Memories of ice
2001
- fantasy
- fiction
- fiction, science fiction, space opera
- fiction, fantasy, epic
- prophets
- battles
- imaginary places
- fantasy fiction
- prophètes
- romans, nouvelles
The story
The thrilling third volume in Steven Erikson's epic fantasy sequence, The Malazan Book of the Fallen.The ravaged continent of Genabackis has given birth to a terrifying new empire: the Pannion Domin. Like a fanatical tide of corrupted blood, it seethes across the land, devouring all who fail to heed the Word of its elusive prophet, the Pannion Seer. In its path stands an uneasy alliance: Dujek Onearm's Host and the Bridgeburners each now outlawed by the Empress alongside their enemies of old including the grim forces of Warlord Caladan Brood, Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, and his Tiste Andii, and the Rhivi people of the Plains.But more ancient clans too are gathering. As if in answer to some primal summons, the massed ranks of the undead T'lan Imass have risen. For it would seem something altogether darker and more malign threatens the very substance of this world. The Warrens are poisoned and rumours abound of the Crippled God, now unchained and intent on a terrible revenge...Marking the return of many favourite characters from GARDENS OF THE MOON and introducing a host of remarkable new players, MEMORIES OF ICE is a thrilling new chapter in Erikson's magnificent epic fantasy and another triumph of storytelling.
What it’s like
Dense, grimy military fantasy with the texture of a campaign diary: rain-soaked camps, smoke-choked cities, torchlit war councils and the cold, mineral glow of ancient sorcery bleeding through the margins. Erikson's prose is brisk and sardonic, full of soldiers' gallows humour and long, sweeping passages of landscape and ruin, so the reading rhythm alternates between tight, clipped dialogue and slow, mournful panoramas of dead empires. The mood is bleak but wry, a grim-faced kind of camaraderie under a sky that never seems to clear, with an undercurrent of ancient grief. Its people are battered veterans and outcasts slowly forging loyalty out of disaster, and a sprawling cast of schemers and gods whose fates keep tangling. Violence is frequent and often graphic: battlefield slaughter, wounds described in unflinching detail, and sudden deaths that land hard, with some sexual content and cruelty along the way. It suits long train rides and committed, late-night reading, and is for readers who want an immersive, sprawling world with grit, mythic scale and a mordant sense of humour, not gentle escape.
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