Reaper's Gale Review 

"Udinaas is a lot smarter" Me whenever ANY malazan character even a barbarian like Karsa Orlong begins a monolouge that is more thought provoking than anything I who has went through all stages of education has ever said 😭😭😭

I counted years ago and Beak only gets 25pgs before ripping my heart out.

Ah Beak! Trull! The amount of work Erikson managed to do with Beak, in so little time is truly amazing! And, for Trull to receive such a random end was so painful! With Coltaine, I always remember the arrow! With Iktovian, it's him telling the T'lan Imass that it is now their turn. With Whiskeyjack, its his knee buckling and him refusing healing so many times. With Beak, I remember him burning all the candles and him happily giving it all for his friends. With Trull, I remember QB's anger at the total randomness and absurdity that took such an amazing warrior and an even more amazing person away from us.

Toll The Hounds is very much a breath of fresh air after the intensity of the tragedy in the last two books. The Bonehunters go through a LOT... and it's nice to get a chance to ...well, you'll see where we are for this one. There's some absolutely incredible stuff in this book. I also would argue against being TOO down on Dust of Dreams. It's not Toll the Hounds level, but ... I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers, but I'm guessing it's largely suffering from the presence of a particular plot arc that is...impossible to adequately describe without spoilers.

If you're lost a close family member, I think Toll the Hounds will hit that much harder As Steven Erikson lost his dad whilst writing the book so grief, death and loss are major themes

Excellent review, Merphy! I always love the way you express your emotional connection to characters, moments, and themes. Even though this was your least favorite, you nailed a balanced, honest review. BEAK! 🕯

So, here's Kettle's RG storyline for you, even though you told me not to explain it... :P At the end of Midnight Tides, Kettle was made into the receptacle of the dying Azath House's spirit/ energy. It's what restored her life, but it was only meant to be a temporary thing because of the pact Silchas made with the House when it freed him from its imprisonment. He was charged to protect the seed (Kettle) until she reached the place where Bloodeye's soul was imprisoned, and then sacrifice Kettle so that a new Azath could be born, using both her life force and Bloodeye's soul to forge a new House to continue doing... whatever mysterious purpose the houses do. (Probably something to do with being dimensional anchors of Order to withstand Chaos + Serving as bridges between worlds or something. It's forever kept fuzzy.) So that's what happened at the end of that storyline. Kettle, when Silchas sacrifices her, becomes a new Azath, which actually brings reality to the dream realm, which in turn causes Hedge to truly return to life. Her true death brings about new life for a character that we knew *and* a new generation of flesh-and-blood Imass, separate from the Ritual... which doesn't make it any less hard, even though her life was already longer than it should have been thanks to the Azath, but it at least gives it meaning.

I feel like The Bonehunters was the benchmark for the series. Every book after that has such a fatalistic feeling, and so many incredible, indelible scenes. I liked that Malazan occupation of the prison island in Reaper's Gale.

I fully admit the ending of Reaper’s Gale broke me look what Erikson did to my boy just when his life was looking up. If you know you know.

Malazan needs a 'guide book' like the guide to middle earth sort of thing...😊

I finally finished the series a few days ago and Beak's story is still haunting me

I actually had the opposite order of experience where I LOVED the first half as I found a lot of the small subplots really facinating, but I do agree that I felt there was a bit of a slog where it did not feel that we were pogressing plot or thematically. I love the redmask storyline the idea that we or soldiers in this case can be led by those that we think have our best intrests at heart, who wears a mask which they speak behind. But in reality Redmask WAS a letheri that may have been driven to madness by a past event, or one that never had the Awl's best intrest at heart. Who redmask is, does not really matter. This all circles back to Toc's conversation with Torrent about the rider and the horse and how ignorant we are to our masters who direct us into things that may be our very demise

HONEY WAKE UP NEW MERPHY MALAZAN VIDEO!

Please add this to the Malazan playlist so we can binge them all!

I really appreciate that you are savoring these books and not just plowing through them for content

A re-read would do much in raising your appreciation of the series.

YAY Malazan! I too am not the biggest fan of RG, but Toll the Hounds is probably my favourite book of all time. You’re (kinda) approaching the finish line now!

How I missed this, I don't know. I'm so excited for you to get into Toll the Hounds. As I've said since MoI (I think), I think it'll be you're favourite of the series. The level of follow-through that Erikson executes in it almost primes you for what happens in Dust of Dreams/The Crippled God. Looking forward to your review of Toll the Hounds, whenever it comes.

