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Gardens of the Moon: Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Unavailable
Gardens of the Moon: Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Unavailable
Gardens of the Moon: Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
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Gardens of the Moon: Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

Vast legions of gods, mages, humans, dragons and all manner of creatures play out the fate of the Malazan Empire in this first book in a major epic fantasy series

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.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.

However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand...

Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order--an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 1, 2004
ISBN9781429926584
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Gardens of the Moon: Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Author

Steven Erikson

STEVEN ERIKSON is an archaeologist and anthropologist and a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His Malazan Book of the Fallen series has met widespread international acclaim and established him as a major voice in the world of fantasy fiction. The first book in the series, Gardens of the Moon, was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award. The second novel, Deadhouse Gates, was voted one of the ten best fantasy novels of the year by SF Site. He lives in Canada.

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Reviews for Gardens of the Moon

Rating: 3.789294421410891 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,616 ratings71 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well, this is kind of a strange book.

    First off, I liked it. The final few chapters were brilliant, and the ending satisfying even though it is only the first of ten books (or nineteen, if you are unfortunate enough to read this series in german).

    My Problem with this book is not that it is overly complex (although it is), sometimes hard to understand (although it is), or the lack of explanation for a lot of things that happen (that was actually a plus for me, once I got used to it).

    So, what is my problem. To be honest, I don't know. I know that 4/5 stars feels right to me. I have no rational explanation for this (which might be because I finished it a while ago, but my PC broke so I am writing this review 200 pages into the next book).

    So, now I'm doing something I usually hate: Rating a book without giving an explanation.

    Do I recommend this book? Yes, but with a big asterisk. You have to be able to keep reading a book if you don't really like it at first. The magic of the book only begun at page 300 or 400 or so, and I was ready to give up on it several times. In the end, I'm glad I did not, and so far, I am enjoying book two. So, my recommendation: Set aside some time to get through the first 300 pages of the book in as little time as possible (not, like I did, 50 pages a day, or less). The book is not very long with its 500 pages, so even if you don't like it in the end, you still haven't lost a lot of time. And if you do, you can just keep reading an epic fantasy series that is actually finished.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Don't let the cheesy cover of the US version fool you. If you're a fan of epic fantasy this is some of the best ever published.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    (Original Review, 2002)Steven Erikson's characters are great; the reader is thrown into his world from the off, expected to follow along with who's who and what's what, and while this is initially disconcerting, I realised it was part of the experience Erikson was trying to create - confusion and chaos in the heat of battle. Relationships are already established, his characters already know who they like or dislike, there's no need for clumsy explanations in dialogue of what this magical term means or what that fantastical creature can do - the reader is expected to get on and learn the hard way, it's a bit like being in room full of people speaking French having never experienced the language before (I don't do French; never learned it). In amongst this, the names were really useful as markers and helped me remember who was who; I think sometimes the authors imply something with their character names, a certain personality or habit and sometimes there may be a connection entirely by accident. The mages had some excellent ones, 'Tattersail', 'Tayschrenn', 'Hairlock'. To me, they imply mystery and power, exactly like their respective characters. The protagonist's name, Ganoes Paran, reminded me of the word 'gallows', as he is quite a dark and cynical character, often seeing things from a humorously negative perspective - this is probably an entirely personal interpretation, but it shows you the importance of a good name. The further the reader gets into the Erikson series, the more we stumble across one of the series' greatest charms; in many of the books the plot centres around the marines of the Malazan Empire, who, without going into too much detail, were all given nicknames by the recruiting sergeant Braven Tooth. The real names of the soldiers are never mentioned, and as the plot progresses the reasons for the enigmatic nicknames become apparent, each marine living up to his new title. How Braven Tooth knows the nature of each one of his recruits remains a mystery, whether this is some form of magic is not revealed, but it is just one of the series-long threads that ties this magnificent fantasy together.I have to say I think Erikson has the edge over Martin for me. It took longer for me to get into the Malazan world, but once I did, it was a total conversion and a revelation. The first book - Gardens of the Moon - is inferior to the rest of the series in terms of writing; and Erikson just throws you into the action, with nothing explained at all. It's a little frustrating at first, but stick with it. Whatever you do, don't give up before the end of the second book, which I know is a big commitment - but totally worth it. Erikson is an archaeologist and anthropologist and (like Ursula Le Guin) uses his scholarly knowledge to good effect in his books. The level of magic used is *much* higher than in Martin; there's no use pretending you're reading anything other than fantasy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Hard book to review as the first part is just overwhelming with details and so many characters. Fortunately, the second half is better once you start to know who is who and what they're trying to achieve. But there are still many fuzzy plot points and even a bunch a new characters being thrown at you in the last new chapters. So quite an ambitious novel, but on its own, it's not great. Hopefully the next book in the series will be more enjoyable.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is Volume One of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and there are an awful lot of fallen by the time you're fifty pages into the book. There are maps that I did not find necessary, a list of Dramatis Personae which is quite necessary, and a glossary at the end which is not a frivolous addition. The Malazan Empire is either about to swallow the last holdouts against its power, or start breaking up due to imperial overreach and poor personnel management of military class necessary to its expansion. This is a complex fantasy world, with a multitude of different cultures, different species, gods taking an active role in the world, etc. What's more, the characters are reasonably complex, with a plausible mixture of good and bad tendencies in at least all the major ones, and the conflicting interests between cultures and between factions within cultures are reasonably plausible, too. If there are few too many major ones, well, that's a tendency shared by many fantasy series, and at least each of these major characters appears to be worth spending some time with.

