Smiley's Podcast

K'rul and Skillen discuss the wider lore of the Malazan universe (how convenient) while Ardata & the dragons torment Osserc. The captain of my heart steals the show (since he already stole my heart), and we get a bombshell reveal about the nature of the Tiste. Oh, and a hidden astronomy lesson within. All told? A great chapter going into the ending. Take note, viewers, of our extraordinary...

The Hust assemble for the coming ritual, consternation taking hold of the soldiers as the unknown sorcery of the Dog-Runners will soon be awakened. Listar arrives - absolved of his guilt & grief - with the Dog-Runner witches, Galar despairs in the face of Toras' drunken indifference, and not even Prazek & Dathenar seem inclined to lighten the mood. Portent hangs above the Tiste, as it does...

[Information Requested: Why are the Shi family such assholes?] Bloodline is the hero's (ha) homecoming & in hindsight does plenty of legwork to set up the next large arc of the series. Unfortunately, being a Cradle book, it can only be so big, and it's got a lot of legwork to do. It's got a nice gimmick & a sense of heightened urgency (and cool fights), but it's also sandwi...

This is Part 2 of our Chapter 20 discussion. Following Anomander & company, we eventually stumble upon Sharenas Ankhadu, reminiscing about Kagamandra & war. Pelk & Ivis do much the same, while Gripp & Anomander speak of the coming battle. Wreneck thinks of Korlat & Orfantal and parental burdens, while Sukul entreats Rancept not to go to war. Love is at the heart of this chapter...

This is Part One of our episode on Chapter 20. Noble asshattery contrasts with the Liosan asshattery from the previous chapter, with the added benefit of Rancept & company to make things more palatable. In the aftermath of the noble congregation, we are returned to the company of Sandalath & the Dracons Houseblades, among them Lord Anomander, who gets to rant for ten pages. We've cut the e...

[Information Requested: Points] Wintersteel is a great book. Fast paced, exciting, cool ass fights, the culmination of eight books' worth of setup, it's just awesome. While we both could do with a little less emphasis on Lindon's POINTS, there's no denying that this book's awesome. [Suggested topic: Smiley's socials. Continue?] [Topic accepted, continuing report...]Reach ou...

Chapter 19 happens to be one of Lee's favourite chapters in Fall of Light, so this episode just so happens to push 90 minutes after editing (I'm sure these two facts are unrelated). Liosan asshattery prevails, Renarr provides Lee the pretext to monologue for sixty minutes, Hallyd Bahann (crowned biggest idiot of the book) gets his long-awaited comeuppance, joy all around. Emailing seems such a sim...

[INFORMATION REQUESTED] Holy shit you guys are still alive? It's been a hot minute since we last posted, friends, and while this particular Cradle episode has been stewing for some time, we finally did get around to posting it. Uncrowned is a while back, but we still look upon it fondly. If by fondly you mean "how dare you," then yes, very fondly. Uncrowned marks the beginning of the...

[Spoilers MBotF] If you've been in the Malazan sphere long enough, you've probably heard the adage "Kallor did nothing wrong" more than once. Turns out, those four words encompass whole avenues of discussion that one video couldn't possibly hope to tackle. But all in due time. Inspired largely by our chat with AP about narration & his excellent videos on the subject. His...

[Spoilers for All Malazan books] [Mild spoilers for Book of the New Sun, Kushiel's Legacy, Farseer Trilogy & the Scarlet Letter (we're thorough, damn it!)] Hello & welcome to a very special guest episode featuring AP, longtime viewer, supporter, and indirect (and now somewhat more direct!) mentor. AP surely needs no introduction, so let's get to more pertinent matters. We spend...

[Information Requested: How dare you, Will Wight?] Smiley's is back to Cradle, with one core question: How dare you, Will Wight? Underlord's a damn fine book. Action-packed, lots of heartfelt moments, interesting worldbuilding, and we hate it for all those reasons. We here at Smiley's have taken a firm stand against authors making us feel things. Not us, no sir. Jests aside, this book...

Hello & welcome to our first (and hopefully not last) installment of the Smiley's Malazan Trivia Quiz! Lee, your host (that's me!) is joined by Mora, Wes, Nate of Podcast of the Fallen, and GB - all of which happen to be mods on the Malazan subreddit. We actually go through a fair number of questions over quite a few rounds, and great times are (hopefully) had by all. There weren't...

