Comments on: Reaper’s Gale by Steven Erikson (Bantam Press)

By: shalini

shalini — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:19:28 +0000

I quite agree about the deux-ex-machina – i think erikson seems to be relying on it increasingly over the last few books, and in my opinion that makes his plots less interesting, rather than more so.

hindsight (ie, dust of dreams) makes me appreciate reaper’s gale more than i did on first reading. i love how erikson makes unrelated, little things come back and bite you later in the series.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:32:45 +0000

I realize this is kind of an archaic thread here, so if no-one ever reads it, oh well. ^_^
I just have a quick comment on the anti-climaxes.

I think Erikson does those often and wholly intentionally, one of his major themes – at least in this book – being arrogance, especially displayed in the elder races: e.g. Scabandari-Silchas Ruin, the Tiste Liosan, Menandore and her sisters, the Crippled God, Rhulad, etc. Also, specifically the Eleint are used to being on top, but the food chain’s become a lot more complex while they’ve been lounging in Azath Houses and whatnot for the last few thousand years. I found the counter-intuitive climaxes rather poignant in that regard, myself.

Oh, also, the Redmask plot (which I do suspect has some as yet unrevealed significance) slaps Tool in the face, hard, for presuming to take vengeance against the Awl.

By: lawrence89

lawrence89 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:08:07 +0000

I thought Whiskeyjack had some sort of part to play, apparently he did not? Not something in the same vein as Hedge?

As for the rest, I give Erikson the benefit of the doubt as well, (still immensely looking forward to Toll the Hounds!) as the next one is set in Genebackis again. Genebackis is/was always my favorite continent.

Thanks for dropping by, Trevor. Much appreciated.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:25:32 +0000

As a huge Erikson fan, I have to agree with the review, it wasn’t his best work especially because of the Redmask plotline. I have to think that is going to come back into play and we’ll find out what the hell it was doing in the book in the first place. I felt the same way about the Tehol/Bugg storyline after Midnight Tides and that was cleared up here so I’ll give S.E. the benefit of the doubt.

As for the resurrections, they don’t really bother me, I actually kind of like them because you never know what’s going to happen or who is going to show up where. Coltaine isn’t coming back though and neither is Whiskeyjack, SE has confirmed this.

By: lawrence89

lawrence89 — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:06:44 +0000

Don’t really think Clip could have taken him, in a sense Clip is just as well an anti-climax, only snapping his chain and such. I think Ruin tolerated him because he needed him to be a guide. As for Tehol & Bugg pieces, well the humor seemed to suffer a bit but I think them just being in action was worth a lot and made up for some stuff. Not completely, Midnight Tides was superior in terms of quality of the Tehol & Bugg parts, but I was not so bad. I hate Feather Witch too, by the way.
The Fiddler quote was awesome, but as I said the Feather Witch chapters were tiresome and connecting her to the Errant was a bad move (pun intended).

Thanks for commenting, love the feedback.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 03:12:39 +0000

I agree with your review. I picked up “Reaper’s Gale” preparing to be (excuse the pun) blown away. I wasn’t.

1 – Doesn’t it say on the back of the book that Icarium is “destined to cross blades with the emperor”? Oops. Maybe he’ll do…nothing…and then wander off into a magical portal and vanish.

2 – Karsa’s big fight with Rhulad: boring. Hasn’t *any* champion thought to cut off the big R’s sword arm while he was temporarily dead?

3 – Silchas Ruin. Two possible translations of his name: A) “anti-climax”. B) “paper tiger”. I think Clip could have taken him.

4 – Feather Witch. What a waste. Yet we get endless resurections for characters like Hedge and Brys, whom Erikson likes but most readers despise.

5 – Tehol & Bugg, Kruppe, etc…did someone let David Eddings write a few chapters? Not my kind of humor.

Anyway…maybe the next book will be better?

Best 3 quotes from Reaper’s Gale:

#3 – “god of mine, I compel you!” – Feather Witch.
#2 – “Witness!” – Karsa.
#1 – “F*cking dragons!” – Fiddler.

By: lawrence89

lawrence89 — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:14:17 +0000

Thanks for responding to my review. :)
” Quick Ben aint a mere mortal with some magic, I think that you dont give him enough credit there. Besides that, the ascendants he hurt didnt where kinda arrogant in their approach and the explosive only blasted the ascendant apart after he was down on the ground and almost dead anyway. ”
It’s true that Quick Ben is in fact far more powerful than he appears to be, ie. he’s at least as strong as a High Mage. Also, I did notice the small hints Erikson dropped, about QB feeling more ’stretched out’. Still, the problem lies in the fact that Erikson shows us in a couple of situations how cunning/powerful these Ascendants are, they seem to be in control. Then when an Ascendant visits the party including QB, he’s driven off quite easily with some Moranth munitions, and sorcery. Surely an Ascendant would have been prepared for that? With all the earlier describings of his/their prowess, the reader has some kind expectation, hoping it will come to a big clash between these forces. But then, when the Ascedant is taken down/driven off quite casually, Eriksons actually manages to crush these expectations. Compare it to a sports game, let’s say the great boxer Mike Tyson, heavyweight champion of reknown, versus and small, yet strong guy. The fight starts, everybody is excited, yet what happens is that Mike Tyson is knocked out first round. Feels like an anti-climax of what should have been a great fight..
“Only Brys? Or do you have other examples? Cause the way you say it makes it sound as if nobody dies…”
I was also referring to the resurrection of Hedge, Onrack getting his ‘flesh and bones’ again. Really, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Toc played some sort of role in the future in the storyline. Also, the adcendancy of the Bridgeburners is could be considered as an ‘resurrection’ after they were wiped out in Memories of Ice. Same goes for Coltaine. Just seem to me that Erikson has a hard time letting his characters die.

By: Mephidro

Mephidro — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:34:28 +0000

WARNING!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

Small things I disagreed with

Ascendants are not as powerful as their ‘legacy’ suggests, and mere mortals are able to bring them down with the help of some magic or explosives.

Quick Ben aint a mere mortal with some magic, I think that you dont give him enough credit there. Besides that, the ascendants he hurt didnt where kinda arrogant in their approach and the explosive only blasted the ascendant apart after he was down on the ground and almost dead anyway.

Also, the death of a mortal seems be by no means final (unless Hood comes to claim its soul himself), as Erikson always has some resurrection up his sleeve.

Only Brys? Or do you have other examples? Cause the way you say it makes it sound as if nobody dies…

Anyway, maybe it wasnt as good as others, tbh, I couldnt tell. I enjoyed the book a lot, was happy with every plottwist as well. But I aint a reader who demands a lot :)

So, nice review, but I tend to disagree XD