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Gardens of the Moon

(Malazan Book of the Fallen #1)

Steven Erikson (Goodreads Author)

3.88 · Rating details · 94,933 ratings · 5,701 reviews

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

F ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 657 pages

Published January 2005 by Tor Books (first published April 1999)

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Start your review of Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1)

Dec 15, 2008 seak rated it it was amazing

Recommended to seak by: Sffworld.com

Shelves: reread, 2013

Why Read The Malazan Book of the Fallen, or A Love Note to Steven Erikson (Okay, not really the latter)

If you've even attempted to read Gardens of the Moon, the first book in the 10 book epic that is the Malazan Book of the Fallen, you'll see very quickly that you're not given much as a reader. It's confusing, it's complicated, it's full of mysteries and myriad of characters and magics that you can easily become overwhelmed. Not to mention, Gardens of the Moon isn't nearly as well-written as the ...more

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May 16, 2011 Kelly rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-and-scifi, fiction, 20th-century-postwar-to-late

If only I hadn’t put on that little black dress. Perhaps that would’ve saved this one for me. I mean, not only did I put on the little black dress, the one cutjusttothere. I did the hair. I put on the heels too. Everyone who has that little black dress or is dating someone who does knows what heels I mean. You guys have been in that mood where you really just want to go out- paint the town red like you’re Sinatra and are just, as they used to say of kings, in the mood to be pleased, right? Whoev If only I hadn’t put on that little black dress. Perhaps that would’ve saved this one for me. I mean, not only did I put on the little black dress, the one cutjusttothere. I did the hair. I put on the heels too. Everyone who has that little black dress or is dating someone who does knows what heels I mean. You guys have been in that mood where you really just want to go out- paint the town red like you’re Sinatra and are just, as they used to say of kings, in the mood to be pleased, right? Whoever your date is that evening will probably have to make very little effort for you to have a good time, and indeed you’re just fine with being the entertainment. I would like to state here and now that I showed up for my date with Steve Erikson with the hair and the dress and the heels in this mood. And it turns out he’s that guy. The one who will manage to irritate you no matter how many times you try to grin and change the subject, no matter how many broad hints you might help him out with. As with most dates you’ve gathered information on solely from the internet and well-meaning friends, he turns up late, it turns out he has lied about his height, is awkwardly insistent on telling you excruciatingly uninteresting stories the entire night while not asking you a single question about yourself, and then is confused when you do not want to see him again.

Seriously, I PUT ON HEELS FOR THIS, ERIKSON. (Somehow that’s always the most insulting part, isn’t it?)

Everyone told me you were great! This was supposed to be my happy fun vacation time with a happy fun book that I could geek out with my friends about and finally have something to talk about with them that did not involve Foucauldian analysis, Marxist delusions, academic drama or a thesis of any kind! But nooooo. Instead someone’s evil twin shows up and now I have to awkwardly tell all these people I like that I do not like their favorite book.

It’s just that this isn’t a good book! And not even that it's not “good” in some literary way. It is clearly not “good” in that way, and it isn’t meant to be. I don’t hold it to that standard. It does seem to me to be trying to be good in a more old fashioned way more typical for fantasy- it just wants to tell a rollicking good story. But I mean… it is a bad story. I like stories. That’s why I read fantasy, in large part- I like that feeling of the archetypal coming to life in an interesting way that shows the inner workings of the recurring characters that I see everywhere in my reading. I like that sensation of a campfire at night and a bard repeating the history of a people, with flickering flames and drama and shadows and pronouncements that you can only take seriously in that setting and which you’d feel obliged to laugh at in the morning. This is a bad story. It’s cool that Erikson doesn’t need to spend a hundred pages explaining every detail of his world to us (and given how complicated it is, thank GOD for that), but the reader shouldn’t have to stop reading many times in order to try to straighten out what’s going on, who are these random people that keep showing up, how does this new demon or magic fit into anything, and most importantly, all important, why on earth should I care?

