---
product_id: 3549045
title: "Gardens of the Moon"
price: "420 kr"
currency: NOK
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.no/products/3549045-gardens-of-the-moon
store_origin: NO
region: Norway
---

# Gardens of the Moon

**Price:** 420 kr
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- **What is this?** Gardens of the Moon
- **How much does it cost?** 420 kr with free shipping
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## Description

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 from Steven Erikson. 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.

Review: This series is so good I had to take notes while reading it again ... - his is a book that I've been wanting to review for ages. In fact, in some ways, Erikson was the genesis of this here blog. I've been writing about fantasy since I was in highschool. My Junior Year Position Paper was on C.S. Lewis. The next year, my paper was on the genre as a whole. But after voraciously devouring this series and its genre busting all-out action, I knew things had changed in the genre as a whole. I stopped reading fantasy in college. I started dating, made friends, and basically didn't have the time. Years later, bartending in New York, and living in Harlem I had a lot of time to myself again, and I started to reread some of the classics on my shelf. I had no interest in new fantasy. I figured the genre had gone to Forgotten Realms and DragonLance knock offs. Erikson made me a believer again. I've tried to turn people on to this book, and this series, to no avail. And not to "Norms" (non-fantasy readers) to bonafide sword-swinging fantasy lovers. This series is so good I had to take notes while reading it again so I'd remember all the ideas within that I'd wanted to explore. So I'm going to abandon the usual format. The format, afterall, is intended to provoke critical thought. Kalam, Quick Ben, Whiskeyjack First of all, Gardens of the Moon, though the first in the series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, is an intermission. I think this may be why so many people have trouble getting into it. It starts after a massive battle, after an emperor was assasinated, after a city has fallen. Much of the book is getting the characters from the remains of one city to the next on the new Empress hit list. There are other reasons of course. The scope of this world is enormous. That's one of the fantasy five, and Erikson gets full marks. His world is enormous and intricate. This is not surprising. He and a friend developed the world as a game a la Dungeons and Dragons. It should also be noted that Erikson (his pen name) was an anthropologist. As someone who is married (yes! as of a months ago) to an anthropologist, I know just how much is crammed into their heads. Each people of this world is intricate and fully developed straight out of the gate. Another reason why this is an intermission is because Erikson wastes little time on explanation. Single, dense phrases are used to describe entire peoples. And there are literally over two hundred of them, from the plains dwellers on Genabackis, the Rhivi, to the denizens of the Seven Cities, to the Gral, to the fishing people of Quon Tali, the sophisticated Daru, and the imperially minded Malazans. All those names are confusing, and that turns a lot of people off. It is very easy to miss important details, things that occur, pivotal moments described in a single sentence, and moved on only to be referred to again and again with no explanation. Still the important thing to remember when reading this epic, is that you don't always need to pay attention to these names. This series is a series to re-read, to parse, to explore. Get what you can, and have faith that Erikson will explain further in due time. It might take to the seventh volume of the series, but he has never contradicted himself that I can see, so be patient and keep reading. The really good stuff doesn't even occur until the third volume, Memories of Ice. Anomander Rake - Son of Darkness Before I get further into my notes, let's hit some of the basics. Like in Jordan's works, there are literally hundreds of characters, so this is a plot driven story. That said, given the sheer number of words in over ten volumes, many characters emerge extremely well developed. The story starts with a character named Gannoes Paran, he's young, good looking, and you expect him to be the story's main hero. Not so, because there is no main hero. This is an ensemble cast, and there half a dozen main characters at least. There is an evil empire, the Malazan Empire, which isn't really that evil, or much of an empire it turns out. But none of the soldiers of that Empire are evil, they're just men, and this is, among other things, a soldier's novel, about companionship, and loyalty in the ranks. But the Empire is the backdrop for something much much larger, which is really only hinted at in the first book, and in fact, is not even given a name to in the first of the series. Another thing that's great about the series is the magic system. One of the Fantasy Five, magic. It's completely unexplained in the first book, but it's astonishing. The book opens with a battle between a planet sized asteroid hovering hundreds