Memories of Ice Mass Market Author: Visit Amazon's Steven Erikson Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0765348802 | Format: PDF
Memories of Ice Mass Market Description
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Battle dominates the gripping third installment of Canadian Erikson's projected 10-volume series (
Gardens of the Moon, etc.), set in the land of Malazan and featuring a host of gods, grunt soldiers, wizards and undead. Ganoes Paran is now captain of the Bridgeburners, part of Dujek Onearm's army that's trying to fight off the vile forces of the Pannion Domin. The author vividly details the horrors of hand-to-hand combat along with the cannibalistic tendencies of the Tenescowri (or peasant) rabble that fight for the Pannion Domin. The most intriguing new character is Itkovian, a commander of the mercenary Grey Swords who finds, after the battle of Capustan, that his god has deserted him. For a giant fantasy series, this is tightly written, with no repetitious dialogue or exposition. Erikson ranks near the top of the epic fantasy pantheon.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
On the continent Genabackis, a postapocalyptic society is ruled by the Pannion Domin, who include an excess prophet, the Panion Seer, and an empress worse than Leona Helmsley. Necessity is making allies of mercenaries and semiregular armies that once, under such rubrics as Dujek Onearm's Host and Whiskeyjack's Bridgeburners, fought to the death. To survive, these warriors need not only to keep peace among themselves but also to make peace, despite numerous bloody battles, with other bands, hosts, and ethnic groups. And they need to address the matter of an entire race of the undead, the T'lan Imass, on its way to do battle, besides which there are yet more potent and unnatural factors threatening survival. The long volume is the third in a saga that owes a good deal to Tolkien, but many may find the size of its canvas and cast, its vivid details, and the emotional intensity of its action appealing in ways that Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time is appealing.
Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the
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- Mass Market Paperback: 925 pages
- Publisher: Tor Fantasy (August 1, 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0765348802
- ISBN-13: 978-0765348807
- Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
The third book of Steve Erikson's Malazan series picks up where the first book left off. The Empress Laseen has outlawed Whiskyjack, the Bridgeburners, and Dujek Onearm after their failure to capture the jeweled city of Darujistan. The seasoned soldiers are not long out of work. On the continent of Genabackis there is word of a terrifying new threat. A deranged prophet known as the Pannion Seer is on the march with a massive army of powerful mages, undead lethal warriors and thousands of cannibalistic zealots. He has set his sights on the city of Capustan to conquer the city and for its citizens to serve as food for his ravening hordes.
Realizing that the city's lone defenders, The Grey Swords, are woefully outmatched, Whiskeyjack and Dujek offer assistance. Because there are other more powerful forces propelling the Pannion, former enemies of the Malazans also offer alliance. The Warlord Caladan Brood and the mysterious Tiste Andii Anomander Rake march with WhiskeyJack and Dujek to Capustan amidst an uneasy truce.
In the midst of this, the child, Silverfox is aging at a rapid rate as she attempts to fulfill her destiny. Ganoes Paran learns the price of having walked within the sword Dragnipur, a tribe is reunited with their Gods, an ancient wrong is righted, ordinary people become heroic, heroes are shown that they are all too human and a mortal man attempts to save a God.
Right from the start in the first book where we are plopped in the middle of a devastating war and see a young girl possessed with the spirit of a deadly assassin, we are immediately wrapped up in the lives and fortunes of a great many interesting people. There is Whiskeyjack the beloved leader, who is weary of war and politics.
In his previous two books set in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, Erikson showed the promise of what he was capable of. Finally, in Memories of Ice, he truly hits his stride. From here on- and I have read this and books four and five, already published in the UK -he delivers relentlessly upon his promise.
The world he has constructued is, bar none, one of the most complex and detailed, showing echoes of Eriksons' studies in Anthropology. The complexity of this universe isn't, however, handed to you upon a silver platter- the Malazan world is a work in progress, each book hinting at deeper and deeper histories, at the myriad of cultures and peoples, both human and non, who occupy it.
In Memories of Ice, he details a truly breath-taking tale, shifting perspective between a vast array of important character. It continues the tale of the outlawed Dujek's Host and Whiskeyjacks Bridgeburners from the first tale, Gardens of the Moon.
Here, enemies become friends and friends become divided, as Erikson finally delves more into such characters as Anomander Rake and the occasionally mentioned Caladan Brood.
True to his previous books, he also introduces a whole new cast of fascinating characters: the Grey Swords, led by Brukhalian, and the tale of their desperate battle in the city of Capustan; Gruntle and Stonny, caravan guards for the mysterious trader Keruli, as they travel south. He also delves into characters of the first book, such as the undead "Tool."
This isn't fantasy for the weak of heart: Erikson delivers a brutal, heart-wrenching tale of war and betrayal, tempered by occasional moments of levity. Like in reality, in war, people die, and so goes this tale.
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