Erikson definitely did not manage to make me care. It’s largely a function of the fact that there is such a huge cast of characters, and he spends so little time developing any of their personalities. When there is some sort of “inner reflection” by a couple of them, or “feelings”, it seems shunted in there to give his epic quest one of the elements an epic is supposed to have- it feels like he’s impatient with people being, you know, people, and would rather get back to telling me about this super cool magic battle with a demon he just invented that just popped out of nowhere. It was almost like people were necessary vehicles for him to create his fantasy world, but that cool names, and “Houses” and ranks (Son of Darkness, Knight of Darkness, Queen of Light) were the real point of the whole thing. People are there for him to be able to have fights. Honestly? It seemed like it was kind of constructed like an RPG game a lot of the time. Here is an action sequence. After this, your hero may explore this world and pick up coins and treasure to increase his value, there is an epic quest, but you can choose to get sidetracked by a bunch of others that involve various gods and spirits. Then in between each quest there’s that part where the game stops to give you an expository scene that advances the plot and you just watch, and then you take control back and go on to the next action sequence. Eventually you come back to the big quest and kill off the Big Bad and YAY YOU WIN! I can certainly see the appeal of this construction as a game, but I think as a book it doesn’t work so well, at least, not for me.

It certainly didn’t help that in addition to the off putting construction and the poor character development, the dialogue was absolutely laughable (incredibly stereotypically exactly what satirists make bad fantasy writing sound like), the plot was ridiculous, he pulled a new thing out of his ass every five pages because… well.. because... His world building was incomplete, too. It felt like you could never trust it because he could just change it on you a minute later because he felt like it. He doesn’t hold himself to any rules. It’s like when you’re trying to make up an excuse on the fly for why you were late for something: “I forgot my keys, and then I got caught in a traffic jam, and then I passed that and there was some truck that had dumped bunnies on the roadway and I had to help save the poor things, and then I was almost here when all of a sudden Elvis appeared from the dead, riding an elephant and… well that’s why I’m late and its totally okay!” There’s no suspense because the main characters are sure to be resurrected (the alternate dimension rebirth had me laughing so hard I was crying), and the bad ones are either off screen, introduced late, or dumb. There’s some attempt at shades of grey with one character (the Adjunct) but he tells me what the point is, straight out, about five times, just to be sure that I get it, and its not that interesting a point anyway so it kind of ruins it. I liked the climactic end battle, but I swear to you even while that battle was going on, he was introducing new magic and people and not just going with the hundreds he already had after 600 pages of setting things up. If an author feels the need to do that instead of relying on the payoff from the 600 pages he already has… not good news. Not good news at all.

I don’t know, I almost kind of feel bad saying all this. It feels like I’m making fun of someone who’s just so excited to tell me about all this cool stuff he thought of that he forgot to put it in a coherent order. It doesn’t mean that the individual ideas he thinks of can’t be cool, he just hasn’t figured out the other stuff he needs to make it interesting as well as cool. But still… lest we forget. HEELS, ERIKSON. HEELS.

Yeah, still not over that. Next date, if there is a next date (I’m sensing some peer pressure coming my way from my crafty friends), I’m showing up in sweats, half tired and in the mood to watch reality TV. Something tells me things might go better that way.
...more

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Jul 31, 2018 Petrik rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: epic fantasy fans

I have a Booktube channel now! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/petrikleo

Here we go. This is my first review for Steven Erikson’s highly acclaimed epic fantasy series: Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Malazan Book of the Fallen has been in my TBR pile for one year seven months now. I’ve heard countless amazing things about the series, but the sizes, the fame of the complexities, the need for extra focus, the commitment, and the elitist jerks of the series have made me postpone starting it for a ...more

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Oct 13, 2017 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kindle-own, fantasy-all, audio, own, paperback

OMG! (Bloody Hell if I don’t finish this series!!)

I loved this book soooo much!!

"Anomander Rake, Lord of the Tiste Andii, who are the souls of Starless Night. Rake, the Mane of Chaos. That’s who the Moon’s lord is, and you’re pitting four High Mages and a single cadre against him."

There are things I don't understand but I have some lovely Goodreads friends I can go to if I need answers.

Also, this is a series I will be able to read over and over and find new tidbits! And, I did understand t ...more

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Mar 03, 2017 Lady Luna. ✨ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: badassery, favorites, grimdark

full review now up

5/5

Buddy read with my soul sister and my pals at BB&B

“Ambition is not a dirty word. Piss on compromise. Go for the throat.”

