I absolutely LOVED the first half of Assail and thought this will be my favorite book in NOTME, but the ending of the secon half felt rushed to me and a bit unsatisfactory for some plotlines. Imo the primary plotline of the Jaghut matron and the FA came at the very end and wasn't given much time. Even though I worked out the Crimson Guard = (spoiler) in earlier books at least partly, some logical explanations didn't match properly. I LOVED the story of the people in the North of Assail, especially Orman. I loved the Norse style imagery and plotline. Overall Assail stands just below BaB and OST for me in the series, but still a great book and lots to enjoy. The naval battle scenes were outstanding. Which one are you going to pick up next? I would suggest going for The God is Not Willing, as that is the only one book released in Witness series, its short, highly enjoyable, and you will see another side of Erikson's writing: what if Erikson decided to write in a more straight forward and accessible way. It is amazing. Once you are done with that, you can go for Kharkanas or Paths to Ascendancy.
Thanks for the great comments. We all get different things from the things we read. As to what I'll read next, I generally prefer to stick with publication order, letting things open up for me just as the author intended as they originally put the books out. So next Malazan read will be Book 1 of Kharkanas. I'll save the Witness series for later. But thanks for the tip on what to expect from that writing!
I absolutely LOVED the first half of Assail and thought this will be my favorite book in NOTME, but the ending of the secon half felt rushed to me and a bit unsatisfactory for some plotlines. Imo the primary plotline of the Jaghut matron and the FA came at the very end and wasn't given much time. Even though I worked out the Crimson Guard = (spoiler) in earlier books at least partly, some logical explanations didn't match properly.
I LOVED the story of the people in the North of Assail, especially Orman. I loved the Norse style imagery and plotline. Overall Assail stands just below BaB and OST for me in the series, but still a great book and lots to enjoy. The naval battle scenes were outstanding.
Which one are you going to pick up next? I would suggest going for The God is Not Willing, as that is the only one book released in Witness series, its short, highly enjoyable, and you will see another side of Erikson's writing: what if Erikson decided to write in a more straight forward and accessible way. It is amazing.
Once you are done with that, you can go for Kharkanas or Paths to Ascendancy.
Thanks for the great comments. We all get different things from the things we read.
As to what I'll read next, I generally prefer to stick with publication order, letting things open up for me just as the author intended as they originally put the books out. So next Malazan read will be Book 1 of Kharkanas. I'll save the Witness series for later. But thanks for the tip on what to expect from that writing!