Memories Of Ice - Steven Erikson

   2001; 913 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book 3 (out of 10) in the “Malazan Book of the Fallen” series.  Genre : Epic Fantasy; Sword & Sorcery.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

    A new scourge, incredibly large, has appeared out of the south, threatening the Malazan-controlled city-states in northern Genabackis.  It calls itself the Pannion Domin and the citizens of all cities in its path will be subjected to unimaginable horror.

    The choice is conversion or death.  To convert means to never eat food again.  Your only source of sustenance is cannibalism.  You feast on those who decline to convert.  The conversion rate is impressive, but you soon run out of victims to devour.  Then there's only one thing to do.  Go north and conquer another city.  And tell those hapless citizens to convert or die.

    The Pannion Domin seems unstoppable, but if there is any hope at all, the northern powers will need to unite and conduct a coordinated attack.  Sadly, none of them trust each other, and everyone seems to have hidden agendas.

    That includes the small but famed fighting force known as “Onearm’s Host”, which unfortunately is currently considered to be a renegade Malazan army.  They’re a veteran bunch, and their motto is “First in, last out.”  They’d be a logical choice to spearhead to counterattack on the Pannion Domin.

    Unfortunately, whoever leads the charge will most likely suffer grievous casualties.  The odds are rather slim of anyone in the “first in” group being alive to be the “last out”.

What’s To Like...

    Memories of Ice is Book 3 in this series and is the follow-up to the storyline started in the initial book, Gardens of the Moon, which is reviewed here.  My favorite set of characters in this sword-&-sorcery world, Whiskeyjack and his Bridgeburners, are once again in the spotlight.  But as usual, Steven Erikson weaves a bunch of seemingly disparate plot threads into a gritty and fascinating tale.  To wit:

1.) The Bridgeburners and others try to stop bickering, and unite to oppose the Pannion Domin.

2.) Gruntle and others guard and guide a caravan through dangerous territory.

3.) Lady Envy, Tool, and Toc the Younger form a small but deadly fighting force.

4.) The T’lan Imass respond en masse to a summoning.

5.) Quick Ben seeks to save the Sleeping Goddess.

6.) Ganoes Paran is about to be promoted, whether he wants it or not.

7.) Anomander Rake goes MIA.

    The threads all start quite far apart from one another, their individual intents are “fluid”, and it’s fun to read/watch as they gradually converge.  In lesser hands, the story would get annoyingly confusing, but the author handles it all deftly.  It helped to have a handy Dramatis Personae at the start of the book, and an equally useful Glossary in the back.

    The character development is phenomenal.  Sixty or more beings – whether living, dead, undead, magical, or ascendant – are each given unique and memorable personalities.  The world-building is equally impressive.  There are two maps at the start of the book, but frankly, I found Erikson’s descriptions to be sufficient to “feel my way” across the various lands.

    There’s a nice blend of recurring characters and new ones.  Paran now assumes a more significant role, and Kruppe continues to be an enigmatic figure.  I think Gruntle, the Mhybe, Norul, Anaster, and Ormulogun are all new characters, they were all fun to meet, and I suspect they’ll all have a significant impact on the saga.  Ditto for the weird-and-fascinating fighting group called the “Motts Irregulars”, whom I can only describe as “hillbilly fantasy”.

    The fighting scenes are limited to the battles over two cities – Capustan and Coral.  Both are protracted struggles, and you won’t feel cheated when it comes to epic thrills-&-spills.  Some good guys die, some bad guys survive, and everyone that’s mortal begins to get the creepy feeling that they’re just puppets being manipulated by gods who have their own agendas.  I liked that concept.

    The book closes nicely, with 200 pages or so about the fighting in Coral.  The main issue – the threat posed by the Pannion Domin – is resolved, albeit at a terrible cost in lives.  Steven Erikson catches the reader up on where all the main (surviving) characters intend to go from here, and lays down some teasers for events that I assume will take place in Book 5.  Book 4, House of Chains, will follow up on events in the completely separate storyline in Book 2, Deadhouse Gates (reviewed here, and resides on my TBR bookcase, awaiting my attention..

Kewlest New Word ...

Geas (n.) : an obligation or prohibition magically imposed upon a person.  (Irish).

Excerpts...

    “Hey, you could break my nose again – then we could straighten it and I’d be good as new.  What say you, Stonny?  Would the iron petals of your heart unfold for me?”

    She sneered.  “Everyone knows that two-handed sword of yours is nothing but a pathetic attempt at compensation, Harllo.”

    “He’s a nice turn at the poetic, though,” Gruntle pointed out.  “Iron petals – you couldn’t get more precise than that.”

    “There’s no such thing as iron petals,” Stonny snorted.  “You don’t get iron flowers.  And hearts aren’t flowers, they’re big red, messy things in your chest.  What’s poetic about not making sense?  You’re as big an idiot as Buke and Harllo, Gruntle.  I’m surrounded by thick-skulled witless fools.”

    “It’s your lot in life, alas,” Gruntle said.  “Here, have some tea – you could do with … the warmth.”  (pg. 98)

    “I intend to retire, to disappear if need be.  I’m done.  With all of this.  Some log cabin in some frontier kingdom, a long way from the Empire.”

    “And a wife swinging a pot at your head.  Marital, domestic bliss – you think Korlat will settle for that?”

    Whiskeyjack smiled at the High Fist’s gentle mockery.  “It’s her idea – not the pot-swinging – that’s your particular nightmare, Dujek.  But all the rest … all right, not a log cabin.  More like a remote, wind-battered keep in some mountain fastness.  A place with a forbidding view.”

    “Well,” Dujek drawled, “you can still plant a small vegetable garden in the courtyard.  Wage war against weeds.”  (pg. 738)

“Beru fend me.  I underestimate even the true idiots in this company.”  (pg. 345)

     The quibbles are few.  There’s some cussing, but not a lot, using both our own standard expressions and some more imaginative Malazan-world ones (such as “Togg’s balls!”), and I thought it fit in nicely with the gritty “War is Hell” tone of the story.  There is also one instance of sexual assault, but it is handled as discreetly as possible.

    There are two maps – one of the city of Capustan, the other of the continent of Genabackis – at the start of the book, but I’d still like to see one showing the whole world.  Also, Steven Erikson seems to have a couple of choice words that he uses whenever he can – efficacy, susurration, surcease, acuity, dissembling, coruscating – but IMO, they’re all way-kewl words.

    Finally, the book is written in English, not American, so “none the less” is three words, “no-one” has a hyphen, and your scepticism might be wilful, loth, labouring, or smouldering.  Reading a story in a "foreign" language might not be to everyone’s taste, but I’ve always enjoyed tales by British authors.

    8½ Stars.  ANAICT, the Malazan Book of the Fallen is a completed 10-volume series, disregarding prequels and novellas.  I’m still thoroughly enjoying the stories, but I note that, as is true for more writers of epic fantasy, the books get longer as the series progresses.  The last 5 books seem to all be in the 1200-1300 pages length.  One should choose sagely before entering into any epic fantasy series.