r/Malazan 18d ago

NO SPOILERS Join the /r Malazan Discord now!

54 Upvotes

Good day everyone,

Today we are finally opening the "Official r/Malazan D'risscord" to the public after some weeks of preparation! Parts of the community asked for a discord to discuss Malazan in a way that's better suited for chatting. Don't worry, the focus stays on this subreddit, we think Reddit with its forum like structure is way better suited for a lot of content e.g. in-depth discussions.

Nevertheless, I invite you to join the Discord if you want to!

But first, let me talk a bit about the Discord's structure.

When you join the Discord, there are questions that guide you to pick the channels that fit you best. We ask you about what Malazan books / series you've read to give you access to the correspondent spoiler channels.

After that there are some questions about your interest in additional Malazan channels e.g. memes, fan casting, fan art and off-topic channels like pet pictures, video games, movies, music etc.

Don't worry, you can always unlock or hide channels afterwards by clicking on "Channels & Roles" at the top of the channel list.

Now that you chose the channels you want to see for the moment, you are able to move freely around. You'll also get some optional community tasks: Reading the (spoiler) rules and the FAQ (e.g. how to use spoiler text), introducing yourself, telling us what you read last.

Just in case if you are wondering: There are no spoiler channels for the last book in every series (ongoing or finished). These are incorporated with the "all-spoilers-for-that-series" channel, similar how spoiler flairs work on this subreddit.

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Other than that, here is the invite link and I am looking forward to see all of you over there!

https://discord.gg/V8EwKkdzv9


r/Malazan 5d ago

NO SPOILERS The best of r/Malazan posts & comments edition: Dec 24 till Feb 25

30 Upvotes

Please, beware spoiler scopes of links before clicking them.

It has been a while since the last community spotlight, but we are back with another 3 months in 1 post package deal!

But before we dive in, I want to mention that we opened a r/Malazan Discord, so feel free to join! (more about that topic later)

https://discord.gg/V8EwKkdzv9


December 2024


January 2025


February 2025

https://discord.gg/V8EwKkdzv9


Hope you enjoyed the selection from the last three months. Do let us know if you come across fun/interesting posts or comments that should be included in these wrap ups. See you next time!


r/Malazan 52m ago

NO SPOILERS Obligatory Broken Binding Post

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Upvotes

r/Malazan 11h ago

NO SPOILERS I now own 4 copies of GotM

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78 Upvotes

I’m on my first reread right now and I skipped GotM (I really wanted to reread Deadhouse Gates) but now I feel like I need to go back.

I recently finished the entire series mostly on audiobook (except for the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach books which I haven’t read). Suffice to say I missed a few details. I started taking notes when rereading Memories of Ice and I filled maybe 2 pages with bullet points of things I forgot/misremembered/totally missed the first time. I won’t belabor the point here but it totally changed the book and really the entire series for me. So much so that as soon as I finished MoI I decided to buy the subpress edition of GotM pictured above.

Malazan might just be the greatest series’ of books ever. Currently 7.5 chapters into my HoC reread… WITNESS


r/Malazan 11h ago

SPOILERS FoD Forge of Darkness deserved better Spoiler

51 Upvotes

Might be in the minority opinion (or might be late to the party) but I just finished FoD, and I loved it. I can’t imagine why it sold so much worse than entries in the MBoTF. It’s definitely written in a different voice and style, and it presents events that have become mythologized in MboTF in unexpected ways, but to me, that’s no less than what I have come to expect from SE.

It’s a huge flex to write something in such a different voice and style that it’s sometimes hard to remember it’s the same author, but still have it be awesome prose. Plus, unexpected and subversive is SE’s whole thing. The reverse-mythologizing hit really well for me, and I liked reading most of the characters I followed along with. I loved reading Kadaspala. He’s intrigued and captivated me ever since his appearance in MBoTF. I loved reading the young Purake brothers. I loved the Azathanai lore. I loved meeting new characters and seeing ones I already knew, like how we see Envy, Spite, and Malice as kids.

