Death, pain, and suffering are the strongest threads throughout The Crippled God as characters, and whole factions, attempt to find meaning in their actions. Many of those plot threads are seeded with tragedy. A lot more, as Erikson does his best wrap up several of the many many plot threads that have been left dangling over the course of nine books. Ganoes Paran, Master of the Deck, opens up the battle with Forkrul Assail keeping them distracted before reinforcements arrive. Other forces prepare for an incoming invasion of Eleint and the raising of the Oratoral Dragon. A world away the Shake prepare to once more defend the First Shore from the invading forces of the Tiste Liosan while the new Tiste Andii queen descends into madness. Elsewhere the Snake (my least favorite part of these final two volumes) depart the refuge of the crystal city. Gesler and Stormy and their K’Chain Che’Malle army closing in on the Bolkando, Letherii, and Bonehunters who wait at the foot of the glass desert. The Crippled God opens in the aftermath of the Bonehunters’ encounter with nah’ruk. The “final” volume, the confrontation that everything has been leading up to and the characters, so newer some older, now ready to make one final desperate last stand. Along the way I laughed, I cried (maybe a little when a certain someone died), I cringed, and I occasionally struggled my way through the increasingly massive tomes of Erikson’s vibrant Malazan world. The following years were filled with ridiculous battles, philosophic soldiers, and more powerful beings than any world should ever really contain. I remember finally giving in and ordering the paperback from .uk.

I remember reading glowing posts about this guy named Steven Erikson and his first book Gardens of the Moon. I remember all those years ago, lurking in the wotmania OF Forums looking for something, anything, to read while I waited anxiously for the next Wheel of Time novel.

The crippled god by steven erikson