Objectively speaking, this was probably a good book. But I spent the entire read bored out of my mind. Might be more enjoyable to have read it following book 1 or 2 when characters and places are still being introduced regularly, but to go from the prior plotlines and character arcs to reading about a bunch of loser shadow elves and some horribly placed philosophical musings about the woes of imperialism just didn't do anything for me. It continues to build on the overarching story and its definitely an important addition to the series, but it spent considerably too much time trying to look clever with 'witty' dialogue and page after page of moralizing. ( )

Tras décadas de guerras intestinas, las tribus de los Tiste Edur se han unido al fin bajo el Rey Hechicero de los Hiroth. Hay paz, pero se ha cobrado un precio terrible: un pacto con un poder oculto cuyos motivos son, en el mejor de los casos sospechosos, en el peor, mortales.
Al sur, el reino expansionista de Lether, deseoso de cumplir con su profético renacimiento como Imperio, ha esclavizado vorazmente a sus menos civilizados vecinos. A todos, salvo uno -los Tiste Edur. Y debe ser sólo una cuestión de tiempo que también caigan - ya sea bajo el peso asfixiante del oro, o por la masacre a filo de espada. O eso, al menos, ha decretado el destino.

I mean, the book is nice and all, but I couldn't care for the characters. Also, I keep wondering why I should spend so much time in reading these books when I could use the time to do other things, including reading more interesting books.

I doubt I will continue reading this series, but mind you, that is also what I thought after reading the four previous books. ( )

First of all, that cover over there is WAY better than mine. Too bad I have a whole set of the shitty "THIS IS A FANTASY BOOK" covers.

At any rate, this is the point where my re-read became a read, since MT is where I gave up previously. And it made a lot more sense, having reread the first four, but still wasn't as good as, say, MoI (high-water mark, as far as I'm concerned).

It's full of great characters (All the Sengars, all the Beddicts, etc.) but I felt like I never got quite enough, and never quite grasped what was going on with Udinaas or the Azath house. I suspect both of those plotlines will be clearer on reread.

This is barely a spoiler, but I was very disappointed that we didn't end up where we started in HoC. It seems like the brothers Sengar are a long way from chaining Trull, which is fine, but I was really anticipating that final break and was pretty let down when it didn't come.

I also thought, going in, that people must be overselling Tehol and Bugg, but they are not. Tehol Beddict might be my favorite character in anything, ever. Certainly in Malazan, and he and Bugg make an amazing team. I would buy a whole series of Tehol's Schemes and Ventures, especially if Bugg is along for the ride.

There's a lot of cool stuff here, and thinking back, I can't think of any plotlines that I didn't like--the Kettle/Azath plot was really interesting, it just lost me along the way, and Udinaas kept getting interesting just when I was like "Screw that" (although, Feather Witch, I understand your anger and frustration, but damn are you unfair to the guy).

Also amazing and introduced here (to me, anyway, I haven't done any of the ICE books): Iron Bars. Full stop.

Now looking forward to seeing our old friends in the Bonehunters...anyone that's still alive, anyway. ( )

Sögurnar um Malazan veldið skipta nú algerlega um umhverfi. Sagan fjallar nú um ættflokkana Tiste Edur sem hafa verið sameinaðir af öflugum stríðsherra en æðsti seiðmaður ættflokkanna hefur án þeirra vitundar samið við Krypplaða guðinn um völd gegn þjónustu. Næst umráðasvæði ættflokkanna er svo gerspillta heimsveldið Lether sem ætlar sér að ráðast gegn ættflokkunum. Krypplaði guðinn spilar stórt hlutverk í þessari bók og mun auka áhrif sín til muna eftir því sem á söguna líður. ( )