Girl!!! I haven't read these books in a while, but you review brought back soooo many memories. Thank you for reviewing this. I teared up a bit remembering some of the deaths. Great review

I WAS NOT expecting to see this review to say the least haha. Happy you are back murph ❤

Reaper’s Gale was my least favourite on my first read. Now almost being done my second read through … it’s still my least favourite but I enjoyed it much more this time. With Redmask I think he was going for a dangers of hero worship/ Dune Messiah thing. Kind of echoed some of the meta commentary on the heroes journey that Udinaas kept going on about. It definitely came off as an intentional subversion to me. Icarium fallout is in book 9 (and maybe the most confusing, experimental stuff he’s done so far)

Beaks story actually destroyed me. Also Hellian is a menace and I love her. ^^

I always took little breaks with lighter fare between Malazan books except for the last 3. I just needed the mental break. But am so glad i finished it last year. Great series.

I’m glad you still overall enjoyed this one, even tho the first half was a slog. That’s not an uncommon experience, and difficulty reading the subject matter at hand is completely understandable of course. It sucks but what’re ya gonna do 🤷 I’m also glad you pushed through and I’m happy it’s still worth it! There’s so much to love and so many badass scenes, so many emotionally impactful scenes, so much humor… you’re gonna love TtH too I think, just you wait!

Basically all I can say is YES! So much epic stuff going on, so much heartbreak, so many wonderful characters. RG is next up in my re-read, and you’re pushing me to move it up on the list. ♥️ Great video.

2:37 did the shelf really buckle under the book's weight 💀

It's finally here! Omg! I'm still on a big pause from my re-read, I finished reading the entire series in 2016 and Reaper's Gale is the point where I totally forgot everything that happened lol

Hurray!!!! Thank You!!!! Now on to Toll of the Hounds. This was my 3rd Favorite book. 2nd Favorite was Toll of the Hounds. My Favorite book is The Crippled God. Beak is a tragic character.😁😁 I must say I shed a tear over Beak and Toc and Kettle. Some things will be answered in the next books. Hopefully you get started on Toll of the Hounds quickly for an even flow to the next books. I have been going through Malazan this year in Audio Books. I loved reading the books first but the audio books are helping me out quite a bit. Especially not trying to pronounce places and names in my head. The narrator does that for me. My least favorite book was the second book. I hate to say that because I still liked it. The Audio book just really helps me visualize the story since I already know the map and characters from reading the books.

I’m on a reread, one book a year, that’s all my heart can handle, these wonderful characters get close fast and so many of them get hurt, so I get the break 😊

Yeah, red mask's story arch frustrated me but I also think that's the point however it could have been done with half the amount of page time imo. Stick with it. Toll the hounds is also quite slow but it's such a beautiful story and the themes are so well realized that it's amazing. It also has some very memorable scenes. Dust of dreams suffers because it's weirdly paced which is mostly because it's not meant to be a contained book in the series but rather a part one. It also has the most difficult scene to get through I've ever read. But crippled God makes up for all of it (besides maybe the scene) and really will make you appreciate the series as a whole so much more. You can do it but definitely do it in your timeframe and comfort level.

Yep, definitely Toll the Hounds worth it. And of course as it is one of the best books, you won’t be far from the end of the series in total. The last is one book split in two, never forget that. And even Daniel Greene who literally hated the start loved the end. You love way more the series he did. 😂 I personally think, but I can be wrong, that the fact you read multiple books AND you keep big breaks between/during the books plus you say it’s not your strong suit to keep everything in your mind as an extra? That’s now not a positive thing. I read these book in a very fast speed, of course with no other books parallel, and I didn’t have any issues to keep track of the characters and plots in any book after Gardens of the Moon. Now it’s taking a toll on you that you forget things over the weeks. Even if you discuss it on the discord. That still ruins the enjoyment significantly. Your review is awesome again of the book. Most of these reviews are technical, you make emotional reviews and that fills a missing piece. 👏👏

the death of redmask is very very symbolic - but in true erikson fashion this does not become know until much later in the series... however it is 'the' red line in morality in the series.

I have not read TMBotF in about a decade, but did recently read the Gods not Willing. Coming back to Eriksson is heart wrenching in how he writes his characters, he’s one of the few authors where I feel I know the characters and the tragedy but also the hope. After I read the gods not willing, I was explaining to my wife about the series and Beaks story is one of the ones I use as an example of a character, with very little page time, but eriksson makes you care

Yeah same experience for me. First half was a slog. Second half had the Bonehunters and Beak, that elevated things a lot for me

oh heck yeah. i was just rewatching the Midnight Tides review yesterday wondering when the next one was

Excellent review as always. It's been so long since I first read Reapers Gale that I can't remember my initial reaction, but I'm pretty sure I loved it (aside from the Redmask storyline). And on various rereads I've enjoyed it more cos I could skip over the parts I didnt like. The Beak story is one of the most affecting things I've ever read. It gets me every time. As for the remaining books, I really hope you enjoy Toll The Hounds, and Dust Of Dreams, because having read and enjoyed the majority of the series so far, it would be a shame if you didnt get around to reading, The Crippled God. I think you'll really appreciate the conclusion to the series.

