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Forge of Darkness: Kharkanas Trilogy, Book 1, by Steven Erikson
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Steven Erikson entered the pantheon of great fantasy writers in 1999 with his debut, Gardens of the Moon. In the span of just 10 years, he completed his epic telling of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, collecting hordes of fans along the way. Now Erikson returns with a place for new listeners to enter the Malazan world, a trilogy that takes place at a time before the events of the concluded series.
Forge of Darkness takes listeners to Kurald Galain, the warren of Darkness, and tells of a realm whose fate plays a crucial role in the fall of the Malazan Empire and surrounds one of the Malazan world's most fascinating and powerful characters, Anomander Rake. It's a conflicted time in Kurald Galain, where Mother Dark reigns above the Tiste people. But this ancient land was once home to many a power...and even death is not quite eternal.
The commoners' great hero, Vatha Urusander, longs for ascendency and Mother Dark's hand in marriage, but she has taken another Consort, Lord Draconus, from the faraway Dracons Hold. The idea of this union sends fissures throughout the realm, and as the rumors of an inevitable civil war burn through the masses, something emerges from the long-dead seas. The Vitr - an ancient power that shakes the dormant and dying powers of the past. Caught in the middle of it all are the Sons of Darkness: Anomander, Andarist, and Silchas Ruin of the Purake Hold.
It's a time of great strife as the past and the present of this warren boil with unfathomable alliances, great deceptions, and even greater passions...of both love and hate. This ancient tale within the world Erikson introduced in the Malazan Book of the Fallen should appeal to fans of George R. R. Martin for its characters and intrigue, but goes leaps further in the realm of the imagination.
- Sales Rank: #9998 in Audible
- Published on: 2012-11-06
- Format: Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Running time: 1920 minutes
Most helpful customer reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
4.5--great first entry or re-entry into a complex world
By B. Capossere
My personal experience with prequels has been that too often they have a going-through-the-motions feel to them, as if the author is mechanically connecting the dots, reverse-engineering the novel from characters and events laid out in the original story: " Explained why they call that thingamabob a "graggle"? Check. Explained why everyone wears red now? Check. Why Character A is a jerk? Check." While this may result in some readerly satisfaction--"Oh, so that's why it's a graggle. Cool!"--it seldom creates an organically compelling storyline or rich characterization. These problems are compounded by the fact that we know where story and characters are heading, thus robbing the prequel at the outset of narrative tension and reducing the opportunities for those joyful moments of discovery.
So how does Steven Erikson deal with these potential pitfalls in Forge of Darkness, the first novel of a trilogy set before his massive Malazan Book of the Fallen (MBoF) series? He sets the prequel so far in the past--thousands of years--that any lines connecting the dots have either long since faded out of sight over the horizon (because events and people have been forgotten) or have curved out of joint (because events and people were distorted into myth), thus freeing himself from the plot/character constraints that dog so many prequels.
The truly brilliant twist in Erikson's method, however, is that many of his characters are so long-lived that they actually span that time period. You loved Anomander Rake in MBoF? No problem, he's still here. But because time has lost and/or distorted so much, you can still be surprised by him because a lot of what you thought you knew was wrong or wasn't the full story.
In one stroke of setting, Erikson frees his creativity, giving himself a nearly blank canvas to work on, while retaining the characters that so captivated his audience the first time around. It's the best of both worlds. As a side luxury, it also highlights two of his major themes--the ways in which story ("made up") and history ("really happened") often blur together and the way the present is continuously and eternally reshaping itself in response to the past. It's sheer evil genius. And it absolutely works.
Readers are treated to favorite characters from MBOF like Rake, Silchas Ruin, Draconus and others, but there is a wide range in how well they match their characters in MBOF, some lining up quite well and others presented in surprisingly different fashion. It's a fine line to walk, giving us characters who veer from our previous experience without having them seem wholly and arbitrarily changed just for the sake of plot, and Erikson toes that line successfully throughout. The characters were fresh and surprising despite my thousands of pages of previous experience with them and never once did I pull back thinking the character had been "broken."
