Review of Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God by Steven Erikson

As they were conceived as a single volume, I will review Dust of Dreams (2009) and The Crippled God (2011) as a single volume, despite they were published as two separate books. No spoilers.

Fairly or unfairly, epic fantasy series are often judged by their closing volume. Throughout a series, things have been building, ramping up, and are ready to explode by the end—to provide readers the catharsis via fireworks they have been lead to believe will occur. The Malazan series has been a little different, however. Each of the eight books leading to the closing volume has been insular, closed off. Overarching threads of story and certain characters, bind the series together, but the concerns of a given volume remain inherent to to themes and characters to that volume. Which is what makes Erikson's decision to do what he did in Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God so... interesting? To explain.

All of the Malazan Book of the Fallen books to date have been massive. Each features ~1000 pages. Each features dozens and dozens and dozens, if not more than a hundred characters. Each features multiple, multiple storylines and settings. The reader has had to max their mental RAM keeping all of these pieces straight—who is who, where they are, and what they're trying to do. Add to this magic, warrens, gods, and characters who can shapeshift and it's a smorgasbord extremely few readers have any chance of digesting their first one or two times through the series. You almost have to take notes.

Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God quadruples down on this. No “almost”, you must go back, re-read certain sections, take notes, remind yourself of this or that, pause, reconsider, push on, then do it again. It's either that, or take a week off from work to focus and read, and only focus and read, no distractions. Put yet another way, it is the largest, densest mass of characters and storylines you're likely to encounter in fiction, by a mile, or seven.

I can't criticize Erikson for pushing on readers such a sheer volume of stuff. The fact my aging, faulty RAM struggles to keep up doesn't mean that others' won't. But I can criticize Erikson for failing to make each of his singular creations, singular. So many-many of the characters in the two books are plot placeholders rather than an attempt at living, breathing souls. They are struts in the architecture of his vision rather than relatable sentiences who have a chance at resonating with readers. Erikson sacrificed the integrity of his characters for the size of his vision. In my world of fiction, that is not good. Maybe yours differs?

But before I go any further, a plot primer. For those paying attention to the ebbs and flows in the first eight books of Malazan, things have been steadily shifting away from conquered Malazan colonies and toward the untamed nether regions of Letheras. And it's here that all things converge in Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God. And when I say all things, I mean all things. The majority of the gods who remain alive poke and prod from the sideline, some even entering the battlefield. Malazans form alliances with whomever will support their conquering of Letheras, and begin their march east. The tribes of Awl and Barghast who inhabit those lands begin to question existence. The civil wars of the K'Chain Malle threaten to spill into human affairs. The T'lan Imass emerge (literally) to fight their own history, and to have a say in how everyone else's matters resolve. With most of the Tiste Edur and Tiste Andii now gone, Father Light and his Tiste Liosan set their sights on the mortal world. Karsa does what Karsa does. Quick Ben's secrets are revealed. And lastly, and most imporantly (and most unbelievably), the Forkrul Assail show up en masse to unleash their scheme for world destruction. Yes, world destruction. Ho, hum. Which leads us back to criticisms.

World destruction? The Assail have appeared in prior novels (and perhaps I missed the hints), but in these two novels they shift from obscure side characters to GRAND EVIL looking to raze sentient life. Yes, as mundane an epic fantasy concept as ever there were. Erikson has worked doggedly to avoid such stereotypes in prior novels. It's one of the reasons I respect him. But here the stereotypes not only slip in, but take over (ha ha). It's a black and white, good vs. evil view where so much else about Malazan has been a wonderful shade of gray. But I digress.

On paper, Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God are everything the closing volume in a massive epic fantasy series should be. Epic battles, dramatic showdowns, major character deaths, massive convergences, heroic moments, numinous objects, grand schemes, etc. They provide the fireworks many readers are looking for in greater volume than any book in the series to date. But the books likewise collapse beneath their own weight. Erikson stuffs so much into the novels that most of the individual pieces fail to distinguish themselves in the mix. And as a result, the fates of characters—the bits that are supposed to draw on emotion—fizzle and fade. There are some that still hit (Mappo and Icarium, for example), but by and large the characters are NPCs to whom anything can happen. Wave a magic hand, a god in disguise appears, here a Soletaken there a Soletaken (everywhere a Soletaken, Ol' McDonald...), many dragons where there were none, characters suddenly arrive at the scene with some special object, WORLD DESTRUCTION. It can be epic fantasy soup where it was once fantasy wholly unto itself.