Memories of Ice || Non-Spoiler Review + Spoiler Book Chat feat. Posh Allen || Malazan #3 

Wow, great comment! Thanks for some clarification. I did not get that at all about Rake approaching FROM the sea, which makes more sense. And yes! I think the Malazans went too early. I'm currently in Dust of Dreams now, and loving all that I'm learning about the K'chain Che'malle. I can't bring myself to like Kruppe though. I DID like the friendship between Rake and WJ, so excellent point there as well. I'm excited to do my HoC review so I can talk about Karsa. "Witness...."

Lol thank you! The plan makes no sense to me!

Yes! Completely agree with everything you said here. The siege of Y'ghatan may be my favorite in any book ever. That section of BH is brilliantly written. I cant wait to talk about that in an upcoming review.

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria Looking forward to that review, and the Bancroft one. Your Malazan reviews are the best I've found on booktube. Unafraid to dive into spoilers and talk about some of the short comings of the series, though it hurts my heart to say that, they undoubtedly do exist.

Thank you so much! I love these books. How'd you feel about the last 2 books? I'm on my last TBR book before tackling them. Should start next week.

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria So book 9 and 10 are really best viewed as one HUGE book, DoD on it's own leaves something to be desired but that's just by nature of it being 1 half to a whole. On the whole I was very satisfied with the way Erikson wrapped everything up, certainly, i wasn't left feeling underwhelmed. Your mileage may vary though, either way I hope you have a blast with the last 2 books.

Yeah, that's why I was trying to knock out all my other books for the month since I need to tackle 9 and 10 as a unit.

Yep, but even the non Kell Hunters are still bipedal lizards, not lizardmen, so I'm still confused about how they built all their finer machinery. I'm assuming magic, which is fine. I'm enjoying hearing other people's explanation about why Toc left his current group, but I'm still calling it a terrible decision where he ends up dying anyway lol. I especially don't understand or agree on why he would leave Tool. Even if he feared Envy, I still think the safe bet is to stick with the ones who are literally mowing down the Pannions. And yeah, the mistrust makes total sense on why they would want to divide their forces and let cooler heads prevail, but despite their feelings and what not, I still think it was a poor strategic move to attack without their backup. Even if the Malazans wanted control of the city, the smart money would be to let Brood's forces thin themselves down some by being part of the fight, especially considering how much Dujek hates losing soldiers. Thanks for your opinion!

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria i think you should reread DoD and tCG, you are wrong. they can reform their body into the shape/form needed. i.e skullkit in the dragon skykeep(the drone that fixes the skykeep so icarium can use it) and also both va'gath warriors reshape for stormy /gesler and gu'rath reforms for the destriant and a krell hunter for redmask, a shi'gal assasin does as well and... also fx the va'gath heavy troops have 'normal' hands and use axes/shields and... you missed some stuff it seems.

I haven't read DoD or tCG which may be the problem lol. I'm tackling those 2 book this month, so once I saw you were going in more depth, I stopped reading the rest of the comment. Will return once I'm done. So yeah, my opinions are still colored by not yet being finished. Just finished Hounds a couple weeks ago. :)

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria ahh then it makes a lot more sense you're missing some info, lol - enjoy the ride.

He will make his appearance again soon! He is very busy with posh engagements and such. :p

Awesome, I'll check that out!

hahahahha most people like that scene

That's actually a good question. I actually stopped making these reviews, though I have a book 10 one coming out. I always meant to get back and do the ones I missed!

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria ryt then. I’ll be looking forward to that

Oooooh, is it literally just the NC thing? I guess that makes sense. What I love about these books is that they're SO massive and chock full of stuff that there is something for everyone to like. I love seeing what other people found interesting. I still think Toc's decision was WAY too risky lol but that makes a bit more sense.

I'm tempted to agree with you. Capustan is my favorite part of MoI, but I think I prefer the 7 Cities books.

horrible

Hahahaha yeah, agreed on Kruppe lol. I actually agree with you regarding the death stuff. I've actually voiced that opinion before, so feel free to voice those complaints my way if you feel the need lol. I loved Capustan, though!

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria Both sieges were great and I don't have many gripes about the action, as batshit as it can get. I love that stuff. But I've began jokingly calling this book Memories of Infodumps. It felt way more disjointed than the first two entries and a pair of the impactful deaths from Deadhouse Gates being pretty much voided has annoyed me.

Yeah.....that's a major complaint I personally have with the series as a whole. I'm with you though...this one isn't as beloved for me as it is for most of the fandom. I much prefer the 7 cities books anyway, though Gruntle's insane stand in the tenement building will always stand out lol

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria That once scene with the child's standard took me from "I don't really care about this group" to THIS IS NOW A GRUNTLE FAN ACCOUNT type moment. I like the book overall, but The Mhybe stuff, while I did feel sorry for her, the Todd and Fanderay subplots, and the fact that Kruppe is even a thing hold a lot of it back for me. Also, FUCK Kallor.

