The God is Not Willing (Witness #1) by Steven Erikson

Here, the author appears to be more intricate and deliberate in his storytelling, happy to help readers truly understand events in a blow-by-blow manner.

The spawn (spawns) of Karsa Orlong take centre stage in a new tale of the Malazan Empire, feature a few old faces and some exciting new ones.

A natural disaster borne of supernatural causes forces the tribes of the Teblor south, away from their home where they have lived in near-isolation for hundreds of years.

In the mix is a Malazan army, a mercenary company, a host of Jheck shapeshifters, half-breed son of the Ascendant Karsa Orlong, and his strange new allies.

It’s a convergence, yes. But not quite like the ones we got used to in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Here, the author appears to be more intricate and deliberate in his storytelling, happy to help readers truly understand events in a blow-by-blow manner.

As it’s only the opening chapter in a new series, there’s so many possible outcomes, subsequently, that it’s virtually impossible to predict what will happen in the next book.

However, what is certain is that we will have more new characters, more revelations, and of course, much, much more blood.

For a book written by Master Erikson, The God is Not Willing is very character-based, as the story is told solely from the POV of the ensemble cast. There are clear favorites, though, and one can speculate about the course of the story from here on.

So, a great read, this one. Highly recommended too- I expected no less from Master Erikson (even though I’m strangely stuck at 90% of Reapers Gale in the MBoTF).

Now we wait, hoping to WITNESS book two sometime soon! Good to see that some fantasy writers actually take their fanbase seriously (unlike a certain white-bearded man we all know…)