I’ll be honest: I’m one of the people who initially fell flat on my face the first time I tried to read Gardens of the Moon. The sheer number of new characters leaves many readers thumbing through the earlier chapters again and again, muttering all the while about maybe having missed something. Gods, assassins, soldiers, mages, immortals—Erikson’s debut is rife with all manner of colourful personalities.
But fear not, new readers! Your friendly Malazan holiday rep is here to save you from this fate. Just sit back, relax and enjoy this handy (non-spoiler) beginner’s guide to Erikson’s inimitable characters and the tangled web of factions that connects them…
THE MALAZANS
The Malazan Empire assimilates each culture it conquers. Most of the books tend to concentrate mainly on its military—but before we begin, here’s a brief overview of those at the very top of the food chain:
Empress Laseen
Formerly known as Surly. Once a bog-standard barmaid… until the night she assassinated the previous Emperor, Kellanved, along with others belonging to the Emperor’s ‘Old Guard’—including his chief adviser, Dancer.
Clawmaster Topper
Unhealthily obsessed with the colour green. Commands a faction of elite assassins known as the Claw who, loyal to Empress Laseen, played an important role in her bloody coup.
Adjunct Lorn
If the Clawmaster is Laseen’s hidden left hand, the Adjunct is undoubtedly his counterpart. Adjunct Lorn is the public face, voice, and sword arm of the Empress, and is fiercely loyal to Laseen (like, Brienne of Tarth-scale loyalty). Lorn wears the Adjunct’s traditional rust-coloured, magic-deadening sword, so there’s no danger of not being recognised (and feared) wherever she goes. But beneath the chip on her shoulder and the trappings of authority, she’s just a woman doing her job.
So that’s the capital. But Gardens of the Moon takes place in the field, so here’s a quick rundown of the imperial army’s key players:
Onearm’s Host
The Malazan army is a motley conglomeration of races, cultures, genders and skillsets. From crossbow-wielding marines and heavyweight frontline fighters to ex-assassins and necromancers, its soldiers are both the heart and the backbone of this series.
Dujek Onearm
Commander (‘High Fist’) of the Malazan campaign on Genabackis (aka. the continent where GotM takes place). Has one arm.
Toc the Younger
Soldier, optimist and son of… Toc the Elder! (Bet you didn’t see that one coming.) Desperately needs someone to buy him a t-shirt that reads ‘Wrong place, wrong time.’ Has one eye.
Tayschrenn
High Mage (aka, top dog). Aloof, enigmatic and uber-powerful. Bit of a worm, though…
Tattersail
Big heart, big magic, big body. Not so much a cougar as a cradle-snatcher…but we all have our flaws.
The Bridgeburners
Remember the “Old Guard” I mentioned above? The ones Empress Laseen is no longer a fan of? Well, most of these guys—now fighting in Onearm’s Host—were as good as part of it. We first meet the Bridgeburners in the aftermath of a sorcery enfilade outside the city of Pale, during which most of their company were “accidentally” decimated by their own side.
Ganoes Paran
Wet-behind-the-ears nobleborn with a habit of inadvertently paving the road to hell. Reluctant buddy of Adjunct Lorn. Recently handed a commission as Captain of the Bridgeburners. Veterans one and all, the Bridgeburners don’t take kindly to highborn officers: Paran is the latest in a long line of Captains, and the grunts are busy planning his “welcome” before he’s even arrived. Poor guy.
Whiskeyjack
Whiskeyjack is The Man: a tough-but-fair, salt-of-the-earth-type soldier. The most well-known Bridgeburner Sergeant, Whiskeyjack also happens to be Dujek Onearm’s BFF and leads his own eclectic squad of Bridgeburner soldiers. Including…
Quick Ben
MMGA (Makes Mages Great Again). Seriously, even if you despise mages you’ll hit it off with Quick Ben: he’s smart-mouthed, highly strung, and perhaps one of the cleverest characters in the whole damn series. Goes to extreme lengths to lurk beneath the high-command radar and appear less powerful than he really is. Certified badass.
Kalam
Also a certified badass. Huge and muscled, ex-Claw Kalam seems an unlikely assassin, though it’s true he can probably crush your skull with his bare hands. But he’s light on his feet and quick with his knives… and always has Quick Ben watching his back.
