Steven Erikson

[Draeden]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Erikson

So far I've read Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains, Midnight Tides and Bonehunters.

Erikson has been a massive inspiration for me, particularly in respect of the way he'll describe the chaos of battle in a way that'd somehow make it very clear to you what's happening yet take the fight in a different direction entirely. The way he makes the magic of the Warrens/Houses seem so infinitely powerful, it makes you feel bad about how easily mages like Quick Ben can utterly destroy anything that gets in his path, how the magic can just slay dozens of people in one go.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

I like how merciless he is. He'll get you so very attached to a character - for whatever reason, be it that the person in question is nice/helpful or a talented warrior who's really cool - then either have something unpleasant happen to them to make them completely disfigured and helpless or just all-out completely kill the fuck out of them in the messiest and outright merciless way possible. For example, minor spoiler: a particular person helps some others through a barren landscape to avoid capture and they eventually come upon a traveller's camp. After a while they realise that the traveller they've joined is a D'ivers (shape-shifter) that turns into a swarm of rats and eats him. When I read that I was like, "WHAT THE FUCK!?" and I had to read it over and over before what happened properly sunk in.

Apart from killing off your favourite characters like a complete heartless bastard, he's very good at describing gore and pain, so much so that you can almost see/feel it  yourself. The way he explains a massive battleaxe hacking into the collar of a man, clean through his armour and wedging deep into the ribcage or the gut-wrenching feeling you end up with as he describes someone's intestines being cut out by an assassin, just pure brilliance. I try and incorporate that level of detail when I do my violent fighting parts (some of you may have seen these) in RPs but don't even come close to how well Erikson does it.

The Malazan series is more than just a set of fantasy novels, they stray well into the realms of horror fiction with the K'Chain Che'Maille (stout sword-wielding reptiles) and their disgustingly brutal Matron, or the unstoppable undead soldiers the T'lan Imass, creatures that can turn to dust and travel as an army in the air. It doesn't get much more disturbing than an army that ALMOST kills its victims then finishes them off by sending religious female fanatics to rape and murder the already dying soldiers so that they may give birth to some kind of demonic children that eventually become some kind of twisted creatures that serve their crazed leader...

http://www.malazanempire.com

[Kenfucius]

I think that Erikson is an excellent writer... my only problem is that I really have to be in the mood for his style, otherwise I get bogged down.

When I want to read something of a heavier nature, he's one of my authors of choice.

[Draeden]

"Heavy" sure is the word.