Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen) [Paperback]

I read this book because I was going through books so fast, and wanted to find an epic fantasy series that would keep me occupied for a long time. The reviews on Amazon - both positive and negative - decided me.

A lot of people have said this book is confusing and hard to follow. I didn't find that, but you probably will if you try to read too fast. There are no wasted words, no lengthy explanations of "what has gone before." There's a vast history behind this story and its characters, but you are only told as much as you need to know right now, and what you are told is slipped in and can easily go unnoticed as the plot moves forward.

There are a lot of characters, and some are developed more thoroughly than others. There simply isn't space in 750 pages to show every character learning and growing.

The story moves forward at a good pace. In that sense, it reads more like a moderately paced thriller than an epic fantasy. But there's nothing thriller-like about the content. The world is filled with magic, and the gods move amongst mortals and interfere in their lives. If you prefer magic to be subtle, this book probably isn't for you, but if you're like me, you'll love the creativity in this world's unique system of magic.

Some people have complained that this book is a prologue to the rest of the series. It is. There are a lot of questions left unanswered. But that doesn't really matter. It's also a story in its own right - the tale of the Malazan Empire's attempts to take control of the last remaining free city on the continent of Genabackis. That story reaches its conclusion as all the threads come together in a dramatic climax.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. I've used Amazon for years, but never been inspired to write a review before.

Have I found what I was looking for? Oh, yes. This epic fantasy series is going to keep me occupied and happy for a long time

Simply Stunning!

Gardens of the Moon is the first installment (x10) of the Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series

Whilst I still search for hidden gems in the world of fantasy literature (Amazon reviews really contribute to this), I believe I have now read all the great authors that there are out there, both past and present, these include the likes of Tolkien, Feist, Donaldson, LeGuin, Zelazny, Salvatore, Martin, Jordan, Gemmell, Williams, Hobb, Kay, Carey, Marillier, Abercrombie, Rothfuss and many, many, many more besides.

As a whole the Malazan Book of the Fallen is undoubtedly the greatest work of Fantasy ever written, I rate this series so highly that I will go as far as to say that it is light-years ahead of anything else in the genre (and there are lots of other great books out there)..... it is 'equally as good as the sum of the best of the rest' (I wonder who wrote that, it surely wasnt me who just made it up?).

As Steven Erikson himself says people "either hate the series or love it". I obviously fall into the latter. There are many reviews here alongside mine that reflect much the same love or hate as the author has noted. So I'd like to give my own slant to these. Even if I can only convert one more person to read the entire series it will have been worth it. If I can convert just one person who has attempted to read it before, but then gave up, then even better.

There are two main areas that any prospective reader should consider before reading this book and the series:

- Treat these books as being totally unique. Within parts these books will compare to other authors and their creations, but that is inevitable in a story of this scope and magnitude. Please dont read this book if you expect it to be like 'Tolkien' or 'Feist' or whoever, you may well be disappointed and miss out and become distracted on what this story is really about.

- These books are intricately clever and written as an entire story, to understand the greatness of Erikson's achievement you really need to read them all, treat it as one complete story, and then possibly read it again. Whilst the books can be read individually dont be put off by reading any one particular, they all importantly contribute to the overall plot, by book 10 this becomes abundantly clear. The reward you will experience is like no other.

I will be perfectly frank. My first reading of Gardens of the Moon was one of.... 'it was OK, certainly different, good enough for me to read the next in series', I certainly wasnt blown away. Progressing to and reading book number 2, Deadhouse Gates.... 'this is brilliant, no it cant possibly end like this, aaarrggghhhh, whats going on, I have to read on, probably the best book I've ever read (even though I threw it across the room at the end)'. By book 3, Memories of Ice..... I got a third of the way through and gave up. I simply needed a break, these books were unlike anything I had read before. As other reviewers have commented there is no pre-amble, you are dropped straight into the fantasy world, you have to work at understanding the story, it is not drip-fed to you. I picked up Memories of Ice a year or so later and it was then an effortless read, brilliant, I then caught up on all the others published at that time and then started queueing with the rest for each new installment in the series to be published.

I will review the whole series under book 10, The Crippled God, and attempt to explain why it is so damned good.

But for those who have yet to read this masterpiece and who are thinking of doing so I will say the following:

- Be prepared to be blown away by the end
- Be prepared to be mentally challenged and not drip-fed a story
- Be prepared to re-read the whole series
- Be prepared to laugh your socks off
- Be prepared to be outraged
- Be prepared to be humbled
- Be prepared to fall in love with many of the characters
- Be prepared to accept that many characters are neither good or bad
- Be prepared to accept that there is no one person around which the series is built
- Be prepared to be haunted by the beauty of the series
- Be prepared to accept that these are 'Tales' of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, not necessariliy the full blown story of every character contained within it
- Be prepared to wake up at night thinking through what you read the previous evening
- Be prepared to be tantalised by glimpses of past cultures and civilisations
- Be prepared to unashamedly cry your eyes out for so many different reasons
- Be prepared to be unable to pick-up and read another book for several months afterward

Oh, and one more...

- Be prepared to read some Chapters the size of novels

Time for me to get Kindle versions of the series for a third read of the series (the paperbacks are worn out) and intersperse the reading with anything new in the genre I can lay my hands on.

Simply Stunning

When I bought this book, I was dreading having to look up stuff in the index at every page, or not being able to understand what was going on in one great long, 700 page battle. That was the impression I had got of the series from its critics. However, others, whilst admitting that it was complex, could not praise it enough. I thought I'd give it a try.
Well, I'm simply blown away. What an amazing start to what promises to be an enormous project that will be soon seen as one of the top fantasy series ever!
Yes, Steven Erikson (and Ian Cameron Esslemont, the co-creator of the world of the Malazan empire) have imagined a world far beyond anything that's ever been written about before. Yes, sometimes it can be hard to remember exactly which Ascendant Cotillion is (though perhaps if you're confused over that one, you've skipped a few pages!) but generally if there is a point when you think, "Hang on, who's Apsalar again?" there is a very useful list of characters at the start which helped me get a few things straight - but I never needed to do this with anything important. If there was something I was unsure about, it would be a minor God, whose name was mentioned in passing. Erikson writes so skillfully about this complex world that I had next to no difficulty remembering what was what.
The pace is fast throughout the book, helped by the style of the book. You see events from many different characters points of view, from both 'sides' (similar to George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire) and you come to care for the characters.
You do NOT get spoon fed the story and details of the world. You get dropped into the story, and you pick up stuff as you go along. The way the reader has to work some things out and wonder about others is deliberate, and I feel one of the book's strengths - instead of spending a few hundred pages introducing you to the world, there is a few pages of prologue, which give you some idea of the start of the Malazan Empire, and introduce you to some of the main characters - and then the pace immediately picks up, dragging you into the story straight away.
As you can see, I feel that this will be an astounding series, and I've heard that the sequel is even better that the first book (doesn't seem possible!)
If you want a nice, easy read, where you don't really have to think too much to understand whats happening, don't chose this book. But if you want an epic, original and unbelievably engrossing new series, what are you waiting for?