The God is Not Willing is the first book in the Witness Trilogy, Steven Erikson's sequel to the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
The story takes place 10 years after the events of The Crippled God, and while telling the story of a new group of characters, features the legacy of Karsa Orlong and others.[3][4]
Erikson hopes the book will provide an entry point into the Malazan world for new readers who have not read any of the previous Malazan books.[4]
Publisher's summary[]
Many years have passed since three Teblor warriors brought carnage and chaos to the small lakeside settlement of Silver Lake. While the town has recovered, the legacy of that past horror remains, even if the Teblor tribes of the north no longer venture into the southlands. One of those three, Karsa Orlong, is now deemed to be a god, albeit an indifferent one. In truth, many new cults and religions have emerged across the Malazan world, including those who worship Coltaine, the Black-Winged God, and -- popular among the Empire's soldiery -- followers of the cult of Iskar Jarak, Guardian of the Dead.
A legion of Malazan marines is on the march towards Silver Lake, responding to intelligence that indicates the tribes beyond the border are stirring. The marines aren't quite sure what they're going to be facing but, while the Malazan military has evolved and these are not the marines of old, one thing hasn't changed: they'll handle whatever comes at them. Or die trying.
Meanwhile, in the high mountains, where dwell the tribes of the Teblor, a new warleader has risen. Scarred by the deeds of Karsa Orlong, he intends to confront his god, even if he has to cut a bloody path through the Malazan Empire to do it. Higher in the mountains, a new threat has emerged, and now the Teblor are running out of time.
The long feared invasion is about to begin. And this time it won't be three simple warriors. This time thousands are poised to flood the lands of the south. And in their way, a single legion of Malazan marines...
It seems the past is about to revisit Silver Lake, and that is never a good thing...
Front matter[]
Dedication[]
For dragging me online, and for the friendship, this novel is dedicated to Lenore Kennedy
Acknowledgements[]
Many thanks to my advance readers, Dr A. P. Canavan, Baria Ahmed, and Mark Paxton-MacRae; and to my agent, Howard Morhaim, and my editor, Simon Taylor. Special appreciation goes to my fans frequenting the Steven Erikson Facebook page, and to all the YouTubers now discussing all things Malazan: you delivered the shot in the arm when it was needed the most.
Maps[]
Editions[]
Publisher | Format/Edition | First published | Pages | ISBN-10 | ISBN-13 | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom — The God is Not Willing | ||||||
Bantam | Hard cover | July 2021 | 496 | 1787632865 | 978-1787632868 | First edition |
Bantam | Trade paperback | July 2021 | 496 | 1787632873 | 978-1787632875 | |
Bantam | Mass market paperback | xxx | xxx | xxx | xxx | |
United States — The God is Not Willing | ||||||
Tor | Hard cover | November 2021 | 496 | 0765323591 | 978-0765323590 | |
Tor | Trade paperback | November 2023 | 496 | 0765323664 | 978-0765323668 | |
Tor | Mass market paperback | September 2022 | 640 | 0765363445 | 978-0765363442 |
Plot Summary[]
The God is Not Willing | |
---|---|
Dramatis Personae | Prologue |
Knuckles | |
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 |
Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 |
Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 |
Starwheel | |
Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 |
Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 |
Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 |
Roots of Stone | |
Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 |
Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 |
Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 |
Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 |
Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 |
Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 |
Epilogue | Pagination |
- The following summaries contain spoilers
Please access individual chapter summaries via the Chapter infobox
- The following summaries contain spoilers
Epigraph |
What to make of this? The Lord of Death is dead. The Sire of War rests silent in a broken crypt. Light and Dark have fled into Shadow, and Shadow dreams of sunlight. Houses lie abandoned. Heralds cry out unheard; masons sift dust through numb hands; mistresses wait alone in the night. Queens weep and kings stumble. All the world is in flux, truths dying with every breath spent and every word uttered. Visions of the Last Prophet Third Karsan Apocrypha (Darujhistan, in the Year of Feral's Challenge) |
Prologue[]
Book One: Knuckles[]
Epigraph |
As the helpless and wounded and young fled, it is said a line was made behind them, across the narrow cut of the pass. Twelve Teblor adults, bearing whatever weapons they could find, each took their last link of broken chain and hammered spikes through it, deep into the rock. Now bound by ankle shackle to the length of their chains, there they would stand against the ferocity of the slavers and their enforcers, the pursuing army seeking to regain its wealth in flesh. It cannot be verified, of course, if this in truth occurred. What can be said, however, is that the flight of the liberated Teblor succeeded, thus bringing to an end the institution of slavery in the Malyn Province of Malazan Genabackis, which in turn saw the fall of the final hold-out of this wretched trade in flesh. The Great Library of New Morn |
Book Two: Starwheel[]
Epigraph |
Make my ending a whisper. Let yours be a shout. Fisher kel Tath |
Book Three: Roots of Stone[]
Epigraph |
Today, we become spokes of the wheel. Elade Tharos,Warleader of the Teblor |
Epilogue[]
Trivia[]
- In October 2017, Erikson announced on his Facebook page[5] that this book would be his next published Malazan work. In order to work on the book, he announced he was temporarily putting aside his work on Walk in Shadow, the concluding volume of the Kharkanas Trilogy.[5]
- Erikson discussed his work on the book in an essay called Life on Thin Ice: Updating my Progress on The Witness Trilogy.