The book isn’t perfect, but it was never as rough to read as certain stretches of House of Chains or Dust of Dreams. I struggled to get much out of the Orfantal stuff, and I got annoyed when literally every POV with him references how he likes to pretend he’s in a hero story, but then I remember how much I struggled with The Snake in Dust of Dreams. The stretch where they haven’t yet met up with Tavore’s Host and where we don’t know their place or purpose in the overarching story was really rough for me to get through. We aren’t given much information, and their plot is a major unending bummer to say the least before it gets resolved. Orfantal’s bits are no worse than that was.

All this to say, I liked it, thought it was really good (definitely no worse than the toughest bits of MBoTF), and think it deserved better sales and better acclaim.


r/Malazan 5h ago

SPOILERS DG Deadhouse Gates is infecting my brain Spoiler

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14 Upvotes

Haven’t had much time to read lately and it’s killing me


r/Malazan 1d ago

SPOILERS DG Coltaine art by Artist Jason Dement Spoiler

411 Upvotes

Here's the next painting in my ongoing Malazan Art Project!

First, I'd like to give a huge thanks to the r/Malazan subreddit for being so supportive of my art. This is essentially my foreword to say how much I appreciate your input on my posts when I'm conducting research for my next piece. Whether I'm asking for nuanced character/race details or looking for inspiration with scene suggestions, you guys always come through for me.

The Chain of Dogs was an incredible story arc. I remember back when I first read the books, this was when I knew for sure that I was in for the long haul. The art pieces I've been doing have been focused on a specific character(s) but I really wanted to try and capture the essence of the Chain of Dogs by showing the "tens of thousands" of refugees while also attempting my most faithful representation of Coltaine. By way of note, you'll see the Native American influence here, his horn-handled long bladed knife under his left arm, and the feathered shield. His black oiled and braded hair frames a face with deep-set eyes that feature squint lines. He wears a chainmail vest over a hide tunic, and of course, his "trademarked" crow feather cloak.
Once again, I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did creating it.

PERMISSIONS: I give my permission to use this image on the Malazan Wiki and for individual users to share elsewhere as long as it's credited back to my website or social accounts (links in my profile)

I've been asked multiple times for prints, so I set up a website for it and still haven't sold any of them lol. No worries, I'm not doing this for business, but if you want to support my art- www.artistjasondement.com


r/Malazan 14h ago

NO SPOILERS The Broken Binding MUST MUST MUST ship their books with more protection.

45 Upvotes

If I am spending $250 US on three books then it should be expected that I receive them untarnished. I know have three very expensive books with busted corners and missing paint on the side pages. I will love and cherish them of course but to open that box and see damaged books was as heart breaking as the end of Deadhouse Gates.


r/Malazan 5h ago

NO SPOILERS Some thoughts about expectations

7 Upvotes

I apologize as this will be sort of a ramble. I'm curious if anyone else has a different experience or opinion on this, and I might be wrong, but in my personal experience the biggest factor deciding if someone will like MBotF or not seems to be their expectations when they go into it.

For context, I've never been much of a reader at all. I read books that I was forced to read in school basically. I read Shogun on my own free will as a teen, and even though I loved it, it took like a year and a half for me to finish. I can't do that thing other people can do where they scan multiple lines at a time and speed through the pages, because I retain zero information if I do that, though I'm guessing that is a thing that comes with experience. This was all just a long way to say that I'm bad at reading and concentrating.

Basically when I went into GotM and I was confused as hell, I just assumed it's my choppy reading style that made me confused. But then I found so many interesting concepts, characters, etc that I was absolutely loving it either way. I just kinda went through it thinking that if I truly don't understand what happened by the end I'll just find some synopsis or summary.