So I have stared at my phone screen for approx 96 hours trying to think of a review for this and I'm still left speechless, so I have vomited up some words for y'all to enjoy, description

if you want a proper review check Eriksons GR page there's only 3,000 of them...

“Too many regrets. Lost chances—and with each one passing the less human we al

...more

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May 15, 2020 Mark Lawrence added it

About ten years ago, around the time my first book was published, I pulled this off our shelves at home as we left the house to go to the accident & emergency department with my disabled daughter, who was having a seizure.

I had never heard of the book or the author before. I read a hundred pages or so in the small hours of the morning in a noisy, brightly lit A&E department. I didn't like it at all. The style didn't agree with me and a great number of characters were coming at me with very litt ...more

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Jan 23, 2019 Dana Ilie rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Dana by: Moglan Radu

Shelves: fantasy

I began my journey into the Malazan series in a similar manner that I’m sure some others have. I was sure I’d fall on the side of those who didn’t like this. The reviews are so polarising, and so many people talk about how difficult this series is. I don’t have the time or energy for that, but all of my friends are reading or have already read this. Am I really going to be the only one who hasn’t?
Then I thought: maybe I’ll just read the first one, this world sounds so interesting, I feel like I’ ...more

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Dec 18, 2013 Markus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, malazan, 2014, favourites

"Now these ashes gave grown cold, we open the old book.
These oil-stained pages recount the tales of the Fallen,
a frayed empire, words without warmth. The hearth
has ebbed, its gleam and life's sparks are but memories
against dimming eyes - what cast my mind, what hue my
thoughts as I open the Book of the Fallen
and breathe deep the scent of history?
Listen, then, to these words carried on that breath.
These tales are the tales of us all, again yet again.
We are history relived and that is all, witho ...more

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Jan 31, 2015 TS Chan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: malazan, re-read, dr-reading-challenge, favorites

Gardens of the Moon is the grand overture to Malazan Book of the Fallen, providing just a glimmer of what this massive, grimdark epic fantasy tale has to offer, which is best described below in the author's own words.

"Now these ashes have grown cold, we open the old book.
These oil-stained pages recount the tales of the Fallen,
a frayed empire, words without warmth. The hearth
has ebbed, its gleam and life's sparks are but memories
against dimming eyes - what cast my mind, what hue my
though
...more

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Jan 08, 2018 ❄️BooksofRadiance❄️ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fantasy-sci-fi

Now THIS is what I call a pleasant surprise.

I’m very tempted to jump right onto book two but

First order of business: recharge brain battery.

~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<~~~~~~<<<<<<~~~~~

Let’s... DO THIS!

...more

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Feb 26, 2011 mark monday rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-modern

i feel like i'm being pretty generous in giving this 3 stars. okay, it is my good deed for 2011. now don't say i never did nuthin' for you, steven erikson!

the cons: so much, where do i even start. (1) the dialogue is a joke, a sad flailing uncomfortable joke, the kind that just goes on and on and i start to look away from the joke teller in embarrassment. corny corn, beyond belief. (2) and the characterizations - so flat! so trite. and when they weren't trite - just entirely unrealistic. there a i feel like i'm being pretty generous in giving this 3 stars. okay, it is my good deed for 2011. now don't say i never did nuthin' for you, steven erikson!

the cons: so much, where do i even start. (1) the dialogue is a joke, a sad flailing uncomfortable joke, the kind that just goes on and on and i start to look away from the joke teller in embarrassment. corny corn, beyond belief. (2) and the characterizations - so flat! so trite. and when they weren't trite - just entirely unrealistic. there are literally no stakes to the character of Paran because he literally has no character. the attempt to establish him as a speaks-his-mind kinda guy falls totally flat when you see him act like a jackass to the number 2 most powerful person in the land and then to some kind of Master of the Assassins. he also acts like a jackass to GODS. there is a difference between admirable pluckiness and the kind of bizarre behavior that is a sign of mental unbalance. (3) i hate when non-human species act like humans in costume. that is lazy writing. or unimaginative writing, take your pick. this happens with at least a couple non-human species.

