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Assail (2014)

by Ian C. Esslemont(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0765329980 (ISBN13: 9780765329981)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Tor Books

series

Malazan Empire

review 1: Largely disappointing, and a step back in many ways from Blood & Bone. Throughout the course of Erikson's books, Assail was built up to be a terrifying place with tons of crazy things happening constantly. Unfortunately, Esslemont fails to deliver on that promise. The land of Assail is instead thinly characterized as merely "a bad place" through various characters and set-pieces, none of which were terribly interesting. Particularly the ending, which I felt to be quite anticlimactic, especially in comparison to the conclusions of Erikson's novels and a handful of Esslemont's previous entries. After the big "convergence" is a decent conclusion to some of the plots from Memories of Ice. There were also a few resolutions to threads that really didn't need to be expounded on, ... morenamely the Crimson Guard's story. These characters have become boring as paste in Esslemont's series, and Assail does nothing to win me over to them. Some things I did like: Esslemont finally made Kyle an interesting character. His sections were probably my favorite in the novel. He was one of the few characters that felt necessary throughout the entire text. Orman was also a nice addition. While not as plot relevant as Kyle, Orman had a nice arc that was enjoyable rather than tedious.I'm glad this novel exists so that some plot lines from Memories of Ice can finally be put to bed, but I come away pretty unsatisfied with it as a novel. I believe Esslemont has 3 more books planned, so as always I am eager to see if he can redeem himself after the missteps present in Assail.
review 2: I loved this book, mostly because I adore the world of Erikson and Esslemont. However, I felt the impact of this book was very... muted. Esslemont's characters are wonderfully written, yet seem much smaller in scale and power than Erikson's, and proceed to grow weaker as his novels progress. I only hope this isn't the last book Esslemont writes in this world, as I think he can make a much grander finale. less

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