Here were a few things raised in our email conversations that I think might be of interest (he just started Midnight Tides, while I'm catching up and am re-reading House of Chains today). These are more points of possible thought/discussion than anything substantive in and of themselves:

1. The near-seamless integration of non-white human, female soldiers, and lesbian (but not really male gay) characters is more startling when one stops to think about it, as there is no scene that tries to scream this out at readers.

2. In light of having read the just-released Forge of Darkness before re-reading DHG, there was a surprising connection between that new book and a "past" scene in DHG.

3. Lots of foreshadowing for the latter Erikson novels, as well as some in Esslemont's books. Not all that newsworthy, but there isn't that initial sense of "retconning" that I had when I first read the last three books of the main series.

4. Erikson does bromance quite well.

5. He has new "favorite words" in each of the early volumes.

6. Friend didn't find Gardens of the Moon to be difficult at all. He could see a clear D&D origin in it, though.

7. To him, Rake was at first yet another dark elf (I didn't realize this until I read those execrable D&D books earlier this month), yet with some potential to be something else other than the stock character.

8. The sex scenes are either hilarious or horrific; no real middle ground.

9. In reference to my comment about the perceived didactic narrative of the latter books, he said this: " Erikson definately thinks about the meaning of what is behind the things that are happening, which alone puts him miles ahead of most of the other fantasy writers. Most epic fantasy is empty, like you said, good for a waste of time. It has nothing to say except to display the extent of time the author has spent thinking he has learned about battles."


So, if others who've read/are reading/have re-read the books want to comment on the little points above, feel free. It's been an interesting email exchange, since I didn't expect him to like the series that much (he reads even more weird/surrealist/Decadent fiction than I do).