"The Crippled God" [Malazan - Book 10] - Discussion Thread [SPOILERS!]

ixoy

In case anyone want to discuss this book (as I will want to!), I'm kicking off a thread here.
Given the epic nature and potential for spoilers, can I ask that people use spoiler space? More pointedly, mention what page you're on so we'll know whether we can unspoil that space safely!

Now I just hope that the book shops get it in on Monday. I tried Hodges Figgis today but he couldn't say for sure if it would arrive with their shipment tomorrow. I'll hope it does arrive (as an aside, if you're waiting on Raymond E. Feist's latest, it may hit their shelves from Monday instead of March).

Zapp Brannigan

Oh you b*stards! I'm gonna see this thread everytime I come onto the forum and it will take all my willpower to not view it!

bonkey

Chapter 15, P421-445

Just finished this chapter on the way into work...and I have to say...

Yeddan is the ****ing man.

know he knocked off some FA in DoD, but I'm not sure if they were Pures or Watered at this point.

Here, however, he does in two dragons and three Hounds of Light (or was it four?). All on his lonesome...and only breaks a tooth while at it.

OK, OK...he had a Hust sword...but even still. All on his lonesome.

What a total and utter badass.

ixoy

Not out anywhere here yet! I tried Eason's, Chapters, and Hodges Figgis. In each place they knew the answer to my query straight away - obviously there are other fans out there on the hunt too. It should be in later this week as it seems the distributor only got them today and now need to ship them out (there was a publishing delay. Which didn't affect bonkey!).

p1000

I've tried Eason's in Athlone and I've rang a few shops in Galway and Dublin and it's the same story; they know the one I'm talkin about but it's just not in yet. Grrrrrrrrr :mad:.
I'd drive a good distance to get it as soon as possible.

Tehol

Order was dispached from Amazon on Sunday evening so fingers cross i'll have it tomorrow.

bonkey

Just finished it this morning.

In a word - awesome.

ixoy

You torture us! It's still not in any shops here. Glad to hear it satisfied anyway.

p1000

Amazon dispatched it to me yesterday so tomorrow or the day after, i'm hoping to have it. Goddam Eason's! Shoulda learned my lesson with the last two Wheel of Time books, don't think they care about fantasy/sci-fi. Or maybe i'm being too harsh on them and it's really not their fault if nowhere else has it yet. Come on Postman!

Hochopepa

I picked up the TPB edition in Dubray Books on Grafton Suite this evening. They didn't have any Hardback editions which I would have preferred, but at this stage I just wanted to get my hands on it.

ixoy

Just got it there in Dubray. They've had it since last week! He said it was selling well.. no surprise when you can't get it elsewhere.

ixoy

Just got it there in Dubray. They've had it since last week! He said it was selling well.. no surprise when you can't get it elsewhere.

Sarky

Damn my busy M.Sc, I haven't had time to even read Dust of Dreams or Stonewielder yet! Now I'll be faced with all the Malazan fans I know just bursting with spoilers and trying not to listen to them for another month.

p1000

Delivered this morning! Delighted! Only 100 pages in, all aftermath of DoD so far. Gettin re-familiarised with everybody.

ixoy

p1000 wrote: »

Delivered this morning! Delighted! Only 100 pages in, all aftermath of DoD so far. Gettin re-familiarised with everybody.

I'm on Page 16 and I'm already getting the epic vibe!

bonkey

Sarky wrote: »

Damn my busy M.Sc, I haven't had time to even read Dust of Dreams or Stonewielder yet! Now I'll be faced with all the Malazan fans I know just bursting with spoilers and trying not to listen to them for another month.

I guess we all need to bear in mind, then, that even referencing to stuff in DoD could be spoilers....

pljudge321

Just got it now.

*Locks self in room*

ixoy

Up to the end of Book 2 [c. page 205]. Damn:

I can't wait to see the mother of all battles with the Forkul Assail. Those Pure Forkul Assail are beyond l33t.
Only Icarium is even more so.. The Gods themselves are scared of him and he's going to awaken soon enough and unlock those memories in full.

Also Adjunct Tavore planning to sacrifice all the Bonehunters for a feint? Wow, that's some cold calculation right there.

Then there's the various other forces amassing although I'm struggling to remember how certain elements came to play. Still the Tiste Liosan look like they're about to try and come back en masse, although I can't recall why they'd bear such a grudge against the world? The Shore certainly seems to imply a last stand against them.

So much more - I already want to re-read the entire series to pick up on stuff, especially when the Elder Gods converse and, of course, the hints dropped everywhere

.

pljudge321

^ 'm at about the same.