Agree on all counts. I also did not like the Mhybe or the Wolf storyline.

I agree that one of the reasons I love the series is the wildly varying opinions on them and what's in them, like how anyone can like Toll the Hounds as their favorite lol. I get why people like this book over DG. Capustan and Itkovian are just such powerful scenes, but I think overall my love of DG is just so colored by 1) how much I loved the Chain of Dogs, not just its conclusion but the entire thread; that's just the kind of thing I like to read about and 2) I just love Fiddler and Karsa and Kalam (despite being an assassin) and 3) I like the Seven Cities setting a little better, as it just feels OLDER than Genabackis. The siege of Y'ghatan may be my favorite scene in all 8 books I've read. And yeah, that makes sense on why they wouldn't cooperate with each other, between your comment and another comment on this thread, but in my opinion, even if they had their own reasons for splitting off, it still makes it a terrible decision militarily, at least from the Malazans point of view. I get if Brood and Rake want Dujek to get tore up, but the Malazans not pressing for their assistance, especially with Dujek's affinity for his soldiers does not seem tactically sound. Thanks for the comment!

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria I do not think it was necessarily poor tactics that lead to the split of the armies and the Malazan rush ahead to Coral, it was more the Malazan's recognizing their role in what has happened on that continent because of their conquest and attempting to spring the trap that they believed was waiting for everyone there to allow Brook/Rake's forces to eliminate the threat for good with minimum losses on their side. At the beginning of the series the Malazan's were viewed by most as ruthless conquerors and over the course of DG, MoI, and HoC the opinion shifts from ruthless conquerors to respected adversaries/occupiers who brought order and stability to the chaotic lands they conquered. You can see the change in mentality through Karsa's, Rake's, and even the Tano Spiritwalker's viewpoints in DG and I think that the MoI final siege plays into how Erikson wanted to change the opinions of how the Malazans were viewed. Also, the Bridgeburners motto: First in, last out.

That's an excellent point. I'm gonna chew on this for a while. Thanks for the opinion!

Concur!

Thank you! You will find that very few people agree with us here, but the explanations I get from people don't really hold water in my opinion.

Maybe you've heard these before, but I'm gonna try because both those points were beautiful to me - both central to the themes in this book, and well-reasoned 😅 Toc; the group he's with are powerhouses, Toc does not compare. That in itself is not a problem, but the leader of the group Envy doesn't really care, or need, any of them. And she is aiming to just bull-charge straight through increasing opposition. The _only_ way Toc could ever survive that is if Tool and the Seguleh spend significant energy to protect him. His chances of living would still be very slim, and it would put everyone else at greater risk - Toc isn't about that. And at the end of that road, if he survived and didn't get his friend killed, he still wouldn't be where he wants to go - he would be in the center of the Domin instead of meeting up with Dujek before their battle. On top of that, Toc is a scout, an infiltrator, a messenger. An independent operator. Joining the Tenescowri is what he does best. He can gather information, and gains some control over where he is going. None of the others he's with could do this. He leaves Tool behind because the Imass cannot really help him where he's going. Tool would be safer to remain with Envy. And Toc will have to do some dark shit that he doesn't want to burden his friend with. Toc leaving alone makes complete strategic and emotional sense. Is it a _good_ decision? No!! He's in a terrible position where safe or good decisions don't really exist - except maybe turn tail and run to safety, but that's not who Toc is. The Imass; these guys have been fighting and grieving for millennia. They don't _want_ to anymore. Their feelings are palpable to Itkovian, who is a divinely blessed container for those feelings. It's his task, his calling, his whole reason for being to relieve warriors of those feelings. Why would he wait to do his actual task? Waiting could mean he or some Imass could die, robbing him of the opportunity to help them at all. Waiting would mean he would rob the Imass of the choice to fight, purely for tactical reasons. That is not the way Itkovian or the Grey Swords operate - they believe in choosing the battles you fight for reasons you hold dear. This means more others will die, yes, but they're not there to prevent _that_ - those warriors are free to choose for themselves. Plus, he doesn't fully know what happens after - he doesn't know it will destroy him, he doesn't know what effect it will have on the Imass - he just knows it is the right thing to do. So he does it, right then and there, without question. What would his Faith mean if he didn't? Is it okay to hold off doing what you believe to be the right thing, ever?

Hahahahah I actually usually enjoy about 60% of the books and the things I enjoy I enjoy A LOT and of the things I don't enjoy i really only strongly dislike about 10% the other 30% is easy to judt push through 😛

@@TheLibraryofAllenxandria Thank you Allen I literally laughed out loud like a crazy person in my car reading your reply.

Also, I like almost 100% of Bonehunters. 😛