Gardens Of The Moon (The Malazan Book Of The Fallen, #1)

by Steven Erikson

Bled dry by interminable warfare, infighting and bloody confrontations with Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, the Malazan Empire simmers with discontent. Its legions yearn for some respite from the chaos and killing. For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his Bridgeburners, and Tattersail - the lone surviving sorceress of the Second Legion - the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to draw breath and mourn the dead. But Empress Laseen's gaze has moved on and fallen upon the ancient citadel of Darujhistan. The last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, it proclaims its defiance and still holds out against her. However the empire is not alone in this great and bloody game. Sinister forces are gathering, and it would seem that the gods themselves are preparing to play their hand..."Gardens of the Moon" is the defining opening chapter in what has been hailed a landmark of epic fantasy - Steven Erikson's awesome, multi-volume sequence, "The Malazan Book of the Fallen".

• ISBN10: 0593065069
• ISBN13: 9780593065068
• Publish Date: 5 November 2009 (first published 1 April 1999)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 20 March 2013
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Bantam Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 544
• Language: English

Reviews

[moraa]

Words are like coin—it pays to hoard.

I have to admit, I'm impressed:

1. With the world-building. It's not every day you read such complexity without getting bogged down by backstory (of course a dramatis personae helps wade through those murky waters)
2. That it took me two days to finish this, especially after all the hype about its difficulty (that may have had a hand in my decision to bump this up on my tbr)
3. That I wasn't rooting for anyone! I'm accustomed to having a character to root for (even if it's not the protagonist) and I was scrambling for my list trying to figure out which alliances I wanted to see sustained and who I'd willingly part with. It was a hot mess in that final third of the book, literally and figuratively.
4. That I can't find any scathing remarks of significance (I always have those, even for my favourite fantasy writers)

All in all, I'm definitely heading over to the second book soon.

[HekArtemis]

It's the characters that did it for me. I loved every single character. I love how I couldn't find an obvious "bad guy". Not like full on grimdark where everyone is bad, no it's just that everyone is "human" and they have legit motivations for the choices they make, so I found myself rooting for all of them even though they were often opposed to each other. So good.

[ross91]

DNF at 62%
Let's face it: I'm never going to finish this book.
I don't blame it on the story: I'm intrigued with the plot and I like some of the characters. The main problem is the writing style that is really not for me: everything seems plain and kind of superficial, I find it really difficult to become invested in the plot and sometimes it's hard to separate all the supporting characters from one another.
I'm really sad because I honestly thought I had found a new big series to read and fall in love with, but the magic didn't happened. Maybe I will re-read it in the future and I will like it more, but for now I say goodbye to Mr. Erikson!