of feet in the air, and five arch-mages sending corruscating waves of power into the sky. The typical magic cliche for fantasy is -- the big stuff doesn't play until the end. Until then, its all parlor tricks and smokescreens. Another cliche ripped to pieces Ok, so onto the nitty-gritty. This is a discussion for Moon readers. So stop now if you haven't read the book. Adjunct Lorn. Why did she have to die? I rather liked the character of the stern, attractive, warrior woman, and thought she would have made a better partner to Gannoes. The reason I ask is because Erikson indeed revives characters with impunity, having killed Gannoes in the first 50 pages, Tattersail and sending Toc the Younger off into a mysterious chaos warren. Lorn was a fascinating character with a fascinating weapon, her Ottatoral sword. But then again, Erikson refers to himself as a cliche breaker, and having Gannoes end up falling for the fat mage Tattersail, is a real change of pace for any genre, much less fantasy. Hedge and Fiddler, Bridgeburners One of the central mysteries of the first book is the assassination of the old Emperor. Who did it? Why? Is the Emperor really dead, and what about his cronies, are they dead too, like Toc the Elder, or Daseem Ultor? It's an interesting frame for the series. Many of these questions don't even get answered in Moon, but are answered in the sequel Deadhouse Gates, and in many ways the entire series strives to answer these questions. Along the same lines, is the idea that the Bridgeburners, the seminal unit of the Malazan Army that is known far and wide must also die. I regret this, there are only about seven of them left to begin with, and they all seem to be great characters. Still, the series is called the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and if Malazans didn't fall, well, what would be the point? Next topic: The Deck of Dragons. So Erikson takes the game of Tarot and makes it real. It's an unbelievably clever mechanism for the story, it adds a ton of depth, and a ton of detail. However, it does make the story denser and harder for the lite-fantasist to glom onto. The Deck of Dragons is a playing deck of all the gods and demi-gods in the saga's pantheon. They're organized into aligned houses, and unaligned houses. And when characters like Tattersail give a reading, it often reveals what Gods are at play in the field. All the houses, and the players in each deck are noted at the beginning of the first book. This cheat is not repeated in later books. Another very divergent aspect of Erikson's work is his quixotic narrators. Calling them narrators is a bit misleading, they are characters, who often speak in riddles, or long nearly non-sensical rants that seldom make sense to the other players, but which are more often directed at the reader. Each book has such a character, but the one in Gardens is none other than Kruppe. Kruppe is a fat, balding little wizard who is a master thief, and we find out during the book, quite a powerful mage. However, his persona is one of befuddlement and misdirection, and even his greatest friends seldom realize that their actions and thoughts are directed entirely by the mischievous Kruppe. This fat wizard also provides the book with its greatest sense of comic relief. These narrative voices are almost always comedic and poke fun at both the author, and his characters. You get a sense of the author himself, or at least, who the author might like to be, as these characters, in addition to being funny, are almost always really good natured as well. This is another aspect which deserves exploration: Erikson is a master of good and evil. It sounds trite, and I'm sure that he would prefer to think of himself as a trend breaker, but fantasy is about good and evil, Gods of Dark, Swords of Light. In this Erikson doesn't break the trend, he masters it. You may recall from a prior review of Naruto, that the character of the young Ninja is extremely good, happy, kind, and despite his idiocy, his heart is warm and caring for all. The good--in the Erikson novels--is similar. However, Gardens of the Moon, is less of an exploration of good and evil than his later novels. Still you get flashes of it through characters like Kruppe and his companions, Gannoes love for Tattersail, Tattersail's heartwrenching guilt about previous monstrosities committed under imperial writ. Ok, just a few last points: There are many characters, including the "hero" Gannoes, and the anti-hero Lorn, who are forced continually to sublimate their will. They act for the good of the empire, of which they are committed agents. Sergeant Whiskeyjack of the Bridgeburners who is offered the chance to retire, flee certain death because of his love and loyalty of his comrades, and their own love for him. This sublimation of the will, can be seen as character building, but it also exerts an exceedingly destructive force. When Lorn finds out that Tattersail was the agent responsible for atrocities committed in Malaz City, the girl, shorn of her previous life, reemerges from her imperial shell, the illustrious general Dujek Onearm reminds her of her current responsibilities, and that she herself is the second in command to none other than the woman who commanded the purge. Of