- Erikson expected to write the majority of the novel on a newly purchased Gemini PDA similar to one he had used to write several earlier Malazan books.[6] Ultimately the ergonomics of the new device did not work out and the author completed the book on a laptop.[7]
- At least some of the book was written at the Little June coffee shop in Victoria, B.C., Canada.[7]
- It was not until after writing the first 80 or 90 pages of the novel that he realised he had actually written the opening of the second book in the series. "I realised I was leaving too much backstory" and had to start over. Getting started on the book "took a little longer than expected, but at the same time, once it's done, I've got 80 pages of the second novel already done."[8]
- Erikson completed the first draft of the novel on 28 February 2020.[9] After the copy editing process was completed at the publisher, the manuscript was returned to Erikson by 21 December 2020[10] so he could begun his own review of the document on 29 December 2020.[11] Since Erikson's writing process incorporates the primary editing into the preparation of the initial manuscript, he was able to quickly complete his review and return it to the publisher on 3 January 2021.[12]
- Regarding the themes of the novel, Erikson says, "I asked myself before I started the novel: What is the role of a soldier? And then I set about exploring that. And, of course, the immediate answer would be, you know, protect your nation, fight wars, etc., etc. But I wanted to go a little bit past that and explore the notion of acting in service to something greater than oneself. And so that is what this first novel is certainly exploring."[13] He says another sub-theme is "cultural appropriation because...all kinds of new religions are springing up ten years after the events of the ten books, and they're being plucked from everywhere, and they're just being adopted all over the place, because that is what cultures do. If they don't, they're dead. They are a dead culture. They need to appropriate, to adapt, and absorb aspects and change...Which is not to actually denigrate the complaints of cultural appropriation, because there are some very, very valid complaints with that respect."[14]
- Regarding the audiobook version of his novels, Steven Erikson says, "Mostly, I'm not consulted on pronunciations, etc. That said, I did work with the reader for The God is Not Willing and by all accounts she was terrific."[15]
- In preparation for writing The God is Not Willing, Erikson says he "had to go back to some of the books and read some stuff, like the opening to House of Chains and things like that. And, it was a strange feeling, because I looked at it and said, 'I think I was a better writer then than I was now. And that's a hard thing to deal with...'"[16]
- Erikson says the title of the book "is a weird one, isn't it?...is it even grammatical?" but says it just "insisted that it be there." As of November 2021, he had not yet decided on the titles for the second and third books in the Witness series. This is different from the Malazan Book of the Fallen series and the Kharkanas Trilogy where he had decided on all the titles in both series even before he began writing.[17]
- Erikson created a mock up cover for the book that became the basis for the final cover illustration by artist Steve Stone. In the process, Erikson kept sending notes to Stone asking him to "beef up" the central female figure on the cover. "She's got to be bigger. And I don't mean just tall, she's got to be a substantial figure up there. And I almost sense I was really twisting his arm on that one," he laughs, "because he kept coming [back where] she was maybe gaining half an inch each version."[18]
Cover gallery[]
External links[]
- Ten Very Big Books podcast - The God is Not Willing - A Conversation with Steven Erikson
- Chat with Steven Erikson on The God is Not Willing - Green Team of the Legendarium
- Spoiler Chat: The God is Not Willing with Steven Erikson and Philip Chase - A Critical Dragon
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Penguin Random House UK
- ↑ Macmillan Publishers
- ↑ Ten Very Big Books podcast - GotM's 20th Anniversary (See 1:13:10)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Author Chat - Steven Erikson - FanFiAddict - See 48:45
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Steven Erikson Facebook post 25 October 2017
- ↑ Steven Erikson Facebook post 31 May 2018
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Steven Erikson Facebook post 31 December 2019
- ↑ Ten Very Big Books podcast - Deadhouse Gates (See 39:50)
- ↑ Steven Erikson Facebook post 28 February 2020
- ↑ Steven Erikson Facebook post 21 December 2020
- ↑ Steven Erikson Facebook post 30 December 2020
- ↑ Steven Erikson Facebook post 3 January 2021
- ↑ Interview with Steven Erikson, Best-Selling Author and Archaeologist - Systems Change Alliance - See 24:30
- ↑ Chatting With Nutts - Episode #18 ft Steven Erikson - The Fantasy Nuttwork - See 1:44:00
- ↑ Reddit Ask Me Anything session - September 2021
- ↑ Chatting With Nutts - Episode #18 ft Steven Erikson - The Fantasy Nuttwork - See 1:34:30
- ↑ Chatting With Nutts - Episode #18 ft Steven Erikson - The Fantasy Nuttwork - See 1:39:50
- ↑ Chatting With Nutts - Episode #18 ft Steven Erikson - The Fantasy Nuttwork - See 1:41:55