Orb Sceptre Throne (Malazan Empire 4) [Hardcover]

Quick run through: better writing than the past three books, but still large chunks of stilted passages, "telling instead of showing", unsubtle characters and some moronic non-answers regarding the Tyrant. The Seguleh arc wavered at times between great, good and not good, while big portions of the Moon's Spawn storyline and Darujhistan characters' arcs were very good. ICE showed a nice willingness to build up and/or kill off some characters (although several of the fighting/war scenes were dumb - even for fantasy). The Shore of Creation storyline remains a question mark - much like the manner in which Greymane was used in Stonewielder.

Also, who in the eff is on the cover? It is literally Generic Fantasy Guy. Only realistic option I see is Corian Lim, who would be a truly bizarre choice as a cover character for this book.

ICE needs to find a more challenging editor. The talent and imagination is there, but he's allowed to be too complacent about not providing substance in crucial spots and the prose is not consistent at all.

I am actually considering jumping ship on this author and I'm an enormous Malazan junkie. This is four books, with three being full novels, by ICE and these problems are not going away. There needs to be a radical shake-up or he's going to chug along exactly as he's going right now.

With the Pannion Seer defeated, the Jaghut Tyrant Raest imprisoned and peace declared with the Malazans, the beleaguered citizens of Darujhistan are finally hoping for a time of peace and prosperity. Of course, this is the perfect time for an ancient force of unspeakable evil to escape from the barrows outside the city and unleash a new age of chaos and war across most of Genabackis. This war will draw in the Moranth and the Seguleh, the Rhivi and the remnants of the Malazan armies still stationed on the continent. Far to the south, treasure hunters are looting the crashed ruins of Moon's Spawn, searching for the storied Throne of Night, whilst in another realm hunters are searching for the missing High Mage Tayschrenn at the very Shores of Creation. But the fate of Darujhistan, Genabackis and maybe the world will rest in the hands of one fat thief and a bunch of Malazan deserters who want nothing more than to run their pub in peace.

Orb Sceptre Throne is Ian Cameron Esslemont's fourth entry into the Malazan world, expanding on the novels written by his friend and collaborator Steven Erikson. It's an interesting book in that, unlike Esslemont's previous novels which largely focused on new characters, this novel extensively features characters Erikson has used and developed in several previous books, most notably the curiously-dictioned Kruppe. This poses challenges for Esslemont, but thankfully he overcomes them with aplomb. Kruppe occasionally feels a bit off, but most of the other shared characters (Caladan Brood, Duiker, the ex-Bridgeburners, Torvald and Rallick Nom and more) come across very well.

The narrative is, as is typical with Malazan, somewhat disjointed, with several apparently unconnected storylines unfolding before converging at the end. This disconnect seems more pronounced than is normal for Esslemont and is briefly worrying, since he has far less page-time to play around with than Erikson (despite being almost exactly 600 pages long in hardcover, this is the one of the shortest books in the series). However, as the storylines move together and things start making sense, the book picks up a tremendous momentum. The second half of the novel is stuffed full of battles, plot revelations and character moments that are satisfyingly epic. By using elements familiar to readers from other books, Esslemont is able to imbue events with more meaning than would otherwise be the case. When four hundred Seguleh (the sword-wielding taciturn badasses of the Malazan world) show up, the reader knows that some serious carnage is about to go down, for example.

For this reason, Orb Sceptre Throne works much better for established Malazan fans than newcomers, particularly those who have already read Gardens of the Moon, Memories of Ice and Toll the Hounds. A number of plot elements stretching all the way back to Gardens of the Moon are expanded upon and backstory is (finally!) given for the Seguleh, the Moranth and indeed Genabackis as a whole. It's also nice to see some established characters given more depth and bigger roles than previously, such as Antsy, who becomes a major player in events at the crashed Moon's Spawn.

On the negative side, there's a number of story elements that are somewhat obtuse, either referring to storylines still to be detailed or referring very obliquely to events in other novels. Some characters fare better than others, and notably after the initial ferocious power and abilities shown by the antagonists, they seem to be caught a bit flat-footed by the forces arrayed against them at the end of the book. Also, it's confusing why Esslemont alludes to the fact that a fan-favourite character is still in the environs of Darujhistan when that character plays no role in the book (despite events being more than epic enough to attract his attention).

Despite these minor niggles, Orb Sceptre Throne (****½) is a well-written, thoroughly enjoyable addition to the Malazan canon. It is available now in the UK and on 22 May in the USA.

Once more again I find myself parting with money to buy another book from the creators of all things
Malaz. I never thought I would after the disappointment I felt with TCG, but needing answers,
any kind of answers, I felt myself being pulled back into this inconsistent nonsense.

As you would expect with characters being written by two different people they don't seem to speak or
have the same feel to them although this was evident in ICE'S other books as well.
Kruppe especially was very tiring in this book I just don't care about his constant waffling no more.

The disappointment I felt with the crimson guard is nothing compared to the disappointment I felt after reading the drivel that is the back story to the Segulah in this book.
(have you been waiting to see who the first of the Segulah is?well be prepared to be blown away, or NOT as the case may be)
but probably more annoying was the inconsistencies in how the Segulah are so different in this book compared to how they are portrayed in the earlier books.
Its like the authors don't even care any more or that they've forgotten how characters where written in there earlier books.

Then there's the myth that was a memory or sighting/maybe a sighting or dream or maybe a complete waste of time and two pages
that was Karsaorlongs part,this is the biggest crock of pointless [insert swear word here] I've read.

Caladan Brood makes an appearance but is instantly forgettable as again he does nothing whatsoever.

An who's the bad guy,wait for it...drum roll...wait for it....WOW! a Generic fantasy bad guy with no back story.

Oh and lets not forget cheesy Rambo plot with Dassem living peacefully in the mountains trying to be an all round nice guy.

Hey! Wait a Minute! Remember Kiska,ohhh wait nobody cares.

And then theres Pete Burns who makes a surprise appearance, oh sorry did I say Pete Burns I mean K'rul.

And Finally-

Moranth,Vorcan,Madrun,Lazun Door,Rallick a few others and then some extras die, quite a few spelling mistakes, nothing really answered and so on an so forth...........