Of course, a host of new characters are introduced as well, perhaps too many for some though I enjoyed the multiplicity of viewpoints. I won't swear to a precise count, but I came up with over 30 different point-of-view characters, almost all of who are original to Forge (some may in fact complain about the lack of povs from the big MBoF characters). We get a broad spectrum of class, age, race, gender, tone, and philosophy, as well as seeing several "sides" of an impending civil war. It all makes for a rich pointillist sort of painting in terms of plot and theme.
The characters vary greatly in page time as well--Erikson doesn't mind killing off pov characters--but even those we see only briefly are sharply and fully drawn, and it's hard to imagine a reader not caring what happens to nearly all of them. Some of the most moving scenes, in fact, involve the most minor of characters.
The plot is complex, but not as sprawling as in many of the MBoF novels, with the overarching plotline tightly focused mostly on the looming Tiste civil war. One needn't have read MBoF to follow the storyline, but it would probably make for a richer experience. Pacing is a little slow at the outset, picks up in the middle then accelerates as we near the end. Contrary to what MBoF readers might expect, the book doesn't build to the usual huge confrontation or, to use an Erikson term, convergence. But being the first book of a trilogy, it doesn't really need to. We can feel the storm brewing; it's fine if we don't get actual thunder and lightning yet. That said, the closing image is a killer.
Some readers may find that the pacing is slowed by the characters' penchant for introspection or philosophizing, new ones especially as long-time Erikson readers probably wouldn't be long-time ones if it bothered them so much. Similarly, some might prefer fewer metafictional aspects--a frame story with one poet telling this tale to another, a painter who thinks a lot about his craft, and lots of references to storytelling. For myself, those moments are part of what raises Erikson's books above a lot of fantasy--these musings on core questions of culture, of civilization, of being.
It's true, the plot does come to a halt when two characters discuss the purpose and progress of civilization or when one character tries to comprehend the concept of justice. But plot is only one aspect of a novel and for me, examination of these larger issues enhances the story even if it comes at the expense of pace. And Forge is rife with recurring themes to be pondered: environmental deprivation, the creation and role of history, extinction, return to childhood, the costs of certainty, questions of religion, justice, empathy.
MBoF fans will be happy to have some answers to long-debated questions ("What did it mean that the first children of Mother Dark were not Andii? How did Caladan Brood and Rake get together?"). But getting answers isn't the best part; it's just how creatively surprising the answers are. Some questions, of course, remain unanswered, and it wouldn't be a Malazan book if hordes of new questions didn't arise.
Those just beginning the Malazan experience might miss the full prequel experience, but in some ways, Forge of Darkness might be a better place to start rather than Gardens of the Moon, the first book of MBoF. For one, it's the product of a writer fully conversant with his universe and working with all the craftsmanship years of writing has provided. It also probably eases the reader in more smoothly and gradually than does Gardens. It's possible this is just a result of my own familiarity with Erikson's characters and world, but that's how it seemed to me.
Being the first book of a new trilogy, Forge of Darkness is required to do the table setting and it's a pretty large table, one of those long banquet tables requiring lots of chairs. Characters have to be introduced or re-introduced, settings need to be explained, and basic workings of the world--politics, religions, etc.-- need to be presented. Erikson handles all this smoothly, with little recourse to clunky exposition. Because of these requirements, though, plot probably moves a little slowly than some might prefer. But the complexity and range of its characters and the way it is willing to examine larger questions more than makes up for this. It's difficult to judge Forge of Darkness fully until we see the trilogy complete and can place it in better context, but it certainly does its set-up job well and deserves its place on the (extremely long) shelf next to its Malazan brethren.
49 of 53 people found the following review helpful.
Impressively powerful in places and Erikson alleviates his pacing problems.
By A. Whitehead
It is more than a quarter of a million years before the time of the Malazan Empire. In this ancient age, the Tiste race is divided between noble families and bickering militias, trying to find their place in the world following the devastating wars against the Forulkan and the Jheleck. When the Tiste ruler, Mother Dark, takes the obscure Draconus as lover and consort, the noble houses are incensed and the seeds are sowed for civil war and religious conflict.