course, these events are all historical, past events that are mere artifacts to the story, but the sheer depth is staggering. And I'm in love with it. I want to unearth the entire history of this continent that goes back over two-hundred thousand years. Penultimate point: Dragnipur. How cool is that? A massively powered sword, that itself harbors a magical realm of pain and imprisonment, where a massive cart is pulled by a single Atlas like godling. Ultimate point: Erikson stories as we'll discover are all about convergence. This I think qualifies as a cliche, but Erikson is the first that I've read to be so open about it. Jordan's books use the same cliche, the Wheel of Time books always end with a convergence. So what does this mean? A convergence is a meeting of fell powers, the climax of every story, where all the pivotal characters meet for their hour of greatest conflict. What makes Erikson's convergences so remarkable? The sheer scope of the powers involved. Even now, I recall vividly the ending of the Sword of Shannara, and the half-elf Shea's meeting with the evil wizard. Those powers were great and scary, buy Shea was a quiet, hobbit like character with no real power's of his own. As a brief aside, Japanese horror movies, and anime is very similar, and in fact may be the progenitor for this sort of convergence. The powers that meet are colossal, far greater than human, far greater than mere wizard or swordman. The forces that converge in an Erikson novel are titanic in nature. And astonishing. As an aspiring author, it makes me weep with jealousy. The depths of horror, the depths of love, the depths of friendship and loyalty, seem to be unsurpassable. So. If you can get through all the names, if you can get through all the lands and peoples and characters, if you can look beyond the things you don't yet know, and enjoy it for what it is, the rewards are entirely worth it. Buy this book. Note: I intend to add photos to this soon, so check back! [...]
Review: huge effort for huge reward - this book got under my skin. it took me two times to read it. the first attempt, i was lost around a quarter of the way in and just couldn't continue. i'd given up in frustration, so lost. someone said to me that erikson likes to throw the reader into the deep end; to me it was more being dropped into a raging sea. i floundered, reaching for the expected features of a fantasy novel and as i failed to touch them, i was adrift. i'd put the book aside, bought a new kindle fantasy novel and tried to move on, only to find my thoughts returning to gardens of the moon, wondering. as complex and confusing as it as, it had piqued my interest. i picked it up again. it isn't an easy read at all. the first half of the novel jumps from one scene to another, crowds of characters are introduced, leaving the reader puzzling over how it fit together. there were a lot of moments when i stopped, trying to remember who a character was or what was being talked about. conversations centred on magic or history that has yet to be explained are intimidating. fantasy books that infodump can irritate me and erikson is the extreme opposite- he tells the reader _nothing_ at all. you have to pick up the threads, pay attention, slowly weave together a complete story. it was difficult, slogging through chapters, sorting out scenes, until, somehow, just over halfway through i realised that this is an incredible book. as it came together, i sat breathless, eyes flicking to my battery level, hoping i wouldn't run out of power before the end of the next chapter. this book needs to be judged as a whole. the start is rough. it is confusing, frustrating, at times almost nonsensical. this is a book requiring stamina, stubborness from a reader. if you endure and battle through, the novel will reward your efforts. there are definite flaws. by the end i could have called a rollcall of characters, rattling off their names, but i knew very little about them. there was so little insight into character. i didn't really _like_ any of the characters. i didn't know them well enough to judge them. characters were more roles than people- they were there to perform a function. at times, telling them apart was so hard. almost all characters spoke in the same way, making them hard to differentiate in conversation. i was reading the kindle edition and didn't realise that there was a full cast list at the end. i got through without it and managed but i think that quick reference could have made it easier to know who was who. when i'd finished, i felt satisfaction equal to the amount of energy i'd put into the reading. this isn't a perfect book but when i was done, my first thought was to pick up the next in the series. i'm not sure if the writing style can last for multiple volumes but still it is there, under my skin, that need to puzzle and struggle through even more just to see where the complex concept is really leading me. i will be reading more of erikson.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #17,689 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #25 in Military Fantasy (Books) #122 in Action & Adventure Fantasy (Books) #144 in Fantasy Action & Adventure |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 16,725 Reviews |