    All of which makes it especially unfortunate that all these fairly interesting pieces didn't really come together, and left me not caring how many more volumes there are in the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I don't seem to have found this book as confusing as some other reviewers have, but I happened to have a friend well versed in all things Malazan who was likely helping me out, whether I wanted him to or not. ;)A lighter book than the following Memories of Ice, and from what portions I've read from other books, the least like a Malazan novel. Frequently compared to Game of Thrones, I would say the books series' are similar in fantasy genre, but Erikson's treatment of his content feels more subtle to me when compared with Martin's.Gardens of the Moon feels something like an introduction to the Malazan universe. I'm not far enough in the series at writing this to say for sure, but I feel that this first book shows some of Erikson's style of displaying a world still affected by circumstance. There are gods, there are heroes, prophecies, visions, etc, but not every great hero is destined to die a heroic death.It's hard to speak of the plot as it feels more like a spider web than a line. Characters are there, and they have motivations and goals of varying sorts, often personal, focused around the city of Darujhistan. Perhaps not as concise as it could be for a single book, it introduces us to characters, concepts, events, etc. that shape the rest of the series.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I'm being generous with that 2, by the way.

    Epic fantasy by Steven Erikson that bored me unconscious (really). I get it, what he's going for, and I get it, the world building and all, and I can see why people might like it or why it might win an award, but I hated it.

    And of course, I'll hear about how smart you have to be to like this book, or how Erikson makes you "work for it," but I think all of those excuses are crap.

    He starts you off by dropping you in the middle of the story with no explanation, so it's a struggle at first. I'm not a fan of that kind of writing, but whatever, I managed. The writing, itself, isn't so great, to be honest. And it took several hundred pages for me to even be mildly interested in the plot (which can happen with first books in a series, I'll give). But the worst part of the book is that not a single one of the characters engaged me at all. I do not care one whit about any of them. Some of the characters were obvious, some not quite so black and white and a little more tolerable. But if you want me to "work" for some epic fantasy series, at least bother to make me give a damn about *any* of the characters.

