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Submitted by Memnoch 
(Mar 31, 2006)

"Mane of Chaos...Anomander Rake. Lord of the black-skinned Tiste Andii...who has looked down on a hundred thousand winters, Who has tasted the blood of dragons, who leads the last of his kind, seated in the Throne of Sorrow and a kingdom tragic and fey...a kingdom with no land to call its own." - Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon

So Steven Erikson introduces one of his major characters. This series is quite simply outstanding, grandiose, magnificent - the word epic is often used as a cliche but if ever a series is worthy of being called that, this is it. It's staggering in its scope.

Erikson's narrative style is to throw you in the thick of the action with minimal background information. This can be quite disconcerting when starting this book - you just don't, and won't, know what the hell's going on. You won't understand how magic works, what a Warren is, where the Malazan empire actually is and what the hell is a Tiste Andii anyway??

It'll be like that for the first hundred pages or so. Keep up or be left behind. You'll find yourself rereading various passages, trying to glean some tiny seed of understanding. It can be pretty frustrating, not knowing a damn thing about anything. But Erikson gives you enough teasing glimpses of quality under the survace for you to feel that understanding is just around the corner if you keep perservering with it, even if you don't initially understand what's going on - Erikson's world is incredibly rich in detail and history, and this is slowly revealed as you get further into the book.

And the more this world - and the storyline set in this world - is revealed the more and more impossible it gets to put the book down. The originality is quite amazing, and it's a MAJOR rush when you start to piece things together. Everything starts to fall into place. It's called approaching comprehension - and it creeps up on you, till you get to the last page of the book and realise that you can't wait to go back to the bookstore to get the second in the series, Deadhouse Gates, just so that you can find out more about this world and the people who live in it. Then when you finish that you'll want to get the third, Memories of Ice. And the fourth, House of Chains. And the fifth, Midnight Tides. And so on and so on...and the best thing? It gets better and better and better as you get deeper into the series - if ever there's a world and a series to lose yourself in, it's this one. Not only that, the rereadability quality of this series is amazing - better than anything else I've read before. The more you re-read this series, the more you understand - it's like your first read really only scratches the surface. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

If Weiss, Brooks or Salvatore awaken & stir emotions that leave you craving more, skip Steven Erikson for a few years. Only after you are burned out with simple reading and happy stories should you dare turn to this incredibly brilliant author - and do so only when you are prepared to feel humble.

Gardens of the Moon is the briefest introduction to a vast, original mythology within the genius mind of Erikson that will leave your mind reeling for more. The author mysteriously leaves common concepts & places unexplained, which forces the reader to use your own imagination. A hundred book reports would yield a hundred different explanations for such things as warrens, ascendants, soultaken. This made the series more entertaining for me as I spent more time thinking about the book than reading it - while at the same time I was forced to read the book slower than normal while returning to the Glossary at a frenzied rate.

The character development is rather unique and vague, leaving more room for the imagination than is typical of the genre. There are a large number of characters throughout the book, and no singular hero to warm up to. The conclusion of the book does draw together nicely and leaves the reader with closure for the current drama.

The reading difficulty is fairly high with so many entirely unique concepts, though minor concepts & similarities from obscure works by other authors are there. On the down-side, you may tend to breeze over certain words such as T'lan Imass expecting to uncover it's meaning later on; you will not. This, coupled with strangely named continents and multiple scenarios bouncing back and forth within chapters may push some readers off due to the complexity of the saga.

Overall, I would highly recommend this series to any well-read fantasy lover.

