Well, I didn’t do all of it yet. But I finished the 10 book main series of Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson.

Holy shit, you guys.

This is quite possibly one of the most intense, powerful series I’ve ever read. The final book is just… I don’t even have the words yet to even describe how it made me feel. The last, like, 20% of that book is just one gut-punch after another of intense feels.

This series is epic. There’s no other word to describe it. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I felt utterly lost when reading this series, and for most of the books it was my second read-through! I will say that upon second reading, I did pick up on a lot more detail than I did the first time around. I think because of that I may reread The Crippled God again fairly soon. I tend to be a bit of a quick reader, and I often gloss over detail, especially when it’s in longer blocks of text. Rereading TCG maybe a month or two after completing it the first time may help me pick up on some of the detail I found confusing or just missed altogether.

I do still intend on finishing the entire 21 books of the Malazan world – in fact, I just started Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Blood and Bone today. BUT I’m thinking of perhaps taking a small break and reading something less… I don’t think dense is the right word, but less immense? Less robust? Less intense? Something easier to read and digest, yes.

If Malazan is a series you’re interested in checking out, I found this review to be helpful in assuaging any fears in starting such a huge undertaking of a series. I also really enjoyed reading through Tor’s Malazan Reread of the Fallen series as a way to jostle my memory as I finished each book through my reread. I also kept visiting the Malazan Wiki throughout my reread as a way to make sure I fully understood what was happening. Plus, it’s really cool to see artist renderings of the characters/races/scenes. My imagination is good, but not that good, heh.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my Goodreads Reading Challenge posts for 2018. I will likely write another at the end of the year, just recapping all the novels I made it through. I only have 6 left of the series in entirety, and I’m super looking forward to the eventual Witness Trilogy featuring one of my (and everyone’s) favorites, Karsa Orlong.

I still want to name my next pet Karsa (or Fiddler, or Gesler, or Hellian, or any number of my favorites in this series), but my husband gets naming rights of the next pet. SOON.

WITNESS.