Paul’s Comments (group member since Dec 15, 2014)

Paul’s comments from the SFF Readalongs led by Kitty G group.

I'm down with Deadhouse Gates. That is what I plan on doing, reading #2 in Feb.

I am glad I read other books where a character referred to himself in the third character so that Kruppe didn't get on my nerves.

I'm going to attempt to rank the characters, so far, in terms of level of power and I'm curious if near the end if I'll be correct:

K'rul - Elder God, old guys are always strong
Hood - King of High House Death
Ammanas/Shadowthrone - King of High House Shadow
Oponn - Twin Jesters of Chance
Anomander Rake/Son of Darkness/Moon's Lord - Knight of High House Dark and a Tiste Andii, has too many names
Cotillion/The Rope - The Assassin of High House Shadow
Dassem Ultor - Knight of High House Death
Caladan Brood - A Tiste Andii, fighting the Malazans
Laseen - Unknown level of power but I assume high since she is empress now she is Beyonce level power
Lorn - Powerful anti-mage
Topper - Commander of the Claw
Tayschrenn - High Mage of the Empress, a dick
The Hunters that tried to kill Crokus
Quick Ben - Bridgeburner Mage, something tells me he is more powerful than he lets on because of what Tattersail said about him
Sorry - She got that boom boom pow from Shadowthrone
Tattersail - Sorceress
Paran - Now that he is super-saiyan, I think he is tough
Hairlock - probably more powerful than Tattersail but he is a puppet now, so he has to be careful of being kindling or lying too much.
Baruk - High Alchemist

Then comes the rest of the Bridgeburners and assassins.

I like making theories about levels of power in fantasy books. It is fun for me. I had a blast keeping track of all the people in Wheel of Time based off of Saidan/Saidar power level.

I want to learn more about the Warrens though because that will determine a lot about power. They seem to be pooping themselves about the shadow warren coming back, so I'm thinking that the Warrens are NOT created equal.

In the process of reading chapter 6 at the moment and does anyone else cringe when they read the words Moon's Spawn? I just wish they would say Rake or Knight of Darkness. Moon's Spawn is so lame sounding. However, Anomander Rake is pretty awesome.

So cool: http://www.elbakin.net/heros/images/h...

My biggest question up to this point is what is the reason for the god's interference? Like some have said, they might be just kind of playing a chess game with each other by using people. At first I thought maybe that the Malazan Empire is actually threatening them, so that is why they are involved. I'm not sure enow

With the different positions in the different houses of the Ascendants, the power of the magic, and the long vitality of the mages, I kind of am believing that the gods might actually just be really old mages and men themselves that achieved godhood.

I'm not a fan of Hairlock, I think the marionette thing is kind of lame.

The roof chase was awesome. The entire passage dealing with Crokus and Talo was written extremely well. I loved the description.

I like assassin and thief stuff =) Wars between guilds sounds exciting.

The unknown assailants of Crokus really intrigues me, especially the line that they have killed a god before. I was like ooooo, that means the gods can die, which makes me think more that they are just super people of some kind.

Who and what I am loving:

- Tattersail is awesome. She really is showing that she is an intelligent force to be reckoned with and my fav character so far.

- The Dragon Decks and the readings. Oponn, the twin jesters of chance really intrigues me because I always loved these type of gods in books. Very Loki in a way. With Tattersail and Taryschenal(probably misspelled that but oh well) both seeing Oponn, it makes me believe that all their fates are hung on a balance between heads/tails in a way.

- I took the coin with Paran in his final moments as pure chance because a lot of what happened to him was just pure chance and being in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time. From meeting Laseen in the prologue to meeting Lorn at the coast village. A lot of things were so random for him to end up in the place he ended up at.

- I like the idea of the gods trying to take down the Empress. It has a very tower of babel type of feel to it. Malazan getting too big, the gods wanting to interfere so that they won't be threatened.

- Hahah, that scene with Tattersail and Hairlock reminded me so much of Ripley and Bishop at the end of Aliens because of Hairlock being torn in half.

One more thing, I love the look of this story. When I visualize this book in my head there are a lot of gothic black outfits, outrageous looking armors/weapons, and just ridiculous looking magics. Just an extreme brutal, harsh, and almost obscene look to everything. I love it.

Started today =). How I prepared for GotM: I made the background of my computer the map of Genabackis. I photocopied the maps, list of characters, and the glossary so that I wouldn't have to flip back in the book while reading and just look at a piece of paper.

I have been wanting to read a fantasy book lately with active gods in it and I am so happy that I am going to get that desire with this book. Best scene, hands down for me, was when Ammanas and Cotillion showed up. I was like WOOOOO!!! YESS!! gods!!!!

Also I'm really happy this looks like it is going to be a high fantasy book with a ton of magic. =)

So far so good. I'm not confused yet and the writing is really keeping me an active reader. That makes me extremely happy. Good descriptions and dialogue so far. I am really happy I'm reading this on my trade paperback because I think the larger pages lend itself well to this story.

Yay! I'm excited for this read-a-long. Malazan is my big series of 2015 to get through. My expectations for this first book is a little lower than for the entire series because of what some people have said. Can't wait. I am Common Touch of Fantasy on booktube and my name is Paul. =)