Reading in english is not an easy task when you're not used to it, especially when it's such an epic novel as Steven Erikson's. But alas the fact that translation to french has been stopped I felt complied to continue the "Tale of the Malazan book of the fallen". I had mixed feelings about the two first tomes. The story is epic, it breaths epic from everywhere and I enjoyed that. The world is complex, difficult to grip in one overview (even several) and I was ok with that as well even though it causes me a lot of troubles while reading to discover who is who.
I was more chilly about the story itself so far (good but not outstanding even though I really enjoyed the tricky games played between gods and mortals) and the way the book is built. Having several characters/point of views in the same chapter is really causing me troubles during reading. Memories of Ice is no different in that regard except for the story part.
So apart from the missing vocab here and there I managed through the 1200 pages of the book, struggling to remember who was who when some people reappeared from the first or second tome that I had long forgot about. (hey been a while). Struggled with some part of the universe K'lan Che Mal, T'lan Imass etc...damn so many names so it took me about a full month to read the first 100 pages and I almost gave up but I didn't. And I'm glad I didn't. The books builds up some strong characters (not the most in depth that I have read, Martin or Bakker are stronger in that regard but definitely characters who have a strong, vibrant feature each.) and the fate they meet and go through is just mindblowing, gripping and difficult.
I enjoyed in Bakker's book the way the crusade was going on and on without hope to its death or worse. And I enjoy in Erikson's book the way people are mere pupets, at most players in a game that is bigger than any of them even of gods. There is some fatality in it but also the way some break it. It's definitely a big scaled book for a huge scaled story and I'm eager to continue my journey.
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