Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Feb 08, 2015 Tani rated it really liked it

Shelves: male-author, 2015-novels, epic-fantasy, dark-fantasy

A slow start, but a really strong finish! All the events that the beginning is building up to are exciting indeed! Also, I got really attached to the characters by the end. Looking forward to the next book in the series now, although I want to squeeze in a couple outside books first.

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Sep 10, 2009 Dave Marks rated it really liked it

Ignore the cheesy cover. The most imaginative complex fantasy I have ever read. The reader is thrust into the chaos of a massive war and must struggle to keep afloat between the incredibly complex political relationships and obscure magic system. This is not easy reading, but has a huge payoff as things eventually come together by the third book. This is the only series which I have go back to read each of the 8 books two to three times to understand everything going on and enjoyed doing so. Thi ...more

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Jan 27, 2010 Peter rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I didn't like this book as much as I thought (or hoped) I would, but I liked enough to continue with the series. I've read many epic fantasy series, and there's always a bit of a learning curve with all the character and place names, but in this book he switched so quickly back and forth that I found myself a bit confused a few times (I'm usually pretty good at keeping everything straight). Like George R.R. Martin, who Erikson is often compared to, he shifts back and forth from story lines--but ...more

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Oct 05, 2007 Carl is currently reading it

Shelves: fantasysci-fi

Looked interesting, so I picked it up. Feels like there is a bit too much going on, and I don't really like having the entire focus be on war, but at the same time this feels pretty interesting and gutsy, and the world is well built (though I'm still deciding whether I like it). Written by an anthropologist, which is nice-- gives you some faith in the world building. Been hard to get through it-- started it months ago, and got several late fees from the library for it because I would forget I ha ...more

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Sep 28, 2016 Lucija rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, malazan

Before I started reading this book I read a lot of reviews that claimed it was a mess with too many characters and too much to keep track off. Other reviews raved about the richness of the world and promised that the first book is the weakest of the series.
So I was prepared; with pen and paper I kept track of the cast of characters for each chapter and other little things mentioned. Usually I listen to audiobooks, but I returned to hardcopy for this one.
The book did not disappoint. It itself was ...more

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