Forge of Darkness is the first novel in The Kharkanas Trilogy, a prequel series to Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. This trilogy will chart the splintering of the Tiste race into the three sub-races seen in the main series book (the Andii, the Liosan and the Edur) and explain much of the ancient backstory to the series. Some characters from the main series - such as Anomander Rake, Silchas Ruin, Hood and Gothos - appear here as much younger, far less experienced figures. However, those hoping for I, Anomander Rake will likely feel disappointed. Rake is a central character in the events unfolding and appears a few times, but much of the action takes place around new, much less important characters. Also, while the story is set more than 300,000 years before Gardens of the Moon, this isn't the alpha-point of the entire Malazan universe. Tiste society is many thousands of years old when the story opens and Rake, Mother Dark, Ruin and Draconus are already important characters with significant histories in place.
Instead, the trilogy is much more concerned with clarification of events in the main series books and explaining why certain things are the way they are. Surprisingly, the series addresses questions that I think most fans thought would simply be left as, "That's how it is," such as the nature of the gods in the Malazan world (and the apparent realisation by Erikson that 'gods' was not the right word to use for them), why the different Tiste races have different appearances and why the Jaghut evolved the way they did. Some long-burning questions are indeed addressed, such as the reasons for and the nature of Hood's war on death, but for the most part Erikson is not really concerned with really addressing obvious mysteries (those left wondering what the hell the Azath Houses are will likely not be satisfied by this book, in which even the race they are named after is baffled by them).
Instead, the narrative unfolds on its own terms. As usual, Erikson has a large cast of POV characters including nobles, soldiers, priests and mages, many of them with slightly cumbersome names. However, Erikson strives to differentiate his characters more from one another then in previous novels. Forge of Darkness enjoys a shorter page-length than most of his prior books (clocking in at a third less the size of most of the Malazan novels) and is far more focused. The plot is a slow-burner, divided into several relatively straightforward narratives. This is Erikson at his most approachable, easing the reader into the situation and story rather than dropping them in the middle of chaos and expecting them to get on with it (such as in the first novel in the main series, Gardens of the Moon).
Of course, Erikson isn't going to give the reader an easy ride. Minor peasants continue to agonisingly philosophise over the nature of existence with surprisingly developed vocabularies at the drop of a hat. There are too many moments when characters look knowingly at one another and speak around subjects so as not to spoil major revelations for the reader, regardless of how plausible this is. There is an awful lot of hand-wringing rather than getting on with business. But there's also a few shocking reversals, some tragic moments of genuine emotional power and some revelations that will have long-standing Malazan fans stroking their chins and going, "Ah-ha!"
Forge of Darkness (****) is Erikson's attempt to channel the in-depth thematic approach of Toll the Hounds but weld it to a more dynamic (by his terms) plot-driven narrative whilst also satisfying the fans' thirst for more information and revelations about his world and characters. It's a juggling act he pulls off with impressive skill, with some polished prose and haunting moments. But those who continue to find his reliance on philosophical asides and long-winded conversations tiresome will likely not be convinced by this book. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Nihilisitic Fantasy: Erikson got a bit overbearing on the meaninglessness of life theme this time around
By Davie 44
While the many insightful reviews above are excellent, I just wanted to add one note: the increasingly nihilistic element in Erikson's writing. The story is interesting and the characters compelling. But as we found (especially) in the last two books of the 10 volume Malazan series, the author increasingly tends to include, almost to the point of becoming unintentionally humorous, long paragraphs on the pointlessness of life and existence. Almost every character in Forge stops and questions their existence and the meaninglessness of life. Plot points scattered throughout the book add to this hopeless/depressing thematic. And let me tell you, without spoiling anything, there are some very very dark plot points in this book. You want rape and death and betrayal, you got it. You want occultish rituals and demonic type murders, you got it. Psychopaths, you got it. There were no points at which I laughed or smiled. Brave, heroic persons of virtue? A few but overshadowed for the most part. This book goes a long way towards Erikson's desire to be as least-Tolkien as possible. Instead of an ordered universe with purpose and truth, you get a dark, brooding existence based on capricious will and meaninglessness. In short, pretty depressing stuff.
I like realism in fantasy, and really enjoyed the earlier malazan stories, but this one left me flat and joyless. That may be your cup to tea, but its worth noting for those of you who want something more upbeat.
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