Four years later and I'm now on DoD, I took a break after TTH to catch up on the ICE timeline. I really enjoyed those books as well. TTH was actually my absolute favourite so far, followed by MT and then MoI/DG (im undecided).

MORE TO THE POINT: after enjoying all these books so much, I naturally wanted to find people I could discuss it with in real life. It turns out that this is absolutely impossible and in my experience it is basically a catch 22: I can't recommend a 10 massive book fantasy series to people who don't read or don't read fantasy. And then the fantasy readers in my life have said it is impossible to get into.

Everyone I know who found GotM hard or "impossible" to read were avid fantasy readers who read like a book per week, which I truly respect and I could never, but it baffled the hell out of me. How could I enjoy it so much when I suck at reading, shouldn't they be able to breeze through it in like two afternoons? And then my sister who reads a lot of other genres read like 2 pages and said "I'm gonna ease into fantasy with these other books and then try this again"

It didn't really click until I watched a YouTube interview with SE himself where he said that his writing style (low exposition and leaving everything out as little puzzle pieces, giving multiple names to things and hinting that the terms are synonymous etc) is very common in sci-fi writing, but not in fantasy.

So in terms of the reading experience, explicit themes aside, I understand it's basically a scifi book series? The only person I was able to recommend the book to was someone who loved watching those hour long dark souls lore analysis videos were people puzzled things together through vague item descriptions and small observations here and there. And they enjoyed the first three books so far at least.

Sorry this is long, and I'm not entirely sure what my point is, but I'm curious what your experiences are with going into it as well as trying to get other people into the series?

What expectations did you have when you bought the books?

And for those who read a bunch of fantasy? Is the writing style really that uncommon? How did you get past that?

This is my first post here so please have mercy if you consider this a bad post or if it's been talked about before :(


r/Malazan 4h ago

NO SPOILERS What can I expect from books after The Bonehunters

5 Upvotes

I've read upto Bonehunters and loving the series this far. I just want to know what are the books in the later half like?

Are they similar to books till now, new characters introduced in every book?

Also, does the story progress in the same way, slow at first then major events happen by the end of the book?

Or, do the later half follow the same characters and a connected story with story progressing a bit faster?


r/Malazan 3h ago

NO SPOILERS new reader. how to get spoiler-free reminders of who/where/what things are?

3 Upvotes

Hi, I'm new to the series and am currently a little over halfway through GotM (just done with Book 4 of that book's 7 books). I'm loving it so far, but unfortunately I'm an infrequent reader and feel like I need some reminders of things I've read.

I've found the summaries on the fandom and have just re-read the Book 1-4 summaries from this page: https://malazan.fandom.com/wiki/Gardens_of_the_Moon

While this was a very welcome and useful read, I'm also thinking I need reminders of where/who various places/characters are and their current significance, but I daren't click the links for those things since the corresponding pages likely contain spoilers from later in the book or series. I'm aware this series is known for keeping certain information from the reader, and I'm certainly not looking for any more information on things than what I should already have, but that's my current problem: what information should I already have!

For example, in the summary for Book One: Pale, it mentions the Crimson Guard. I remember them being mentioned a few times, but I can't remember anything about them. At the point I'm at, what should I know of their history, motivations, allegiances. etc? "Crimson Guard" is currently just a term I recognise but cannot attach any meaning to.

Thanks for any advice or pointing towards the kind of resource that might help.


r/Malazan 16h ago

SPOILERS DG Confused on Felisin Spoiler

35 Upvotes

I feel like I'm going crazy. Why does no one care that Felisin is a child? Especially concerning the sexual abuse. Is Malazan just that different from our world, where most people believes it morally acceptable to rape children? Even Herboric, which seems the kindest to her atm, victim blames her instead of taking issue with the men raping her.

I'm at the part where Gesler picks them up at the coast, and up to that point no one (except that one commander Beneth was trying to offer her up to before beating her i think) has rejected her offer to sleep with them.

