i made a thing

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.

Read More

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) —

tigerofsummer:

“…the girl couldn’t be more than fifteen years old. The exception was her eyes, which held the dull glint of weathered onyx – they looked ancient, every emotion eroded away into extinction.” -GotM, UK Trade, p.44

Ziyi Zhang as Apsalar

feedingthefantasy:

“Hood’s breath, Dancer himself would have hesitated before taking on Kalam Mekhar.” —Topper

Goes to show how much of a BAMF Kalam is.

“Heed the lesson there, son.”

“What lesson?”

“Every decision you make can change the world. The best life is the one the gods don’t notice. You want to live free, boy, live quietly.”

“I want to be a soldier. A hero.”

“You’ll grow out of it.”

Whiskeyjack to a young Ganoes in Gardens of the Moon

Rereading Book 1 because it’s been too long since, and tonight’s a good night as any to relive the moment I fell in. Love? Maybe. Possibly.

Also because too many people are complaining about how it’s too long, too chaotic, too complex, not enough back story, I don’t get what’s going on, wahhhahhhh. 

It’s all of those things for a reason, one reason only, and that is to keep people who say things like that out.

(via fierycross)

Honour, integrity. All that expensive crap.

Kalam (talking about Whiskeyjack) - Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson (via theretiredbridgeburner) —

Lay of the Birdgeburners by Kitsmusic

crying omG EVERYONE LISTEN TO THIS MORE PROOF THAT MALAZAN È SOPRA TUTTO 

BLESS THIS MAN

This a softly spoken reading of a really dramatic and graphically violent scene from House of Chains. Non-readers be warned for spoilers. Dedicated to karmapolice92

iT’S A WORK IN PROGRESS DON’T JUDGE ME

Read More

lessonsfromfantasy:

“The heart of wisdom is tolerance.” (From ‘Memories of Ice’ by Steven Erikson)

http://www.lessonsfromfantasy.com/