Hedge
Sapper. Loves playing with munitions more than he loves life itself. Slightly deranged. Invents card games using the Deck of Dragons (aka Tarot cards that most people are afraid to even share a room with).
Fiddler
Hedge’s best friend. Also a sapper/explosives expert/crazy card-game swindler. Surprisingly prescient. Carries a fiddle.
Sorry
You’ll come across a nameless dark-haired fishergirl in one of the earliest chapters. Keep your eye on her, because it isn’t long before she reappears as a creepy-ass recruit named Sorry. There’s something odd about her, alright…and her presence makes even her grizzled tough-as-old-boots squadmates nervous.
As of the opening of GotM, the city of Pale has fallen to the Malazans. This leaves Darujhistan as the last remaining free city on Genabackis… and the location of the story’s big climax.
THE DARU
Darujhistan’s social and political factions are many and varied, but can be loosely divided into four influential groups:
The Council
Nasty bastards. Ostensibly the rulers of Darujhistan, their political strategies consist mainly of bitching, backstabbing, and brown-nosing. Of all the fancy-arsed nobles’ names flung around here the only ones you need to pay attention to are Turban Orr, Lady Simtal and the D’Arle family (and of course, Challice; who the f*ck is Challice?!)
The T’orrud Cabal
Magic bastards. The real power within the city, these shadowy figures are more interested in peace than politics. Led by High Alchemist Baruk, their ranks also include an absent-minded old scholar…and his familiar, a flying monkey known as Moby.
The Guild of Assassins
A small but passionate community of banjo-playing dwarves.
No, not really.
The Phoenix Inn Crowd
A shifty bunch of thieves, cutthroats, beggars, scroungers and miscreants. Naturally, these are the guys we spend most of our time in Darujhistan with, so here’s a quick overview of some of the standouts:
Kruppe
Beneficent Kruppe refers to himself in the third person. But Kruppe’s new (and cheerfully unaware) friends should not let Kruppe’s cherubic appearance and rambling demeanour deceive them: oh, no! For affable Kruppe is a master of sleight of hand; and Kruppe assures dear readers that he is, indeed, far more cunning than they might think.
Crokus Younghand
Thief, but by choice rather than necessity. Astoundingly naïve. (Like, seriously. The dude is oblivious. Adorable, yes. But also facepalm-provokingly oblivious. Consider yourselves warned!)
Rallick Nom
Assassin. Member of the Guild of Assassins. Hates it when other assassins rely on magic instead of assassin-y skills. Enjoys assassinations and long walks up haunted towers (to lie in wait before assassinating someone).
Murillio
Fop. Dandy. Handsome layabout who offers his “services” as an escort to rich women. Also in cahoots with Assassin-y McAssassinface Rallick Nom in a super-secret plan involving their drunken mate, Coll.
Oh, and lastly: be sure to keep an eye out for the mysterious “Eel”. Slippery fellow, that one.
THE “WILD CARDS”
So there you have the Daru. But what about their allies? And what if the Malazans aren’t their only enemies? Finally, let’s meet a few of the free agents. These fantastical figures are some of the most powerful—and unpredictable!—players in Erikson’s long game.
Anomander Rake
Rake is literally the Son of Darkness. As in, his mum is Mother Dark. This makes him sort of a cross between Ozzy Osbourne and Jesus: ageless, intelligent, and powerful beyond all measure, Rake is the brooding-but-badass leader of the Tiste Andii race.
(FYI: You know how the elves in Lord of the Rings are tall and majestic and distant and cold and also just a little bit depressing? Picture them with midnight skin and moon-white hair. Now imagine that some of them are also capable of shapeshifting into dragons, while others wield primeval magic and weapons with impossible skill. And then—just for kicks—place them all on a colossal flying mountain and name it “Moon’s Spawn”. Are you picturing it? Good. That’s the Tiste Andii.)
Caladan Brood
Aka the big bastard with the hammer. (No, not Thor. Different dude; different hammer.)
Caladan Brood doesn’t get all that much page time. Nonetheless, he’s a huge presence throughout the…which, let’s face it, isn’t all that surprising when you take into account the fact that he’s a not-quite-human warlord carrying the only weapon capable of waking the Sleeping Goddess, Burn. Did I mention he’s been carrying that bad boy around for more than a thousand years?