## Images

![Gardens of the Moon - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71XHJct7u3L.jpg)

## Available Options

This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This series is so good I had to take notes while reading it again ...
*by H***V on July 2, 2016*

his is a book that I've been wanting to review for ages. In fact, in some ways, Erikson was the genesis of this here blog. I've been writing about fantasy since I was in highschool. My Junior Year Position Paper was on C.S. Lewis. The next year, my paper was on the genre as a whole. But after voraciously devouring this series and its genre busting all-out action, I knew things had changed in the genre as a whole. I stopped reading fantasy in college. I started dating, made friends, and basically didn't have the time. Years later, bartending in New York, and living in Harlem I had a lot of time to myself again, and I started to reread some of the classics on my shelf. I had no interest in new fantasy. I figured the genre had gone to Forgotten Realms and DragonLance knock offs. Erikson made me a believer again. I've tried to turn people on to this book, and this series, to no avail. And not to "Norms" (non-fantasy readers) to bonafide sword-swinging fantasy lovers. This series is so good I had to take notes while reading it again so I'd remember all the ideas within that I'd wanted to explore. So I'm going to abandon the usual format. The format, afterall, is intended to provoke critical thought. Kalam, Quick Ben, Whiskeyjack First of all, Gardens of the Moon, though the first in the series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, is an intermission. I think this may be why so many people have trouble getting into it. It starts after a massive battle, after an emperor was assasinated, after a city has fallen. Much of the book is getting the characters from the remains of one city to the next on the new Empress hit list. There are other reasons of course. The scope of this world is enormous. That's one of the fantasy five, and Erikson gets full marks. His world is enormous and intricate. This is not surprising. He and a friend developed the world as a game a la Dungeons and Dragons. It should also be noted that Erikson (his pen name) was an anthropologist. As someone who is married (yes! as of a months ago) to an anthropologist, I know just how much is crammed into their heads. Each people of this world is intricate and fully developed straight out of the gate. Another reason why this is an intermission is because Erikson wastes little time on explanation. Single, dense phrases are used to describe entire peoples. And there are literally over two hundred of them, from the plains dwellers on Genabackis, the Rhivi, to the denizens of the Seven Cities, to the Gral, to the fishing people of Quon Tali, the sophisticated Daru, and the imperially minded Malazans. All those names are confusing, and that turns a lot of people off. It is very easy to miss important details, things that occur, pivotal moments described in a single sentence, and moved on only to be referred to again and again with no explanation. Still the important thing to remember when reading this epic, is that you don't always need to pay attention to these names. This series is a series to re-read, to parse, to explore. Get what you can, and have faith that Erikson will explain further in due time. It might take to the seventh volume of the series, but he has never contradicted himself that I can see, so be patient and keep reading. The really good stuff doesn't even occur until the third volume, Memories of Ice. Anomander Rake - Son of Darkness Before I get further into my notes, let's hit some of the basics. Like in Jordan's works, there are literally hundreds of characters, so this is a plot driven story. That said, given the sheer number of words in over ten volumes, many characters emerge extremely well developed. The story starts with a character named Gannoes Paran, he's young, good looking, and you expect him to be the story's main hero. Not so, because there is no main hero. This is an ensemble cast, and there half a dozen main characters at least. There is an evil empire, the Malazan Empire, which isn't really that evil, or much of an empire it turns out. But none of the soldiers of that Empire are evil, they're just men, and this is, among other things, a soldier's novel, about companionship, and loyalty in the ranks. But the Empire is the backdrop for something much much larger, which is really only hinted at in the first book, and in fact, is not even given a name to in the first of the series. Another thing that's great about the series is the magic system. One of the Fantasy Five, magic. It's completely unexplained in the first book, but it's astonishing. The book opens with a battle between a planet sized asteroid hovering hundreds of feet in the air, and five arch-mages sending corruscating waves of power into the sky. The typical magic cliche for fantasy is -- the big stuff doesn't play until the end. Until then, its all parlor tricks and smokescreens. Another cliche ripped to pieces Ok, so onto the nitty-gritty. This is a discussion for Moon readers. So stop now if you haven't read the book. Adjunct Lorn. Why did she have to die? I rather liked the character of the stern, attractive, warrior woman, and thought she would have made a better partner to Gannoes. The reason I ask is because Erikson indeed revives characters with impunity, having killed Gannoes in the first 50 pages, Tattersail and sending Toc the Younger off into a mysterious chaos warren. Lorn was a fascinating character with a fascinating weapon, her Ottatoral sword. But then again, Erikson refers to himself as a cliche breaker, and having Gannoes end up falling for the fat mage Tattersail, is a real change of pace for any genre, much less fantasy. Hedge and Fiddler, Bridgeburners One of the central mysteries of the first book is the assassination of the old Emperor. Who did it? Why? Is the Emperor really dead, and what about his cronies, are