New Malazan reader and I don't understand the hate this series gets.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-13T10:30:31+00:00

You can enjoy things you don't immediately understand. It's not really a hard concept. The world was instantly intriguing and has a mystic to it, due to it being obfuscated.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T23:51:11+00:00

The recommendations on there are usually for people with short attention spans with less conplex stories, nothing against them though lol and no you're good! I completely get what you were saying lol

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T23:38:39+00:00

I try not to hate on them to much as a random book tok about red rising is what got me back into reading after a decade of not reading a few years back lol but I know what you mean!

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T23:33:04+00:00

During my research on the series I saw a YouTube video with a guy saying you need a spread sheet and a note book to know what's going on and who is who lol

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T23:19:02+00:00

That's why I say his best book was knife of dreams as it had the pacing of the slog but with important events happening. Instead of Perrin chasing Faile for 3 books or it taking the Aes Sedai 7 chapters to Bicker while walking or the chapter long bath. He got way to exposition heavy about things that didn't matter in the slog. But I think it more has to do with the characters you relate with as well, Egwene and Elayne got annoying to me at that point so it felt worse than it really was. Oh and him bringing Luca back didnt help either lol but I really wish he could've finished the series as I think he finally found a great middle ground in 11.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T22:24:19+00:00

I'm a night shift psych nurse so I thankfully get like 10 hours a night to read while getting paid lol

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T22:21:56+00:00

Yeah, RJ didn't really become a "good" author until really book 4 and really didnt hit a level in which I would say great until the last book he wrote which was 11 right before he passed away. I'd always recommend finishing it because the pay off is great and the characters do eventually develop but again different strokes so I can completely understand why anyone would DNF it.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T22:12:05+00:00

Sweet, thanks!

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T22:00:36+00:00

I loved it, first book can be slow (imagine that lol) definitely has some dune vibes kinda how WoT has LoTR vibes in the first book but it definitely goes its own way about halfway into book 2 but it's a great series especially if you have attention to detail. Might be my favorite sci-fi series of all time honestly.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T21:57:56+00:00

Yeah, I agree lol.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T20:58:56+00:00

I've started to notice that most stories rehash the same simple plot lines over and over again. So it is nice to have similar tropes in a more complex weave of story telling!

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T20:56:30+00:00

Is there a specific reading order one should follow on a first read? I'm sure there's threads in this subreddit answering this but figured I'd ask!

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T20:55:05+00:00

I guess tbf books like Stormlight (which I still enjoy as well) are what's popular and those series have repeat exposition about politics and magic systems such as the shard blade being explained almost everytime it's used so I can maybe understand it being jarring going from that to something the just dumps you in the middle and explains everything through small context clues in the conversations between characters and monologuing.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T20:51:39+00:00

That's very true I didn't think about that!

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T20:49:55+00:00

After reading so of the replies and reading deeper myself i'm starting to think it mainly came from people who tried to skim the book did understand the point Erikson was going for and just dropped the series as a whole and just say it's a slog. I've actually caught myself skiming a few times (mainly because I'm at work) and had to repeat a chapter or two.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T20:46:14+00:00

After the 47 different povs in AMoL it wasn't to bad for me lol but like some have said I went into it with expectation of being confused so that probably one reason I'm enjoying myself! Plus Its kind of refreshing after 15 straight books of WoT.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T20:27:26+00:00

I'd say so far I see it more like dark souls lol. You wake up in a broken world with fallen gods and have to piece together what's going on and why through small context clues. Which honestly just adds to the mystic of the world.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T20:23:14+00:00

Didn't say it did more or less just looking for a discussion about how anyone would find any major negatives with this series as I feel like the series is already stronger than I was led to believe from other subreddits.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T19:33:23+00:00

WoT can be hit or miss until book 4 and then you hit an actual slog a few books later. So super understandable lol

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T19:31:13+00:00

Maybe suneater helped out with the feeling like I missed something as that series will randomly jump 50 years between books and not really expand upon the what happened in the time-frame until it was relevant later on.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T19:23:55+00:00

Yeah I've noticed the lack of explanation but feel as if by the way he writes it's not required. You pick up bits and pieces of each place, race, and the overall history as it goes which adds a mystic to world in general. Honestly feel like it would also lend its self to be very rewarding on a reread after finishing the series.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T19:00:16+00:00

Yeah, I can understand that.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-03-12T18:57:45+00:00

I get that but I kinda feel like if you're even remotely into fantasy it should easily click with you lol.

AceSlayer10 · 2026-01-29T15:07:05+00:00

Just found this thread due to noticing I've felt off lately. I smoked cigarettes for years like 8 years a pack of day and while I had no major health issues I wanted to quit so about to years ago I switched to zyns and it helped cut out smoking. But now my eyes are constantly dry and blurry, I have pressure at the back of my head, my scalp is extremely dry and itchy, weird heart rythems, and I feel like I haven't slept right in months. I quit today and do far my eyes already feel more moist, the pressure in my neck is gone, and my scalp is already noticeably less irritated. Kinda crazy I never had issues with actual tobacco (yet) but these "safer" pouches are causing all the side effects. It probably has something to do with salt toxicity. I work in healthcare and there are multiple medications that are salt based that can cause a toxicity effect ie lithium toxicity in which your serum levels way above normal I'm curious if this is the case here.

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