Malazan Book of the Fallen aka: The M Alazan Bookofthe Fallen
Anomander Rake, from the Gardens of the Moon collectors edition.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a series of long fantasy novels by Canadian author Steven Erikson. It is known for having loads and loads andloads and loads and loadsof characters. Dust Of Dreams has two hundred and forty-four characters listed, and that doesn't include the ones that are only mentioned in passing. The universe in which the story takes place is a shared creation of Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont.
Ten of ten planned books have been published as of February 2011:
Gardens of the Moon (1999)
Deadhouse Gates (2000)
Memories of Ice (2001)
House of Chains (2002)
Midnight Tides (2004)
The Bonehunters (2006)
Reaper's Gale (2007)
Toll the Hounds (2008)
Dust of Dreams (2009)
The Crippled God (2011)
In addition to the Book of the Fallen, the main sequence written by Erikson, there are also a number of side stories:
Steven Erikson: Blood Follows (2002)
Steven Erikson: The Healthy Dead (2004)
Steven Erikson: The Lees of Laughter's End (2007)
Steven Erikson: Crack'd Pot Trail (2010)
Ian Cameron Esslemont: Night of Knives (2005)
Ian Cameron Esslemont: Return of the Crimson Guard (2008)
Ian Cameron Esslemont: Stonewielder (2010)
Ian Cameron Esslemont: Orb, Sceptre, Throne (Jan 2012 UK; May 2012 USA)
Animorphism: Soletaken and D'ivers. In the case of the latter, several of the animal form at once. The number depends on power.
Anti-Villain: Cotillion is an obvious example. Anomander Rake looks like one at first, but gradually turns out to be more purely heroic in Toll the Hounds.
The Crippled God falls in here too, as all he wants is be made whole and go home.
Anyone Can Die: Most poignantly demonstrated at the end of Memories of Ice with the death of Whiskeyjack. But see also Death Is Cheap, below. Another example is Trull Sengar in Reaper's Gale.
Back from the Dead: A lot. Hedge, Brys, Toc the Younger, Duiker, Coltaine...
Badass Army: Up the wazoo, Bridgeburners and Bonehunters are two examples.
Badass: Most obvious examples are Anomander Rake, Karsa Orlong and Silchas Ruin. Many Bridgeburners also qualify.
Badass Boast: Kallor has one of the best boasts in the history of boasts:'I walked this land when the T'lan Imass were but children. I have commanded armies a hundred thousand strong. I have spread the fire of my wrath across entire continents, and sat alone upon tall thrones. Do you grasp the meaning of this?'
Badass Grandpa: Kallor. Several hundred thousand years old, looks like he's in his eighties, fights as well or better than many of the established Badasses.
Badass Normal: Notably Kallam. Also, Crokus and probably any (non-Bridgeburner) Malazan soldier.
Barbarian Tribe: Teblors, who are really Thelomen Tartheno Toblakai.
Bottle Fairy: Sergeant Helian is an oddly competent bottle fairy, managing to lead part of an invasion force across Lether while being drunk the whole time.
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Tusked Milk, an alcoholic drink made from orange rinds, honey and Tusked Seal sperm.
Bus Crash: Empress Laseen. She's alive and well when last we see her in Reaper's Gale. Come The Crippled God, she's dead and apparently has been for a while.
Chekhov's Gun: Most notably, Whiskeyjack's injured leg in Memories of Ice
Chekhov's Gunman: This series is in love with this trope. First mentions about Icarium and Gothos are in the first novel, but they appear in story in the second. The most significant is the crucified dragon found in House Of Chains.
Ceda Kuru Quan is a good example. Everyone thinks, that he lost his mind - he was just preparing himself to create powerful spell. This spell was designed to wipe out entire army of Tiste Edur, and he nearly succeeded.
Dance Battler: Some Shadow Dancers. You don't want to mess with them
Death Is Cheap: Very, though at least there's a healthy dose of Came Back Wrong going around to balance things out. Whilst there are a few permanent demises here and there, death is usually not to be feared in this series because of immediate, guaranteed Cessation Of Existence, but because it's anyone's guess what's going to emerge from your grave once someone or something inevitably resurrects you.
List of characters who have come back from the dead in some fashion at least once as of book 4: Crust, Hawl, Tattersail, Bellurdan, Nightchill, Hairlock, Ganoes Paran, Baudin, Duiker, Coltaine, Toc the Younger, Truth, Trake, Bairoth Gild, Delum Thord, Apsalar's father, two Hounds of Shadow, the T'lan Imass as a race, the K'chain Che'Malle as a race, and all of the Bridgeburners. That's not counting Fiddler, Kalam, Corabb, and others who narrowly escape death on a regular basis.
Death World: It's a wonder there's anybody NOT in the military given how many things can and will try to kill off anything else.
Demonic Possession: Okay, divine possession. Not much of a difference in most cases.
Depraved Bisexual: Turudal Brizad, who even slept with his own son, Tribal Gnol, who is also example of this trope.
Deus ex Machina: This is the primary purpose of the Houses of Azath. In addition, the Trygalle Trading Guild in Deadhouse Gates, the army of Bridgeburner ghosts in House of Chains. Justified in that all three of these are discussed at length in the book they're used, and others. There were rules for all three. And there were consequences for them all as well.
Disproportionate Retribution: Long time ago, an Imass cheated on his wife. Her reaction? She became a mad goddess of saint war, and is trying to kill everyone.
