“Reaper’s Gale” by Steven Erikson is the seventh installment in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. It arrived in my mailbox Thursday last week and I finished the last page of monstrosity only a couple of hours ago. It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2007, and I’m glad to tell you that I’m far from disappointed. This “review” will not include spoilers, seeing as I won’t be talking (much) about what occurs in the book. Such discussion about plot and spoilers is forthwith banished to the comment section, where you may ravage each other without restraints.
Clocking in at just over 900 pages, “Reaper’s Gale” is one thick and heavy book indeed. I have very real concerns that my biceps have grown larger from lifting it up and down (my estimations weighs my hardcover copy in at one and a half kilo. At least….)
Steven Erikson is prone to writing fantasy books that are both epic in style, ambition and size. The seventh volume can lift its head high in that regard, as it contains every element we have grown used to seeing from dearest Erikson. “Reaper’s Gale” stands out from its peers in the regard that it draws heavily on its predecessors (especially Midnight Tides and The Bonehunters), making it a poor starting point for newcomers. This should be a matter of course, but I felt like mentioning it anyways.
If I were to compare its quality to the previous installments, I would say that it ranks pretty high up. Its got some minor flaws that I will not reveal here, but all in all “Reaper’s Gale” contains enough awesomeness to make a fanboy cringe in nerdy ecstasy. The ending of a particular story line was somewhat unsatisfying and the battles was always resolved in the same manner, lacking a bit of Eriksons usual originality. “Reaper’s Gale” ranks just beneath “Deadhouse Gates” and “Memories of Ice”, thus making it my third favourite book of the saga.
Like every book before, “Reaper’s Gale” begins somewhat slow paced, but it was none the less one of the best first halves of the series. Erikson convergence style has been nearly perfected throughout the series, and book 7 proves that he now knows where to put in the comic relief and where to slow the pace down with his more reflective characters. One of the details that makes Erikson my favourite epic fantasy author is his ability to make every character interesting. I’m never really bored when I’m reading a Malazan book, even though there are degrees to the awesomeness as well.
For those of you who are somewhat familiar with the Malazan ‘verse, I can tell you that this book contains three episodes that almost matches the ending of “Deadhouse Gates”. Erikson also manages to introduce new characters that will make your heart twist in agony and mirth. Remember Beak. Beak, I tell you!
This novel raises a lot questions for us Malazan fans to discuss until “Toll of Hounds” is released in just under a years time. The contrast of Erikson compared to Ian Cameron Esselmont became shockingly apparent after having read RG. “Night of Knives” may be an intersting story, but I Cameron’s prose is horrific compared to Erikson’s. Let us hope that “The Return of the Crimson Guard” will change my perception. I truly hope so…
The only thing that remains for me now is to say this: I must order “The Lee’s of Laughter’s End” a.s.a.p. Nothing else will still my craving. RG has left a hole in my reading soul, and I fear that I must go into celibacy till it heals. Final verdict for “Reaper’s Gale” by Steven Erikson: 9/10. The best book I’ve read so far in 2007.
3 Comments
Hey, spoiler time!
Hopefully, at least, as I just have a question, really: The disappointing things and the minor flaws, what were they?
For me, one of the few disappointments came as Quick Ben and Hedge almost killed all the three Sisters singlehandedly, after the power of these girls had been hyped for several books. Also, the same for Silchas Ruin, even if he wasn’t killed.
The ending to the Icarium bit was a tad dull, too, but luckily Karsa Orlong was there in a klinch, the arrogant bastard. And the freaking Bonehunters! They’re so imba it’s almost ludicrous, and I still love them. After all, they’re Malazan Marines; how are they not loveable? (Still missing a biggrin-smiley…)
Obviously the Draconian players have been subjugated to over-hype for a long time. I wasn’t so terribly disappointed when the three sister got bitch-slapped by Quick Ben, cos he didn’t manage to kill a single sister. The only reason why he did as much damage was because they underestimated him, which is always a fatal flaw.
Silchas Ruin, however, was very disappointing. He shouldn’t have been taken out of the game as fast as he was.
I felt that the Redmask story line started really well but was brought to a conclusion in a very unfulfiling way. SE has spent all this time building a cool character only to have him stabbed in the back by his assassins. I strongly believe that the two last books of the Malazan-series will deal with those K’Chain Che’Malle, so introducing them was essential.
I loved the Marines parts too, but was a little disappointed by the fact that every engagement, excepting “Beak’s Stand”, was resolved with Moranth Munitions. It became somewhat predictable, which is never a good thing for any kind of book.
But these are small, easily forgotten grievances that don’t matter in slightest to me.
Reaper’s Gale rocks.
Ah, I see. I never liked Redmask much, but he only had a couple of POVs, so I was content. And his assassination by the Kechra was… well, not unexpected. Not only was it fairly typical SE, it was also coherent within the story, as we’d never learned anything of how he’d met them or why they served him. If I had to guess on these issues, I might suspect that the Kechra merely wanted the Awl and as many Letherii as possible out of the way, and saw helping Redmask as a safe way of securing this objective. But this is of course just guessing. I agree on your estimation of the contents of the last books; the K’Chain Che’Malle have been used so much in the last books, they’re bound to be significant.
Also, I liked Brohl Handar and the Atri-Preda more than I liked Redmask.
When it comes to Ruin, I felt like it was kinda silly of him to go back to Letheras in the first place, so that they scared him off so easily was a bit of a relief as well as a disappointment.
Then the Marines. I didn’t begrudge them winning because of the munitions, because no matter how bad-ass they are, their biggest advantage will always be the munitions. But yeah, a tad tedious and repetitive. The Demon Princes were an excellent touch, though. Probably my favourite part of the whole book.
And Beak! Oh my Gods, what a character!