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

Despite the Malazans being soldiers and all, they are still compassionate. It reminds me of what they did in Capustan. I was scared that the marines here would be a rip-off of the others, but I was wrong.

The God is Not Willing is book one of Witness. Witness is a spin-off series of Malazan Book of the Fallen, the initial series consists of 10 books, so it’s advisable to read those books before starting this. Spoilers ahead for those who haven’t read MBotF.

This book is more like an introduction to the series. Lots of things happened, but I have no idea where things are headed.

The world-building is out of this world, and I love it. The writing is the same as his other series. It’s great, but as usual, the story is told from more than ten perspectives. The POV switch was very well done. The fight scenes were well depicted, and the friendship is so realistic. Despite the Malazans being soldiers and all, they are still compassionate. It reminds me of what they did in Capustan. I was scared that the marines here would be a rip-off of the others, but I was wrong.

“Some people tell themselves that their past is behind them, as if being responsible has a time limit and if you live long enough, you’ve outrun it.’ He shook his head. ‘It all catches up, sooner or later.”

The events in this book took place a decade after The Crippled God but it somehow felt like it was longer. The characters in this book refer to the events that happened in MBotF like it took place eons ago, almost like the Bridgeburners were legends. I for one wish the time jump was longer, it would have made it all the better. All the events in this book are set in NorthWest Genebackis. The book is not as broad as MBotF, but I hope this continues as I like it.

“Warfare is a restless art. It may suit the tellers of tales to fix it in place. It may suit the creators of tapestries, frescoes and paintings to set upon battle-scenes of the distant past the modern phalanx, the panoply of common weapons: hauberks of chain and visored helms, the sky raining arrows and great siege engines battering the walls. The truth is: ways of killing define progress, not just in our civilization, but in all civilizations. These things evolve and as they evolve, they become more lethal.”

There are the usual Malazan marines and their madness. God, I miss them! Their banter and comradeship is awesome. Then there are the Teblors and Jheck that we read about in the previous series. They are well explored here.
The main characters are so many. Some of my favorites are the marines( Stillwater, Spindle, Oams, Benger, and many others.

“You don’t even need to be literate,’ she said.
‘Back on that again, Stillwater? Listen, reading’s easy. It’s what you do with all the words now in your head that’s hard. Consider. Ten people could read the same damned words and yet walk away with ten different interpretations.’
‘Uh huh.’
‘That’s why it’s a rule to keep us heavies away from written orders.”

Then they are the Teblors- my favorites are Rant, Delas Fana, and Pake Gild. Rant and Delas are Karsa’s spawn through rape. Rant is a half Teblor, a result of Karsa raping that human woman in Silver Lake years ago in House of Chains. Finally, the Jheck- I love Gower and Nilghan, though the latter is an idiot.

“Ignorance is like a seed and where it is planted in the guise of a virtue, it becomes a weed that chokes the mind until all reason is lost.”

The plot is quite straightforward- The ice wall close to the Teblor and Jheck settlement is breaking. If it does break, the place will be flooded, and the Teblor and the Jheck have no choice but to migrate. Silver Lake is the nearest human town and it is occupied by the Malazans…