they dead too, like Toc the Elder, or Daseem Ultor? It's an interesting frame for the series. Many of these questions don't even get answered in Moon, but are answered in the sequel Deadhouse Gates, and in many ways the entire series strives to answer these questions. Along the same lines, is the idea that the Bridgeburners, the seminal unit of the Malazan Army that is known far and wide must also die. I regret this, there are only about seven of them left to begin with, and they all seem to be great characters. Still, the series is called the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and if Malazans didn't fall, well, what would be the point? Next topic: The Deck of Dragons. So Erikson takes the game of Tarot and makes it real. It's an unbelievably clever mechanism for the story, it adds a ton of depth, and a ton of detail. However, it does make the story denser and harder for the lite-fantasist to glom onto. The Deck of Dragons is a playing deck of all the gods and demi-gods in the saga's pantheon. They're organized into aligned houses, and unaligned houses. And when characters like Tattersail give a reading, it often reveals what Gods are at play in the field. All the houses, and the players in each deck are noted at the beginning of the first book. This cheat is not repeated in later books. Another very divergent aspect of Erikson's work is his quixotic narrators. Calling them narrators is a bit misleading, they are characters, who often speak in riddles, or long nearly non-sensical rants that seldom make sense to the other players, but which are more often directed at the reader. Each book has such a character, but the one in Gardens is none other than Kruppe. Kruppe is a fat, balding little wizard who is a master thief, and we find out during the book, quite a powerful mage. However, his persona is one of befuddlement and misdirection, and even his greatest friends seldom realize that their actions and thoughts are directed entirely by the mischievous Kruppe. This fat wizard also provides the book with its greatest sense of comic relief. These narrative voices are almost always comedic and poke fun at both the author, and his characters. You get a sense of the author himself, or at least, who the author might like to be, as these characters, in addition to being funny, are almost always really good natured as well. This is another aspect which deserves exploration: Erikson is a master of good and evil. It sounds trite, and I'm sure that he would prefer to think of himself as a trend breaker, but fantasy is about good and evil, Gods of Dark, Swords of Light. In this Erikson doesn't break the trend, he masters it. You may recall from a prior review of Naruto, that the character of the young Ninja is extremely good, happy, kind, and despite his idiocy, his heart is warm and caring for all. The good--in the Erikson novels--is similar. However, Gardens of the Moon, is less of an exploration of good and evil than his later novels. Still you get flashes of it through characters like Kruppe and his companions, Gannoes love for Tattersail, Tattersail's heartwrenching guilt about previous monstrosities committed under imperial writ. Ok, just a few last points: There are many characters, including the "hero" Gannoes, and the anti-hero Lorn, who are forced continually to sublimate their will. They act for the good of the empire, of which they are committed agents. Sergeant Whiskeyjack of the Bridgeburners who is offered the chance to retire, flee certain death because of his love and loyalty of his comrades, and their own love for him. This sublimation of the will, can be seen as character building, but it also exerts an exceedingly destructive force. When Lorn finds out that Tattersail was the agent responsible for atrocities committed in Malaz City, the girl, shorn of her previous life, reemerges from her imperial shell, the illustrious general Dujek Onearm reminds her of her current responsibilities, and that she herself is the second in command to none other than the woman who commanded the purge. Of course, these events are all historical, past events that are mere artifacts to the story, but the sheer depth is staggering. And I'm in love with it. I want to unearth the entire history of this continent that goes back over two-hundred thousand years. Penultimate point: Dragnipur. How cool is that? A massively powered sword, that itself harbors a magical realm of pain and imprisonment, where a massive cart is pulled by a single Atlas like godling. Ultimate point: Erikson stories as we'll discover are all about convergence. This I think qualifies as a cliche, but Erikson is the first that I've read to be so open about it. Jordan's books use the same cliche, the Wheel of Time books always end with a convergence. So what does this mean? A convergence is a meeting of fell powers, the climax of every story, where all the pivotal characters meet for their hour of greatest conflict. What makes Erikson's convergences so remarkable? The sheer scope of the powers involved. Even now, I recall vividly the ending of the Sword of Shannara, and the half-elf Shea's meeting with the evil wizard. Those powers were great and scary, buy Shea was a quiet, hobbit like character with no real power's of his own. As a brief aside, Japanese horror movies, and anime is very similar, and in fact may be the progenitor for this sort of convergence. The powers that meet are colossal, far greater than human, far greater than mere wizard or swordman. The forces that converge in an Erikson novel are titanic in nature. And astonishing. As an aspiring author, it makes me weep with jealousy. The depths of horror, the depths of love, the depths of friendship and loyalty, seem to be unsurpassable. So. If you can get through all the names, if you can get through all the lands and peoples and characters, if you can look beyond the things you don't yet know, and enjoy it for what it is, the rewards are entirely worth it. Buy this book. Note: I intend to add photos to this soon, so check back! [...]