For me 1, 4, and 7 were the hardest to get through because they were all 'beginnings' of a sort. Memories of Ice and Bonehunters were pretty big finales in their own way. House of Chains is still the lowest for me, I view Dust of Dreams in tandem to The Crippled God and The Crippled God is one of my all time favorite reading experiences ever.

I just finished Dust of Dreams and, honestly, I'm surprised that it gets the hate it does. It does a lot more than I was expecting, considering how everyone seems to think of it. But yeah, I do think that you'll enjoy Toll the Hounds A LOT MORE than you did Reaper's Gale. It seems a lot more up your alley, imo. Dust of Dreams too, actually. I feel like you may like it more than most. About Reaper's Gale, I can definitely see where you're coming from with it. Thsose Janath scenes were really bothering me, too, but I loved so much of the book that I forgave Erikson for it lol. Also, the Malazan invasion of Lether is just incredible. It really felt oppresive to be in the soldiers' shoes, but we also had some random very fun scenes, like Fiddler's drum, Hellian's pub crawl, etc. And, of course, Beak, which was CRAZY good. Anyway, I'm glad you're continuing on with Toll the Hounds, because, as I said, I think it'll do much more for you than Reaper's Gale did and I even doubt you'll want a break after that, honestly. But, if you do feel like a break, it's better to do it after Toll the Hounds than after Dust of Dreams, since DoD and The Crippled God are basically 1 big book cut in half (according to Erikson)

Damn it damn it, she beat me to the end. I'll be back.

I have read the whole series and even re-read Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse gates. I still feel like I know so little, but I want to know more. Reaper's Gale is a weird encapsulation of interesting little moments and confusing major events. Other Malazan books can be like this as well. Dust of Dreams seems to be really confusing compared to most Malazan books for a first time read. Some interesting moments can be found, but this book practically demands the reader to take it slow.

Huge book with a lot going on while being slow and dark at times, but with some great anf beautiful moments. Thanks for the review!

hahaha. How not to love you Merph??? You have such a beautiful heart! ♥ My wife and I love your reviews, and this was EXCELLENT!!! Much love from Argentina!

I'm on reread 5, so that obviously has a huge impact on my book rankings, and in truth can't remember how I felt on the first read as I was reading them as they came out. However for me at this point, I am against the many in that though I love every book, Toll the Hounds is easily my least favourite. Oh it has some absolutely huge moments, but to me that one is the slog. That said, I can never get enough of the Malazans.. Bonehunters, Dust of Dreams and Crippled God are my top three followed closely by Deadhouse Gates. Just goes to show that these books change so much on rereads and that every reader has their own reactions and feelings to the books. The worst of Malazan is still head and shoulders above the best of the rest. A great review Merphy, Keep at it, the payoff is there for all.

I weirdly didn't like Reapers Gale as much on my first read but its been one of my favorites on my re-read. I think because I just knew better what was going on.

Great review, but also- to be fair, from what I hear: Dust of Dreams is actually the first part of The Crippled God, in which both were meant to be its own book. So that they’re meant to be read as one book (and therefore, untenable in size if published as 1 book)

Reaper's Gale isn't my least favorite, but it's definitely the most uneven book in the series to me. The Marines' invasion is right up there with the best running action sequences in the series, but Erikson's love of throwing Important Names and Proper Nouns that we've never heard of before gets to the point where it truly drags things down, and a lot of what happens with Janath is just difficult to work through. I do think this is the point in the series where there is such a critical mass of characters and history that you can have an emotional impact like Trull really be meaningful, and Toll The Hounds definitely takes full advantage of that position.

I feel like your initial statement pretty much sums up the experience of Malazan. It's slow and downright tedious at times, but there's also so much very exciting and impactful stuff going on in between ... to this day I can't decide wether I loved or at least disliked the whole thing 😆

I bought the first 5 books in the Malazan series because of all the reviews I've read. Now this review has me rethinking about reading these books. I have so many books on my shelves to read that these seem too complicated for me to tackle.

Such an interesting development regarding the tiste edur. "yeah guys you beat us in war, now come join us in this economic system and be consumed by it just as we were".