I quite like how we find out that

the jade statues contain the souls of his worshippers and how its becoming clear that he isn't really the main bad guy in the whole of whats happening. I'm wondering what his motivation in corrupting the edur was. Maybe the goal was to ultimately assault Kolanse and secure his heart, or maybe it was just one of those things he couldn't help but do due to his nature.

ixoy

pljudge321 wrote: »

the jade statues contain the souls of his worshippers and how its becoming clear that he isn't really the main bad guy in the whole of whats happening.

I seem to recall that we saw people "trapped" inside the green statues ages ago? Someone like Herboric saw it. Glad to see it re-visited and also to really get home the idea that it's not the Crippled God who is the threat but more what people will do to use the Crippled God to further their own ends.

.

ixoy

Finished!

Very good book and a pretty satisfying end to the tale of the Bonehunters / Bridgeburners and the Crippled God. I had a few queries at the end but a look at the Malazan forums cleared up a bit of my confusion.

I thought most of the character arcs were done well. One of my faves was Gesler and Stormy - their heroic end was a highlight.
Loved Yedan's Uber-7eet stand at the Shore against the Tiste Liosan.
Liked what was done with the Crippled God as he realised that despite his lashing out in pain and fury, he came to understand some compassion when he understood the motives of the Adjunct.
Loved how the stakes were upped to huge levels with the Eleint vs Ottoral Dragon and the potential Armageddon for Wu and beyond.
Onos T'oolan got to have a fitting end after all his pain.
Yay - Kalam and Quick Ben together again!
Awesome battles: K'Chain Cha'Malle, Jaghut, T'lan Imass, Barghast, Teblor, Malazan, Perish, Letherii, Ascendants, Khundryl vs Forkual Assail and the entire army of Kolanese. That's epic.
Karsa Orlong's four pages still bringing about the epicness.

I did think the Forkual Assail weren't as much of a threat as they could've been. Too easily people would suddenly warp in almost and kill them - Quick Ben & Kalam, Hood (although to be fair...). Thought Brys move with the dead gods was the best of them.
The Tiste Liosan also didn't seem like a huge threat in the end since most of the time it seemed to be conscripts. From reading "Stoneweilder" and online, I believe this was only one faction and the rest may appear at some other time.
Not enough Quick Ben! He did help take out three FA but he didn't get to unleash his warrens the way I thought he would. He also didn't seem to have much involvement in freeing the Crippled God as that was planned in advance.

I think that not unleashing Icarium in the end was a good thing. It was almost too obvious. Instead the ending was quite sad as Icarium forgets Mappo and again seems to be falling into the trap of puzzling things out to understand himself.

One thing I didn't get (or maybe missed the reasoning): Why did Tavore take so long to perform the blood ritual to create water in the Glass Desert? Couldn't she have done it earlier when the Malazans were in such dire need?

Still enough material here for plenty more books in the series - get working on the Tiste Andii series there and the Toblakai one!

Corsendonk

So I take it that its good then?

bonkey

ixoy wrote: »

I think that not unleashing Icarium in the end was a good thing. It was almost too obvious. Instead the ending was quite sad as Icarium forgets Mappo and again seems to be falling into the trap of puzzling things out to understand himself.

I know what you mean. I was wondering throughout the book what the **** was going to be done with

Ublala

and I really liked how that was handled. I also thought

Mappo's

story was absolutely tragic...but I'm glad that some stories had tragic endings. Not everyone can go out on a high note.

One thing I didn't get (or maybe missed the reasoning): Why did Tavore take so long to perform the blood ritual to create water in the Glass Desert? Couldn't she have done it earlier when the Malazans were in such dire need?

I couldn't quite figure that one either. I'm guessing that its because any sooner would have been too soon...

i.e. they wouldn't have had enough water to get across anyway

.

For me...the big "puzzle" of the book is quite early on. Am I missing something here?

end of chapter two - what the **** is Quick Ben on about when he's talking about Mother and Father...especially as he seems almost to be talking to Mother Dark.

He says later on that some of his souls are old.

In Dust Of Dreams, Gudd (thinking he's about to die) thinks he would have liked to see a full unveling from Ben...and the only other times I recall that term being used was from Tiste Andii such as when Black Coral was created

Later in TCG, Gudd goes into conniptions when he hears Ben's full name...and Gudd is "elder".

What the **** is Ben hiding?

Oh yeah...and in the Epilogue.....

I was delighted that Crokus finds Apsalar/Sorry in the end. That was always one of my favourite threads running through earlier books in the series.

ixoy

bonkey wrote: »

also thought Mappo's story was absolutely tragic...but I'm glad that some stories had tragic endings. Not everyone can go out on a high note.

