Stonewielder

Novels of the Malazan Empire, Book 3

By: Ian C. Esslemont

Narrated by: John Banks

Length: 26 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Greymane believed he'd outrun his past. With his school for swordsmanship in Falar, he was looking forward to a quiet life, although his colleague Kyle wasn't as enamored with life outside the mercenary company, the Crimson Guard. However, it seems it is not so easy for an ex-Fist of the Malazan Empire to disappear, especially one under sentence of death from that same Empire.

For there is a new Emperor on the throne of Malaz, and he is dwelling on the ignominy that is the Empire's failed invasion of the Korel subcontinent. In the vaults beneath Unta, the Imperial capital, lie the answers to that disaster. And out of this buried history surfaces the name Stonewielder.

In Korel, Lord Protector Hiam, commander of the Stormguard, faces the potential annihilation of all that he holds dear. With few remaining men and a crumbling stone wall that has seen better days, he confronts an ancient enemy: the sea-borne Stormriders have returned.

Religious war also threatens these lands. The cult of the Blessed Lady, which had stood firm against the Riders for millennia, now seeks to eradicate its rivals. And as chaos looms, a local magistrate investigating a series of murders suddenly finds himself at the heart of a far more ancient and terrifying crime - one that has tainted an entire land....

Stonewielder is an enthralling new chapter in the epic story of a thrillingly imagined world that takes place in the timeline right after the New York Times bestseller Dust of Dreams left off.

©2016 Ian C. Esslemont (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Another awesome Malazan book

Great action, fun to read! What a great series
I strongly recommend this if you love the Malazan series

worthwhile

the story was occasionally very captivating and the narrator did a fine job differentiating voices, but the quality. of the audio was tinny throughout.

My favorite ICE novel so far!

This one was really quite great. From front to back this book encapsulates you and sucks you into the Malazan world! 10/10 Novel.

Great read and story in a fascinating world

This is such an intriguing world and I was invested in some of the characters. The performance of the narrator was fantastic. The purposefulness of the writing at times is questionable, even while I thoroughly enjoyed the story and am invested in the world. Within the story the author uses overtly intentional obfuscation that breaks the suspension of disbelief because characters are overtly in on the bit more than the audience, whereas other books in this universe create mystery in a less overt way. The mystery in this book feels more forced than others in this series and also results in a much less satisfying conclusion, as there are questions that seem central to the plot that simply go unanswered. That being said, the reflections on themes of faith and growth are rewardingly delivered, and I'll continue to care about and put time into enjoying this series.

awesome

heres another great book and great narration, I'm getting the next in the series now

Amazing piece of thought provoking literature.

Atmospheric, epic scale, amazing characters and complex but still followable plots.

The best book I've read so far by this author. This was just amazing.

Admittedly I didn't like the first few books of this author's series and also really found the original 10 Malazan books by Erickson amazing until around book 8 where I started drifting off the world of Malazan and just completly fell out of interest at The Crippled God. So I'm a fan but not a super-fan deluded to not being able to see flaws.

This however reinvigorated my love for this world with how well written it was and the captivating atmosphere this author is able to create.

Some of the plot threads on where these characters are heading is gut wrenching and with such complex characters they felt realistic. I was easily able to identify the big players here and they felt living and breathing to me.

Admittedly some of the combat scenes went on longer then I liked but I understood the need as it was building to a climax.

The ending was just insane. The way this author formed up this religion, culture and fleshed out this world geographically was such a creative stroke of genius that I just was mind blown seeing how this world met it's eventual conclusion.

I'm so excited for Malazan again and can't wait to get into this series even further.

Nice story.

Cool story and characters. A lot of them from Ericsson books. Couldn't understand some of the narators voices, somehow men talked like wemens.

Finally feels like I'm reading Malazan.

Maybe it was just me getting used to the new narrator in 'Night of Knives' and 'Return of the Crimson Gaurd'. Maybe I was just getting used to Esslemont's writing style as opposed to Erikson's. Maybe Esslemont found his footing for this book in particular. Regardless. While 'Return of the Crimson Gaurd' only began to show true signs of life by the end of its dense pages, Stonewielder read from beginning to end like a true Malazan narrative. The cast is familiar, and used efficiently, and the new faces wonderfully bring the foreboding continent of Fist to life. I hope Esslemont can keep this spark going as I get ready to dive into 'Orb Scepter Throne'.

If you were able to make it through 'Return of the Crimson Gaurd' and still want more then this is Esslemont at his best so far.

awesome!

just plain awesome I love the book love the author love the narrator I would recommend this to everyone

I had little faith in ICE

I'm the biggest The Malazan Book of the Fallen fan there ever is. I'm ready to die after her finishes his trilogy. So I decided I wanted more of Malaz and decided to give Esslemont a try. Well I read NoK and it was absolute trash. Then I read RotCG which was even more confusing that GotM on account of its sloppy writing, though the plot was great. Now finally I've struck gold. This book was great that at some points I even forgot Steven Erikson didn't write it. I had no faith in this book but by listening to ICE's most recent book Dancer's Lament I had the evidence of tighter more compelling writing that I needed to pick back up his main series. It was worth it. I loved this return to Wu!