(FYI: Before the events of GotM, Brood and his BFF Rake started a kind of heavy-metal supergroup: Brood’s tribal armies and Rake’s Tiste Andii got together and swore to defend the Free Cities—like Pale and Darujhistan—against the Malazan Empire. They also recruited the legendary Crimson Guard mercenaries, along with other slightly more unsavoury allies. Such as…)
High King Kallor
The third wheel in the Brood/Rake (Brake?) bromance. This grouchy old git is the naysayer of the group…and yet strangely impressive. Ancient, bitter and universally hated, yes. But Kallor is also no slouch with the enormous sword he carries, and despite his age he’s more cunning than a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford. Too bad allies and foes alike mock his self-styled title; and too bad that, despite lugging his decrepit throne along with him everywhere he goes, in actuality he is—in the words of renowned bard H’etfield James– “King Nothing.”
Speaking of lost glory and immortality…
Tool
The first T’lan Imass (undead cavemen tenuously allied with the Malazans) we meet, Onos T’oolan is without doubt the most skilled swordsman among the thousands-strong ranks of walking dead. Don’t get the wrong impression, though, because shambling zombies the Imass ain’t.
Fun fact: a friend of mine once told me he imagines the T’lan Imass to look like Iron Maiden’s skeletal mascot, Eddie. To this day I can’t decide if that makes them more or less terrifying. Either way, Tool is metal AF.
It’s all about the little guys
I could happily ramble on forever about ALL THE CHARACTERS in Gardens of the Moon, as well as the factions they represent and the profound motifs they introduce—epic motifs like power attracts power; war destroys the things you love; progress vs stagnation; and mega-shark vs giant octopus…
For now, though, I hope I’ve managed to give new readers a glimpse of what (for me) makes this book so special. Erikson’s tale is essentially about the nature of humanity, and he adopts a more intimate approach to character-building than any other epic fantasy author I’ve encountered. He delights in showing us that the gods are fallible just as much as he revels in portraying the quiet heroism of lowly soldiers. He creates characters who are physically alien or barbaric, but in whom we can nonetheless recognise something of ourselves; and he puts each and every one of his little guys through the wringer. Not because he’s cruel—though some would say that’s a matter for debate!—but because he knows full well that the surest way to evoke a visceral response from readers is to simply give us characters that we care about.
Laura M. Hughes was dragged up beneath the grey, pigeon-filled skies of northern England. When she isn’t reading The Malazan Book of the Fallen (or trying to persuade others to do so) she works as a high school classroom assistant—an occupation that grants her just enough spare time to write for Fantasy-Faction.com and to dream about finishing her work-in-progress. She encourages like-minded folk to seek her out on Twitter @halfstrungharp, Facebook @laura.hughes.0 and at lauramhughes.com.
This seems worse than Wheel of Time or the Stormlight Archives.
But I know a number of fans of those series love this one. I just haven’t taken the dive yet. Not sure that I’m ready for such darkness.
There are so many characters that it is hard to choose a favorite. I am a fan of Tattersail and Ganoes Paran. And yes, you called it right. I am unsure if it is right to call it a cougar relationship. But quite frankly, in SFF, this is the first time that I have seen a cougar relationship.
Can I be disappointed that there is no Dune reference for Caladan? I’m about a third through this book. It is very good, but very dense. I’m looking forward to continuing.
Ah, you left out Hairlock. I could have done with an artist depiction of Hairlock giving Paran the evil eye!
Braid_Tug @@@@@ 1- it is a hard read. It took me a long time to warm up to it. But once I got over the first few chapters, I began to understand why it is so popular. Now, I’m a fan. Only problem is I cannot find the time to continue reading it. :-(
“Worse than” Wheel of Time only in the sense that it’s more convoluted. But far better written. And finished….
Haven’t read any of the books, but Anomander Rake sounds like he was dreamed up by a bunch of teenage girls high on Tumblr slash and Silmarillion fanfic.
I love military fantasy, but I’m allergic to authors who go to extreme length emphasizing the hero/villain’s amazing raven-dark/silvery white bishounen hair streaming in the wind, eyes of a different colour but pale as moonlight, the bane of an ancient curse, extra-special and extra-phallic magical swords, dragon transformations and broooooooooding, I switch off. Please tell me Malazan books are not like that?