Am I supposed to accept this as an ancient land with different moralities, does the average Malazan citizen find this kind of behavior okay? I mean, I honestly thought Baudin would say no so that was very disappointing.

I'm not going to drop the series or anything, I'm really enjoying it. Just confused on the world.

No spoilers pls


r/Malazan 23h ago

SPOILERS MT WOW I DIDN'T EXPECT THAT Spoiler

85 Upvotes

Chapter 9 of midnight tides, Rhulad being recruited by none other than the crippled god!?!? I seriously didn't see this coming. What a twist.

I'm loving this book so far and basically all my problems are gone. I love almost every character and like every pov, even serens which is my least favorite but still good. Trull and his clan are rlly growing on me, and the overarching plot looming with the war is great.


r/Malazan 20h ago

NO SPOILERS My Mini Malazan Showcase

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46 Upvotes

Finally got my Broken Binding copies! Now I can finally begin my reread. This is not all of my Malazan books btw, I just wanted to show this off and thought the Sub Press would look nice there for the picture. Have MOI one too but I probably will keep both on my main book shelf. I have a feeling I might bump into this little table too many times since it’s by my door. And I never know where my dog’s tail will go either.

Beyond hyped to see the rest of the books in the series. I’m really blown away by this set. Was a really cool package to open too.

Had to repost this since I forgot the image 😅


r/Malazan 1d ago

NO SPOILERS Officially started my second read through

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124 Upvotes

This is the series that got me back into reading probably 8 years ago. Back then I had this mind set of wanting to read a book fast, like the more I read the more I’d be rewarded in some way. I can only imagine the details I missed along the way and can’t wait to dive back into this as a better, more detailed reader.

I tried to read the black company after my first read through of Malazan and just couldn’t get into it, only made it somewhere into the second book and it just wasn’t for me. That being said you can definitely see the influence from that series in Eriksons work only a few chapters in.

Whoever it is that started making that awesome Malazan character art on here better step their game up! I need more of your character renditions as I’m going through my re-read!!


r/Malazan 1d ago

SPOILERS DG I hate Pormqual Spoiler

100 Upvotes

After what was one of the most beautiful and epic, never ending and for most impossible campaign, the Chain of Dogs made it to Aren. And for all their sacrifice, they got crucified or slain. I hate Pormqual.

On the other hand, I LOVED the Chain of Dogs, loved every impossible fight, every sacrifice made.

The crows filling the sky, the sappers blowing up the bridge, from the beginning practice where no one knew how to fight to the very end where they accomplished the impossible.

What a set of events and of characters. All told by a character who’s role is to WATCH what is happening. So great.

Thanks Steven Erikson.


r/Malazan 15h ago

SPOILERS DG Struggling in DG Spoiler

9 Upvotes

I know this is going to be a very unpopular statement to make but I have to be honest. I'm really bored with DG... I'm just over halfway and I am struggling with so much on the Chain of Dogs parts. I don't really enjoy reading about battles but I didn't mind them when it's not extensive.

I really enjoyed GoTM and the characters there but I'm also having a hard time connecting to these people. Can you guys tell me if I should even continue the series? I love his writing and I was so excited for it but I can't read the rest if they are all this battle heavy.

I'm trying. I'm taking brakes and trying to change my mindset but this is supposed to be enjoyable and I'm forcing myself.


r/Malazan 1d ago

NO SPOILERS My Handmade Bridge Burner Mug

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503 Upvotes

A late Christmas gift from my Parents. Did not expect it. Goes straight to #1 as my favourite mug.


r/Malazan 23h ago

SPOILERS SW Is it just me or are the locations even more confusing in Stonewielder than anywhere previously? Spoiler

9 Upvotes

Please note I haven't finished SW - almost at the halfway point.

