Forge of Darkness: Kharkanas Trilogy, Book 1

Everyone says to read the Malazan Book of the Fallen series first, starting with Gardens of the Moon. I do not do what people tell me to do. I do not know what spoilers Forge of Darkness has for the later series, but it is the first book in terms of internal chronology in the Malazan universe. So I will read all the books in chronological order instead of in publication order. Thus I will read the following books prior to Gardens of Moon:1) Forge of Darkness2) Fall of Light3) Dancer's Lament4) Deadhouse Landing5) Kellanved's Reach6) Night of Knives7) Blood Follows8) The Lees of Laughter's End9) The Wurms of Blearmouth10) Gardens of the MoonThis is the first book in a series that is missing copious amounts of action, and I still loved it. The author seems to be setting up a deep mythos. The whole book introduces the reader to several point-of-view characters. From these characters' views, the look and feel of the world is built. Erikson writes in such a way that it is impossible to determine who are the protagonists and antagonists. There may be neither. One is left with the sense that what is more important than determining who is moral, are the events that accumulate in the characters' stories. These events, and how the characters react to them, compile together to form the narrative.The author does not give much description to what individuals and people look like. The reader has to pick up details sprinkled throughout the entire book. There are several races introduced in the book. The Tiste, the main race focused on in the book, are either elves or like Tolkien's Numenoreans. They have already fought wars in times before Forge of Darkness with the Forulkan or Forkrul Assail, and the Jheleck. The Forkrul Assail are a humanoid race with multiple joints in their limbs and torsos. The Jheleck are soletaken, or shape shifter humanoids that take the form of giant wolves. The Jaghut, are an elder race that seem to be dying out and are slightly reptilian: an analog to highly cultured/intelligent Orcs. The Thel Akai are a race of Giants. And finally, the Azanthanai, are a mysterious humanoid race with magical powers that few people encounter.The book is mostly conversational, with people traveling here and there, creating intrigue with one another. But when there is action and magic, it is extremely violent, breathtaking, and incredible. This is a book where the reader must discover the plot. The characterization is so real, without it being a character driven book. It is a very strange mix, but it works so well. Erikson masterfully writes his characters.The book explores themes of political, religious and racial conflict, the problems of war and the trauma it causes to its participants, and ecological ruin. The story ends in such a way that you know it is just the beginning, so hold on for the next book. I cannot wait to read the next in the series, Fall of Light.

The Forge of Darkness is the first book in the Kharkanas Trilogy. It is a prequel trilogy, taking place hundreds of thousands of years before the immense Malazan Books of the Fallen. Its focus will be the splintering of the Tiste people--what happened and why.Structurally, this seems to be a real change from how Erikson wrote all of the MBoF. In that series, even though there were continuing storylines, each book seemed to be more self-contained, with climaxes built into each volume. So, for example, we got the Chain of Dogs story, which climaxed and had resolution within a single volume, although there were characters and storylines which continued into subsequent volumes. The Forge of Darkness, however, is structured more like the first volume in a traditional fantasy series. When it climaxes, it is rather a setup for the next volume in the series. There is no resolution to the storylines found here; this is buildup to the larger storyline.In many other ways, this is a typical Steven Erikson novel. There is a massive pool of characters, with revolving POVs from many of them. Even though it is set hundreds of thousands of years before the MBoF, there's already lots of hazy backstory that we learn about through rumor and speculation. Characters are prone to rumination and philosophizing.Many familiar characters appear here: Gothos, Draconus, Anomander Rake, Silchas Ruin, just to name a few. No, we don't get POVs from any of these high level characters. That duty falls to numerous other friends, relations, vassals, etc who live and act around these familiar names.If you've made your way through all 10 books of The Malazan Books of the Fallen, then absolutely you'll want to read this. Most likely you are someone engaged with the complexities of Erikson's world, and you are used to some of its more difficult aspects. There are so many under explained portions of his creation that there is more than enough room for prequels without falling into the many usual traps of that sort of thing.If you are new to the Malazan world, should you start here? That probably would not be my recommendation. The Forge of Darkness is no less complex than any of the Malazan books which have preceded it. Without the perspectives of the Malazan soldiers, Erikson's writing is more opaque than is perhaps usual. His Tiste perspectives given in this book are more detached, and archaic in their speech and manner. It's an unusual choice, and one that makes it more difficult for new readers than the more modern manner of his Malazans.

Like the entire Book of the Fallen series, this prequel follows the style and tone that is Erikson's trademark. In other words, it's dark, gloomy, and morose. Human expectations are all about destruction, failure, and enduring pain, but there is always a thread of light where by embracing these moribund tenants, the characters in the end manage to find enlightenment.Erikson is true to form here. The story is complex. The character's motives are often hidden. Everybody, even the near-omnipotent, makes mistakes. The fantasy races involved, like in Book of the Fallen, seem to love to cut down forests and never replant (this seems to be one of Erikson's favorite tropes to rant on -- but it's a minor flaw that doesn't detract from the story too much). There is much death and destruction, and again true to form, much of it is derived from massive misunderstanding driven by a few errant characters. It makes the death even that much more sad.It may sound like I didn't like this book, but I did. The writing is excellent. The story is complex and rich. It is one of the most imaginative stories and worlds that I have ever read. It's well worth the effort of slogging through the depression and environmental rants.

