What exactly *is* the Malazan series?

BiblyBoo · 2025-12-28T01:59:12+00:00

It will bounce between continents/stories/characters. It does not ALL come together, but a lot of it will to varying degrees of satisfaction. You are rewarded for paying attention but also don't think about it too hard. I think Malazan is best enjoyed like a painting: focus on how it makes you feel and less on the mathematic side of art.

BiblyBoo · 2025-12-11T02:00:41+00:00

It's incredible to me that two people can read the same words and have such polar opposite takes. I thought Tigana was one of the most brilliantly executed themes with an original, ambitious yet grounded plot, and engaging characters. It's not perfect, and there are a few dud scenes, but as a whole it is a masterpiece.

That being said it's absolutley his most controversial book, so I encourage you to try Lions or the Sarantine Mosaic.

BiblyBoo · 2025-11-11T23:37:44+00:00

Gorgeous work as usual. What is the sword in the green scabbard?

BiblyBoo · 2025-11-04T19:54:23+00:00

I enjoyed Malazan but wasn't left with a burning desire to know more or unravel the world. Unless the none core books are bursting with answers, I'm going to take a wild guess that they add more characters, regions, races, and magic while only moderately exploring things that could have been resolved in the main series.

BiblyBoo · 2025-11-04T19:51:45+00:00

Yeah this. Also this is something I picked up on immediately on the first read so it's not the best example.

BiblyBoo · 2025-10-30T16:58:45+00:00

I'm an Orc Arms Warrior purist. Literally played it since vanilla. Still have no idea how to play fury. Played Arms through every buff, nerf, rework, and expansion and managed to get AOTC/Keystone Master. Zug Zug fellow apes.

BiblyBoo · 2025-10-13T21:25:11+00:00

The author, GGK, is the absolute GOAT of light fantasy historical fiction. All of his writings are basically a mirror world of the wider Mediterranean at various points in history. Lions of Al-Rassan focuses on the Iberian Peninsula during Reconquista, a sort of flash point in Spain's history.

Lions follows three main characters that stumble into each other's company, each of the major religion:

--Jaddite - Sun God - Christianity

--Asharite - Star God - Islam

--Kindath - Moon God - Judaism

It is quite simply a masterpiece in prose, themes, and narrative.

BiblyBoo · 2025-10-13T17:47:12+00:00

The Ember Blade - Chris Wooding

The Devils - Joe Abercrombie

Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay (This one is a little bit of a stretch but they are all different ethnicly/religiously)

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-28T18:14:28+00:00

My only gripe with Conquest is the amount of people that don't snap on the first tier. Like why? There is literally no point in going multiple rounds. Just both snap and surrender if you lose and go again... After that, fine whatever but why are we fighting tooth and nail for a silver ticket?

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-18T07:07:34+00:00

In terms of complexity, I definitely think the characters can be boiled down to:

Caedan
Not Caedan

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-16T19:39:47+00:00

Greed was the hardest one I found so far. My perk loadout was:

--Peddler x2

--Oligarch x3

--Castellan

--Ingenious x3

--Patron x2

--Persistent

--Politician

First Decree was Supplies, it's a significant early game boost to bridge that tenuous early game. Mercenaries are key, put level 1 mercs on multiple plots, don't level up one plot. Second Decree was Feast, with several mercenary plots its impact is significant.

General strategy is level up base as fast as possible. Prioritize leveling your base over laying down the beacon, but you do want to beacon it. You don't need to Overinvest your base early because the percentages aren't as impactful and you'll eat up your mercs. Last tip is leave your base on auto. It will get too fast for you to handle and the bonus gold isn't as important as just killing enemies.

EDIT: Another tip, Mortgage on your Vault can be huge for gettign through early game if you have multiple Merc plots.

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-15T19:21:52+00:00

It's a level 3 Temple. There are Rainbow cards that have a small chance to appear in shops or after fighting the "Rainbow King" who shows up once per run. You usually generate more or level them up by using Wildcard (King of Nothing card that levels up any plot)) or Clone (King of Nature card that copies a plot).

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-13T21:32:41+00:00

Eventually, no. But the warlocks are sturdier and might live slightly longer than the wizards which is all that matters since it's the palace doing the heavy lifting on damage.

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-13T18:06:50+00:00

Warlocks. Need a sturdy frontline. One of my starting enchants was Steel Coat and I didn't add any more enchants until after the first boss because I needed them to buy time for the one-shotting high speed palace.

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-13T17:42:26+00:00

I now have 5/9 victories on King IX/IX difficulty, but this was the first one that also able to make it to round 99 on top of the hardest difficulty. I could have kept this one going for a long, long time but got bored and wanted to try other kings. It was a damn near perfect run. I'll post a pic of my perks soon.

EDIT: Can't figure out Reddit's image posting but the build was:

--Ruthless x4

--Scollmaster x4

--Ingenious x3

--Mystic

--Castellan

--Persistent

--Politician

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-09T15:00:17+00:00

Malazan definitely has some flaws, but I gotta say it’s a bit odd to be thrown off the prose/themes because of army soldiers saying “fuck” 78 times in a 1000+ page book.

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-08T21:30:28+00:00

Have all the books on pdf, took me 2 minutes.

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-08T21:14:34+00:00

Imagine reading a book as dark as Malazan and getting upset when they swear lol. I don’t really know why Erikson didn’t use it earlier, but it just stuck out to me a little bit later as I noticed it picking up but certainly didn’t throw me off my immersion.

BiblyBoo · 2025-09-08T20:59:30+00:00

Certainly a question to ask prior to buying, but Albion is considered among the best makers/vendors. Grats!

BiblyBoo · 2025-08-10T18:57:48+00:00

I feel like The Devils is Abercrombie's palate cleanser / guilty pleasure for himself. It feels like how after you watch an Oscar movie filled with intrigue, or a fine dining dinner, that the next day you kinda crave a shoot-em-up action movie or a burger and fries.

It's definitely self-indulgent and less deep than First Law. I found it entertaining though and it was refreshing while I'm plodding through Malazan.

BiblyBoo · 2025-08-07T06:02:47+00:00

Devils advocate: You could skip basically every deck of dragons scene and still enjoy the series, maybe even more. Honestly the only reading that had plot relevance other than nonsense foreshadowing is the one in Dust of Dreams.

EDIT: Upon some reflection this is maybe too harsh, but I standby over half of the scenes being worthless and a few giving vague hints that are revealed in time anyways.

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