Review of Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson

Gardens of the Moon, first book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, was a bit of a false start. Whether due to publisher pressure or Erikson's unwillingness to jump feet first into the fire, the novel is limited. It doesn't know how to properly set a scene for maximum impact and distinguishing the plethora of characters is a challenge. Deadhouse Gates, second book in the series, was a clear step forward. Scenes hit harder and characters started to pop. But it had a large amount of content, not all of which felt value-add. I think it's here at the third book, Memories of Ice (2001), that Erikson finally hits the series' stride. There are still issues, but at least they are by design.

The story of Memories of Ice occurs in parallel to that of Deadhouse Gates. While the Whirlwind rebellion builds in the Seven Cities in Deadhouse, a tyrant of the Pannion Domin threatens the city of Capustan in Memories. The Domin are a massive foe,, heedless of life or civility, who force an unlikely alliance between the Malazan Empire, the warlord Caladran Brood and his army, and the Tiste Andii led by Anomander Rake. An uneasy truce, the band nevertheless know they have no recourse but to take on the tyrant, discover which god is backing him, and stop the takeover of the Genabackis continent.

According to a Reddit poll, Memories of Ice is the best of the ten-book Malazan series. I disagree, but it's easy to understand why the book is popular. Quick Ben pulls off some clever magic—both in the face of gods and on the field of battle. (Erikson tries to keep his characters gray, but with Ben there is a strong hero vibe.) There are two epic-scale battles told through the eyes of characters that readers have a good chance of caring about. Itkovian, for example, is a hero whose heroism resolves itself in unexpected fashion. There is giant, classic (cannibalistic) evil; a new god emerges in the pantheon from a surprising source. There are conflicts millennia in resolving themselves (Jaghut vs T'lan Imass). And on and on goes the list. Erikson gives the reader a feast that minimizes the amount of waffle and fluff building character, transitioning scenes, etc. I see why it's the most popular.

A couple interesting themes emerge in Memories of Ice. First is age-old conflict. The T'lan Imass have dedicated themselves to wiping out the Jaghut, and at the start of Memories they are only a few Jaghut away from completing their mission. Through the plight of the T'lan Imass Erikson digs into the mindsets and consequences of such actions, and it's not all good. The manner in which Itkovian helps resolve the conundrum is a nice bit of character writing. Another theme is the species evolution. In our world, that progression would be from australopithecus to neanderthal to homo sapien to homo sapien sapiens. There is nice use of the fantasy world to compress time and evolution to depict such a fantastical conflict between two such species at different stages of evolution. Erikson is by training an archeologist, thus it perhaps is not a surprise that this conflict receives the relative attention it does.

But there are some challenges with the novel. Erikson occasionally dipped into italicized stream-of-consciousness in Deadhouse Gates. In Memories Erikson dips deeper. My assumption is that he has started using this technique to further build character (beyond physical description and dialogue) and does not want to resort to overt exposition (telling not showing). Fair enough. But I found myself skim reading italicized sections more and more often. With the exception of a few characters (Toc the Younger, for example), it doesn't add much—enough to justify the word count, at least. Erikson should be lauded for looking to avoid the pitfalls of so much crappy, exposition-heavy epic fantasy. But I'm not convinced the volume of stream-of-conscious was necessary for the novel's success.

Another challenge I have with Memories is the primary source of plot conflict, i.e. the Pannion Domin. Another comparison, sorry. In Deadhouse Gates, the primary conflict was relatable: natives pushing back against imperialist invaders. In Memories it is less relatable: imperialists fighting cartoon fascists, i.e. cannabalistic death orgies on the streets involving sex with the dead calmly overseen by priests. So unrealistic it''s almost satire. I think the aforementioned themes overcome this challenge for the most part, this source of conflict nevertheless feels too overt, too obvious.

In the end, it's easy to see why the internets consider Memories of Ice the best of Malazan. The big battles are BIG. The use of magic abounds. Most often there is a clear divide between good and evil, heroes and villains. And the tale is properly epic. I still have challenges with the variety of narrative moods Erikson throws at the reader. It's too varied—comedy, drama, and many, many things between. Also, the word count still doesn't seem to justify the amount of story. Overall, there is enough theme to pull through these challenges, however. Regardless where it falls on anyone's ranking, likely it will be near the top for most.