Epic fantasy at some of its most epic.
I’ve had Gardens of the Moon on my to be read list for a while now and I went into it knowing full well that this is the kind of series that takes effort to get into but rewards readers substantially if they persevere. I can confirm that this roughly checks out. This is the first of a 10 book, epic fantasy series. They’re meaty entries too! There are also some subseries to tackle, but I’ll get to those one day.
What you need to know about Gardens of the Moon
| Length | 712 pages |
| Series | Malazan Book of the Fallen |
| Number in series | 1 |
| Author | Steven Erikson |
| Publisher | Bantam/Tor Books |
| Publication date | 1st April 1999 |
| Target Age | Adult |
| Genre | High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy |
| Themes | War, magic, meddling gods, ancient civilisations |
| Similar books | The Black Company, Stormlight Archive, The Prince of Nothing |
| Complexity | This book follows many point of view characters switching from one to another, sometimes rapidly. The author often provides little context to lore and events, letting readers work things out as they go along. The language isn’t overly complex, but the story can be notoriously challenging to follow without dedicating significant reading time. |
| Spice (out of 5) | 🌶️🌶️ – There is very little romance. Where this does occur, it is not described in detail. One scene makes it clear 2 characters have sex, but gives no more details than this. Another scene has a character see a woman topless. A small amount of description is given, but this isn’t extensive. |
| Potential trigger warnings | This is a war epic and details the effects of war. People die, sometimes in very brutal ways, though Erikson doesn’t dwell on the gory details of such things. One character is cut in half and survives with magic. There are some depictions of mass killings of soldiers. |
What’s it about?
Malazan is an empire on a mission of conquest. They’re sweeping through the continent taking over cities and nations in the name of the empress. Different point of view characters take different sides of this conflict whether as soldiers and commanders in the Malazan army, rivals against this war or those sowing the seeds of rebellion.
This conflict comes to a head in the city of Darujhistan which has become a key target for Malazan’s conquest. However, there is more at play to these events (and more that are kept a mystery to the reader). Gods appear to be meddling in the affairs of mortals and making their own power plays. Their interest in the conflict becomes a source of concern for many as they seek to understand what draws the gods into these events.
Erikson explains very little to his readers
Gardens of the Moon gives readers snapshots of events with very little in the way of explanation. There’s no narration as to why nations are at war, how magic works, who the gods are or any of the rules with which the universe works. Instead what Erikson does is tell what happens, absent of these explanations and lets the reader work this out slowly along the way.
This is definitely a barrier to accessibility and it does take time to get a proper sense of what’s going on. I was probably half way through the book before I felt like I was understanding about 70% of what was going on. If Reddit’s anything to go by, I’m assured that things become clearer as the series goes on, but while there is more clarity by the end of the book, many mysteries and unexplained occurrences remain.
A surprisingly engaging story considering the lack of clarity
Which is perhaps why it’s surprising just how interesting the story is. I still feel like I’d have enjoyed the book more if it was maybe 20% less obtuse. Don’t get me wrong, I love a mystery and the journey of discovery in my books, but just a little more explanation I think would have gone a long way.
Yet the story really did grip me. This is a war epic with loads of moving parts, motivations and everything combines incredibly into an epic conclusion.
There’s a promise of something much bigger
While the story felt epic, there is absolutely the promise here of something so much bigger. Gods war in the background. Armies and commanders manoeuvre their soldiers and wizards grasp for greater power. There are many moving pieces already shifting into place and it feels like Erikson is sowing the seeds of a truly epic story to come.
Every character arc is interesting
Most books have segments or characters that make me feel like I wish we’d just get back to the good characters. Despite the dozen or so point of view characters, none of them felt this way. No character feels like wasted space, and yet each has interesting motivations and arcs to follow throughout the story. This is not an easy to feat to juggle, and yet Gardens of the Moon manages it.
Lots of threads hanging for future books
I’m left with all the best kinds of plot threads to look forward to. Unfortunately, I can’t really say what they are (spoilers). What I can say though, is that I’m intrigued by how things progress. I’m also finding the subplot (which may be the main plot) with the meddling gods intriguing and want to see how that continues.
Conclusion
Gardens of the Moon is an unusual book. It goes to substantial lengths to keep itself fairly inaccessible and a part of me wishes I understood what was going on just a little bit more (at least from the lore side of things). Armed with this knowledge, I think I’d have loved Gardens of the Moon. Instead, I feel like I’m just missing some key bits of information. I suspect that this could be a brilliant series to reread once I understand the lore a bit better.
For now though, I can say that I did enjoy Gardens of the Moon, especially once I got through a big chunk of it and some aspects started to make sense. It oozes and elusive quality with the promise of greater things to come. If you like your books simple and your plots straightforward, then I’d avoid Gardens of the Moon at all costs. But if you really want to get invested in a deep and epic world, then this could be a brilliant option. But you’ll have to wait till I get to the next one to find out if that investment is worth it.
7/10