Toll the Hounds

It is with a heavy heart that I have to admit that Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson has defeated me - and I am wholly to blame.

I read the first six books between October 2012 and October 2015, then left it two years before reading the seventh in September 2017. And looking back through my reviews, I loved every one of them.

But it turns out a nearly seven-year gap (why oh why oh why did I leave it so long?) has made it impossible for me to complete the series.

I've been reading the eighth instalment for the last three days. The writing is excellent, the worldbuilding is phenomenal, it has a cast of fascinating characters - and oh so many layers and plotlines! But, even having read the (admittedly quite sketchy) recaps of the previous books on Wikipedia (which was an interesting experience because I had visceral emotional reactions to certain character names and events), I just couldn't get a hold of anything that was happening in the first 100 pages. And when the twelfth set of completely different characters was introduced on pg 112, I had to give up.

So, after nearly 7,500 pages, and with only 3,600 to go (ha!), I'm calling it a day on Malazan, and it makes me quite sad. It's such an amazing series, but there's no way I'm going to reread books 1-7 and it's just too much backstory to grapple with after so long away from it.

It's also my fourth DNF in less than two weeks, which also makes me sad...