The Crippled God by Steven Erikson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
For a couple years a coworker told me to read this series. I bought the first book, but it sat on the shelf as a reminder. Finally, I caved, and he gave me the rest of the series. It started off confusing and complicated with dozens of main characters, strange magic systems, strange cultures, politics, and lots of deities.
The series ended like it started with gritty and descriptive battle scenes. Even in wrapping everything with a pretty bow, the winners lost so much. I don’t feel exultant for them. More… Relief. Relief they can go home now and stop the trials. And I am happy this is a true good ending rather than either too much wrap up (100 pages in Lord of the Rings) or a sudden incomplete ending where we are left to our imaginations to end it.
My favorite character is Kalam. I wished he had more time over the course of the series.
It may be time to go off fantasy novels for a while.