    I definitely won't be back for any more books in the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I got this as it was highly recommended to me by a friend who knows I enjoy epic fantasy.
    It was good. It was well-written. However, I think that in its epic scope, it loses something. I usually very much enjoy stories where you're just dropped into the action, rather than sitting through lots of exposition and explanation, but here, often, just not enough clues are given to let you actually know what's going on. There are lots (and lots) of interesting characters, but I failed to be as emotionally involved with their lives as I wanted to be. However, by the end, it picked up a bit, and I think I'll try at least the next one in the series to see if I feel more drawn in to the story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There are few true masters of epic fantasy series. George R.R. Martin is one of the more recent authors to manage to create an epic fantasy series, but the list includes the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings) and Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time). I truly love the grand scale and details the authors put into creating such worlds and stories. Recently, I found my way to buying Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon and began the quest to read through The Malazan Book of the Fallen series, one of the most celebrated epic fantasy series of all time. Gardens of the Moon has set the stage for a series of epic proportions and, on its on, is one of the best books I have ever read.Gardens of the Moon is the introductory book into the world of the Malazan Empire and Steven Erikson's amazing world. Similar to the Game of Thrones, Gardens of the Moon follows multiple storylines from multiple points of view. In one view, we follow the noble-born captain in the Malazan army, Ganoes Paran. In another, we follow the view of a young street thief named Crokus. While these two are the major characters in the book, Erikson also tells the story through other characters linked to Paran and Crokus. What is interesting about the book is how everything is connected. It is hard explaining this amazing fact without spoiling the story, but the sheer amount of thought needed to craft such a storyline is unthinkable and rivals that of the Game of the Thrones. In many ways, it surpasses it. The story is not as convoluted and vast as the political swamp that is the Game of Thrones, but it is just as suspenseful and unpredictable. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the very end and you grow to know each and every character. On its own, the story is amazing, but it also seems to be just a snippet of what is to come.The world of the Malazan Empire is created with stunning detail. Cities, towns, physical landmarks, and multitudes of animals inhabit the world created by Brooks. If you look at the maps provided before the beginning of the book, you will see just how detailed of the world he has created. Different regions or even different places are populated by a diverse group of people, similar to the mass of cultures in real life. Each group of people have unique cultural aspects that are different from others groups that bring the level of reality of the world beyond what is found in many other books like it.One of the major aspects of the book is its inclusion of magic. Gardens of the Moon and The Malazan Book of the Fallen series have a completely unique take on the aspect of magic. Brooks has blended sorcery and religion into a complex web. This blending has created a unique system of gods and magic of unparalleled complexity that I have never experienced before. The system is very confusing to explain and I do not fully understand it. This is due to the fact that the book does not even attempt to explain the rules behind such a system. It just throws you into the middle of the chaotic relationships between the gods and mortals. This problem is the only real major fault of the book, yet I find it absolutely amazing. Not only does the book pull you in with its unpredictable plot, but it stirs the curiosity to learn more about the system of magic and gods. Some people will find this way to confusing and will not enjoy the book and I would not blame them, but stick with it, and you will begin to see patterns and some image of rules behind it.Gardens of the Moon is a book unlike any other. The sheer vastness and detail of the world is enough tweak the curiosity of those looking for a challenge or looking to immerse themselves in another reality. The story is one of the most intriguing I have read so far, yet it still seems to be a snippet of a larger reality. Erikson has created the perfect book to capture readers everywhere and bring them into this amazing world.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Absolutely awesome. Gritty, epic and at the same time meaningful. Erikson is a bloody good author
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've often flipped through Erikson's books while browsing the fantasy section at my local bookstore. This month I took the plunge and started book 1 of 10 core novels in Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series.The Malazan idea was birthed when Erikson and I. C. Esslemont (who is publishing a five book series set in the same world) developed the world for role-playing games. Through many twists and turns, that world became the publishing juggernaut that is Malazan.The first book of the series is both praised and criticized for the same thing: it's incredibly involved. The new reader has to try to understand a host of characters from human to ancient to divine. Add to this the complex military history of the world, it's mythical origins, and a bewildering magic system and your brain can start to spin.I found the whole thing mentally invigorating.Armed with warnings of the books thorniness, I read it at a reasonable pace while paying attention to the various characters. The depth of realization gives the book life that make other epic fantasy series feel flat.I'm told that the next two books in the series give clarity to many elements of this first book. I can hardly wait.