Escapism is genuinely a large part of why the fantasy genre has appealed to me so much in the past and to some extent still does, but it'd be rare for me to have begun reading any novel, fantasy or otherwise, so deliberately seeking escapism as when I picked up Gardens of the Moon for a revisit a few months ago. It was night time and I was (obviously) at home, but beyond that I can't remember the circumstances, except that I specifically felt the need to immerse myself in a different world - in other words, to escape - and that it seemed the ideal way to do so.
I also remember thinking that it wouldn't just be a case of reading that first one, and that maybe I'd just end up re-reading it and the next two, Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice, which collectively seem to represent the first stanza of the 10-book series...not that there's a lot of 'just' to that, with each book a pretty sizeable undertaking in its own right. In the end, though, I ended up re-reading the whole lot (this was more or less my third pass), in no small part to continue that immersion - escape - deciding at some point that, once I'd finished it and gotten in my final masters paper (the latter's still to come) it would need to be the time for me to start trying to do something active on the Life front again, after the lull of the last really several months.
Anyway, that autobiographical context aside, it remains compelling on a second re-reading, complicatedly plotted in layers upon layers but pulling together to a massive, satisfying ending, while also leaving plenty of room for further elaboration in the several other books that Erikson and collaborator Esslemont have written alongside and since, only a couple of which I've read. I guess inevitably some of the visceral impact and excitement is gone at this point, but the flipside is that much more of the detail sank in this time through, and both the world and many of the characters felt richer, fuller, not least because, even though I don't know if I've ever consciously thought about them between readings, I've now lived with them for quite some time (the Malazans - all of them - have always been the most memorable character(s), but this time Tavore was really at the heart of it, too). It's still genuinely awe-inspiring, in scope and execution, and completely gripping.
(Previously: [1-8], which is as far as Erikson'd got at that point, and then starting again with [1-3], [4 & 5], [6], [7], [8], [9] & [9 (again) & 10].)
I also remember thinking that it wouldn't just be a case of reading that first one, and that maybe I'd just end up re-reading it and the next two, Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice, which collectively seem to represent the first stanza of the 10-book series...not that there's a lot of 'just' to that, with each book a pretty sizeable undertaking in its own right. In the end, though, I ended up re-reading the whole lot (this was more or less my third pass), in no small part to continue that immersion - escape - deciding at some point that, once I'd finished it and gotten in my final masters paper (the latter's still to come) it would need to be the time for me to start trying to do something active on the Life front again, after the lull of the last really several months.
Anyway, that autobiographical context aside, it remains compelling on a second re-reading, complicatedly plotted in layers upon layers but pulling together to a massive, satisfying ending, while also leaving plenty of room for further elaboration in the several other books that Erikson and collaborator Esslemont have written alongside and since, only a couple of which I've read. I guess inevitably some of the visceral impact and excitement is gone at this point, but the flipside is that much more of the detail sank in this time through, and both the world and many of the characters felt richer, fuller, not least because, even though I don't know if I've ever consciously thought about them between readings, I've now lived with them for quite some time (the Malazans - all of them - have always been the most memorable character(s), but this time Tavore was really at the heart of it, too). It's still genuinely awe-inspiring, in scope and execution, and completely gripping.
(Previously: [1-8], which is as far as Erikson'd got at that point, and then starting again with [1-3], [4 & 5], [6], [7], [8], [9] & [9 (again) & 10].)
