Gardens of the Moon

The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1

By: Steven Erikson

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Length: 26 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Vast legions of gods, mages, humans, dragons and all manner of creatures play out the fate of the Malazan Empire in this first book in a major epic fantasy series

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.

However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand....

Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order - an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.

©1999 by Steven Erikson. (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Erikson is an extraordinary writer. My advice to anyone who might listen to me is, Treat yourself to Gardens of the Moon. And my entirely selfish advice to Steven Erikson is, write faster." --Stephen R. Donaldson

"I stand slack-jawed in awe of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. This masterwork of imagination may be the high water mark of epic fantasy. This marathon of ambition has a depth and breadth and sense of vast reaches of inimical time unlike anything else available today. The Black Company, Zelazny's Amber, Vance's Dying Earth, and other mighty drumbeats are but foreshadowings of this dark dragon's hoard." --Glen Cook

"A world that is both absorbing on a human level and full of magical sublimity...a wonderfully grand conception...splendidly written...fiendishly readable." --Adam Roberts

hard listen

It might just be me, but I found the reading putting me to sleep. I don't know if it the story helped but the reader's pace and tone put me to sleep more than once. This is not my first audiobook and I normally enjoy them. just frustrating when you have to go back and find where you fell asleep.

Too Many Characters; Not Enough Plot Development

The novel spends a great deal of time bouncing back and forth between a dizzying array of characters. The magic of this world is powerful, but often the book operates more often in Leo Tolstoy territory. While some stand out (Paren, Sorry, Tattersail, Lorn, Wiskeyjack, Rake, and Kruppe) most of the rest of the time you're trying to figure out who is who. This is particularly a problem in the climax. In Darujhistan, it seems like everyone is a thief or assassin or engaged in some nasty business of one kind or another, and keeping them all straight and who is entangled with whom is a difficult business. Perhaps more time could be spent developing the central plot, which is underwhelming in a way that I can't get into too deeply without spoilers.

The magic is extremely varied in scope. The characters often shift into alternate dimensions. There is a Greek god like pantheon that is constantly intervening with the main characters both on their behalf and in opposition. Even the gods appear afraid of other beings more powerful than themselves. This backdrop undermines the book somewhat as the balance necessary for the plot requires the author to sacrifice its believably.

Counterbalancing these flaws is the lack of triteness throughout most of the novel. The point of view shifts among all the characters constantly, so you get a pretty good idea of the motivations of each character regardless of whether they are "good guys" or "bad guys." The bad guys have doubts, and the good guys occasionally do bad things. Missing here too is the inevitable "chosen one" character (Paren is closest to this role, but there is a sense he could lose that role at any moment), the kindly father figure (not even sure who this would be), and the most Dark Lord-like character at first glance has, for much of the book, a much more complicated role that doesn't fall neatly into good guy or bad guy. Ultimately even here, the novel falters. The romances aren't all that interesting, and the novel does fall back on the trite in the end. It's a step up from the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and the Eye of the World, but a step down from A Song of Ice and Fire.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about the book, which appears to be torn between fantasy's past and its future. I'm rooting for it's future mostly, and on that score the novel is too much a creature of fantasy's past to be completely satisfying.

Thoroughly Enjoyed This!

I've heard from countless people that this story is hard to follow. I think because I've read Herbert, Tolkien, Lewis, Jordan and Sanderson that it was much easier to follow.
I laughed multiple times, and the narrator was phenomenal.

Unjust bad reviews

Personally I really enjoyed this story. Yes it could have benefited from a bit more editing and breaking the chapters up to more dedicated POVs, but other than that I have no complaints. The magic system in this series is fascinating, ancient and ambiguous. The writing and the performance was brilliant! And the characters were unique and very memorable. My favorite being Kruppe! Give it a listen, you might just like what you hear.

Ralph Lister brings the book to life.

I have recently starting reading the series and enjoyed the premise enough to listen to the audiobooks. The story seems so much more vivid with the storytelling skill of the narrator. Mr. Lister is able to bring the different characters to life in a way that I just can't seem to in my head. The pacing is perfect for myself, remaining smooth and steady but not becoming monotonous. Truly love the performance here, and I hope the rest of the series is as well done.

Stay till The End

Initially I found this book hard to get into. It has multiple characters and doesn’t do a lot of explaining. However if you stick with it the story is deep and absolutely amazing. The characters I was initially not thrilled with become some of my favorite characters in fantasy novels. The only thing I thought could be better is a greater pause in narration when switching scenes. Sometimes it was confusing due to a scene change not being noticed because of the speed of narration.

too confusing,

was hard to get though, half the time couldn't understand what was actually going on, who people were talking to, which character it was focusing on, or what was happening, the times I could understand what was happening were good, but those weren't often, plus the fact that there was no world building to help people understand who was who didn't help at all

Must listen!

Love this series!
Didn't care for the nasal voices that were given by the narrator.
Definitely recommend.

Not hard to follow if you are a little smart

Not a book for dummies, incredible if you are even a little bright and able to hold two thoughts together in your head at once. Every character is well connected to the over all plot, the ones who aren’t well explained are intentionally vague and have very short scenes. All the clues for what will happen are laid out like a well crafted puzzle. And the structure of the book is done in a very intentional way. Thisbook is alot like the black company , and glen cooks books in that series.

great plot/storyline... narrator is super!

I read the series starting in 1999 or there abouts ... it's a long 10 book series but well worth it in humble opinion...