the pros: the imagination on display. except for characterization, erikson's imagination is actually a little breath-taking. this is a fascinating and incredibly complex world. so many fertile concepts, just one after another, almost overwhelming at times. for example: an insane wizard trapped in the body of a puppet, running around various dimensions... about a half dozen non-human species, many of whom seem genuinely alien (the two i mentioned above being the notable exceptions)....a great sense of scope, of so many larger things happening throughout so many places... a floating moon palace! the world took a while to understand, but slowly but surely i was taken in and reading the novel turned from a frustrating experience to, in the last third, a truly pleasurable one. the last part of the novel was read in a big rush - i felt like i read my eyes out that night. in the end, despite my issues, i am now really looking forward to reading more of this series. besides, depth of character & excellence of dialogue are not absolutely necessary for my own enjoyment.

also, the author clearly favors larger women. two big ladies are represented as very attractive, enticing even. that was unusual to read and i loved it. as far as the ladies go, i think erikson must have great taste! ...more

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Mar 11, 2017 Choko rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-grim

My second read leads me to believe that this is a series that only gets better with re-reading!!! I find myself needing to bump my rating this time to

*** 4.44 ***

so it isn't full 5 stars - this way I have space to bump it more the next time I revisit it:):):)

A buddy re-read with the folks at FBR! Because once is never enough when it comes to Malazan!!!

"..."Tell me, Tool, what dominates your thoughts?"
The Imass shrugged before replying. "I think of futility, Adjunct."
"Do all Imass think about f ...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing

"Every decision you make can change he world. The best life is the one the gods don't notice. You want to live free, boy, live quietly."

Great advice anytime, but even better advice when your world is in a constant state of war. Living large as the younger generation used to say. I'm sure I'm at least a few years out of date with that term. I think someone "living large" is exactly who the universe is most attracted to, not that it is above toying with the occasional poor bastard who just hap ...more

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Nov 23, 2016 Orient rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of epic fantasy

Recommended to Orient by: Evgeny

Shelves: entertaining, favorites, hero, november-read, desperado, recs-by-evgeny, fantasy, historical, killer

Reread 2018.01.04-26.

Wow, loved this book even more. It was awesome meeting the characters I love from the first read, everything got clearer and all the tiny clever bits which weren't spotted the first time - blew my mind 😱💜

Original review 2016.11.12-23

Crokus studied Moon's Spawn instead...
'Do you see its oceans?' Apsalar asked.
'What?' He turned.
'Its oceans. Grallin's Sea. That's the big one. The Lord of the Deep Waters living there is named Grallin. He tends vast, beautiful underwater garde ...more

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May 23, 2018 Daniel Greene rated it it was amazing

I get the feeling the entire Malazan series will benefit from a reread. I want to sit on this one and think before putting out a review sometime this week.

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Mar 03, 2018 Mario the lone bookwolf rated it really liked it

Shelves: erikson-steven

A unique series with the only flaw of being so complex that one really gets into flow in the second and third parts when the scenery is unfolding. Before, it´s close to a bit of work to get into this colossal epos. The best example for this is the rating, that gets amazingly high after the first part.

I am still very vividly remembering reading the first novel and permanently trying to internalize the plot, constellations, and context, something I automated to recall elements of books for a longe A unique series with the only flaw of being so complex that one really gets into flow in the second and third parts when the scenery is unfolding. Before, it´s close to a bit of work to get into this colossal epos. The best example for this is the rating, that gets amazingly high after the first part.

I am still very vividly remembering reading the first novel and permanently trying to internalize the plot, constellations, and context, something I automated to recall elements of books for a longer time, to dream and think about them and to get beamed away quicker as soon as I continue reading. In this case, it was really difficult, because there is so much, so many details, simply too much complexity and I don´t get it why Erikson didn´t distribute the amount of infodump in portions over the first two or three books. I understand everyone who says that she/ he doesn´t want to continue the series after the first part or even doesn´t finish it, because it´s just exhausting to read it and nobody would expect that it gets so much better. This obstacle was so extremely unnecessary, especially because Erikson visited the Iowa Writers Workshop and should know better.

There are so detailed and long descriptions of the world, the characters, the action, that it reminds me of some of those dozens of pages long description of super battles of Peter F Hamilton or G R R Martins´ love for details.

The authors' professions, anthropology and archeology, might play a role in the uniqueness of this circle, one of those once in a time wonders when the right person has the right idea and focuses all effort on creating one big creation of a world.