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An incredible book, although it took me a second pass through to truly understand it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Do not let the large list of characters at the beginning of the book intimidate you. Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy at its best. The Malazan Empire has a new Empress and she is determined to conquer the world. The story focuses on the people she sends out to set her plans in motion and those that oppose them. This is the first of many in the Malazan Empire series.It takes a couple hundred pages to lay the foundation but once it does things really get going. I almost put the book down when I hit the second section and a second deluge of characters and information was introduced, completely separate and seemingly unrelated from the first portion of the book. I'm glad I stuck with it. This book has it all: war; magic; gods; assassins; politics; mystery; betrayal; loyalty. It offered a different twist on typical fantasy elements that I enjoyed. Erikson leaves several things for his readers to figure out as certain things are left deliberately ambiguous, which I also enjoyed. I may pick up other books in this series, especially if they feature Wiskeyjack and crew.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was dense and yet pretty amazing. I ran out and got the next two books and can't wait to read them!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Well... difficult to read this without the weight of the series crowding in... plenty of interesting places, people, plots, gods, things going on. A bit overwhelming, and slightly less engaging than I'd hoped, making this read drag a little more than expected. Not sure if I will take the plunge into the rest of the series - probably via second hand books if available
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was not my favorite fantasy novel. I felt like there was a lot going for it, but it fell short in a lot of places for me. It had all the right ingredients, war, magic, different races, epic destiny's, etc. However small things left me feeling frustrated. For example the author failed to really describe anything that was unique to his world, like different races or creatures. He would describe a beast as big and hairy...OK...and? That doesn't give !e much to go on. He described one race as dark skinned and tall; again...its hard for me to form a picture based on that. I felt like he could have given a better idea of what these different creatures and beings looked like to help me.His action scenes were great and full of perfect detail that really allowed me to get into it! I think there were too many characters, that sort of distracted from the story. Still, overall I would say it was a good fantasy novel, but not a great one. I am willing to continue reading the series so its good enough to keep me interested.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Malazan Empire has been waging a long campaign to conquer the continent of Genabackis, and is now focused on the city of Genabackis. The Bridgeburners, an elite unit that has almost been wiped out are sent on a covert mission into Genabackis, on what they suspect is a suicide mission. Gods and other very powerful near-immortal beings are also taking an interest in the events in Genabackis and are building their influence there for a major confrontation.This is a good start to a massive fantasy series. I enjoyed the deep background that the setting seems to have, with tens of thousands of years of history influencing the events of the story. The main flaw of the book is that at times the amount of magic being thrown around by super-powered characters can be a bit much, especially for this early in a series. I am looking forward to reading more in this world.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I tried so hard to enjoy 'Gardens of the Moon.' I really did. It's clear that the author has put an astonishing amount of work into his world and this book, and there are some really fascinating and original ideas in both. Yet, I found it close to impossible to give a damn about a single one of Erikson's (many, many) characters and subplots, nor how they were impacted by the complex storyline.I love a good, long, complicated book. When done well, I find myself aching for further complexity, for the author to dig deeper and deeper and explore every inch of the characters and world they have created. While reading 'Gardens of the Moon', however, what I wanted most of all was for Steven Erikson to slow down and explain what the hell was going on before moving onto yet another group of characters and subplots. This book is the bad kind of complicated, where the complexity seems to come less from the intricacies of the plot and more from deficiencies in the author's craft and an unwillingness to provide necessary exposition.Because when examined closely, the plot of 'Gardens of the Moon' isn't really THAT complicated. There's an army waging a lengthy military campaign to invade new territory, some wizards in said army dealing with several bizarre undead creatures and demon-things from other realms, the dark lord partly responsible for those creatures, and a gang of thieves operating in a city that the army is trying to invade, who come into conflict in various ways. Compared to, say, any of George RR Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' books, its all pretty straightforward. What makes it complicated is Steven Erikson's refusal to provide anything beyond the bare bones of exposition about his world and how the various factions and cities and the like are connected. I mean, yeah, if you're really paying attention, you can generally piece