Steven Erikson - Gardens of the Moon - Review

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Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson * * * * *
First volume of A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen
Rating: Superb - five out of five stars

Let me begin by saying that Gardens of the Moon is one of the best fantasy adventure books I have read in a long time. This may or may not mean anything depending upon how one views the current state of the genre, so your mileage may vary. Gardens is the first in the series of volumes, subtitled: Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. And it is suggested, but not essential, for one to begin with this volume if you are new to Erikson. A word of warning: This is epic fantasy adventure on a large scale and comes with all that the description of “epic” implies – loads of characters, heaps of locations and more than enough subplots all woven together to form the mythological and heroic history of a coherent fantasy world, particularly a history of a series of wars of conquest conducted and fought by the Malazan Empire and it’s unpopular, but powerful Empress, Laseen.

Like much of the genre these days, Erikon’s world is less informed by the Arthurian Legends, and its dependence upon heroic and honorable sword-play, but instead a cast of mages, wielding a complicated system of magic based upon warrens, or paths, and dark-shrouded, hooded assassins and thieves, who appear with fatal suddenness from the shadows, with dual flashing knives, or crossbows which deal out as much death to their opponents as any heavy, two-handed battle sword.

The main character in the story appears to be Ganoes Paran. There are so many other characters of importance that is difficult to say there is even a “main character” in the traditional literary sense. The book loosely follows the rise of Paran through the Imperial ranks, and his subsequent difficulties in remaining loyal to Laseen’s imperial cause. The plot itself moves like lighting, and Erikson shifts quickly from subplot to subplot in much the same way a director of a cinematic movie would. And the plotting is filled with war, political intrigue, pointed revenge and even a few love interests along the way. All this shifting around leaves little room for true character development in any real depth, so those who like the focus and more intense story driven view of a main character may at times feel a bit shortchanged in this area.

But what really sets Gardens apart is its mythological system of gods and “Ascendants,” which are god-like beings who are associated with a godly order or “House.” For example, there is the mysterious Shadowthrone, supreme god of High House Shadow, and his company of ascendants, which includes a pack of death-dealing hounds and a shadowy assassin called Cotillion, also known as “the Rope.” These Houses conform to a system of tarot-like cards known as the “Deck of Dragons” and a few of the mortal characters in the story can foretell the otherwise covert and mysterious actions of these gods, and their accompanying Houses, through these magical cards. Sounds interesting? It is, to say the least. To make matters even happier, the carefully woven plot of Gardens weaves its way to a mighty climax, as all the intricate strands of its plotting converge and intersect each other, and befitting the book’s epic ambitions, the ending will not disappoint.

As has been noted elsewhere, Erikson’s books require a great deal of time and patience. But the rewards are well worth the effort.

 

Nice review, Chandos. And not a mention of George Washington in sight.

Yes, I agree that this book is not for those who would like a David Copperfield style central character progression. Read Robin Hobb for that type of fantasy.

I have to admit that I did not understand very much of this book when I read it. Having read the next 3 books in the series I shall now have to go back and read this one again (and break my unspoken rule of avoiding multiple readings of the same book).

 

Thanks, HB. Maybe in the next review I can find a place to squeeze in a comment or two on Thomas Jefferson.

 

Ooh ooh this review is so making me want to get it. It is almost too bad that I have a dozen of other good books to wrestle with.

 

Wow, my word is more powerful than I thought. Hmm, where did I see that woman of immense poise, perhaps I should badger her into something as well.

Great review Chandos, I also really like the god/ascenant system, almost gives a little superhero touch to it all. I am disapointed that you didnt mention Anomander Rake once in your review, he cant have failed to make an impression on you. He wears a sword. =)

 

A good book, but I can't agree with the praise it get's here though. In the beginning it is *very* confusing to say at the least. Now I don't mind a lot of characters, in fact I love that, but I can't find a path to follow in the structure of the book. I also find the description of magic and warrens and the whole system it's build upon truly vague. I know it's fantasy but I can't imagine the warrens in my mind and I've read a lot. Now I'm only half way 'Deadhouse gates' and friens of mine tell me it get's better but in my opinion it does not deserve the 5 stars. Perhaps the following books will upgrade my opinion but stand alone I find it too confusing.

One other thing I can't see an ending. I know it's early in the series but at some level there's got to be an ending, less it will end suddenly and unsatisfactory. I find it very annoying, I don't expect to know what exactly will happen but I like to venture guesses and create theories about it. I can't in this series because there is no clear story leading to an end.

 

No doubt, Rake is a great character. And he is the closest thing to an Arthurian hero in the story, thus far. He does fight for a sense of honor and Chivalry in the Arthurian cast. His overall purpose in the story seems a bit confused, at least to me. But, some of the characters in the story seem confused by his purpose also, so I'm sure that's by design. I also wish that the warlord, Brood, had been more developed in the story as well.

 

A tale of Malazan book of the Fallen is confusing, very confusing. To me it is both a strength and a weakness, a strength in that you never really know what is going to happen and are kept on constant edge and a weakness in that sometimes it is really hard to figure out what the hell is going on. That said the first book is the most confusing one, it was written almost decade before the other ones and it seems that Erikson hadnt really worked out everything himself in it. As for Deadhouse Gates, I find the first half of Deadhouse Gates to be, not the worst cause no part is really worse than any other, but toughest and least entertaining. At least I spent a lot of time just being annoyed at one of the characters. The chain of dogs more than makes up for that part though.

I dont honestly know about an overarching storyline or where the hell everything is going really despite reading all of the published books, what I do know is that all the threads gets woven together and that a big bad villain has appeared on the scene which seems to dabble in all the storylines.

Chandos! Rake's purpose, at least in Gardens, is to be cool and wack people with his big ass sword and sometmies turn into a huge freaking dragon and eat them alive! Is that not purpose enough for you?

 

An indication of how confused I was with Gardens of the Moon is that I have no recollection of Ganoes Paran even being in the book, let alone being a main character......the only characters I remembered as being important were Apsalar, Fiddler, Whiskeyjack, Tattersail, and of course the mysterious and very cool Anomander Rake.

 

Warning spoilers ahead - Please don't read unless you have already finished this book!!!! This is for discussion among those who have finished the story. For the rest of you, it will ruin the story....

Harbourboy, Joacqin, Apeman, etc - On second thought, I decided to move my comments on Paran to the Malazan thread on this forum.[spoilers deleted from review thread].

[ March 16, 2005, 07:31: Message edited by: Chandos the Red ]

 

Nice review, even nicer to read it after I ordered the book as part of my Amazon order yesterday

Looking forward to it already. Fingers crossed it should be delivered tomorrow.