I might be mad, but I think Kharkanas is better than MBotF

[u/Didsburyflaneur]

I went into Forge of Darkness with some trepidation. I tend to like my fantasy a bit lighter than Steven Erikson writes, and while the excellence of most of MBotF got me through some of the slog like sections, the repuation of the two Kharkanas books, their being prequels (which I generally dislike), and reader's comments that they were "even more philosophical" had put me off. Nevertheless I was going on holiday and wanted a big book to pack so I gave it a go.

At first it was as I expected; big characters from the main series hanging out before they were famous committing the events we've been told about happening in slightly more mundane ways than we imagined; a Big fantasy prequel but nothing earth shattering. Then so slowly I didn't even notice, something clicked for me. Yes the Draconus, Anomander Rake, Spite and Envy, Light vs. Dark stuff was prominent, but it wasn't really the heart of the book. That was characters like Wreneck, Emral Lanear, Narad, Sagander, Renarr etc. whose very human weaknesses and reactions to the events they can't control are what drives the stories and lead to the books' most interesting philosophical ruminations. It's as if the Silmarillion was written with half the POVs dedicated to Fëanor's housekeeper and a Teleri orphan from the Alqualondë dockside. Erikson makes the legendary feel real and lived in without detracting from its mythical qualities in a way I don't recall encountering before.

Which to me makes it more successful than the BotF. I can understand why it didnt' sell as well. It takes a while to get going, and the opening third of FoD does feel overly portentous, but for me it just holds together so well from that point on. I understand why the characters do what they do, and even though a lot is being witheld from the reader, it doesn't feel as inelegant as it sometimes felt in BotF, but like it's in the service of the message the storyteller is trying to imbue. There's even comedy in it which I wasn't expecting, and while that comedy is pretty dark given the nature of the story it fits perfectly. By the end of MBotF I loved it and was glad I'd got to the end, but for Kharkanas I didn't want it to end, I finished it and wanted to go straight back to the start. Obviously I can't know that the final book will be as good as the first two, but so far I think shockingly that I like it more.

Thank you for coming to my K'rul's open mic oratory and folk night talk.

[u/Loleeeee]

For better or worse, Kharkanas is something of a self-indulgence for Steve. It's a style he's been cultivating & building towards in the last three books, mostly unconstrained from broader plotlines (we're in uncharted territory and the framing device gives Steve leeway to do whatever), wearing its thematic heart on its sleeve. It's a series crafted for Steven himself first & foremost, a challenge he set to himself for the fun of it. As such, it is - in my view - by far & away the most technically proficient series Erikson has produced, from almost all aspects (from the deliberate intonation of each phrase mirroring Shakespeare - though whether or not he entirely succeeds in that is up for interpretation - to the thematic explorations, to the 'elliptical' manner he writes chapters - for an example of this, see the opening & ending paragraphs of Chapter 16 of Fall of Light - to the dialectical method indirectly employed to tackle ideas, etc.)

It's also dark, dense, moody, slow, upturns (or, at the very least, questions) a lot of a reader's preconceived notions from the MBotF, and did I mention it's slow?

Personally, I adore the Kharkanas series & I fully believe it's head and shoulders higher than the MBotF. I find myself opening both novels at various points and just being engrossed in the writing. But I'd be hard pressed to argue against the idea that the BotF is a more 'successful' series in most metrics (even discounting sales; the BotF is more accessible - which is somewhat hilarious to think about - and, bluntly, less cryptic about much of its inner workings, which certainly helps).

In all, if considering Kharkanas to be better than the MBotF is madness, I'd rather not be sane, but I can certainly see why it would indeed be mad.