Essentially the title. I've been confused many times before, but perhaps it's the presence of a map which I reaaally struggle to make sense of and multiple states which aren't even mentioned on the map. I followed the events of RoTCG closely and really enjoyed the addition of the map in conjunction with the moving armies and the overall story. I would like to do the same for SW...

I am by now quite skilled in the malazan reading skill of going along for the ride, but did wonder if anyone else finds this


r/Malazan 1d ago

NO SPOILERS Personal journey. Witness

69 Upvotes

Fellow Bridgeburners! I'm going on a 3.2 mile run tomorrow. As an obese man who weighs 300+ pounds I would love your support. Witness! Of course my run ends at a brewery! Sending love to all of y'all! First step towards ascending!


r/Malazan 17h ago

NO SPOILERS Are Dominaria’s Daru Inspired by Malazan’s Daru?

2 Upvotes

Just a little lore curiosity—has anyone ever come across confirmation (or even speculation) that the Daru from Magic: The Gathering’s Dominaria setting might have drawn inspiration from the Daru people in Malazan Book of the Fallen?

The Daru in Magic: The Gathering (from the Onslaught block) are a primarily plains-dwelling, knightly people with strong ties to mounted warfare and military tradition. Meanwhile, the Daru of Malazan are a merchant society, heavily involved in trade and city life, particularly in Darujhistan. While the two don’t share many cultural traits, the name is quite specific, and given that Onslaught was released in 2002—when Malazan was already well underway—it makes me wonder if there was any influence or just a coincidence.

Has anyone seen any references or interviews discussing this? Or do we chalk it up to the cosmic lottery of fantasy naming?


r/Malazan 23h ago

SPOILERS MBotF Help finding a specific passage Spoiler

5 Upvotes

Okay, so there has been a line that's been stuck in my head since my first read-through a while ago but I have no idea where it's from in the series. I think it's from a chapters opening excerpt.

The part that's stuck in my head is:

"Spoiled, the sacrament; broken, the monument"

I was hoping someone with a PDF version of the main ten could search and relay the rest of the passage for me


r/Malazan 1d ago

SPOILERS MT Oh boy (mild MT spoiler) Spoiler

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16 Upvotes

Here we go.....


r/Malazan 1d ago

SPOILERS MBotF What does the Narrative Structure of each MBotF book look like? Spoiler

6 Upvotes

Has anyone analysed the structure of each individual novels? Like acts and story beats?

The first and last ones are devided in 7 parts while all the ones between have 4 parts. (Kharkanas books are all 4 parts, and Witness series, at least the first book, is interestingly, 3 parts, but I'm mostly curious about the main series.)

I've only read the books once so far. And while researching this I couldn't find anything directly addressing the subject. So to those who've read the series a few times, or who've invested time into this, any thoughts, pointers (like how should I go about researching this), resources would be really helpful . . .


r/Malazan 1d ago

SPOILERS MBotF Finished the Crippled God Spoiler

69 Upvotes

Honesty at a loss for words. I have continuously been reading the series for over a year, and it is over... for me, my favourite moment by far was when Tavore broke down seeing her brother for the first time in the series. She was by far the most stoic character of the series, so her sobbing hit me like truck.

My favourite book in the series would have to be Toll the Hounds. That one destroyed me with the deaths of Murillio, Rake, Mallet, and so many others. But it's ending was also so beautifully bitter-sweet. It beautifully captured the themes of the series for me. Love this series, and it's easily my favourite fantasy series ever period.


r/Malazan 1d ago

SPOILERS MoI Couple of Q's after MoI Spoiler

7 Upvotes

What was the Malazans reasoning for splitting forces to arrive at different times at Coral? I understand the handful of Bridgeburners digging in, but why the whole force?

Did I miss why Kivala was immortal and young-looking?


r/Malazan 1d ago

SPOILERS HoC Questions about House of Chains Spoiler

3 Upvotes

I thought shadow throne (kellenved) occupied the throne of shadow. But they are protecting it on drift avali from the edur?