FWIW I think Dust of Dreams is better than it gets credit for sometimes (without spoiling anything it's just *A Lot*) but it's really best considered one half of the last book with The Crippled God rather than a standalone entry in my opinion, so I can see why it gets lower rankings from some. I think whatever your feelings on DoD, the series will still end on a high note for you most likely.

Hey I agree! RG is definitely the least good Malazan book, in my opinion. I also felt like a lot of the plotlines felt sorta pointless. But then I Heard an interview with Steven Erikson and he said one of the main themes of Reaper's Gale is futility. Well, you nailed it Steven! I fully get the hesitation but the last 200 pages of Toll the Hounds are the most fun I've ever had while reading. So it's totally worth it.

🕯️

Merphy , Do you think i should start with Hitchhicker's guide to the Galaxy or House in the Cerulean sea ?

This was the first time in the series that I stopped being engaged fully. I really did not find the political groups in Letheras and many of the new characters compelling…but it was a tale of two books since the Malazan marine stuff did land with me completely. Dear Beak 🕯️🕯️🕯️

I read Reapers Gale in January and February. It was hard to read especially after Bonehunters was a true pageturner. At the moment I do a little Malazan break. I read The Blade itself and now I‘m starting in „the Prince of Nothing“. After „the Darkness that comes before“ I want to read „Toll the Hound“.

Children are dying." Lull nodded. "That's a succinct summary of humankind, I'd say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three words. Seconf most memorable malazan quote for me. Number 1, ie ofcourse, compassion, by Itkovian

Awesome review as always! RG is often the least favorite for mostly the same reasons as yours: people bounce off the Awl plot and find the begining half a slog. But man is just as an emotionally charged read as almost any other MBotF novel. Only TCG surpasses the emotional levels for me. Tool and Toc became in retrospect my favorite duo after a later book, but even here I loved them and cried when Toc died. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on Tool's eventual role in the story! ERRASTAASSSSS! There isn't a character in any story whatsoever that I hate more. Not even Griffith. Not even Orochi from OP. It is HEAVILY implied he killed Trull there at the end (Errant nudges the guy to kill Trull). And when you know more about him in general, this hatered just reaches levels I haven't experienced with any other character before. I agree completely with most of your other thoughts about characters. Udynass and Seren have a brilliant dynamic that provides a very interesting perspective and angle to how victims of assult can process what thwy went through. Very hard to read, but I learned a lot through Udynass' dialogue. Can't wait for your thoughta on Toll The Hounds. I think it will be your favorite, because it is all about how love and grief are integrally connected and how to process this grief. Also, it has my favorite child character in almost any book. Erikson has the best children characters: Kharkanas also has two child characters which are something else.

OH MY GOD. I can't even express how much you echoed my exact thoughts about this book. Least favorite book in the series, and still has some of the best, most emotional and most impactful scenes in the whole series - Check Enjoyed Redmask storyline initially and then really let down by the ending - Check Icarium's storyline ending without any resolution or explanation at all really irked me - Check First half of the book was a slog and second half, especially towards the end was mindblowing - Check Liked what he did with Janath, but felt it was overdone in some places - Check Bummed by Trull's sudden and pointless death - Check I can go on. And I similarly loved everything that you did, in this book. Toll the Hounds will be a LOT of philosophy, don't even try to think of the plot, just try to enjoy what Erickson is doing with his themes without worrying about plot, and you should be fine. At this juncture taking long breaks will be even more detrimental, especially after Toll the Hounds, as you will forget even more things. I LOVED your review of this book. Though I am really sad that you stopped doing the vlogs for Malazan. Best of luck for the next books.

Trull was the only one that actually pissed me off.

Kettle’s death hit me really hard. I get she’s a living Azath seed and the dagger was a finnest so to build the house that would hold Bloodeye’s soul she needed to be stabbed, but still. That one was fucked up. Also I posted on another channel, I’m getting a little tired of Erikson’s subversion of the “just in time” trope, where Erikson has the help arrive “just in time to be too late”. Happened with Toc and Trull in this book, Felisin in HoC, and many other times. Now I expect if a character is in peril and help is on the way, the character is going to die and the help will arrive too late. Just frustrating.

Reaper's Gale is my favorite one so far but I have had to take a break after because it was so heart breaking

Wow! I just finished Reapers Gale today perfect timing. Also my least favorite of Malazan so far, but just cause its slow. The character moments were amazing

Welp. Back to the wiki to rejog my memory of the story 😅

Reaper's Gale is an amazing book. Definitely one of the high points in Malazan for me, among many others

I am really enjoying your thoughts on these books. Based on your feelings about Janeth and what happened to her, I would recommend that you spoil yourself on what happens to Tool and and his wife. I did not see that coming and I really wished I had known going in.