[Spoilers All, or only MBotF, we dont know, its all a drunken haze] We decided to slack off and not read FoL. Instead here is a random discussion on Malazan curses, limited to the ones we see in BotF. Spoilers abound, so beware new readers. If you want us to tackle curses that appear in NotME, PtA or Kharkanas- send us an email: smileyspodcast@gmail.com Would you prefer YouTube? https://youtu.be/U...

Don't you like it when chapters follow a certain thematic throughline that makes things easy? I know I do. We're back in the Citadel (or, at least, adjacent to it), and oh boy do we get going quickly. Rise Herat explores a dusty old room full of the shameful past, Orfantal explores sorcery to an unparalleled degree, Endest Silann sets off in search of decency, a goddamn dragon descends upo...

What starts off as a somewhat innocent chapter - with the biggest idiot of Fall of Light taking centre stage - quickly devolves into a mess of shifting alliances, weird mysticism, unsettling flashbacks, and overall bizarre scenes (see Narad & Threadbare). At least it ends the way it began; simply, with the biggest idiot of Fall of Light taking centre stage. Something of a staple of Erikson&#39...

Don't you just love when a chapter lays out its theme in the first paragraph? I sure do. Makes summarising very easy. However, we do suggest at least some booze on hand for this particular one; it gets... odd. Meddling Azathanai, pride & innocence, childhood & grief, all entwine to give us what is arguably the most bizzarre chapter of Fall of Light thus far. Wreneck continues to be the...

[Spoilers for Kushiel's Dart, the Book of the New Sun (mild at best), the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and Forge of Darkness] Perhaps a bit of an unorthodox question, but one I feel is worth asking: Why is Kaminsod, what is his narrative significance, and why is he portrayed in the manner that he is ? At least as far as his [Redacted because of spoilers.] I'm contrasting Kaminsod to a few o...

This is the one where Lee geeks out about metallurgy for like half an hour (no kidding). The origins of the Hust blades, the arrival of two very, verily, verbose captains at the Hust camp, Galar being torn between caring for his lord & caring for his, ah, commander, and Wareth being one dense motherfucker. Add to that Faror Hend losing faith in this whole endeavour, and, well, here we are. Ser...

[Information Requested: What makes Ghostwater the best book in the series so far] Holy Suriel! This book blew us away with the writing, the set up and the banger of a reveal that nobody saw coming. There were big epic fights, sassy banter, more magic and still has a heart at its core. Many new characters were introduced, some nice and some straight up tools. All in a day's work for our danger...

[Spoilers for All Malazan Books] Figured I'd record an impromptu After Hours episode to, ah, publicize my essay a little bit more. This is, admittedly, an unscripted episode, and thus is going to be a bit jumbled & all over the place. TL;DR Kallor is Edgewalker, here's why. In case you've missed it, the essay in question can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Malazan/comments/...

I like to call this one, the "what the fuck" chapter. The Deniers & Shake plotlines are more intertwined than ever, incomprehensible prophecies are uttered, the predators become prey, and to top it all off, we get an almost slice-of-life scene at Tulas' keep, where Kagamandra plots his vengeance against Silchas & Scara. Oh, and Spinnock Durav Tiste-kisses (that's a verb n...

Some much required levity in this chapter (because it's about to plunge again), with a boy with freckles on his arms, a Thel Akai huntress, an undead guardian of an Azath tower, the stupifying fuckery of the Jaghut, and - of course - Korya & Arathan. Oh, and an Azathanai hiding amongst the Jaghut because - well, because of course. Whatever the case, Mora & Lee are off to see a man with...

[Warning for poor audio quality] Through hardships & difficulties, the merry band of Mora & Lee persevere through yet another recording. Thankfully, this particular chapter was lower in stakes & so we spent the time laughing & giggling in exasperation, as this chapter feels apropos of nothing that came before it. A similar merry group of misfits - Lasa's three husbands, Lasa &a...

As the last chapter dealt with the dwellers of the Citadel and a particular Azathanai amidst them, so does this chapter deal with the residents of Neret Sorr. Father Light, a man of many words but little action is accosted by Syntara & Sagander while his adopted daughter puts both of them on blast. Renarr finally opens up to the audience, though her thoughts are scant comfort. The captains of...

We find ourselves in the Citadel of Kharkanas for virtually the entire chapter, as the intrigue about unveils. Jaded poets mock, desperate historians plot, cheery Azathanai relate their bloody pasts, nobleborn seek easy routes to power, and children - a title independent of one's age - stumble blindly throughout. All this and more, as narrated by Mora, with frequent interjections from Lee to n...