I am tinkering with continuing with the fourth part, but next to being extremely complex and well written, those novels are also pretty good doorstoppers and a few thousand pages aren´t an easy ride if one has to stay concentrated all the time.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph... ...more

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Mar 12, 2016 Mayim de Vries rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Chapter 24: I am finished. On many levels.*

Chapter 23: I wish to say I understand everything. Alas, I do not.

Chapter 22: The most amazing thing about this novel is not the fact that it gives you the whole galaxies of protagonists and plotlines. The whole genius that has shaken so many readers with tremors of awe (count me in!) lies in how masterfully each of those shining stars is connected with the others and in how many minuscule surfaces of seemingly random details this is reflected.

Chapter ...more

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Mar 24, 2016 Samir rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

25.01.2018. Re-read update:

A brilliant introduction to the greatest epic fantasy series ever. A bold statement isn’t it? And a true one, as well.

''Now these ashes have grown cold,
we open the old book.
These oil-stained pages recount the tales of the Fallen,
a frayed empire, words without warmth.
The hearth has ebbed, its gleam and life's sparks are but memories against dimming eyes - what cast my mind, what hue my thoughts as I open the Book of the Fallen and breathe deep the scent of hi

...more

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Mar 10, 2017 Jody rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, malazan, grim-dark

This was a buddy read with the gang at BB&B.

Gardens of the Moon is the first book in Steven Erikson's epic Malazan book of the Fallen series. The word epic may be overused when describing some books, but that is not the case here. Erikson has created one of the most vast world's I have ever read. The amount of characters, magic system, history, plots and subplots is on a level of its own. My advice when reading this is just go with the flow of the book. If you try to remember every detail i ...more

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Apr 15, 2012 David Sven rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dark-fantasy, fantasy, favourites

This is my second reading of Gardens of the Moon. I’ve long suspected that the best way to read Erikson’s Malazan series is to read it again. I can now confirm that suspicion has been proved correct as far as this book goes. I loved rereading this book. There were so many times reading the series initially that I felt certain information and story arcs and characters just came out of left field. But having read this first book again I am astounded at the sheer level and volume of foreshadowing c ...more

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May 26, 2015 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, 2016-shelf, worldbuilding-sf

What a delightful larger-than-life fantasy novel!

I was prepared to assume that it was going to be filled with an army of confused characters mired in grit and blood and that I shouldn't expect too much from the first novel because the series gets seriously good later.

I might have managed my expectations a bit too much, because I was delighted, instead. I've been a fan of the Final Fantasy RPGs since the first one, so I'm quite used to a lot of these tropes, plus I'm also a fan of the Cthulhu myt What a delightful larger-than-life fantasy novel!

I was prepared to assume that it was going to be filled with an army of confused characters mired in grit and blood and that I shouldn't expect too much from the first novel because the series gets seriously good later.

I might have managed my expectations a bit too much, because I was delighted, instead. I've been a fan of the Final Fantasy RPGs since the first one, so I'm quite used to a lot of these tropes, plus I'm also a fan of the Cthulhu mythos, so godlings and demons raining down from the moon and infecting dreams, elder gods breaking through to the waking realm, and the dying souls of a race of immortals willing to give up everything for a final rest is all pretty much awesome. I'm ready to flip a coin and kill some doggies. :)

The admittedly large cast of characters didn't seem at all confused, either. I rooted for all of them at different times and I was very willing and able to hang my hat on the magic system with all it's Warrens and barrows and subdivisions and unique associations of interested polities. (I jest, I jest. I really enjoy the idea that magic is associated with space outside of regular space, as implied in the naming system.)

Best of all, though, other than the fairly cool poetry and very well thought-out world-building that's obviously much, much deeper than what we see here, was the fact that there was so much damn magic! I think I enjoyed learning how it worked as much as I enjoyed watching it blow stuff up. I was duly creeped out by the puppets, the abilities manifested by soul-hopping, the shambling dead, Luck, and so much more. My interest was definitely piqued and I'm rearing to go.

I'm an old uber-fan of WoT and I've tasted quite a few other series. The one thing I see the most connection between, when it comes to like/like, is Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives. That's high praise for both series, by the way. If you like one, you'll like both, even. :)

I'm going to continue with this series with great joy. ...more

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Sep 25, 2014 Petros Triantafyllou rated it it was amazing

Loved this to pieces. From characters and setting, to prose and pace, every single aspect of the book was magnificent. If I could give it 6 stars, I would.
There's no point of reviewing such a popular book though, so I'll simply share some of my thoughts for people who have already read it. Spoilers ahead!

