2008-07-02 Toll the Hounds

An exhaustive review for this has already been given, so I'm just going share a few of my thoughts.

For me, this is the best book yet in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It is certainly the most intricate so far with more characters and happenings than ever (at least it seems that way). It moves along through the first three parts at a fairly sedate pace laying the ground for an earth shattering final part. As mentioned in another review, at times in this book Erikson adopts a different writing style, in which he is actually speaking to you of the events occuring at the time. It's pretty much exclusive to the goings on in Darujhistan, and I rather enjoyed it, though I don't expect we'll be seeing it again. The book is filled with a sense of melancholy (a result of the focus given to the Tiste Andii and an unloved child called Harllo), and it gets downright tearful in places. Comic relief is provided by the incomparable Iskaral Pust, and, of course, Kruppe.

I loved this book and cannot wait for the concluding volumes.