Reaper's Gale

Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 7

By: Steven Erikson

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 43 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

All is not well in the Letherii Empire. Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, spirals into madness, surrounded by sycophants and agents of his Machiavellian chancellor, while the Letherii secret police conduct a campaign of terror against their own people. The Errant, once a far-seeing god, is suddenly blind to the future. Conspiracies seethe throughout the palace as the empire edges closer to all-out war with the neighboring kingdoms.

The great Edur fleet draws ever closer. Among its warriors are Karsa Orlong and Icarium Lifestealer - each destined to cross blades with the emperor himself. A band of fugitives seeks a way out of the empire. One of them, Fear Sengar, must find the soul of Scabandari Bloodeye. Yet traveling with them is Scabandari’s most ancient foe: Silchas Ruin. His motives are anything but certain, for the wounds he carries on his back, made by the blades of Scabandari, are still fresh.

Fate decrees that there is to be a reckoning - a reckoning on an unimaginable scale. This is a brutal, harrowing novel of war, intrigue, and dark, uncontrollable magic; this is epic fantasy at its most imaginative, storytelling at its most thrilling.

©2007 Steven Erikson (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

great book mediocre narration

here are my fifteen words that i am required to include even tho my title is sufficient

favorite so far!

first book I've actually filled out this stupid review feature for. it's good. real good.

Poor narration but good story

The narration is actually painful to listen to but I’m persevering for the story. If my eyesight was better I’d opt for the printed copy of this series.

TOO MANY CHARACTERS SOUND THE SAME!

Hard to tell who is on stage. Great story. Looking forward to his next book.

Erickson years at my heart strings and doesn't relent in hooked

The author is so completely talented at character creation, adding depth to the good and the bad, consistently confounding my ability to anticipate. This reader sets alive these characters and has an uncanny number of personalities and voices that are consistent and believable

epic

The peak of fantsy for those who love words and philosophy.

plus four more words

Erikson Broke My Heart

I honestly believe this book was even more painful this time around than it was the first time I read this book.
I knew Toc, Beak, and Trull's deaths were all coming yet I couldn't help but have my heart torn out when it finally happened.
Erikson is a master storyteller. And his ability to weave his gazillion characters' lives together is that of an Elder God. Few things are as satisfying as the final bit of a Malazan book when all the chickens come home to roost.

Huge Story Arc

This was a long one! So much happens from the beginning to the end that if felt like a complete series within itself. It brought a lot from the previous books to a close. Amazing how characters have been been through so much. All Amazing.

Epic characters.

The best ending in the series so far. Never disappointing in scope of plot , character development , and a unique way of tiring it all together.

There Will Be A Reckoning!

Those words, written across the book's back cover, epitomize the events that transpire in this seventh volume of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Continuing and concluding the storyline begun in Midnight Tides and continued in The Bonehunters, this book brings a climactic conclusion that brings resolution to so many open threads, bringing down justice on so many who deserve it, and generally giving us a satisfying moment of reprieve before the last push to the end.

I always say this, but the sheer scale of the storyline in this book is almost beyond believe. It puts other "epic" fantasies to shame, as there can really be no serious comparison to this series. The storyline in this novel begins over a hundred thousand years in the past, and despite that unimaginable scale Erikson is able to make you feel like it really has been that much time that has transpired. When I look back at the thousands of pages since the story of the Sengars and the Tiste Edur began, and the betraying of Silchas Ruin by Scabandari Bloodeye, and so many other things, it's awe-inspiring. Certainly this is what epic fantasy really should be. Absolutely unforgettable.

And there are many reckonings in this book. This is ultra-violent, no-holds-barred storytelling, chock full of political machinations and bloody war. There are several stand-out fights, especially involving Quick Ben, Fiddler and Hedge. And of course, Karsa Orlong continues to kick more ass in this novel, making me beam with pride at who has become probably my favorite character in the series.

Yet there's a lot of tragedy here, too - which you must surely expect by now. A few key deaths are going to be hard to take; I know they were for me. It's things like that which don't sit very well with me in the end, especially when so many of them could be avoided to the point where you can see the author's hand and it feels a bit contrived. Yet the ending is pure Erikson awesomeness as usual. My only complaint is, as usual, that I didn't get as much "screen time" with the major characters and major players of the book. As typical, Erikson introduces new minor characters and spends a lot of time with them and with the front-line grunts of the army. I don't know if part of this reason is if he didn't feel comfortable or confident enough to write the harder characters, as ancient as many of them are. Certainly we haven't seen Anomander Rake since book 3 and that just baffles me. But at any rate, this book series still deserves to be on any epic fantasy reader's bookshelf.