PLOT
While things seemed complicated at first, I knew that they would come together in the end, so I enjoyed trying to puzzle stuff together and figure out everyone's motives and whatnot. Unfort ...more

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Mar 09, 2017 ✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, go-me, br-2017, i-must-be-mad, outrageously-overhyped-fishsauce, my-friends-corrupted-my-soul, not-even-scared, 2017, dnf-graveyard, machalo-tbr-cleaning-challenge-2017

☣️ And Thus I Signed My Death Warrant ~~DNF~~ Buddy Read (ATISMDWBR™) with some lovely people ~~of slightly despicable book taste~~ over at BB&B ☣️

💀 DNF at 75%. No comment and stuff.

~~Friendly~~ warning: grab a snack and get a drink, this whole lot of nuthin' should take a while.

➽ This crappy non-review is dedicated to all those Brave Little Barnacles (BLB™) out there who went the nefarious way and had the audacity to NOT luuurrrrrve this book. Consider my subaquatic kingdom a safe haven from the Erikson Ho ...more

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Nov 08, 2015 Apatt rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

A year or so ago someone PM'ed me on Goodreads out of the blue, practically demanding why I haven't read the Malazan series. I was simultaneously pleased and annoyed, the former because somebody seems to think I am some kind of SF/F guru who can be presumed to have read every worthwhile book in these genres, the latter because it's a bit rude init? Still, a backhanded compliment is better than no compliment, or an actual application of somebody’s backhand on my person.

Gardens of the Moon has a ...more

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Feb 20, 2017 carol. marked it as don-t-count

Recommended to carol. by: lots and lots of people

Shelves: abandoned-with-prejudice, classic

Malazan is an astonishingly great book.* Tremendous. Many of my friends love Malazan, giving this first book in the series an average 3.81 rating (way to bring it down, Sarah Anne and Becky!), and I love it too. It was great. Hugely great.

Erikson takes the time to build the sense of each character, the workings of their daily life and the way they continued to develop over the course of the book was exquisitely detailed. The plot quickly ramps into action, with events building to a frantic pace ...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Evgeny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

I like this book a lot. The author says he was inspired by Glen Cook's Black Company, and it shows. This is not an easy read. There are a lot of names to keep track of, places, races, etc. The glossary of major players in the beginning helps a lot; my advice for new readers: use it every time you encounter a new name, or forgot who this once mentioned person is. It does not help that as soon as a subplot gets really exciting (fortunately, this happens a lot), the author switches to another, much ...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Kaora rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, good-fantasy-series

This was a tough book to get into.

There is no spoon-feeding here. You are thrown into the world that Erikson created with no back story or explanation. Although there is a glossary of important terms and people. I suggest putting it to good use, like I did.

Nothing is clear from the start, but once you start getting invested and reading between the lines, you start to notice how truly amazing this book is. There are a lot of characters, and despite finishing this mammoth book I feel like I have b ...more

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Aug 01, 2008 Jamie rated it liked it

Gardens of the Moon is the first in Steven Erikson's gargantuan and oddly named fantasy series, Malazan Book of the Fallen. What's odd about it is that it took me THREE tries to get through this first volume. The first two times I tried, I got one or two hundred pages in and just lost interest, mainly because I was confused and didn't know what was going on. But the third time I tried it just clicked and I enjoyed it. Figuring out why this is the case took some thought, and I believe it boils do Gardens of the Moon is the first in Steven Erikson's gargantuan and oddly named fantasy series, Malazan Book of the Fallen. What's odd about it is that it took me THREE tries to get through this first volume. The first two times I tried, I got one or two hundred pages in and just lost interest, mainly because I was confused and didn't know what was going on. But the third time I tried it just clicked and I enjoyed it. Figuring out why this is the case took some thought, and I believe it boils down to two basic and interconnected reasons.

