Fall of Light

Kharkanas Trilogy, Book 2

By: Steven Erikson

Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards

Length: 44 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Enter the New York Times bestselling Malazan universe with this prequel trilogy

Steven Erikson returns to the Malazan world with the second novel in a dark and revelatory new epic fantasy trilogy, one that takes place a millennium before the events in his New York Times bestselling Malazan Book of the Fallen.

It's a conflicted time in Kurald Galain, the realm of Darkness, where Mother Dark reigns. But this ancient land was once home to many a power...and even death is not quite eternal. The commoners' great hero, Vatha Urusander, is being promoted by his followers to take Mother Dark's hand in marriage, but her Consort, Lord Draconus, stands in the way of such ambitions. The impending clash sends fissures throughout the realm. As rumors of civil war burn through the masses, an ancient power emerges from the long dead seas. Caught in the middle of it all are the First Sons of Darkness, Anomander, Andarist, and Silchas Ruin of the Purake Hold....

©2016 Steven Erikson (P)2016 Random House Audiobooks, all rights reserved.

wow!

it explained so much. will re read the other malizon books. will be a difficult wait for the next in this trilogy

go Erickson go!

I cannot believe just how prolific he is, and with unswerving quality too! so legit best series ever

Too much talking

As with most all of Erikson's Malazan-related novels, this one was great. The fact that he can churn out such entertaining, long, dramatic, high fantasy at almost one a year should shame other authors in the genre (*cough* Martin *cough). The biggest problem with this one was the seemingly unending amount of exposition and philosophizing between characters. while I can appreciate and respect his ability to string together so many interesting ideas with such verbosity, he went way overboard, especially in the first three quarters of the book. That said, it was still enjoyable, and I look forward to the conclusion of this trilogy.

Rewarding and frustrating

Somebuddy told Erickson that he was a good writer, that is clear. And they were right! His capacity for the unexpected plot turn, the fascinating characters, the overarching theme, the engaging and profound prose, are all as good as the Malazon series. Nobody ever told him that less is more. His editors were obviously overawed with his language and left way more fat on the bone than would make this a good cut of meat. Character introspection meanders on long enough to make one suspect the author was paid by the word. In fact, the unnecessarily florid and leaden introductory framing device almost had me return this recording to get my money back. But I hung in there to the bitter end, hoping in all this embarrassment of riches something would gel into a unity. But it just plods along, swimming in poetic devices, wading in irony, flapping like a loon trying to fly, barely skimming over the surface for hours and hours before settling back to the surface, unexalted by altitude. Maybe another sequel is out there to justify all these intriguing, if ultimately frustrating plot lines. But for me, despite Edwards’s excellent performance, and Erikson’s excellent prose, this bird didn’t fly.

Much better narrator than Forge of Darkness

First things first - the audio is in proper order now, they fixed it after the previous reviewers comments.

Mostly I’m just stopping in to say if the previous narrator for Forge of Darkness turned you off, this guy is much better. While almost everything the previous guy said ended up sounding like a busy 16 year old on their way to the mall, this new guy has proper gravitas for the source material. He isn’t perfect, but he’s miles ahead of Philpott.
Regarding pronunciation, every narrator in Erikson’s stuff seems to do it differently. Kind of a let down. I would expect better from the producers at Brilliance Audio, but as always, you get used to it :(

Great Listen

Kept me interested nearly whole way through. Narrorater did good job. Even though it was long u stayed into the story and that is rare for novels this long.

Even better than the first!

I really enjoyed Fall of Light. As long as this book is, I was sad to see it end. I never felt as though I had to slog through. Readers of the Malazan series will recognize even more familiar faces and witness their humble beginnings. We also get to see answers to a few mysteries. The narrator has done a fantastic job as well. His voices and voice acting are very well done. Listeners will have no problem distinguishing characters. That said, the second book's story arc is well rounded and ties up nicely.

Great book, listen in the correct order

I wish I would have realized that the chapters are out of order. Like the other review mentions, start listening towards the end of chapter 61. Just find the start and listen to about Chapter 90, then go back to the start of the book to pick it up in order.

I found this the most tedious Erikson read to date, but the end of the book makes the read completely worthwhile. There are some insightful and heart wrenching conversations at the end of the book between some of the main characters of the series. These are not to be missed for any serious fan of the series. Amazing.

Poor narration and chapters out of order.

The chapters are out of order. It was very disappointing and confusing. I ended up listening to the end of the book first, nothing made sense and ended up running the book for me. The narrator also did a very poor job on this book, his pronunciations and accents are tough to stomach. I'm very disappointed because I love the Malazan universe and I don't know if I'll ever finish this book unless I read the actual text.

Brilliant Treatise on Love, War & Honor.

This is a must read for any Malazan Empire fans! Learn what came before...and why our Hero's like Anomander, Draconis, and Silchas enteract the way they do.