Some people, from reading online, felt the ending wasn't dark enough. For example Hetan resurrecting for Onas and the relatively small bodycount of principal characters.
Not sure I entirely agree though. They may have won, but few witnessed their victory. Tavore seems as lonely as ever for example.
Fiddler's ending was nice. That bit could have been set many years in the future but the passage is from a kid's perspective and Fiddler would definitely seem like an old man to him.
Also Crokus' ending as you mentioned. One of the first characters we meet and among the one the reader could most relate to. He was the closest the series came to the innocent youth archetype. Nice to see him get a happy ending.

For me...the big "puzzle" of the book is quite early on. Am I missing something here?

end of chapter two - what the **** is Quick Ben on about when he's talking about Mother and Father...especially as he seems almost to be talking to Mother Dark.

He says later on that some of his souls are old.

In Dust Of Dreams, Gudd (thinking he's about to die) thinks he would have liked to see a full unveling from Ben...and the only other times I recall that term being used was from Tiste Andii such as when Black Coral was created

Later in TCG, Gudd goes into conniptions when he hears Ben's full name...and Gudd is "elder".

What the **** is Ben hiding?

Yep, that wasn't explained. He appears to be shouting defiance to Mother Dark, the predecessor to the gods themselves. Forum posters also twigged that - I'm guessing Ben might have a Tiste Andii soul? One of those from legend?
Furthering on from that, I wonder if it's a bit of setup for revelations when he pens the Karkanas trilogy.

bonkey

ixoy wrote: »

Yep, that wasn't explained.

Phew. I thought for a while there I had missed something BIG.

I mean...I'm sure I've missed much...but I've been looking out for that particular thread for a long, long time...

I'm guessing Ben might have a Tiste Andii soul? One of those from legend?

There's definitely some connection though. When Fid does the reading at the start of DoD, Ben is marked as Magus of House Dark. He's not happy about that (as though its giving secrets away), but more importantly, Sand dismisses it on the grounds that he's not Andii.

I'm guessing that this rules out him being Andii (he has the right skin-colour)...but yeah...

There has to be something big for him at some point. There's strong hints that he's Soletaken, and now strong hints that he's got some connection to ancient Andii.

thedevilduckof ballybollocks

just got the book at the weekend.....immense at the moment...stuff becoming clearer by the page....have to say..miss the old writing style of the dead hose gates and memories of ice

fitz

bonkey wrote: »

Chapter 15, P421-445

Just finished this chapter on the way into work...and I have to say...

Yeddan is the ****ing man.

know he knocked off some FA in DoD, but I'm not sure if they were Pures or Watered at this point.

Here, however, he does in two dragons and three Hounds of Light (or was it four?). All on his lonesome...and only breaks a tooth while at it.

OK, OK...he had a Hust sword...but even still. All on his lonesome.

What a total and utter badass.

Just finished this chapter lasts night, and have to agree.
Badass++

fitz

Three words:

fiddling hedge drum

. Kickass!!!

AnCapaillMor

Fiinished it last night. Pretty good but i agree on alot of the points.

Tavore and the blood in the desert why so long.

Agree on the hetan thing, although it did kinda make sense, last thing we heard on her was her lying down after the escape and you presumed she died. Who brought her back, tok? but it was good to see onos get a happy ending.

Stormy and gesler ending was fantastic, especially afterwards with the shi'gal assasin and his thoughts.

totally agree on the foruk and especially the lio'san, lios'an were pussies.

not enough on crokus and sorry especially for 2 characters that played a big part from the start, but a nice ending nonetheless.

Not enough Karsa, still got his bit in.

Mappo a tragic tragic ending, but i was laughing when i saw icarium was hooking up with ubala.

Speaking of ubala, was it me or was there nothing on shurq elalle at the end and would feners blood have revived her body?(bear in mind i finished thi around 3 this morning).


Kinda liked the idea of Tavore breaking down after it was all over, knowing about feislin and finally being feel and not be so single minded on the task at hand.

Paran was finally back, i missed him but kinda pissed they didn't go any further with him and tattersail(or am i missing something, i knew they were kinda strained the last time)

The only thing i had against the book was not enough tehol and kruppe

Now some questions

What body did mael give k'rul towards the start of the book.

What the feck happened with leoman and whiskeyjacks sister, last i remember they took off with the queen of dreams back in book 6.

So ordered knight of knives on the kindle via the phone. It's bloody small.

Raging_Ninja

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

What the feck happened with leoman and whiskeyjacks sister, last i remember they took off with the queen of dreams back in book 6.

Dealt with in Esslemont's books.