Dust of Dreams

Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 9

By: Steven Erikson

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 43 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

On the Letherii continent the exiled Malazan army commanded by Adjunct Tavore begins its march into the eastern Wastelands, to fight for an unknown cause against an enemy it has never seen.

The fate awaiting the Bonehunters is one no soldier can prepare for, and one no mortal soul can withstand - the foe is uncertainty and the only weapon worth wielding is stubborn courage. In war everyone loses, and this brutal truth can be found in the eyes of every soldier in every world.

Destinies are never simple. Truths are neither clear nor sharp. The Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen are drawing to a close in a distant place, beneath indifferent skies, as the last great army of the Malazan Empire seeks a final battle in the name of redemption. Final questions remain to be answered: can one's deeds be heroic when no one is there to see it? Can that which is unwitnessed forever change the world? The answers await the Bonehunters, beyond the Wastelands....

"This novel and all others in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series follow my own pronunciations of 'Malazan' words and names. My thanks to Michael and Jane and everyone at Brilliance Audio." - Steven Erikson, Victoria, B.C. Canada, January, 2014

©2009 Steven Erikson (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Warning this is book 9 not 8!

Any additional comments?

Audible appears to have released books 8 and 9 in the wrong order. As of writing this book 8 isn't out yet. Just a warning for people.

A lot of filler with action-packed cliffhanger end

The further along the series goes, the author spends more and more time on philosophical reflections, and less on moving the plot along. Hopefully all the threads will come together in the last book.

Good Book

Like others, I was concerned by Erickson's prologue indicating DoD is only the first half of the last book (with the second half being contained in The Crippled God), and, therefore, warning of a cliff hanger ending. I suppose the book does end in the middle of the home stretch, but it didn't feel particularly abrupt, and it definitely did end in the usual large scale conflict, like most other (all other?) Malazan books. Accordingly, if you're considering waiting until the Crippled God is released (August 5, 2015, according to Brilliance Audio's website) so you can listen to them in quick succession, I don't think it's necessary. Then again, it is nice to be able to dive right back in to the next book, so waiting until August 5 may not be a bad move. Be warned, however, that if you're like me and get sucked in to these books, combining the books will result in a 90+ hour journey (as the The Crippled God is listed at 47 hours).

As for the book, I consider it a decent entry in the series. Not the best, but not the worst (and I like all of them). It mostly involves familiar characters (as it should, this deep in the plot), but it does seem to lag at times. I suppose all of the Malazan books contain digressions, but I guess I have less patience for them given the impending closure of the series. Still, it's another solid book in what I consider to be one of the best (if not the best) epic fantasy series out there.

PAR

9 books in, over 360 hours of story... and I still have no idea what's going on. Oh well, I've gone this far, might as well finish it. Page is good :)

Not book 8.

Would you listen to Dust of Dreams again? Why?

Audible released in the wrong order. Can't get a straight answer from Audible as to when Book 8 will be released

this book sucks

worst one in the series so far, I'm on chapter 18 and not sure if I can finish it, right now I dont even care to find out how the series ends. it goes on and on and on abou people you've never heard of before and there stories suck.

Another Great Tale with Some Odd Narration Choices

Obviously writing a review of the ninth book in a series is going to be preaching to the choir. If you've kept up this long, you won't be stopping now because of anything you might read. But for those who haven't picked up this series yet, I'll tell you: it's still good after nine books! There's only one book left after this, so pick this series up now. By the time you get to this one, the last audiobook will have been released!

As far as the book itself goes, it's a fantastic read. I can't say it's my favorite of the series (Memories of Ice) but it's not my least favorite (Midnight Tides). The one big difference here, of course, is that this was never meant to be a complete book. Each previous volume ended with a conclusion that pulled together the loose threads and wove something meaningful out of them. This is - by the author's own admission - halfway through the final volume which was split for publishing costs (and for the sake of the readers, according to Erikson). So perhaps when I finally get around to The Crippled God I'll be able to further appreciate this story which was - all things considered - a good listen (minus a few unpleasant moments in the book that might be hard to stomach for some readers).

A few minor complaints about narration: Steven Erikson writes that this novel uses the original pronunciation of names, peoples, magic, etc that he intended when he first wrote them down. And that's fantastic that this audiobook can reflect that. But there have been 8 previous audiobooks that have Quick Ben's full name pronounce Ben [a-DAY-fon-DEH-lat]. Now it's pronounced Ben [AH-deh-fon-deh-LAHT]. When Ralph Lister performed Memories of Ice, "Hetan" was pronounced "HEE-ten"; now it's pronounced [heh-tan]. The word "Mhybe" was pronounced [MY-bee] now, it's pronounced [muh-HIBE]. It took me a second to figure out what they were saying when I first heard it, this being a word from a fictional language.

I get that Erikson wanted the audiobooks to be, well, books read out-loud, not dramatic adaptations, but after nearly 400 hours of audio I think it would have been easier on us, the listeners, for the pronunciations to have remained consistent.

Finally, while Michael Page does a stellar job reading this, he has this generic eastern-European-meets-Arab voice that he uses for a lot of characters. There's literally nothing I can hear that distinguishes Kalam from Gall (a supporting character we're introduced to in this book). It doesn't ruin the book by any stretch, and Michael Page was just following his director, but it was jarring enough to lose a star (I bet Messrs Page and Erikson just fret about that at night).

boring filler with characters you dont care about

Boring wishy washy characters. cliffhanger moments you just want to get past as you dont care about the people or the situation. over written stories of people walking and then walking some more while talking about walking.

A step back...

Character developments in this installment were almost irrationally inconsistent with how the same characters are developed in earlier installments of this series. So much of what happens in this novel lacks the authors traditionally well explored character motivations. I realize this is half of a book, but I think if someone had given me a 5 minute synopses of "lots of people do things and then the surprise lizards eat everyone", I could have skipped DOD and gone right to TCG.

WhereThe Hell Is Book 8?!?!?!

Any additional comments?

What good is the 9th book when Audible hasn't released the 8th book yet? I just got off the phone with Audible and they don't even have any plans to release the 8th book any time soon. The only reason I bought this book is so I could write this review and rant about how stupid it is of Audible to skip an entire book in this series. Needless to say, I am very disappointed. Boo to you, Audible, I except better from you.