We see a lot of characters we are familiar with but in a time where they were less godlike.I was worried that the characters would have no personality since the main trait of the Tiste in the other novels was their dullness and lack of emotion but thankfully in this time they were more human with emotions and flaws.There are new characters who are interesting and old characters framed in a different way to give a better insight into their personality.The plot is quick moving with lots of different threads spun up and the Tiste world changing from various directions and the political battles are well played.This also explains some of the oddness about Mother Dark from the other series where she was presented as a true elemental force but seemed weak, and here we see that the other view was as much myth as reality.There is a building of tension even though we have a good idea of where the story must end and it will be interesting to see how we get there.I amn't sure how good this book would be for someone unfamiliar with the world, it relies on familiarity with certain characters and I think it might be confusing for a new reader.

I loved this book. Possible SPOILERS BELOW!!!Having read and reread almost everything in the Malazan universe by this point, Forge of Darkness was like balm on my soul. I really really needed some insight into the actual people behind these larger than life characters from the Books of the Fallen series. Who was Anomander before he was this god like Dragnipur wielding Son of Darkness. Why was he so alienated from his Brothers and what happened there. Why did Andarist end up on an island for god knows how many years in seclusion and what drove him to do that. Who are these elder gods, and where did they come from. Hood and Sechul Lath, Errastas, Kalamandaris, Caladan Brood and Olar Ethil.This trilogy explores where these people came from, and who they were in their "youth" before they became those powerfull yet broken characters in the Fallen series. It also tells gives us more information about the Vitr, very lightly touched on by Erikson before but mostly known from Esslemonts storyline involving Taychreen and Kiska. Forge of Darkness, as the title suggests however, is the tale of a people the Tiste, and how that people and their culture breaks down. It is a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, and of duty and the horrors done by good men. Explaining somewhat how they come to be so broken and caught in their respective roles later on. The most stark example that of Scaba Bandaris, who we meet as a young, noble and good captain in the tiste army. - Nothing to suggest that he would later so betray his honor. (the betrayal of the tiste andi and stabbing of Silchas ruin)The book explains the creation, yes creation of Mother Dark and the role Draconnis played in this, which somewhat explains why he would be dumb enough to later create the sword that needed such a sacrifice to undo millenia later.The most important thing about Forge of Darkness is that it treats all these larger than life characters we know from his previous works as real and flawed people. Ordinary in that they all are now sharing stage with eachother and thus are less abnormal in their greatness because they equally shine thus. - You have dinner scenes with father Light before he becomes Father Light, and you are in the presence of Mother Dark and her priestess. You get to see Endest Silann in his youth, and three brothers who love eachother are brutally changed and torn apart by extreme circumstances before you finish the book. - If you read this with the knowledge of what comes after, it is absolutely heartbreaking because you understand the ramifications of their actions and how far into the future those consequences are felt.I read the book and then reread it. Thought about it for days, and still sometimes think about it. It is not the best storytelling Erikson has ever done, but it is immensely satisfying to read because you finally get to hear how Erikson imagines the birth of the conflicts we still see fought out in WU.

I really enjoyed this. Having read all of the Malazan: Book of the Fallen series, it was wonderful to re-immerse myself in the world and I found that this was a far more accessible book than some of Erikson's previous novels. It was far more focused on the political machinations of the Tiste as opposed to featuring gods and magic, which was a surprise, but a welcome one. The prose was excellent and the narrative was compelling. It was great to see how some of the characters from the Malazan series initially met and hopefully, this trilogy will continue in the same vein.

Having purchased this book in paper back from another vendor, I then went out and purchased the entire 10 book series which Erikson had penned before (but set after) this book.True to form (unbeknownst to me at the time, but as of reading the first 3 books), this book is possibly on par with the 4th book in regards to quality/content. That said, it is a phenominal read, setting the scene for the books in the series which I've truely enjoyed thus far.As far as other Erikson detractors are concerned, it's a slower read than the majority of other books, taking chunks of your time to introduce Draconus' son and 3 daughters, despite not really featuring too far in the books which proceeded it, beyond Envy (up to Memories of Ice), whether this alters in Erikson's next book in this 3 part series is yet to be seen.Would recommend as a good basic set up for Garden's of the Moon, if only because it introduces Draconus, Anomander Rake and the Tiste Andii.

As a big fan of the Malazan novels I was interested to see where the author went with this new series, set in the Tiste land of Kharkanas. The story centres on the civil strife caused by the various factions of the Tiste legion who are struggling to cope now war is at an end eventually leading to turmoil and civil war. The legion commander and hero of the people, Vatha Urusander, is being promoted by his followers to take Mother Dark's hand in marriage, but her Consort, Lord Draconus, stands in the way of such ambitions.Forge of Darkness takes us back millennia into the past, before the elder gods, before dragons and the warrens. There are plenty of characters featured who we are familiar such as the Sons of Darkness, Draconus, and Scara Bandaris unfortunately the story is not told from there perspectives but characters around them. Draconus and Anomander have massive 'screen presence' and are two of my favourite characters, Draconus is featured heavily but Anomander not so and he along with Silchas Ruin could have had more part to play in the story but I guess they will feature more in the coming novels. Also nice to meet younger versions of characters such as Spinnock Durav, Sandalath Drukorlat, Osserc and Orfantal.You have to work hard to follow all the stories and the many characters involved and these books are never a fast read but it is certainly worth the effort, the coming novels certainly promise much and many questions should be answered.