It's been such a long time, hasn't it?
I gotta be honest - I lost a lot of interest suddenly. I think I might have some form of ADD without hyperactivity or might be in the spectrum, because I tend to get these hyperfixations in waves, so there's like... weeks or months in which I really get into something (a book, a videogame, a series, etc.) and I give it a lot of my time and think about it a lot during that time, and then suddenly I kinda get overwhelmed and just stop. I have to leave that thing alone for a while... a long while, until I muster the energy to return to it. It happened with Mario Odyssey. It happened with Critical Role. It happened with Babylon 5. It happened with Malazan Book of the Fallen.
And so I just had to stop. As I mentioned last time, I was kind of having a hard time with some of the book's passages (like Mappo's extended flashback/history lesson) so leaving it alone wasn't a hard choice. It felt like a slog and I was "man, if I have so little time and I'm not enjoying myself, why not drop it for a while?" and, considering last year was an emotional rollercoaster, I also wasn't in the very best frame of mind. Easy choice, then.
But I've been itching to come back for a while, not gonna lie. I felt like I had some literal unfinished business. I wanted to, at the very least, finish
The Bonehunters, and then see where I'm at. Maybe I end up reading the rest, maybe I think that's good for now and decide to give it another rest. But at least finish the damn book.
So... we're back in business!
And even though it was difficult (I essentially had to read some two or three chapter summaries just to remember more or less where I left), I started C15 and found myself engrossed in no time. Unlike other previous chapters, I had no major issues with this one. Hell, I could even say I devoured it - in a very short time I found myself starting C16!
That's when I went online and, after a short google search, found out C15 has a very good reputation with the fanbase - I'm not surprised. It was fucking awesome.
Loved the introduction to
Quick Ben's sister, the whole Ganoes/Quick Ben situation with Poliel and... fuck it, basically everything was just top notch. I couldn't have "picked" a better chapter to return to, lmao. Just a serendipitous moment.
Chapter 16 was a bit more traditional but still very captivating... the right amount of foreboding, funny and emotional. Hell, even Mappo's conversation with
Lady Spite on the nature of gods, belief and fanaticism managed to be great, though a bit "author tract"-ish (yes, it felt like Erikson himself was speaking through that conversation instead of one of his characters) and considering the current state of the world, all the more poignant:
"
A civilization at war chooses only the most obvious enemy, and often also the one perceived, at first, to be the most easily defeatable. But that enemy is not the true enemy, nor is it the gravest threat to that civilization. Thus, a civilization at war often chooses the wrong enemy."
Another of those great Erikson moments.
So... all in all, initial difficulties aside, I'm back for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the ride doesn't stop again until
The Bonehunters is done!
Thanks everybody. Hope you're having a great time!