Malazan: Book of the Fallen

How are these books? I picked up the first in hardcover for like four dollars the other day, and I'm thinking about prioritizing it over some Gaiman books and Perdido Street Station and reading it after A Clash of Kings.

I hear they've got a really good story and some kick-ass fight scenes. Is it so? Also, are they about the same characters or are they all separate stories set in the same world?

Never read 'em.

I can however recommend you keep on with Song. The 4th book alone is worth it for Victarion (Greyjoy) fighting The Shield in his KKKRRRRAAAAAKKKEEEN HELMET.

Read Feast for Crows, and skip the Gaiman.  I'm reading American Gods right now, and Im just not that into it.  I got half the Malazan series in hardcover on my shelf, buy I haven't read any yet.  I've heard very good things about the third one, Memories of Ice, so I'll probably be jumping into it soon.

>>1
Yes, that is so. Same characters, but the cast is vast. Sometimes it takes one or two books to get back to more than a passing mention about a character.
About prioritizing.. I don't know, Perdido and Gaiman (mostly) are very, very good too. Depends if you feel more like reading about EPIC (CAPS) scale conflicts and great battles with lots of magic instead of more character driven stuff at the moment.

That said, I maybe even like Malazan better than Song - but don't be put off by the first book because Erikson throws you head first into the story without much explanation. Once you have read a couple more books and can put the first into better perspective, it all becomes clearer. This series also demands re-reading, lots of little details to keep track of.

>>2
I hear that he left out some of the best characters in A Feast for  Crows. Like Tyrion, and he's my second (maybe, at the moment) favorite character.

>>3
American Gods might just not be your thing. I thought it was orgasmically awesome enough to read it in two days, but some people I know didn't quite agree.

>>4
I see. I suppose I will read it next, then. It'll be a while before I can beat the spare change out of another homeless person for A Storm of Swords anyway.

Malazan books of the fallen are fucking awsome with two caveats: One, if you read slowly its going to take you a while to get through them. 2. the first book is fucking tedious no matter what speed you read the first time you read it. you wont quite get whats going on and there are too many characters for you to really 'like' any of them yet. by the second book however it gets awsome, and if you re-read the first book after you read teh others you will like it the second time around. if you read slowly then it may not be worth investing your time getting through the first book. That being said this series is my favorite and it would take alot to displace it from being my favorite

I started this book yesterday, and I'm about a hundred pages into it. I like it so far, what with the intricacy of the world and the way he writes, but I don't like that he hardly describes his characters. He gives like one, maybe two, features of the character and that's it.

Does this continue, or does he give more description in later books?

Also, is there any good fanart of this series?