I currently have the fourth book (
House of Chains) propped open before me right now and even though I'm this far in, I still don't get much of the finer detail that goes on, and
still get confused between the races. But it definitely gets easier as the series goes on, and there's no doubt that you can enjoy the immediate events without worrying that you're not picking up some of the smaller things. I think this is definitely a series that needs rereading, though. When I started
Gardens of the Moon, I stopped halfway through, then went back to it later and enjoyed it much more. And it also meant that when I went onto
Deadhouse Gates, I could pick up on some of the smaller details that were mentioned in the first book that I wouldn't have spotted if I'd only read
Gardens... once.
But as I say, for pure epicness the series is great. So I might get confused about who's who and who's what race, but it starts to pale into significance when you get totally engrossed in the most dramatic ending ever that appears at the end of
Deadhouse Gates, or the long, intense battles that make even you feel exhausted just reading them in
Memories of Ice. Indeed, I think this latter has been my favourite up to now. It has my favourite characters in, ones which I've grown to like (and can remember (
)) because most appeared in
Gardens... so you are more used to them and because it's just an awesome book
It also seems to be the case that things generally do twist and turn, but Erikson refuses to let you have the full details straightaway. Sometimes you only have to wait until later on in the book, sometimes later on in the series. And some of them really are big revelations, indeed....