I liked it and liked Toll the Hounds returning to Darujhistan after so long away

Oh No! I do not see Toll of the Hounds on your TBR Spreadsheet.?😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥

I love the review even if I don't fully agree with the final ranking of the book. :)

Toll the Hounds should be much easier for you. Dust of Dreams however… I hope you make it through that one. On my first read through I also had a lot difficulties with Reaper’s Gale, as it is the first book in the series that does not really work on its own (some Plotlines are just setup for book 9).

I would rate the first, the fourth, the seventh and the ninth as the weaker books. So, you are correct that we get one good one and one not so good one. Toll The Hounds has an amazing climax and does leave things on an amazing high (even by Malazan standards). Also, to be fair the 9th and the 10th books should be considered as one book which was split into two so that they could fit in our hands.

This book has gone up over time for me, because of the high notes, but indeed on average this has a lot of build up (to put it nicely). Hope you enjoy Toll the Hounds more. Still morose, but the ending is one of the best sequence (with things being absurd also) from all the malazan books. Still the story of Beak is the only story ever that brought me to tears while reading. In so few pages (26 or so out of over 1000...). It was fabolously done, showing that you do not have to be the leader or the brightest or the most influencal person to make a difference in so many lives. It gave hope and meaning to life.

I agree with the speed. Too me a while especially redmask

Merphy, they released the trailer for the adaptation of Turtles All The Way Down!! 😮😮😮

Yay malazan!!!!!

Is the one comment Anomander Rake? XD

Karsa has come a long way since he started

Someone counted Beak on 32 pages ane yet everyone knows who he is and might get a bit misty at the name. You also get a poignant visit by Hood.

Awesome review. The trauma's written all over your face when you're talking about certain moments 😅 House of Chains is a very interesting read.

To clarify Rhulads spirit wasn't going to pick up the sword again, only the Crippled God reminded him that if he ever wanted forgiveness from Trull he'd have to live again. It's that final act of desperation that forces Karsa to destroy his soul.

An ironic to each their own item: I DNF Gardens of the Moon. My favorite fantasy series is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson. Donaldson LOVES Malazan.

I think Redmask was written as a joke. The name could even be a reference to the 'red shirts' in Star Trek. If you've seen Raiders Of The Lost Ark, there's a hilarious scene where a fearsome swordsman is challenging Indiana Jones to a fight, and Indy just rolls his eyes and shoots him. That's the Redmask character 🙂

I don’t know about those rankings lol. I thought Toll the Hounds was a slog and thoroughly enjoyed Dust of Dreams.

To give you a different perspective, I loved DoD

Reaper's Gale was just Midnight Tides part 2 for me, and that was my least enjoyed Malazan book until this point. House of Chains is my favorite. For me, even a "bad" Malazan book is better than the average fantasy book. I'm going right into Toll the Hounds because I don't want to forget any characters.

@Merphy Out of consideration for what you said here about what’s hardest for you in these books, I want to give you a HUGE trigger warning for Dust of Dreams (even though that’s not next up). Not going to say any more, but just be aware that that book is probably the most brutal with regards to the types of things you say are hardest for you to read, and I think it would be better that you know that going in.

DoD is amazing. Sure it is really bleak but it has very poignant message about violence, war and indifference. A lot of the critics echo this indifference when they whine about a certain plotline.

You know you're reading Malazan when you're excited about the fact the current books actually starts from where the last book ended.

Least favorite Malazan book is absolutely fair. It could be my least favorite as well. Definitely some great stuff in it though of course. Still a 4/5 for me

As slow as this one could be, it's the next book I struggled with and took a while with

BEAK!

Im willing to bet Toll of the Hounds will end up as Merphy’s favorite book of all time

Murphy this is my least favourite malazan book too. It felt like nothing happened. The next one is even longer but I liked it a lot more.

Rearper's Gale is... rough to read.

thats unfortunate to hear considering I listened to the first one semi-recently for the first time, and the whole thing felt like a slog already

Also my least favorite. Toll the Hounds however, is maybe one of the most mpactful books I've ever read. It helped me get through some shit I didn't even realize I had been carrying with me for years. And I am forever grateful to gave read it.

He killed kettle to make a house...

You can't quit now! You've done the hard part in overcoming the density and initial lack of narrative through lines when the locations change in the early books. It's just pay off now.

Reaper's Gale is my least favourite of the series, but it was also the first Malazan book I read after a 6 month break so hopefully on re-read it won't be a similar experience.

6 and 7 i think are a bit overrated... Still great, but a bit messy

too bright my eyes lol