Jody 's Reviews > Gardens of the Moon

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 it can be overwhelming. I say this not to dissuade you. Just to prepare you for the immense awesomeness of this book.

Erikson wastes no time dropping you into the action from the first page. The Malazan army has layed seige to the Genabackis city of Pale, but the empress has her sights set on a bigger goal. The city of Darujhistan. This is where most of the events of this book take place, and everyone from gods, mortals, mages, and Ascendants want to get involved.

"If ever there was a dire convergence of great forces, it was now, and in this place. The gods were descending to the mortal soil to do battle, shapings were being forged of flesh and bone, and the blood of sorcery now boiled with madness born of inevitable momentum."

As I said before the amount of characters in this book is huge, but it really wasn't as hard to keep up with everyone as I thought it would be.
Erikson does a good job grouping the characters and giving most of them unusual names that are hard to forget. Names like Whiskeyjack, Quick Ben, and Kruppe.

Erikson's ability to shape multilayered characters is genius. There are so many different personalities in this book. From the weird and crazy narrative of Kruppe to the powerful and mysterious Anomander Rake and everyone in between. I have my favorites, but they all stand out at some point in the story.

The book is broken down into 7 sections, also called books. Each book is proceeding the last, so there is no missed time in between. The first few books are mostly sectioned with different sets of characters. This helps in getting used to all of them when they converge later in the story.

There are many different powers at work throughout the book, and some of the gods and Ascendants like to be right in the middle of the action. In most stories you have two sides, good and bad. That is not the case here. Almost everyone has their own agenda, and will do what they need to survive, or influence someone to accomplish their goal.

"What I did was merciful. I used her, yes, but she knew it not. Can the same be said for you? Tell me, is knowing your being used better than not knowing?"

Needless to say I loved almost every aspect of this book. It really is a beautiful read. Not just the action and immense story line, but the writing itself is amazing. I have more Erikson quotes written down in one book than I do in the last 10 books all together. That being said, I will list a couple more of my favorites before closing.

"I'd hate to think," Kalam said, from the bed, "that evil was real, that it existed with a face as plain as the next man's."

"Do you blame the knife, or the hand wielding it?"

My only regret is that I haven't read these books sooner. I strongly urge everyone to give this series a try. You never know when you may just pick up your next favorite book that has been there all along. Just waiting on you!

5 stars *****