Quick Ben and Kruppe are my favorites in this one. I didn’t love Malazan the way some do but I love many of the characters.
@7: No, they are not. I don’t think you would be disappointed with Anomander Rake. He can dragon transform and he is associated with a sword or two and he might even brood at times, but none of those things are as fantasy trope as you might expect. In fact Erikson likes his trope inversions more than any other author I’ve read. And if you love military fantasy then Erikson along with Glen Cook are the two best that I have read.
I got midway through book 4 and gave up. I think it’s a stretch to call these creations ‘characters’. Some are only marked out by what weapons they carry. Some are interchangeable – the same cynical voice repeated. Another disillusioned soldier etc. Erikson’s style is anathema to great characterisation. He doesnt build sympathy, doesnt indulge his cardboard cut-outs. Everything is so distant, detached from emotion. Even when the most dramatic events are occurring I never felt anything. This is especially damaging when its combined with an extremely complex world. I think for a lot of readers there is nothing to cling onto: if you don’t know what’s going on, and don’t care about most of the ‘characters’ in it, then why continue?
@10: This is not an attack, just genuine curiosity. You’ve read Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice and you have no sympathy for Coltaine, Duiker, Fiddler, Whiskeyjack, Itkovian, Gruntle, Rake, Kalam, no one? I don’t know how you can have read about the Chain of Dogs or the Siege of Capustan and felt nothing for any character. That’s just a few names but I don’t see how you can call them cardboard cutouts.
I find that remarkable. I shed tears in each of those books at times. To each their own I guess…
Heck, I felt bad for the demon, Pearl in Gardens of the Moon. :)
djk1978 is right. I cried through the Chain of dogs. I enjoyed Quick Ben, Kruppe, Tehol, Iskaral, Karss. Icarium, Anomader and all those heavy hitters are well described and exelently characterized. So I really dont know who in the series is a cardboard cut out. Gardens are a bit of a mess at start. But once you get into it…
@11
The only thing I felt in Deadhouse Gates was complete boredom. I just think there’s a lack of humanity in the story. As I said above, Erikson isn’t avoiding emotion and conflict. He tries to include moments of real drama, but personally he never made me feel anything. If I had to be more specific, I would say the problem is most of the characters are superhuman, beyond mortal concerns, or have a detached world weary voice that is not endearing. I mean, how many characters are just reluctantly doing their duty? I’m 3.5 books in and I can’t remember a personal journey, a human goal, I was invested in. They all just move around the board at the behest of the author.
@1: I have read the first 2 WoT and all of the Stormlight Archive. I’ve also read Kingkiller (just to give a rough credibility). I read Malazan before any of those and I think Malazan is the most beautiful, life-changing, tear-jerking (both good and bad) adventure I will ever experience.
The amount of depth that goes into the macro is stunning: culture, history (over 300,000 years), geography, dimensions, major etc.
The amount of depth that goes into the micro is stunning: character development, dialogues, personal plot-lines, sub-journey, etc.
Essentially, Erikson creates a world with a rich history and the most intense action scenes since the Iliad. Erikson depicts battles on both the micro and macro scale; weaving them together to paint the most massively detailed, gory experiences. The whole series is pretty much Erikson working as the cameraman in the Malazan universe, doing so with the utmost grace.
Erikson’s writing style might be tough to get into at first, but once you catch on to it, you will hate every single book that isn’t written by Erikson (a little bit of an exaggeration but you get what I mean). After several years, Malazan remains my favorite piece media ever. I don’t see this changing and I highly recommend you give the first 3 novels a shot and see if you’re able to pull the hook out.
…I don’t know how anyone can read about the siege of Capustan and not see any humanity or have an emotional response…I’d also say that some of the parts further in the series (aftermath of Y’ghatan and trek through the last desert) are pretty intense too.
Everyone who finishes the series has to agree that the stars are without question the mules.
