Dust of Dreams

As she watched, they began, one by one, falling into dust.None to witness. Dust of dreams, dust of all that we never achieved. Dust of what we might have been and what we cannot help but be.

The opinions about this book vary greatly among Malazan fans. Erikson states at the beginning of Dust of Dream that this book and the next one are actually one book. The apotheosis of an epic fantasy series of 10,000 pages. As a reader, you expect the focus to be on the endpoint. That all story arcs are being wrapped up.

The beginning is powerful; the reader is immediately drawn into an epic event. It seems like the prelude to a rapid progression towards the end. Then Erikson suddenly introduces a whole army of new characters. This leads to the building of new story arcs, and Erikson, in passing, picks up a storyline from book three. By the middle of the book, you might feel that there is no more movement in the overarching storyline. And there's only one book left to rectify that...
This middle part is intense and dark. Very good character descriptions and developments, though.

The ending is epic. Erikson goes all out; it seems like he has incorporated every fantasy he had as a 12-year-old boy into the end of this book. A true meaning of epic fantasy.

The beginning and the end are 5 stars for me. The rather large middle part could have been more compact. This book is almost 1100 pages long and could have benefited from some trimming. Ultimately, 4.5 stars.