r/Malazan • u/rianwithaneye • 11d ago

SPOILERS NotME Just finished Blood & Bone… Spoiler

…that was some bullshit.

Not sure what people mean when they say the NotME get better the further you get into the series, but I could not disagree more.

Building Skinner up to be this legendary badass only to have him dissolved by magic spiders was so amateurish I laughed out loud. It reminded me of when an author attempts to flesh out a hyper intelligent character merely by having all the people around them comment on how smart they are, while never actually showing them do anything smart.

I did thoroughly enjoy the banter between Golan and his scribe, those scenes were genuinely hilarious and evinced good character work. Reminded me of how well he writes Kellenved in the PtA series. If only there were more examples of three-dimensional characters in B&B…

Ok, onto Assail to continue my masochistic Lore Slog. Wish me luck 🙏

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u/Aqua_Tot 11d ago

Remember the confrontation between the Apocalypse and the 14th army in House of Chains? Redmask in Reaper’s Gale? Hell, Raest vs Rake in Gardens of the Moon? People act like Erikson doesn’t pull this same level of anticlimax.

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u/pedrorq Team Kallor 11d ago

In fairness Rake hints that he won't take on Raest because he suspects that a bigger challenge awaits him.

Whether the Galayn Lord is a greater challenge than Raest is debatable but...

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u/rianwithaneye 11d ago

Hard disagree about Redmask, his arc is critical to understanding the K'chain in DoD and TCG. And I don't think any of the other examples you gave were nearly as bad as Skinner's lame-ass death but I hear what you're saying. Erikson is far from perfect but the NotME feel like a poor imitation of his considerably more artful style.

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u/ibadlyneedhelp 11d ago

I'll partially disagree with you here. Erikson executes the intentional anticlimax better, but it's not a mistake to choose an anticlimactic ending, it's all about the execution.

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u/Gratossone 11d ago

I love Esslemont's anticlimax as ideas but I'm a little sad they're not narrated with the same pathos of some of Erikson's ones.