Forge of the High Mage

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A somewhat rag-tag army, joined by a similarly motley fleet under the command of the Emperor himself. Great book, perfect ICE novel and it sets up the next one (the events at Aren) nicely by showing a few of those characters and most likely the man who will face Daseem. I absolutely loved the first three books from this series and had high expectations from this one but I felt that this was probably the weakest so far in the series. Finally, it is worth noting that there are a couple of big-name cameos in Forge of the High Mage with characters who are not directly involved in the action taking place (yet).

His novels - beginning with Night of Knives - are all set in the fantasy world of Malaz that he co-created with Steven Erikson. Only snafu was the absolute sudden unexplained and glaring omission of a character on page 111 who should have had an explanation for his unresolved absence.Esslemont and Steven Erikson co-created the Malazan world in 1982 as a backdrop for role-playing games. My only regret, and I appreciate it may have been a little dry, was we didn't get a little more context on the Jhistal and it's exact perversion. These present a varied mix of interesting characters whose thoughts and feelings we are given witness to.

Never the less, it is still a very enjoyable book, and a fun look back at some of the series' best characters. The storyline was good and has advanced the Malazan Empire as well as individuals such as mainly Tayschren (and of course MR).This must be an interesting consideration for an author when creating drama for particular scenes in prequels to a popular series. An excellent entry in the Malazan universe, with all the complexity/multi-PoV, large-scale plotlines and epic moments of any Erikson book. One such occasion, unfortunately, left me feeling frustrated as it was a blink-and-you-will-miss-it, over-in-a-page encounter. He is probably in my favorite Malazan characters and apparently he is heavily involved in other Esslemont works so i am really excited for that. Esslemont confirms that the title indicates a change in direction from the first three books, which focused on Kellanved and Dancer.

I felt like his original 6 were a little gimmicky - like seeing the rest of the Star Wars universe you always wanted to see but then realize it was better keeping it mysterious. Die meisten Charaktere sind dem Leser schon bekannt und der Leser des Book of the Fallen weiß natürlich wo die Geschichte hinführt, aber einige Lücken werden zufriedenstellend gefüllt und auch die ein oder andere Unklarheit im Gesamtbild wird beseitigt.On the flip side, Mael himself is an active character in this book, he’s there to influence and sanction the proper use of power drawn from him (and not by the oily, slimy bastard Rel). We get the story, mostly, but how the cult came to dominate an otherwise peaceable (from what you can infer) people and twist things, that would have been interesting to see a little more of.