It's going to be short a review. The first book of Malazan series was hard to get into. For about first half of the book I wasn't enjoying it much, it was pretty confusing and I didn't understand a lot of what was going on...but then it started to get easier to read and I finally it was making some sense. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it wasn't exactly what I call fast and easy read. In fact, I recommend taking notes while you're reading it. I couldn't bring myself to do it, and I was missing or forgetting a lot because of it. I think it's a good book for long, winter evenings... 
 Another thing is that I didn't really connect much to any of the characters. There were quite a lot of them and I feel like I barely know them, I didn't see much of a character development. But, it's the first book, so I think it's going to change. 
 But the story was pretty interesting and I liked the magic in this book. And the ending was satisfying too, so it's 4 stars from me. I will read the second book in the series, but I need a break.