Synopsis:
Greymane believed he’d outrun his past. With his school for swordsmanship in Falar, he was looking forward to a quiet life, although his colleague Kyle wasn’t as enamoured with things outside the mercenary company, the Crimson Guard.
However, it seems it is not so easy for an ex-Fist of the Malazan Empire to disappear, especially one under sentence of death from that same Empire. For there is a new Emperor on the throne of Malaz, and he is dwelling on the ignominy that is the Empire’s failed invasion of the Korel subcontinent. In the vaults beneath Unta, the Imperial capital, lie the answers to that disaster. And out of this buried history surfaces the name Stonewielder.
In Korel, Lord Protector Hiam, commander of the Stormguard, faces the potential annihilation of all that he holds dear. With few remaining men and a crumbling stone wall that has seen better days, he confronts an ancient the sea-borne Stormriders have returned. Religious war also threatens these lands. The cult of the Blessed Lady, which had stood firm against the Riders for millennia, now seeks to eradicate its rivals. And as chaos looms, a local magistrate investigating a series of murders suddenly finds himself at the heart of a far more ancient and terrifying crime — one that has tainted an entire land.
Review:
“And that makes it all the harder, doesn’t it? Not being special. Not having that funny mark or that omen at your birth. Just an ordinary person asked to step up and do the extraordinary.”
It’s happened folks! Esslemont has found his stride and it’s here in Stonewielder. Wow! What a book! If I said it once, I said it a million times. A book can have the greatest worldbuilding, and there are few epic fantasy worlds greater than Malazan, but if the story cannot make me care about the characters, then the world doesn’t do much for me. This is the issue I had with Return of the Crimson Guard but that is a distant memory now that I’ve finished Stonewielder. Every chapter was interesting. All the characters brought something to the table for me to eat and I feasted!
Per usual there will be some name drops here from Malazan Book of the Fallen up to The Bonehunters and Reapers Gale. If you’ve read up to those books, then there are no spoilers. If you have not, you will know whether these characters have made it up to that point in the main series, but that’s where the spoilers end.
I just want to take a moment to appreciate the growth Esslemont has gone through in writing this book. Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard each had their strengths and weaknesses, but they felt very opposite of each other. Night of Knives lacked the worldbuilding of its sequel, which is not a criticism on my part. I loved the novella format of Night of Knives but Return of the Crimson Guard was missing the characterization that was in abundance in its predecessor. Now that I’ve finished Stonewielder I feel like Esslemont has finally found the balance to include both.
Once again, I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to repeat it, Esslemont’s battle sequences are absolute fire to read. I have a soft spot in my heart for any form of fantasy fight taking place on water. The stakes, at least for me, are far higher than one taking place on land. Nautical battles are amongst the most thrilling for me because there’s not much one can do to escape a brutal sea-faring assault. Stonewielder contains such a battle, and I loved every second of it! Esslemont takes us through multiple perspectives of this chaotic assault and shows us the impact it has on main characters and common folk alike. Every time I thought to put the book down to be an adult and get things done, Esslemont threw a Moranth munition to keep me in place.
I’m glad that I read Malazan Book of the Fallen before tackling Novels of the Malazan Empire. I feel like I have a more well-rounded view of the world and knowing how much of the story plays out helps in understanding references to the main series. Esslemont fills in the gaps otherwise left open from Malazan Book of the Fallen. There’s are some juicy bits in Stonewielder that foreshadows what’s going on towards the end of Erikson’s epic. It’s wild to think about when you’ve already finished the series. Esslemont’s novels adds so much flavor and spice to the worldbuilding! You think you know Malazan magic? You think the lore can’t get any deeper? Think again.
Something I’ve always appreciated in Malazan is that there are few true villains in the story. I remember reading Gardens of the Moon and hating the Empire. Then reading Memories of Ice and ready to lay down my life for my fellow Malazan soldiers. Depending on where you are in the world, you can either be with the Malazan’s or against them. I’m not going to lie. The Malazan’s in Stonewielder were dishing out some fighting words and I was ready to knock a few down for their audacity. But then Esslemont drags me into the perspective of a solider within a squad made up of the most unique and lovable characters I immediately want to adopt.
Esslemont did a phenomenal job with the character work here. Malazan is well known for its dynamic duos. Tool and Toc, Mappo and Icarium, Bugg and Tehol are all classic pairings that I came to love in the main series and here I am again, ready to lay down my life for another. Kiska and Jheval. I’m well aware that their storyline felt a bit out of place, but guess what? I don’t care. Their character chemistry was the best in this novel and by far my favorite sections of the book. Their traveling brought to light some new Malazan lore that I am so excited to learn more about. Jheval in particular was a pleasure to follow, especially when you know the background of his character. To see his growth from when I last saw him, to the man he is in Stonewielder is wild! It’s incredible to me that Esslemont can take characters Erikson wrote, continue their arc in his own way and make it a believable transition. It is paramount to remember that they are two different authors and the fact that they are capable of writing the same characters in a world they built together is a feat I don’t think enough people think about.
Another character I became utterly obsessed with was Ivanr. What is a man to do when he becomes a pacifist and takes a vow of no killing? Train an army of course! Ivanr was some high level full-circle-hindsight-is-20/20 kind of arc. This was a running theme in the novel. Most of these characters had the kind of growth that happens when the mistakes have already been made and the consequences are out of their control. Hiam found himself living within Les Miserables without the singing. Interpret that how you will. Characters like him, Greymane, and Iron Bars were so achingly human and it’s what made them such compelling people to follow. Just a side note, Iron Bars is one of the most badass characters in the whole Malazan series. There is a scene including him that made me feel like I was watching the most brutal MMA fight and I’m screaming in the audience for him to wipe the floor with his opponent. I wish I could expand on others such as Suth, Kyle, and Bakune, all excellent characters, but this review would turn into a dissertation. Suffice to say that I loved the journey of each one.
We got politics. We got Stormriders. We got Malazans. We got an actual Stormwall! Murder. Comedy. Religious heretics and mob mentality. Good times.
Stonewielder is, in my opinion, the best book out of Novels of the Malazan Empire so far. I greatly enjoyed this book and was eager to turn page after page to discover what was going to happen. It’s a testament to Esslemont’s talent that even if one were to finish Malazan Book of the Fallen, knowing how the series ends, and still manage to inspire new avenues of magic, mystery, worldbuilding, and lore, you’ve got one hell of a writer.
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