Doorstopper: All the books are over 700 pages, some up to 1200.
Drop the Hammer: Caladan Brood wields a great hammer so badass that it has the power to awaken the sleeping earth goddess Burn (whose body is apparently the earth itself).
Elemental Powers: More than the traditional four. Also, the Lost Elementals that are mentioned by Cotillion in House of Chains
The Empire: Averted with the Malazan Empire in that many of the protagonists work for it and in that maybe it isn't as evil as it seems at first glance. The Lether Empire on the other hand is a straight example.
Enfant Terrible: Kettle - undead girl and serial killer living nearby Azath tower.
Et Tu, Brute?: Rhulad finally snaps when Udinaas, the closest thing he had to a friend, leaves him. Not that Udinaas had a choice in the matter...)
Eunuchs Are Evil: Korbal Broach. He actually became a necromancer because as an eunuch he couldn't create life anymore.
Fantastic Racism: Both subverted and played straight. Humans are racist towards other humans just like in real life, but the Tiste races hate each other. The T'Lann Imass make themselves undead so they can kill off the Jaghut.
Fate Worse than Death: Getting killed by Dragnipur equals spending eternity chained to the gates of the Warren of Darkness.
Floating Continent: Moon's Spawn. And the island of Drift Avalii floats literally in the ocean.
Heterosexual Life Partners: Icarium and Mappo; Fiddler and Hedge, Quick Ben and Kalam, Gesler and Stormy; Tehol and Bugg, Karsa and Torvald... It seems to be a reccuring trope in this series.
basically, at least one instance can be expected out of most any squad of Malazan Marines.
Does Shadowthrone and Cotillion count?
Hidden Depths: Bugg. Not only a Servile Snarker, but also The Elder God Mael in disguise, hanging out with Tehol because "he hadn't so much fun for centuries".
Karmic Death: Most of the antagonists that don't die in direct battle get one of these.
Kill 'Em All: 75% of the Loads and Loads of Characters will not be breathing by the end of their third book. A good third won't make it to the end of their debut book. It's called Book of the Fallen for a reason.
Lizard Folk: The K'Chain Che'Malle, and their short-tailed creation, the K'Chain Nah'ruk.
Loads and Loads of Characters (Reaper's Gale has seventy-two named Malazan soldiers. Seventy-two. Steven Erikson tries to give them all distinctive personalities, and fails.)
Mayfly December Romance: Whiskeyjack (human middle age) and Korlat (millennia) in Memories of Ice, Spinnock Durav (also millennia) and Salind (teenager) in Toll the Hounds
Messianic Archetype: Anomander Rake in Toll the Hounds. Don't forget Coltaine in Deadhouse Gates, the guy ends up being crucified on a hill top then is reborn, not to mention the devotion and worship that surrounds him both before and after his 'death' the author actually seems to go out of his way to add parallels between him and good old JC
Mind Rape: Cotillion's possession of Sorry, Sha'ik's possession of Felisin.
Mind Screw: The series' vague explanations and complex style of plotting tend to cause this for many readers.
Medieval Stasis: Not a pure example. While the world is truly ancient, different civilizations, some of which not even human, have risen and fallen many times. Also, the K'Chain Che'Malle and Nah'Ruk reached higher technological levels
don't seem to be fooling anyone who's even heard of them, pre-name change
Obfuscating Stupidity: Tehol Beddict and Bugg; possibly also Iskaral Pust, although he might just be genuinely mad. Then there's Kruppe, who uses all the standard Obfuscating Stupidity techniques, but never seems to actually fool anyone; the other characters all know he's smart, and his acting like an idiot all the time usually ticks them off . . . which is probably the real reason why he does it.
Our Zombies Are Different: The T'lan Imass. Shurq Elalle is another example - she is cursed, and even after death by drowning her soul is still connected with body.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Crokus is an absolutely lethal assassin and knife fighter, whose skills surpass people who were Badass in the first book. He just keeps ending up in fights with immortals, demigods and monsters.
He finally gets to take on opponents in his weight class in Toll The Hounds, and shines.
Pet the Dog: Rhulad is a half insane emperor wielding cursed sword, but he really wants to be a good ruler, has sort of friendship with Udinaas, and gives his brother Fear Mayen back.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Or buried in a barrow. Or chained to a monolith. Or captured by a House of the Azath. Grave robbing and amateur archeology are dangerous indeed in this world. Played straight, but also subverted at least once, in that the big, unstoppable evil gods rose... to be dispatched within minutes by the new Badasses who have arisen to replace them
Stupid Neutral: The Forkrul Assail are now functionally extinct, in no small part due to their randomly switching sides during the war between Jaghut and T'lam Imass to ensure balance
The Chew Toy: Toc the Younger, oh, so much. He lost his eye, was sucked into the magic black hole, thrown away half year later, KILLED, resurrected in a new body (which also hadn't one eye), KILLED AGAIN, resurrected as an undead, and forced to make his best friend his enemy. Let's face it, Steven Erikson propably hates him.
The Messiah: Trull Sengar. Is also the point of a Shield Anvil
Itkovian: "You are in pain. I will embrace you now..."
Who Wants to Live Forever?: The "naturally immortal species are immune to this" angle is subverted with the Tiste Andii; also, the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths is an example of the Blessed with Suck variety.
Non naturally immortal beings vulnerability is also subverted in several cases, such as Onrack, a Tlan Imass, who doesn't find his immortality to be all that bad because "there's always something else to see"
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