Memories of Ice

About Memories of Ice

Memories of Ice is the third volume of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen and the concluding part of what functions as the series' first major arc — reuniting the characters from Gardens of the Moon with new ones, in a siege of the city of Capustan against the Pannion Domin and its undead armies. Erikson returns to Anomander Rake, Whiskeyjack, Dujek Onearm, and the Bridgeburners from Book 1 and expands their stories in the context of a much larger conflict. The Pannion Domin is one of the series' most effectively horrifying antagonistic forces — a consuming religious empire that practises ritual cannibalism and raises its victims as undead soldiers, advancing with the inevitability of a blight. The siege of Capustan and its aftermath form the book's spine, but Erikson weaves in the Elder God mythology extensively — the memories of ancient civilisations, the history of the continent's earlier cataclysms, and the long-term plans of figures who measure time in millennia. Memories of Ice is where the series' full ambition becomes undeniable: Erikson is writing a story about the archaeology of catastrophe, about what civilisations cost in suffering, and about the specific human things that persist in the face of inhuman scale. The Bridgeburners arc is the emotional heart of the book, and its conclusion is one of the most devastating sequences Erikson has written. Readers who were not moved by the Bridgeburners in Gardens of the Moon will find themselves moved here — the investment compounds across three volumes. The novel is long and requires patience for the Elder God mythological material, but it rewards that patience with a climax of genuine power. Best read as the third installment of the series; reading Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates first is essential for full impact. Considered by many Malazan readers to be the series' finest individual volume.

Tropes & Themes