Malazan Book of the Fallen - Endings

I am glad that I got into this series when it was pretty much completed; by the time the last book came out I had finished all the others so it was wonderful timing. The endings of the books would have left me the most frustrated reading ever, for example the ending in Dust of Dreams. The final giant battle that you read before the last four or five pages gave me goosebumps. The part about it that really strikes home is the idea that humans, despite the overwhelming odds are able to make a stand. The tanks that stood the line when the marines had to fall back because of being overwhelmed, the giant Short-Tails (don't have the book in front of me to look up the spelling) were actually halted. And it was awe inspiring, especially seeing it from Brys' perspective. It looked like the Bonehunters would be annihilated, and yet they managed to hold their ground for a period of time in order for everyone else to retreat.

These battles remind me of the moments that are talked about in the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce. The Goddess, when talking to Alanna speaks about times being at a Crossroads. Where gods are unable to really affect the outcome, and it is essentially up to mortals to choose where the worlds path is going to go. Steven Erikson makes those major battles feel like those crossroads. In Y'ghatan the Bonehunters could have lost their spine for good, but through the determination of some people they managed to make it out. Same with this battle against the Short-Tails. It was either going to be a complete failure and everyone would die, or they would make it out against all odds. This goes in line with something that is mentioned in the beginning of the Crippled God. The Bonehunters, like the Bridgeburners and Dassem Ultors army and even Coltaine's army in what they were able to achieve, stand out in the history of the Malazans and the human race in general because they manage to achieve the impossible. And the idea is that those armies are essentially reminders of the greatness that once was in the 'golden ages' where there was always glory. And the importance of them doing this final fight in this book not being witnessed by others is that it would truly show how far everyone else has fallen. Especially seeing the sacrifices that they have made and will continue to make as this book progresses to the final act.

To me it feels as if it took a whole army to fill the shoes of Anomander Rake in the sense of shouldering the hard burden that no one else will. Which says a lot about both the army and Rake.