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ huge effort for huge reward
*by B***Y on January 29, 2012*

this book got under my skin. it took me two times to read it. the first attempt, i was lost around a quarter of the way in and just couldn't continue. i'd given up in frustration, so lost. someone said to me that erikson likes to throw the reader into the deep end; to me it was more being dropped into a raging sea. i floundered, reaching for the expected features of a fantasy novel and as i failed to touch them, i was adrift. i'd put the book aside, bought a new kindle fantasy novel and tried to move on, only to find my thoughts returning to gardens of the moon, wondering. as complex and confusing as it as, it had piqued my interest. i picked it up again. it isn't an easy read at all. the first half of the novel jumps from one scene to another, crowds of characters are introduced, leaving the reader puzzling over how it fit together. there were a lot of moments when i stopped, trying to remember who a character was or what was being talked about. conversations centred on magic or history that has yet to be explained are intimidating. fantasy books that infodump can irritate me and erikson is the extreme opposite- he tells the reader _nothing_ at all. you have to pick up the threads, pay attention, slowly weave together a complete story. it was difficult, slogging through chapters, sorting out scenes, until, somehow, just over halfway through i realised that this is an incredible book. as it came together, i sat breathless, eyes flicking to my battery level, hoping i wouldn't run out of power before the end of the next chapter. this book needs to be judged as a whole. the start is rough. it is confusing, frustrating, at times almost nonsensical. this is a book requiring stamina, stubborness from a reader. if you endure and battle through, the novel will reward your efforts. there are definite flaws. by the end i could have called a rollcall of characters, rattling off their names, but i knew very little about them. there was so little insight into character. i didn't really _like_ any of the characters. i didn't know them well enough to judge them. characters were more roles than people- they were there to perform a function. at times, telling them apart was so hard. almost all characters spoke in the same way, making them hard to differentiate in conversation. i was reading the kindle edition and didn't realise that there was a full cast list at the end. i got through without it and managed but i think that quick reference could have made it easier to know who was who. when i'd finished, i felt satisfaction equal to the amount of energy i'd put into the reading. this isn't a perfect book but when i was done, my first thought was to pick up the next in the series. i'm not sure if the writing style can last for multiple volumes but still it is there, under my skin, that need to puzzle and struggle through even more just to see where the complex concept is really leading me. i will be reading more of erikson.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ All that I had hoped it would be, and refreshingly difficult!
*by C***R on September 12, 2013*