Firstly, a warning to anyone who is thinking of reading this: It is not an easy read. Erikson has expertly crafted a world of immense complexity, almost of a level with our own, which no other fantasy author has even approached - but he doesn't explain it. If you're used to the Robert Jordan style explanation of every little detail of the world, don't expect it here. I don't really understand people's complaints about the complexity though - if anything, it adds to the world, it adds to the plot and it makes the whole story more believable. There are many original ideas (warrens, ascendants, Jaghut, Tiste Andii, soletaken ...), though a few fantasy archetypes are present.
The characters: there are a lot of them, and you will not see the level of characterisation present in novels which focus on just a select few. That said, certain characters are at the very least entertaining, at the best, masterfully crafted. There is ambiguity - there is little good and evil which feels less superficial than most fantasy novels.

My advice: Persevere through the book. At the end, there is quite a big payoff, and while it may not strike you as a masterpiece, it'll still be an enjoyable novel. But it is really just a set up for the next novel, which is a true masterpiece: Deadhouse Gates. You probably won't understand it fully the first time you read it - it'll make sense after the second book in the series. Don't give up, because you'll be missing out on one of the best epic fantasy series ever written.

Let it be known that I’m not an avid fantasy reader, but after reading the first books of Tolkein(LOR)and George Martin(ICE & FIRE) I was left wanting more. After finishing this book I’m not sure if I really want to invest anymore of my time in this series.

What’s bad: CONTAINS SPOILERS

The book contains far to many characters and hence character development is very weak. I didn’t really know anything about any particular character, and hence felt no loyalty or loathing for any of them. I mean Lorn, Adjunct to the Empress. What is she supposed to be doing? Does she have any powers? She's portrayed as a powerful figure but then gets bumped off by the crimson guard (who are they?) and finally 2 fat ladies! Paran seeking revenge for his love Tattersail. Come off it, they only spent one night together in the sack .

Some of the action scenes are very poor in their description. “Hairlock shrieked one last time and then the hounds were upon him” A major character killed off in one sentence!

The plot. What exactly is going on? Did he need 702 pages to explain it, I mean confuse me.

The Good

Well at least Erikson is original. Mad puppets, Warrens, Moon Spawn. No orcs or elves in site. The guy has a fantastic imagination.

I have to give credit to Erikson in the fact that I actually did finish this book, which is more than I can say for another well known fantasy author. Take a bow Robert Jordan.

I’ve been told that the second book is better. To be fair the first books aren’t always the best.

Don’t get me wrong I did enjoy parts of this book but at times found it a very tiresome read. The question is can I be bothered to read the second book. I think I will after a long break but if that doesn’t clinch it I will call it quits on this series.

Gardens of the Moon is a pedantic quagmire that leaves the reader wondering what the *bleep* is going on. Worse, the author is condescending, as he never bothers to EXPLAIN the world he has created. In fact, this book is all about tell, not show. Which leaves me with more questions than answers. Like what IS an Ascendent? They appear to be gods, but when mortal characters run into them, they act like it's no big deal. Not only that, but these gods are not omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, or omni...well, anything. So what seperates them from mere mortals, especially since the author claims the gods can die? And what's the difference between High House Death, High House Shadow, and High House Dark? It all sounds like the same thing. What is the Deck of Dragons? Is it a seperate entity from the gods? Or a god unto itself? And by the way, just who IS Hairlock? Does he have any kind of background story? Who is Tattersail? Why are the Bridgeburners so notorious? Why should I care if Whiskeyjack is eliminated by assasins? Etc. etc.


Yet it's not just the lack of explanation that chaffes me. The author also contradicts himself. For example:

"Both Hounds froze, heads hunching towards him, as if seeing the hatred in his eyes. Paran felt his heart grow cold at their avid attention. He was slow to realize he had bared his teeth."

Um, Okay. So which is it? Is he scared or not? Because he can't be both. And if I read the words "he/she swung his/her eyes around" one more time, I'm going to scream!

It can't be denied that Steven Erikson has a superior perspicacity (despite his odd pattern of repetative phrases like the one above), and a vivid imagination. However, that does NOT translate into good storytelling. I'll probably read the next novel, in the hopes that eventually I'll figure this story out. If I don't get a clear idea of what's going on by then, it's not likely I'll be getting the third.