On a second, more leisurely pass, and with the benefit of having since read as far as the series has so far progressed, it becomes apparent just how clear a sense of his world Erikson had from the outset - an enormous number of threads are laid out in the series' opener, Gardens of the Moon, often occupying only a page or two, only to be taken up in later books...of course, they're much easier to follow when one knows how everything will eventually play out (recalling, natch, that the series is still two no doubt lengthy books away from completion). And an extra dimension is added by knowing where things are headed - the ways that I read the early appearances of Ganoes Paran, or the whole of Itkovian's trajectory (or, for that matter, the gradually revealed history of the T'lan Imass), to give just a couple of examples, were strongly coloured by that knowledge.
What hasn't changed is that while Gardens is a very strong opener, it's with Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice that the series becomes truly awe-inspiring. Perhaps oddly, the military elements are, by and large, the most gripping - perhaps this will change as I work through the rest of the books this time round, but at present I reckon that Coltaine's march in Deadhouse Gates and the battle for Capustan in Memories of Ice (the one in the second half of Memories at Coral isn't bad either) are the series' absolute high points. But the complexity of the plotting, and the intricate way in which all the strands tie together, ensure that all of the parts feel necessary and integral, and the massive sweep and scale of the books wouldn't be possible without its many intersecting stories and sub-plots. As I thought on my first go, these books are magnificent.