it all together, but by the time you've gotten your head around the current crop of characters, their motivations and the stakes that they are facing, a new set turns up and you're back at square one again. The best example of this occurs about halfway through. Already, an enormous quantity of different characters have been introduced, and by this point in the book, I felt I more or less understood who they all were in relation to each other and to the plot, and was actually starting to care about what happened to them and to be excited to find out what would happen next. Then the author suddenly shifts to an entirely new (and equally enormous) group of characters, all living in a city that hadn't appeared yet in the book. It was like starting a completely new book, and it took what felt like an eternity for any of the old crop of characters to become part of the story again. Or take the book's title, for instance, which refers to the main bad guy's stronghold, located in, well, a garden on the Moon. And that's fine - it's fantasy, very magic-heavy high fantasy, in fact, so I have no problem with a character living on the Moon, provided that it works within the book's internal logic. Whether it does or not in this case, I honestly don't know. Is this the actual Moon, as in a giant orbiting satellite with no atmosphere located hundreds of thousands of miles from the Earth, with magic providing oxygen and the like, or a mini-Earth capable of supporting life, or a much smaller satellite that's within this world's atmosphere, or some levitating chunk of rock in the sky called "the Moon", or, hell, just some random geographical location that for some reason is named "the Moon"? Your guess is as good as mine. All we know is that this dark lord-esque character lives on the Moon, and that he sends a bird-familiar-thing down from it spy on and attack other characters. Maybe this gets explained in later books, maybe not, but I don't think a few lines explaining how the magic or science behind this works is too much to ask for, especially when dealing with a something as out-there as a medieval fantasy character who LIVES ON THE MOON.Which brings me to the book's other big problem: the characters are, by and large, not particularly interesting. They aren't completely flat, and there were some that I rather liked, but for the most part, the many, many, many characters in 'Gardens of the Moon' are pretty unremarkable. It's been three years since I read it, and I honestly cannot recall a single one that made an impression on me. In the introduction to the edition I own, the author talks about his dislike of infodumping and how he intended these books to be the sort where the reader isn't spoonfed and you really have to pay attention to what is happening. He succeeded. Unfortunately, the result is a book that often feels more like working through an academic text than reading popular fiction. I dislike unnecessary exposition as much as the next reader, but there's an art to subtly working exposition and worldbuilding into a narrative, and on the basis of this book, at least, Erikson has not mastered it.I didn't hate this book. In fact, there were many, many things I liked about it. But the primary emotion I felt while reading it was continued frustration. I may still pick up the next book some day, but I can't say I'm at all disappointed at the prospect of never returning to this series again.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    And thus do I start with the Malazan series. A very voluminous book and a very voluminous series - something which made me delay and incur false starts a few times. It didn't help that I was quite lost during the first half of the book, where the story kept jumping and in the absence of any background, it was difficult to keep track of the characters, timeline or the story. I persisted and was richly rewarded in the second half when the book really picked up pace, the dots began to connect and the characters got fleshed out.This is one of those series in which everything is gray, and there are multilateral angles to the story with no good side or an evil one, except possibly the Empress Laseen (whose story we don't know yet). There are lots of political and social undercurrents; unlikely alliances and truces; a world where no faction ever trusts another.And then there is action. Truly unconventional, amazing action. What more can one expect? Needless to say, I will be diving into Book 2 soon.4/5
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I reread this book as the first time I felt like I was missing too much. It is not an easy read and requires a bit more concentration then typical other books. The main thing is that the reader is thrown right into it. There is a lot of information that gets briefly mentioned or other aspects that are not explained at all. The first time I read this book, I didn't realize that and I felt completely lost. On my reread, I took my time to really absorb everything and I loved it. The story and the characters were very captivating. The world is very interesting, especially with the magic system and deities. Although there is still a lot I don't understand, it makes reading the further in the series that more exciting.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I couldn't even get all the way through this one. I suppose after reading so much from the excellent fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, I was disappointed with ordinary fantasy from this ordinary fantasy author. This book had absolutely no characters I cared about even the slightest amount, which made it very hard to keep slogging through it.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    There seems to be quite a complex world of politics & magic within these pages, but after 300 pages, I still couldn't care less about anyone or thing in the world. I wound up drifting off to another book days ago & still haven't felt like coming back to this one.

