Gardens of the Moon

Steven Erikson’s expansive, epic fantasy series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, begins here in Gardens of the Moon with an incredibly detailed, almost overwhelming introduction to a world at war, a world of strange magics, shadow realms, and interfering gods. The cast of characters is huge, but the book comes with an incredibly helpful guide called the Dramatis Personae, and after a while the characters you didn’t think you’d be able to tell apart become individuals you care about.

While there is so much to learn – from names to history to richly imagined magic systems – everything flows naturally; you'll learn what you need to know without feeling like you're reading a history book. Gardens of the Moon is a fantastic fantasy show more novel in its own right, though most readers agree that while the book is not weak in any way, it is the weakest of the ten titles in The Malazan Book of the Fallen, so I can't wait to read the rest of the series. I would suggest this book to anyone who loves role playing video games and epic fantasy, and I would advise them not to worry about the steep learning curve – just keep reading, pay attention, and enjoy a book unlike any you’ve read before. show less

I genuinely cannot decide if it's actually good or not. Artificially complex, lacking in suitable scale, not enough satisfying pay offs, little in the ways of actual excitement and not enough strong character work for its wide cast, whilst relying at times on cheap plot devices.

And yet somehow, it all just seems to work. Enough for me to look at book 2 at least. Many will abandon this long before anything noteworthy happens and I can't say I blame them.

It's a difficult book to recommend. There's some wonderful craftmanship going on here, but often at the sacrifice of strong storytelling. Crushed under the weight of its own ambition, the overall scale feels too small to satisfy as an epic and the sheer amount of threads that twist and show more turn at the end- throwing in more and more as the final Act unfolds - makes for a mess, with a wearying amount of feints and misdirections. But it's this breaking away from the predictable tropes that paradoxically makes it so riveting to behold. Like a car pile up that never stops adding more cars from roads you never knew existed and yet you just can't turn away from watching it happen.

If you like fantasy that is very fluently written, but heavy on intricate interwoven threads that play out like chess pieces that never seek their checkmate - with a wide cast, a solid magic system, and low levels of action - there's certainly something here to grab onto. Whilst far better fantasy books out there exist, I suspect the cardinal sin of needing to buy into the wider series for this all to finally click into place is what is needed.

For now though despite all its flaws, I finished it and I am invested enough to explore onwards to see how things unfold as a saga show less

I've just finished reading this book for the third time. As much great writing as there is out there that I've yet to read, that fact alone should tell just how much I enjoy Erikson's writing and this fantastic world that he's created.

The coin is in spin, and power draws power to Darujhistan; the lone city of Genabackis which has yet to fall to the Malazan Empire. A confluence of events, colored by the interference of gods both young and old, leads to a fantastic, if not altogether unanticipated, climax. With this opening gambit of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson introduces a host of characters spanning light to dark, and a vast and original world of sorcery, war, and intrigue. I remember being less than impressed with show more Gardens the first time I read it, not least of all because of it's scale and the difficulty I had keeping track of all the interweaving events. I only truly came to appreciate Erikson's talent after having read Deadhouse Gates. Coming back now to start the series afresh, it's wonderful to pick up on more of this episode's important and subtle foreshadowing of what is to come. The first time through, it might be frustrating trying to keep the strange characters and place names straight, but it's well worth it for lovers of epic fantasy. Erikson is easily my favorite contemporary fantasy author - far outpacing GRRM - and I'm excited to be reading Deadhouse again next. show less

Finally read this after being pestered for years by friends (wasn't resisting, it just never made it to the top of the pile until now). Great stuff - a rich and compelling world; complex, well-drawn characters; and clear, solid prose that drives along a big story with lots of interwoven threads.

I guess I just wish I had realized how many books were in the series before I read this.

Update 2021: 10 years after my first read, I decided I really should plow my way through this massive series of massive books. And I figured I might as well re-read the first couple to refresh my memory. I love this even more than the first time through, and wow, this world is deep and complex.

So, there's a baddie sorceress woman who's made herself Empress, some other unsavory sorcerer-types who want to depose her, a handful of soldiers of various types, a bunch of fighting, and...? Other...stuff? Honestly, I couldn't be arsed to pay the attention needed to sort through all of this business. I like high fantasy. I really, very much do. But this was nuts. Erikson tries to set out his world building all at once in a big brain dump right in the first few pages and it's just too much. Then he seems to realize how unwieldy that is and around page 10 starts trying to lay more of it out in the hint-hint-nudge-nudge way (having characters make off-hand references to geographic and ethnic details and then just leaving them there as show more foreshadows to be sorted out later), but this is also at best clumsy and unwieldy and at worst just very much more confusing-making. If any of the characters or plot details had grabbed me, I would have tried to shuffle on, but by 50 pages in, nothing had yet seemed worth the massive effort it feels like it would take to sort it all out. And that shouldn't really be my job as the reader, so yeah. I'm jumping ship. show less

Steven Erikson expects a lot from his readers. He dumps you in the middle of the action with a cast that spans well beyond even George R.R. Martin or Robert Jordan, with characters whose loyalties are torn between multiple sides, and eons of history waiting to be unearthed. It is bold, unforgiving, and difficult. It is a book many need to read more than once; unfortunately, its thickness requires a huge time sink. The world building is top notch and engaging.

Unfortunately, the characters get lost in the plot. Gods come and go - the proverbial eagles of JRR Tolkien: either saving major characters from ultimate disaster at the last second or resurrecting them post it. There are plot lines interwoven that make little sense even at the end: show more Tattersail and the crazy puppet mage comes to mind. These lines may be tidied up later, but who knows when: this is a 10 book series with another author writing and prequels on the way. It could take awhile. show less

I tried this book when I got it on Christmas day, anxious to see what all the recommendations were for. I made it to page 100 or so before giving up. A month or two later I was lurking on a forum and came to a forum comparing Erickson to George R. R. Martin. This alone was enough to make me try again; this time, I got to page 200 or so before putting it down. Then, in the middle of July, I was on a blog run by somebody whose view I always agree with. Said blogger was raving about GARDENS OF THE MOON, and I tried it once again. Third time turned out to be the charm.

From the get-go the book is very unique, and it's one of those things you'll probably either love or hate. We meet tons of new characters in a world we've never experienced, show more filled with complex politics and even more complex magic systems. As confusing as this can be, it's certainly better than a three page infodump.

The first 200-250 pages are nothing if not complicated. By the end of the first part, I was finally beginning to see what was happening, and by page 300 I was utterly immersed. The plot is unformulatic, filled with twists, and expertly handled by Erickson, who obviously can write.

Trying to sum up the plot of this novel is difficult, so I won't try. It's original. That's all you need to know.

GARDENS OF THE MOON is a fantastic read, gaining momentum as it goes until the climax (which you wouldn't think is possible, based on what comes before it), which is utterly superb. Can't wait for Book Two. show less