First, Erikson has an extreme "show, don't tell" kind of style. The very first chapter dumps you head over heels into the middle of an epic storyline full of action, with hardly any exposition at all. There's no narrator saying "Okay, there's this nation called the Malazan Empire, and they've been engaging in a protracted military campaign against a group of allied Free Cities. We're going to enter the story as the Malazan forces prepare to attack one of these cities, which has formed an alliance with this one badass dude who controls a flying fortress. Now, let's talk about the structure of the Malazan military..."

No, none of that. Instead, after a brief prologue where you eavesdrop on a few characters, you get action action action and you're left to yourself to figure it all out by paying close attention and making your own inferences based on what's said and done. This is mainly what put me way off balance on my first two attempts at reading this tome.

The offsetting effects of show-don't-tell style are exacerbated by something else Erikson does: he eschews many of the typical fantasy staples that usually act as guideposts to new readers. There's a reason why not many books stray from the formula of a hapless youngster being apprenticed to an elder wizard or military veteran or adventurer or whatever who guides him through the world that has been opened up to both him and the reader. It allows the author to slyly provide exposition about the world by having the master explain things to the apprentice while the reader just sort of listens in. And going along with all that, other fantasy staples act as familiar sign posts and landmarks so that you don't get lost.

Not so much with Erikson. Sure, his books have wizards and dragons and dudes on horseback slinging swords around, but in general Erikson's world is different enough that you don't necessarily know what's going on, and his staunch adherence to the show-don't-tell method means you gotta figure things out on your own. What's a "warren" and what does it mean when a wizard "enters" one to perform his hocus pocus? That's not explained. Figure it out. Or don't. It's all on you, hapless reader.

But eventually I did figure enough of it out, and in time I began to see both Erikson's style and his kicking of conventions to the curb as good things. I enjoyed the story and the richness of the world that he was building. If I've got one complaint it's that at least in this book Erikson can't seem to help upping the ante with how powerful each character or threat gets. Okay, here's these really frightening and legendarily powerful Hound things and --oh, okay, this even tougher dude with a big black sword just killed three of them. Guess they weren't that tough. But this wizard is really powerful oh, no he just got stabbed in the neck by an assassin chick who's apparently even further to the right on the badassedness curve. Now here's a demon king fighting a dragon while a pissed off demigod is kicking over mountains like they were sandcastles RRRAAAWWWWOOOOEERRAAHH PEW! PEW! PEW!

After a point it borders on ridiculous, but fortunately there are a number of more mundane (and more interesting) characters to tether things down a bit. I look forward to seeing where he goes with it all in the subsequent books. ...more

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Nov 19, 2014 Robin (Bridge Four) rated it liked it

Shelves: super-sidekicks, fantastic-fantasy

2nd Read March 2017

This is still a bit of a complicated book with a lot of stuff in it and I'm glad I read it with BB&B so that we could discuss some of the things I wasn't quite picking up on.

Problem #1 again is I don't think this is a good book to try and listen too. So much is going on and there are so many PoV shifts that it doesn't matter that the narrator is really pretty good it just makes the entire thing very hard to follow. So since I'm continuing on with this series I will probably h ...more

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Jan 26, 2016 Scott Hitchcock rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: malazan, grimdark, 5-stars

The second time through what stood out to me was my own idiocy in not seeing certain things the first time through. I think the things that makes Erikson tough to figure out is the pure volume of information he's throwing at you. There's one particular reveal in book 2, which I was blown away by in the first reading, that re-reading this it was so crystal clear if I just read between the lines.

Re-reading this two years later I was also shocked at parts I had forgotten completely. Part of that w ...more

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Fantasy Buddy Reads: Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen #1) [October 10, 2020]	22	68	Oct 29, 2020 01:50AM
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About Steven Erikson

Steven Erikson

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Steven Erikson is the pseudonym of Steve Rune Lundin, a Canadian novelist, who was educated and trained as both an archaeologist and anthropologist. His best-known work is the series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/steven... ...more

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Quotes from Gardens of the Moon

“Tell me, Tool, what dominates your thoughts?'
The Imass shrugged before replying.
'I think of futility, Adjunct.'
'Do all Imass think about futility?'
'No. Few think at all.'
'Why is that?'
The Imass leaned his head to one side and regarded her.
'Because Adjunct, it is futile.” — 352 likes

“Ambition is not a dirty word. Piss on compromise. Go for the throat.” — 236 likes

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