    The prose is pretty dense, the world is quite strange & full of mysteries - too many. Only a few pages are devoted to any of a dozen different situations that are developing, each with a few to a dozen characters, none of whom seem to know what's going on or trust or even like each other, yet they're betting their lives on each other. IOW, motivations aren't making much sense, either. Too often characters have wondered why they or others stuck around. It's a good question considering what some are facing & I haven't seen a decent answer - quite the opposite.

    Many seem too powerful to have wound up in their situation, too. There are super powerful magics wielded by thousands of year old gods and mages in blunt, rather stupid ways, yet I'm supposed to believe that there are really many levels of subtlety behind their actions. It's not working for me, though.

    It might be a better story if I could really devote the time to it, possibly even read it a couple of times. Not happening. Some friends of mine certainly think it's a wonderful series, but they also say it's extremely epic (long, complex, & full of loose ends) & this book isn't as well written as the rest. I have too many other books I want to read.

    I've given Erikson a fair shake at hooking me, but he didn't do it & I'm sorry for that. If he'd concentrated on developing a few of his characters a little better & quicker, then moved on to expanding the world, I think I could have gotten into this. As it is, there is too much confusion & I don't care about anyone, so why bother wasting more time?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In terms of pure per-page insanity, this is probably the nuttiest book I've ever read. It was a culture shock reading this right after Lord of the Rings and the Song of Ice and Fire series; in those more austere volumes, magic is a behind-closed-doors type of thing, understated. Gardens of the Moon, by contrast, features a psychotic super-powered wizard puppet, a magic sword that transports its slain to an alternate Hellverse, demons that emerge from test tubes, multiple murder victims coming back to life as avatars of game-playing gods, a fat lady magician who blows herself up and then reincarnates, zombies, hellhounds that bite the heads off twenty people at the same time, a floating mountain with aliens and dragons inside, and much more. The massive world and complex magic system devised for this series also made it a very slow read for me, as I stopped down to try to understand where everyone was in relation to the rest of the world (global politics are discussed at length, yet the maps provided only cover the region immediate to the book's action), and just what the hell was happening whenever wizards battled and different types of magic clashed with each other, which happens every single page. Thinking back, I can't remember there having been ANY boring parts of this book. At every step, there are wizards being blown in half, and assassins getting knifed through the forehead, and entire armies wiped out by giant fireballs. The novel culminates in a city-wide slobberknocker that gets so utterly out-of-hand that I wasn't always sure what was going on, on account of the multiple levels and dimensions of reality that are all attempting to blow each other up simultaneously. Yes, I know that didn't make any sense, but sometimes the book itself doesn't either.That's a major concern which hopefully will be answered in following volumes. This universe often seems like a total free-for-all. Who can possess/enslave who? Which gods have power over which other gods? What's the relationship of some gods' special trinkets (Paran's sword, Crokus' coin) to the powers of the god itself? What is a Warren, and why are some superior to others, and which ones are best, or what? Why and how can some mortals kill gods? Wait, Anomander Rake turned into a dragon? Right now, there are enough variables in play for the author to justify almost anything happening, but I want some understandable rules laid down so that things can start to make some sort of sense. That said, Gardens is an incredibly entertaining beginning, and I can't wait to proceed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am now on Toll of the Hounds in this series. Love, love love the storytelling of Erikson. This is the first book and I was a huge fan of the Bridgeburners as soon as I was introduced to them. This is a very intricate story line with a plethora of different groups of people to follow each with very different paths so you have to pay attention. The books may be long for some, but I was right at home with this epic tale. I love the action as well as the humor sprinkled in which was a pleasant surprise. If you can push through some of the confusion this series is awesome!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting epic fantasy story with a lot of meaty characters. Tended to jump around in a somewhat hectic fashion. Events would sometimes occur in a Deus Ex Machina style.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was a good read with some really memorable characters but in the end was not focused enough. There was just to much going on, magical weapons, mage's, demons, dragons, assassin clans, the undead, gods old and new. No lie, Pinokio even showed up. A lot of great Ideas but they were developed and discarded to quickly.