At Worldcon 2005, I bought the first two books in Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen, Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates. I read them, and wasn’t really drawn into them: they were too complicated, and I hated the ending of at least one of them (Deadhouse Gates, which was pretty depressing). So, when I got book 5, Midnight Tides, in the WFC bookstash, I neatly put it away at the back of my bookshelf, thinking I would never really read it, but hating to lose a good hardback.

Until Saturday, when I was desperately looking for something I could read, and could find nothing but that one. 

The fact that I finished it over the weekend is probably a sign that my reading tastes have changed. Wow. I just loved the whole worldbuilding, with the various races vying for supremacy in an unfamiliar world, and the Ascendants interfering in everyday life in sneaky ways. The various characters were awesome, from the slaves to the mad Emperor to the undead thief. Yeah, the ending was pretty bleak as well, but I didn’t mind so much–it was a welcome change from some of the sappiness I’ve read recently. 

Obviously, I’m becoming more patient and less dreamy-eyed as I grow older 🙂

(and I’m digging up those two previous books to reread them, and ordering all the others)