Reactions to this series swings both ways with no real middle ground. Me? I’m a fan. But let’s be honest. Erikson certainly isn’t for everyone. His style of storytelling and preference of theme swings way outside the mainstream. And with a cast so numerous, it’s inevitable that some characters are going to have things in common, some are going to be different variations on a theme. I don’t think it’s terrible. No two are exactly alike. Karos Invictad and Tanal Yathvanar? Very similar and yet very different. Bruthen Trana and Brohl Handar? (Okay, maybe these two are a little too similar.) Sometimes it seems that entire races consist of one personality (the Tiste Liosan, the Forkrul Assail), and some seem to portray paper-thin characterization (the K’Chain Che’malle, most T’lan Imass and Jaghut), I wouldn’t necessarily identify those as characters. The named members of those species, especially the latter examples, tend to be satisfactorily fleshed out. So I can understand why some readers would say the characters lack… character. Though I would respectfully call such an assessment an over-generalization.
Karsa Orlong seems like a cliché to you? The unstoppable barbarian? Take a closer look at his worldview. He doesn’t sneer at civilization because of an unreasoning ethnocentrism. Anomander Rake and Cotillion don’t brood because it’s so cool to be emo.
But the series is undoubtedly difficult to break into. Erikson’s way of introducing us makes every other book we’ve read feel like that author spoon fed us. It’s a bold and, ultimately, brilliant way of telling a story but it’s also extremely rare.
No mention of the gods? I could use a quick reference primer on who’s who and why they are the way they are. Ascendancy For Dummies, if you will. I’ve worked out the (more or less) vanilla mortals, but those gods…some are human (how’s that work?), some just became gods (so what was there before, Ex. Shadowthrone just popped into existence when the old Emperor died, who was in charge of House Shadow before him, what happened to grandpappy Shadow, etc), some are old hands at deityhood. More on this would be great.
For my two cents, I’ll agree that it can be difficult to break into the series. But to some extent that is part of the allure of the books, at least to me. I personally had never encountered an author that challenged me to be as intelligent of a reader as Erikson has and still is. Is the series perfect? No. But it is amazing.
This story has to be looked at on the macro scale. Each of these HUGE books is but a piece of a puzzle that has been coming together for millenia. Even 3 or 4 books in you still won’t see what the “end” goal is. You’re still getting foundational information even at that point.
There are so many favored characters and moments it’s so very hard to pick one. But I promise the reading is worth it. The confusion of characters is worth it. In the end…compassion and redemption are worth the sacrifice.
@18: Your questions remind me of another aspect of the books. Delayed gratification. Almost all your question get answered by the end. However, Erickson expects you to just stick with him and wait until he is ready to give the answers to those questions or it becomes absolutely necessary that it has to be spelt out to the reader.
Sometimes that information has already been hinted at before, and you marvel at your stupidity for having missed it. Sometimes, it just feels like an info dump when you finally get all your questions answered.
Just completed Gardens and I can truly say that it’s quite advanced reading even for high level readers. In many books I’ve read the author brings up plot points and then ticks them off in ways that can be anticipated often long before the climax. In Gardens it took me about a 3rd of the book to get enough of a handle to not flip back to the cast of characters, much less determine the direction Erikson wanted to take the audience. That’s not to say it was bad, oh no. I especially like how all these God-level characters are not safe. In this series everyone is vulnerable no matter how powerful they are. The martial nature also appeals. Glen Cook and David Drake are the guys he reminds me of when it comes to the gritty stuff. Thanks Tor. Now I have even more books to buy.
The exclusion of Hairlock and the inclusion of Kallor in this piece confuses me.
One has a big impact on the GoTM plot and one does not. Methinks the author was concentrating on “future” appearances and not specifically GOTM.
I’ve read all ten and was impressed, very good stuff – but agree with naysayers that Erikson engages the mind more than the heart. Various events and fates are heart-rending in their facts – terrible things happening to good people – but not often transmitted in a way to pull at the heartstrings. I’m not sure why this is. I think the time he devotes to delineating characters is spent developing them as symbols and icons rather than people. Everyone in it is heroic and fatalistic at heart. Everyone is always certain about their actions, the right thing to do, and does it. They make a lot of sacrifices, and it often stings them, but they don’t give the alternatives much consideration, they just act. When failure happens it is always epic, noble failure. Maybe I’m still not pinning it down, but there’s definitely something missing. Still a great series though.
I love this series. One of my favorite things is the inverted fantasy tropes. At first blush, Anomander is Dark Elric, complete with Soul Stealing Sword. But as we learn more, we find a much more authentic humanity in the character and a nobility that humbles everyone Rake encounters.
