Another pretty good fantasy series if you don't mind even more POV changes and extreme magic. Overall I'd agree it's better than ASOIAF, specially since it's finished, altough the characters aren't that well characterized.

Not a whole lot happened. I can imagine that anybody who hadn't read the books, or hadn't watched Season 1 (or even had watched Season 1 a long time ago) would be thoroughly confused because I'm pretty sure half of the characters weren't even named.

Other than that, some good coverage of all of the main characters, and the scene was set well. Hopefully there will be more action in later episodes.

Of course, none of the really brilliant stuff will happen until next season, when we move away from all of this happy triumphant stuff and get into reality.

It reads that way too unfortunately. His characterisation is also terrible for the vast majority of characters. Only a few of the characters are truly fleshed out and he does go into some bizzare and long trains of thought.

However, it's a very different type of fantasy to ASOIAF. Still very enjoyable but the comparison is a weird one considerring how different they are from each other. Currently reading Stonewielder by Ian C.Esslemont to bring back some of the Malazan memories

Also, did anyone notice the Malazan reference in Mass Effect 3? It specifically mentions Bridgeburners!

The books don't necessary follow each others and you do not follow the same characters in every book although the last book brings everything back together...

And the villains are not necessary who you thought they would be at the start of the serie...

But the world is a lot more complex than anything Georges R.R. Martin ever wrote.

And I be darn if a book like Deadhouse Gates or Memories of Ice aren't some of my favorites of all time...

The Chains of Dogs and Coltaine shall be forever remembered !!!!!! Glory to the 7th !

if you think the US marines are tough, go read about the Malazan marines..

This kind of egotistic entitlement toward someone else's work is utterly disgusting.

Strongly recommended.  You'll get much better prices from there.  That's where I got mine, and I received them, mint condition, two days after I placed my order. =D

The more convenient alternative for Storm of Swords would be to get the hardcover version, which includes both Steel and Snow and Blood and Gold in one single volume (Although many paperback editions now do the same). I personally prefer to have both parts in a single volume myself, as this is how they were intended to be in the first place, and it just looks better in the bookshelf. =P

I saw the second episode on Wedensday and this Redhead is freaking me out :S she is so unbeliveable sexy. The episode was pretty espacially the last scene alltough this incest stuff is really annoying, who was this girl who gave Greyjoy the ride?

That doesn't really excuse the poor characterisation and the way he can write entire pages yet still leave you having to fill in massive blanks due to a lack of physical description. I don't mind that to some degree but on occasions he gets caught up and forgets the reader. It's also not particularly good when I can read the entire series and still find I understand less about some of the semi-main characters than an equivalent character in a few chapters of a GRRM book. It doesn't help that there are so many characters throughout the series, yet the vast majority have the same personality. There are a few standouts but for the most part he may as well call them "Malazan marine x, y, z". 

Anyway, you just picked the two major stand out books in the series. The series has its ups and downs though the Chain of Dogs was a fantastic segment and some of the best writing he did in the entire series. 

Also, the world is very in depth and complex, but that's not that surprising considerring the Malazan world is the creation of two people with few limits whilst ASOAF is loosely based on our own history. Like I said, very different styles that aren't really comparable other than the books in both series are epic door stopping tomes.

Is it true, the last two books sucked?