All that is left of the Imass after they committed ritual mass suicide when they Jhaghut froze all their food sources. Dedicated to exterminating the Jhaghut and considerably more successful at it than when they were alive. Some of them used to work for the old emperor for reasons which get explained later on.

K'Chain Che'Malle - Giant velociraptors with swords. Original owners of the various flying castles. The largest concentration of ass-kicking in one package of any races encountered ( this is saying a lot in this series ;p ). Extinct.

Tiste Andii/Edur/Liosan - basically elves. This includes Anomander Rake and his assorted minions, other than Calaban Brood who, as far as I know, is a human necromancer.

[Kildace]

Originally Posted by Velk

Tiste Andii/Edur/Liosan - basically elves. This includes Anomander Rake and his assorted minions, other than Calaban Brood who, as far as I know, is a human necromancer.

Just a detail, Brood uses High Denul, he's more like a "paladin" than a Necromancer.

[larseny316]

Going to try to expand on the god/ascendant relationship. Will keep it spoiler free, as much as possible. I won't mention names and events etc, so aside from the generic "He talked about XXX race they must be XXXXX" spoiler you should be safe.

Warrens - various types of magic as well as realities. The Warren of Darkness is both a magic involving dark (not evil, but plain dark) powers as well as a physical place that can be travelled through that has no light. The normal mage exclusively uses one warren, although some use more.

Ascendants - the best way I've found to describe ascendants is by placing them in one of two categories. Those who are in charge of something important, ie: Cotillion is an ascendants because he is the patron god of assassins, Shadowthrone is the ruler of the shadow realm so he is an ascendant. Then there are individuals whose deeds and abilities are so far beyond the normal person they ascend. Ascension appears to grant a greatly (immortal?) life, as well as even more power. Ascendants can be a combination of the two, ex mortals who now rule, immortal races now on their own. Ascended beings aren't all equal, there are mortals who I would pick in a fight over some ascendants, and there are other ascendants who would easilly mop up a dozen others.

Gods - I'm actually not that familiar with this one, but I get the impression gods aren't everyday players in this world. There are a few who interfere a tiny bit by granting powers and instruction, but gods don't pick up a sword and go into battle.

Bridgeburners - the old Emperors elite guard during the old regime. It was a large company, however (minor spoiler), within the first 50 pages of book 1, all but about 70 are killed in a cave in. One of my favorite quotes in the books, and will give you a good idea of the bridgeburners - their reputation is such that (as mortals mind you), its said that Even a god runs when he hears the bridgeburners are coming (not an exact quote) They just got that standard "hero" factor that all book heroes have.

Races:
Forkrail Assail - multi jointed, I get the distinct insect impression

Jaghut - Ruled over the Imass who eventually revolted, humanoid, with tusks and green/grey skin. Ice warren. All but extinct.

Jhag - jaghut half breed, the other half has never been defined.

Imass - humanoid tribe race, warred with the jaghut and won the war by interring into a ritual that killed them all and made them undead zombies (T'lan Imass) Can travel/morph as dust, immune to damage somewhat (if their arm falls off they lose the arm, but until then its usable etc). They fight until they are incapacitated. Multiple tribes of Tlan, one of which worked for the old emporer.

Morranth - Humanoid Tech race, they created the munitions that the Malazan sappers use. They all wear armor and I don't know of any being seen out of it. Travel on insect craft that can fly. Key part of Malazan battle strat

Barghast - Humanoid shamanistic barbarians (thats being a bit harsh), but they're a tribe face painting race.

Tiste - I believe their all immortal, each tiste is a different aspect - Shadow (Edur, grey skinned), Light (Liosin, fair), Dark (Andii, black). Certainly seems like theirs a higher percentage of ass kicking and magic in these groups. Of course when you live thousands of years that makes sense.

Teblor/Theloman/Toblakai - I havn't figured out if these are all the same, but I think so. At least as similiar as tiste are. All are giants, all are extremely physical. They seem fairly human aside from their size (and that depends of course on their culture too).

Trell - humanoid, thick hide tribes people, very strong, not immortal, tusks.
* Immortal doesn't mean lives forever, just extremely long lived, but still able to die to damage

[Callic]

I'm fairly sure that the general "other half" of the jhag half breed is toblakai, which is one reason icarium is so pwn. they alluded to that at the end of book 5

Yes, this is the greatest fantasy series ever written. What sets it apart from AToIaF and things of that nature imo, more so than the setting and atmosphere (which are both top notch) are characters and dialogue. Some of the scenes are almost Shakespearean in how well the characters play off each other, and by the end of each book, you really find yourself saddened that it's over and you can't live in that world anymore.