SFF Readalongs led by Kitty G discussion

Yay! You've finished up House of Chains!!! Let us know how you found the ending and what you thought of the book as a whole!
How does it compare to the previous few books?
Who's your favourite characters now?
What was the best bit/most devastating?
What would you rate it?
Will you be carrying on?
And anything else you can think of and want to say! :D Thank you all for joining me once more, and I hope you all enjoyed it!

My review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My least favourite instalment so far but it's still good. I'll add my comments as and when others progress through the discussion threads. Been travelling for work, so updates are harder to do.

This was actually my favourite of the books so far. I just found everything explosive and crazy!! :)

That ending with Felisin (elder) or Sha'ik being killed by her own sister Tavore (who I strongly dislike) was just insane and crazy and I so didn't think she was actually going to do it. I guess I should have realised because the series is called the book of the Fallen, but I guess a lot of people up until now have returned too and been reborn... Guessing that the Goddess has left her mark and legacy in a way though with all the craziness going on in the desert etc.

Also we have Cutter/Crokus having a convo with Cortillian and then being told that he needs to look after Felisin Younger and Huboric. I wonder what will happen there... does Cotillian have particular plans for Felisin?

Also we have Pearl and Lostara who I really like now. They're pretty cool and I liked their storyline generally but of course they're the only ones from Tavore's camp who know about Felisin being Sha'ik!

We have got Fiddler's group heading off too, and then the people that were following them/being followed by them? That I didn't quite follow, but generally Fiddler in this book was pretty interesting and I think he'll be a pretty interesting character from now on too!

And we have Karsa going on his killing sprees throughout everything! I was so happy when he killed his Gods and saw through their lies and then he came to the battle scene and was all like *pow* *hack* *chop* etc :D I have no doubt that he'll continue to be a bad ass for a fair while.

Generally I just really enjoyed it! And here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... 5*s!!

I tend to side more with TS, House of Chains is not my favorite Malazan novel, but honestly, that may not be the novel's fault itself. I was under quite a bit of stress at the time with school, a senior project I wasn't sure I was going to pull off, home stuff, and whatever else.

The first three Malazan novels took me a month or less to read, this one took two. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's fantastic, and it has alot of great moments in it. Fiddler finding out about the Bridgeburners is just heartbreaking, and at the end when Hedge saves him and he yells to the sky: 'Damn you Hedge!'

I loved Karsa and Nom. Although Karsa is solid, he still bugs me sometimes. Like when he kills those two Deragoth not long after we learn about them, its like they don't even have a chance to be built up with any kind of menace before Karsa comes along and cuts out those legs from underneath them.

Or like at the end when he meets the Malazans and decides they aren't his enemy anymore, which I liked, but then it has to be all, be glad I'm not your enemy or whatever. And I think its Keneb who's glad to, because he feels like Karsa could actually take on the whole 14th.

Corrabb is introduced in this book, who is unnaturally lucky. I seem to recall a scene where he puts a helmet onto of a grenado and the explosion should've killed him, but instead hurls him away, dumbfounding the Malazans. At first I wasn't too into him. But damn that guy is a grower, I love him. He will perform one of my favorite actions in the whole series later on.

Onrack and Trull is a duo for the ages. Erikson just has some kind of knack for pairing someone who is undead with someone who is living and just making it a totally badass union. He does this again at least one more time, and while not to the degree that is Toc/Tool and Onrack/Trull, it is still great just the same.

Trull is the first Tiste Edur we really get into the head of, and he is one of Erikson's most solid characters. It would take a while for him to explain how he came to be where Onrack found him, you could say it would take a whole book to explain that haha.

Crokus, now Cutter, and Apsalar go on a pretty strange trek in this book, which at one point finds them locked in conflict on an island. There they meet Andarist, who if they said who he was, and I'm sure they did, but in case they didn't, I won't repeat here. Andarist is a rather tragic figure to me.

There were two criticisms Erikson curbed in this novel, one was that he was accused of being unable to write on a single character for a significant period of time. Obviously he shattered that criticism right quick. Next was the notion that many fantasy novels tended to end with a huge battle at the end. Dumai's Wells, Blackwater, more I'm sure. Erikson effectively leads to this and then yanks out that rug from under the entire 14th Army by not having a battle. Leading to a sort of futility to the entire march they just went on. This feeling permeates in later books.

And then there's Felisin and Tavore themselves. A tragic showdown between sisters that spans empires and rebellions. Tavore strikes her sister down without even knowing it (or does she?), effectively bringing the book to a close.

We also meet Fiddler's new squad in this book. Tarr, Koryk, Smiles, Bottle, whoever else. Bottle himself can be a pretty enigmatic character, but he's fun.

Oh yeah, one of the most satisfying moments thus far in the series: when Kalam, Quick Ben, and Fiddler finally reunite and hug eachother. The scene is seen from the outside by Lostara I think it was, but damn powerful and moving all the same.

Then there's Traveller. You should be wondering who this guy is.