Assail by Ian C. Esslemont wraps up a 5 (or 6 depending on how you
choose to count it) book story arc within the Malazan world that Esslemont shares with Steven Erikson. The best
way to think of it is that it’s a supplement and epilogue to Erikson’s Malazan Books of the Fallen series. And
that brings us to what is my biggest problem with Esslemont’s contributions to
the Malazan world – he’s not Steven
Erikson.
Yes, this is perhaps unfair to Esslemont, but in a shared world,
the comparison will be made. It comes down to this – I get Erikson, or more
correctly, Erikson’s writing connects with me. The humor, the satire, the
cynicism, the commentary on genre, and all the meta stuff that glues the rest
together. With Esslemont, all that is absent, or at maybe it’s just that he
doesn’t have the writing skills to pull it off. Whatever the specific reasons,
Esslemont remains in Erikson’s shadow and I can only describe his books as a disappointment
regarding what they could have been (if written by Erkison).
Esslemont has undeniably grown as a writer and story-teller since
he entered the Malazan world with Night
of Knives. He even pulls off some interesting thematic explorations. But
he’s not Erikson. They may have co-created the characters, but time and time
again, it seems that Esslemont takes a character made mysterious, interesting, and
altogether fun by Erikson and sucks all that right out. Fisher is the prime
example in Assail – Fisher’s origins
and potential powers have always been of interest, and by the time we’re done
with Assail, it’s boring, whatever
reveal occurs has lost all its power and Fisher literally limps into what is
supposed to the payoff for the series. Another example is the whole Crimson
Guard thing – was it supposed to be a tragedy, because I think it was. Words
were said to imply as much, though there was no emotional impact with it. I
think that ending could have meant something, instead…well, it wasn’t as boring
as the last book.
I called this a mini-review, when it may be better reviewed as a
non-review. Because ultimately, what I say repeatedly in this review is that the
book suffers a lot because it was written by Esslemont and not Erikson. That’s
unfair. But that’s also how I felt. A mediocre fantasy adventure that fails to
inspire any emotional attachment to its characters is all that the writing of
Esslemont will ever be. That mediocrity is only more evident by occurring alongside
the writings of Erikson in the same world.
Night of Knives (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)
Return of the Crimson Guard (My Review, Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)
Stonewielder (My Review, Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)
Orb Sceptre Throne (My Review, Indiebound, Book Depository,
Amazon)
Blood and Bone (My Review, Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)
Assail (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)
Assail (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)
5 comments:
This is very disappointing - I started my second re-read of the entire (dual) series in November (currently up to Reaper's Gale) because I didn't want to read Assail without remembering all the pertinent details. I am immensely enjoying the re-read though so all good :-)
Thanks for the review, Ken. I agree with your assessment of Esslemont's writing, which is why I stopped reading his parts of the series sooner than you.
Yeah...I have to agree with you, too. I don't know what it is about Esslemont's writing either - maybe because it does the Grimdark thing, which is why I find it so damned boring, because there is just! no! fun! in it, just relentless direness. If I wanted relentless direness I'd watch the evening news.
I agree wholeheartedly, I struggled through NOK and must have attempted ROTCG at least 3 times. Some things are better left unread.
All I can say is that Esslemont tried to pull off a grand convergence Erikson-style and he fell short. What resulted was a long and grinding 'run' of characters hacking their way through to the final disappointing anti-climax.
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