After years spent gathering dust on my bookshelf, GARDENS OF THE MOON finally found its way onto my nightstand, having fought through piles of work-related and leisure reading materials. A friend of mine had strongly recommended the series three or four years ago, and after the nice hardcover copy that I had immediately ordered arrived, it unfortunately became stalled in my ever-churning heap of books-to-read. Still, this one has been on my radar as a highly-anticipated epic adventure. Always being prominent in real-life bookstores, as well as here on Amazon, the Malazan Book of the Fallen series has long evoked a sense of postponed gratification and anxiety over my limited reading time. The covers of the books alone promised a dark, fierce, and gritty fantasy that I assumed would take after Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire . My friend's descriptions included phrases like "mind-blowing", "awesome", and "Freaking insanely bad-ass". Well, the wait is over, and I've begun my journey through Erikson's massive saga. And I am very happy to report that the writing, story, and setting are every bit as good as I had hoped. The most striking aspect of GARDENS OF THE MOON is that Steven Erikson has absolutely no care for the reader's comfort, dropping you right into the middle of a complicated story that is already well underway. Character motivations are rarely explained, a vast setting is suddenly exposed but not explored, a huge and confusing cast of characters from all manner of races is introduced with very little guidance, and mysteries abound in magic, lore, and history. The general feeling during the first half of the book is one of confusion, where you'll feel like you must be missing key information, as every character seems to know more about what is going on than the reader. You'll find yourself trying hard to remember many details, with the hope that you'll finally be able to get a grasp on what is behind the intense and deadly story. While this aspect may sound frustrating, and many reviewers have docked stars from this book's rating, I found the abrupt entry into this world exciting and fun. Knowing that there are huge pieces to the story that haven't been revealed, straining your brain to remember snippets of history, and pondering over the nature of the never-explained Warrens (the source of magic in the series), all gave this book a real and gritty feeling. It was like I had been suddenly transported to this new and mysterious world without the benefit of an introduction. Erikson's intentional refusal to hold the reader's hand might sound off-putting, but I found it refreshingly unique. The story itself, which has only begun to unfold with GARDENS OF THE MOON, is incredible. Vast empires, rebel armies, powerful sorcerers, and unearthly beings vie for power in a violent and quickly moving plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The magic is very much in-your-face compared to most dark epic fantasies. Battling wizards lead to wholesale destruction, animated puppets and talking war-hounds stretch the imagination, and so-called gods interfering with mortal concerns calls for expecting the unexpected. The setting is absolutely jam-packed with all manner of new races, human-like and not, living and undead, mortal and immortal. Wonderfully imagined characters fill the pages of GARDENS OF THE MOON, with names like Whiskeyjack, Quick Ben, and Anomander Rake. You get the feeling that most of their stories have already been told, but that this newest adventure will be the most desperate and thrilling yet. Other characters like Crokus, Paran, and Sorry take on the mantle of the young would-be heroes just starting on their hopeful, yet disillusioned, adventures. This series tells an incredibly large story that I am excited to have finally begun, and can hardly wait to continue with Deadhouse Gates . GARDENS OF THE MOON reminded me of why I love to read epic fantasies, and it made me glad to know that there are still wholly original stories to discover in a field of so many excellent and prolific authors. Very highly recommended!

## Frequently Bought Together

- Gardens of the Moon (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1)
- Deadhouse Gates: A Tale of The Malazan Book of the Fallen
- Memories of Ice (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 3)

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