Gardens of the Moon

4.5

Yes I did it, I finally dipped my toes into the Malazan books. This and the WoT series are so long on my to-read list, but I never got the courage to actually try it. But it kind of paid off to wait that long, because a)I think I'm more well-read in the genre than I was three years ago and thus can better evaluate this book and b)my English vocabulary has improved a lot and you really need a diverse one with Steven Erikson. With this foundation, I think I enjoyed it more than I would have if I had been a novice to the genre. This series is as epic as it get's on the epic scale and you get tossed in it head first. Little to none explanation about the world, you have to guess a lot and connect the dots on your own. With many POVs it really takes a lot of concentration to read, but as a fantasy "veteran" I found it very refreshing of the author not to get taken by the hand and shown around and info dumped upon. The world is HUGE as well in scale as in history. Multiple continents, different races, lot's and lot's of back stories, that only scratch the surface as it seems, and a wired magic system, I still don't really understand after having read book two. The first few hundred pages are really baffling but as soon as you find your bearings it's a great story, that only suffers a bit on the character front. It's quite hard to sympathize with a character, because there are so many. But I loved that you have absolutely no idea who is good and who is evil, the lines are so blurred here. Again, after book two I still don't know who deserves to win. Everyone has a different, from their view, compelling agenda. It's one of the strongest points in these books, no other book I read pulled it off as amazingly as this one. So all in all I'm ok with having waited this long to start the Malazan series and would recommend it only for advanced fantasy readers. I will now push through this (thankfully finished) series asap, because the scale is so enormous I fear I forget so much when taking to long of a break.

outstanding. I heard soo soo soo much stuff about this book beforehand. This is avantgarde jazz in fantasy literature. this is dark souls in bookform. this ist peak fantasy. and yes, all of above is right. this book is outstanding, because I never ever have read something close to this experience. i hated this book so many times, i would have DNF it several times. there were so many times where i was just frustrated and wanted to throw the book against walls. many many times. but. reading it with two of my friends in a bookclub, listening to the wonderful "ten very big books" podcast, doing my homework with reddit and malazan.fandom and keep on hustling through this 670page monster of "what the hell is actually going on" was WORTH IT. did a sanderlanch event came at the end? no. did it reward me with twists and conclusions? slightly. did it gave me the best world and character building of all time? for sure. comparing this book to a from soft game like elden ring is the best way to understand the reward this books gives. in the beginning you will suffer. you will "die" many times and will wonder why so many people like this and why this game wins every award. but once it clicks with you, because you let it click with you. you will get it. it is super hard. it is super confusing. you do need to do your homework besides reading. you do need to turn back pages and reread stuff. yes, all of this. but at the end you will get the most unique read of all time in fantasy. and i only finished the first book. there are nine still to come and i can´t wait to dive back in with excel sheets, reading guides and many many many notes while reading. the downside? after playing elden ring (and not nearly finishing it) every other game just felt like a walk in the park. malazan will shatter all other books the same.