It’s okay bby we’re all busy bodies, i’m so happy you’re gonna scream to me omg :D Quick Ben is my love and so is Kalam Mekhar (they’re my brotp). i have a feeling you’re going to really love their relationship as it develops in future books, really a joy to read. Tattersail was definitely an amazing character (how often do you find a fantasy story where a fat woman is both sexy and powerful? almost never). I’m not going to spoil anything about Tattersail but she plays a major role in the following couple of books, although she will be a changed person… And Apsalar, the things i could say about Apsalar. She’s such a complex character, really i’m gonna pull a shrek and say she’s like an onion with layers and layers of shit that will make you cry. Felisin is another character i enjoyed veryyyy much, more so because of the history she tells of house paran, what it was like growing up with tavore (her sister). her journey is long and fantastic and i’m really so happy you’ve continued reading :D

omg… I WANT TO CRY AND KISS YOUR BEAUTIFUL FACE

i feel i should warn you that gardens of the moon is the only book in this series that has a semi-happy ending, the rest of this journey will be tears and agony. but with moments of pure joy and happiness nonetheless.

so yes tell me all about your feels and who are your favorites so far and everything and anything. please feel free to talk to me about anything and i promise i’ll stay spoiler free always. right now i’m into toll the hounds (the 8th book) and it’s still fucking amazing.

at the end of deadhouse gates i cried for about 2 days, but at the end of memories of ice i cried for like 4 or 5 days lmfaoooo

contains toll the hounds spoilers so watch out

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i made a thing

ayiman:

I have a favour to ask…

I am interested in science fiction and fantasy that isn’t written by white dudes.  

I am also particularly interested in fantasy that doesn’t take place in some Europe-analogue, and science fiction that isn’t about colonial or militarist triumph.

So help a geek out, pls and thx

I know the Malazan is written by a white dude, but he’s a learned archaeologist/anthropologist and 99% of the characters in the ten book long series are PoC and features many lgbt and disabled characters (many of them also PoC) as well and also the settings are 1% euro-centric so i highly recommend The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

To love in absence is to float on ever still waters. No sudden currents. No treacherous tides. No possibility of drowning.

Reaper’s Gale | Steven Erikson —

A fantasy series recommendation, for those interested.

tendingthehearth:

The Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson

I am on the third book in this series, and I adore it. It has fantastical, rich plots and amazing places. The first book is largely considered the worst because the writing is poor and characters are underdeveloped, but if you stick with it past that first book it becomes AMAZING. 

Here’s why I love it and moreover, why I felt it necessary to recommend it here:

• PoC as numerous and normalised as you’d expect from a, y’know… logical world: and not in a token ‘oh hey one guy over there is black because he’s from an exotic land’ kinda way either. Up to where I am in the books, the narrative has taken us on and across three continents. Erikson understands that three continents worth of people will not look, act or speak the same, and as a result there are a shit ton of different races featured. We follow some of the campaigns of the malazan empire. An empire spanning three continents is going to contain many enlisted men and officials from all over the place and he acknowledges that. We have numerous PoC heroes (all the quick Ben love <3 omfg), PoC villains, and PoC extras/civilians/red shirts.
• Strong female characters, and a general lack of the misogyny that plagues fantasy : Possibly my favourite aspect of his narrative. Steven Erikson has chosen to create a world in which women are treated equally. He doesn’t make a big point of this…it just IS and that’s awesome. There are numerous women in positions of power and leadership (the empress of the malazans and her adjunct for example), and a lot of the main characters are female (and they aren’t a misogynist’s dream). The malazan empire allows female soldiers, and in one book some stats are given to give you an idea of how numerous women occupying roles equal to men are: Of 10,000 elite marines in one contingent, something like 4,000 were women. 
• The many and varied non-human races: Some of them are fucking awesome, and a lot of imagination has gone into them. At times he hints about their evolutionary biology and as a nerdy scientist, I love that. I like to imagine that the different races interact in a similar way that we would with other human species (like Neanderthals etc.) if they weren’t extinct.
• The gods and spirits
• His descriptions of magic and other realms.
• Gay people are a thing: And they aren’t fetishized!! There is very little in the way of romance or sex in these books, the subject matter doesn’t really allow for it. But when there is; quite a few of the characters are unashamedly bisexual and a number of homosexual relationships are referenced.

Seriously, I cannot recommend this series highly enough. Every time I see one of those posts about ‘how to include group X in fantasy’, it makes me think of this series because he does it well! It’s an entertaining, well written series with all the drama and all of the feels without the bigotry that plagues this genre. Highly recommend.

If you care not for any of the issues above (you probably shouldn’t follow me but…meh), but just want a new fantasy fix; then I recommend this series just for the entertainment value alone. I’m hooked!

you really don’t know emotional pain from literature until you’ve read malazan

Reaper’s Gale

For a minute there, I was happy. Then it all came crashing down.

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fierycross:

punkhawke:

Oh hai there Anomander. Om nom nom. ps if you haven’t read The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Erikson you soooooo should. They are amazing.

Although I’ve never had the inclination to nom Anomander Rake, this graphic makes me reconsider.

War has its necessities, Korlat, and I have always understood that. Always known the cost. But, this day, by my own hand, I have realized something else. War is not a natural state. It is an imposition, and a damned unhealthy one. With its rules, we willingly yield our humanity. Speak not of just causes, worthy goals. We are takers of life. Servants of Hood one and all.

Whiskeyjack (via fuckyeahmalazan) —

revengeofthebooknerds:

#stevenerikson #malazan #gardensofthemoon #amazing #highfantasy

feedingthefantasy:

“We were brittle. Destroyed months ago, outside Pale, it’s just taken this long for the few of us left to realize it.” — Picker

“Whiskeyjack was a superb swordsman … used to spar with Dassem Ultor and it’d take a while for Dassem to get past his guard.” — Dujek Onearm

I’m proud to witness/read the segments of their lives even though they are figments of imaginations. Indeed, I will always remember. (i’m so moved. lol sorry for the drama)