...a story borne from the glittering recesses of religious horror and politics
For a book that's hardly as popular as the modern magic-based epic fantasies, it is less heralded than the average most. It's a well-known name in the genre, but for now, not mentioned in the same breath as some of those big names... It will gain deserved renown soon.
It's not got a very attractive cover, you can be assured. I was encouraged to read this by fellows of my book club, a trio or duo of them. Oh, they gushed about it, you can be sure. The kind of affection humans have for beloved pets, that sort of thing. But you get my meaning. It seemed like I was the only one of the Epic Grandmasters who had not come across the Consult. I took it as a challenge. Besides, I've been reading Malazan for about two or three years now. Toll the Hounds is tough reading.
It started out, rough and smooth in turns. The writing was quite good, almost reminiscent of Erikson himself, who happened to have a well-placed foreward on the cover of the book... Lots of solid quotes and philosophy. On the other hand, I might add that several elements of The Darkness That Comes Before call to mind those of Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God. It's more or the same lines of plot, theme, and character. It is religious-themed, and the plot is based on a religious war of sorts. There are not many main characters, although there's quite of lot of background work for a book of this size.
The characters are as well done as you'd expect, the very best. They have that quality of being able to pull you into their different POVs- a great quality, in my opinion.
A large reason this gets a somewhat average rating from me is that I frankly was not as intrigued as you'd imagine. No. I was bored at some points, I must admit. It was poorly paced, and so little happens. But then, chronologically, it's understandable. I can credit the ability to make such judicious use of time span. I suppose I might have overestimated, just a little bit.
But I know that these are the hallmarks of a great series. Experience has taught me to be dubious as to how books initially appear to be, especially when they display some unique attributes, even at increasing sparse intervals.
A solid read, nonetheless. I will read book 2. Then I will have a better grasp of things.