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book started out slow to me. This was in large part due to so many names and places being thrown out, it took time to make sure I was taking it all in. The first half of the book I felt was average but the second half really took off. I enjoyed many of the characters as well as the world they were in. There are many "awesome" characters who blow you away until someone even more powerful comes along. It kept me interested and I am glad I have the second book already to leap into. If you haven't read much fantasy this book may be hard for you to get into because as I said there is a lot of terminology thrown at you right away. I've read many fantasy series/novels and it took me to get it all situated in my head. All in all it was very enjoyable.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Having heard that this book was similar to those written by George R. R. Martin, I was quite excited to read it, and am now quite disappointed. I have finished this book and have not enjoyed it. Some of the storylines have interested me, hence the 3 stars, but the book was too confusing. Nothing is explained, not even the basics of how the magic system works. The cast of characters is much too large for the first novel, and all of them are introduced rapidly, giving the reader no rest. It is nearly impossible to figure out what is going on, as there are so many rival factions and the politics are twisted and confusing. The only good part about this book was the characters; they are multi-faceted and genuinely interesting. I do want to find out what happens to Tattersail and Captain Paran and Crokus. It is a shame they are placed in such a confusing, dense world. I will not be picking up the next in the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    GotM is notorious for being a puzzling read if you're not careful. My second read did the trick, because I took it seriously this time. The writing is extremely dense. On practically every page something significant is happening, or revealing information is provided. If you don't at least try to catch it all, then within ten pages you may as well have skipped a hundred of any other book for all that you'll understand what's going on. You might continue reading in a sort of fugue state as I did the first time, making the (usually safe) assumption that anything you missed won't matter - but it will.After a backstory prologue (essential reading) and an initial backstory chapter (also essential) that take place on different continents than the map that's provided, we get to the heart of the matter: the Malazan Empire is expanding, waging a military campaign in Genabackis. We're joining the story when only two significant strongholds remain defiant, and in short order we're introduced to a number of overlapping subplots involving players from a wide range of various factions and races (human, non-human and immortal). Towards the end, these threads come together in a powerful series of climactic events that extend for more than a hundred pages and that will leave you exhausted. I've not been so captivated since discovering Martin's "Ice and Fire" series (but fans of one won't automatically be fans of the other.)The trouble with such a simple summary is that it mistakenly suggests GotM is conventional. There's a breakneck pace in this marathon of a book, and more factions and races than can be categorized into a simple good and evil schema. Seemingly throwaway lines can become surprisingly relevant. Very soon, if you're paying attention, you realize that 'throwaway' doesn't really apply here. That even includes the short poems prefacing each chapter, which all have something important to say (and might be your only means of acquiring some of the information.) It's definitely impressive, although a book can't be made this dense for plot and pacing without sacrificing something. There are descriptive passages, but they're generally short and even those contain telling details. Gone is the flowery scene setting you're used to, normally intended for atmosphere rather than to convey information. The book's greatest weakness, for its demand on patience from readers, is the initial flatness of characters for lack of introducing them in immediate detail. Instead their facets are revealed to us in pieces at a time, gradually evolving into three dimensions over the course of pages and chapters.The sheer density of GotM requires patience, absorption, and no skipping or skimming. The language is straightforward and it isn't actually a difficult book to follow and enjoy, provided you treat it with respect. If you don't "get it" on your first attempt, do some preliminary Internet research to help you sort out this world and its people, then try again. With moderate effort, any fantasy fan can find the magic that GotM has to offer and lose themselves completely in the rhythm and depth of this enormous beginning to an enormous story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was quite remarkable but not easy reading. There were many plots and subplots, conspiracies and alliances and plenty of characters to keep you on your toes. I normally enjoy a book like this and I have to say I did enjoy this one as well, but I didn't love it. It ususally takes a bit of effort to work out all the characters and political intrigue in high fantasy like this but at some point I usually have it all figured out and I can relax and enjoy the story. Not this time. This book was hard work right to the end. The story was very good but I think perhaps I was feeling a bit too lazy to keep everything straight. Still...those who enjoy epic fantasy won't be dissapointed in this book.