The Dark Elf/Light Elf/Wild Elf narrative is very well done and establishes a back drop to the books that makes you dig for more tidbits. This basically leads into the Kharkanas trilogy, laying out the basis for the Tiste factions, the Gods and Magic systems at play in the core books.
Then there are the Imass. He takes the lowly skeleton from DnD, makes them all “cave men”, gives them a rich tapestry of culture and innocence, then charts their fall as they succumb to all-to-human tendencies such as over-hunting and jealousies. Then Erickson places the Imass in a genocidal struggle against tyrants, which all leads up to them making themselves immortal skeletons to destroy their Jaghut enemies. So, the lowly 2 hp skeletons become WAY more than a throw-away random encounter. This story arc is beautiful, heart breaking and, in some sections BRUTAL.
Karsa is Conan. Except, he grows and transforms in a number of ways that are not evident in the Howard stories. And he isn’t seen with a different woman in every section of his story.
I can go on and on, but this is such a rich, layered set of books and a seminal work in fantasy literature in my opinion. May not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is definitely worth the time you put into it.
Just to chime in, if you struggle w/GoTM but enjoy it at all, keep going. I think it’s easily the worst book of the series, and the next three are just phenomenal.
Ah what a series. Loved it completely when I thought I would never love a series as much as I did the Wheels of Times. Now waiting for the Fall of Light in Kharkanas loved the first two in the trilogy. And now love Anomander more and Endest Silann is my other favorite :-) Stormlight Archives is just a shadow of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. My fave is Anomander Rake and close to him is Quick Ben. Then there are so many that it is difficult to choose just a few. The list goes on for example Trull Senger, Whiskeyjack, Fiddler, Tehol Beddict …ah I could keep naming them you see :-)
You know, A New Hope dropped us into a world without explaining much either. What is the Force? What are the Clone Wars? What is a Jedi? It didn’t explain much at the time. Years later, all was revealed. I kinda dig that approach. Gives you some things to ponder.
I’m partway through the first book and really dig it. Can’t wait for the rest.
I’ve said it often, but I’ll repeat myself. I consider The Malazan Book of the Fallen to be more tragedy than common fantasy. It doesn’t show really yet in this book, but those who have read books 2, 3 and further know what I mean.
What appeals to me the most is that at the start, right here, we see a hardcore elite regiment, the Bridgeburners, at the top of their game (or past it?). They feel betrayed by their own Empress, but they soldier on anyway.
Then at the end of book 2 we get a little glimpse of Adjunct Tavore’s Fourteenth Army. In book 4 we start to follow that army, from being fresh and unexperienced (mostly) to become the Bonehunters, with their own badass reputation. If you love military fantasy, like the Black Company, you will love this aspect. We never really know what goes on in Tavore’s head, because we never get a POV. She seems hard and cold, but there is so much compassion in her…
Yes there are grim sequences, but part of Erikson’s brilliance is to manage to make the reader smile in between those, simply by dialogue. That shows best in the soldiers’ dialogues.
@2: sheiglagh
But quite frankly, in SFF, this is the first time that I have seen a cougar relationship.
Well, tbh, in WoT there is Mat and Tylin… ;)
Holy wowsers, man, I’m both more intimidated and in awe of Erikson’s unique world, and I MUST read Gardens Of The Moon, asap. Thank you for sharing!
@30: You’re very welcome! I really hope you don’t hate GotM….
Thanks to all who favourited, commented, shared, or simply managed to read my article without throwing up – I’m thrilled that so many of you enjoyed my little tor.com debut!
*blows kisses*
*curtseys*
*gets dragged off stage*
Loved the entire series, including Esselmont’s contributions. But these drawings just don’t fit the images in my head when reading these books.
Gardens of the Moon was not a favorite of mine, but I have reread Deadhouse Gates multiple times. I wasn’t underwhelmed by Gardens of the Moon that I didn’t go on the the next books, I could see there was potential to be the doorstop epic fantasy that scratches that itch of mine.
Towards the last couple books I lost my ability to endure some of the dialog of the grunt soldiers. It was so much of the same over and over that it just lost distinctiveness and my eyes were glazing over.
I realize the character doesn’t show up in Gardens of the Moon, but when Iron Bars showed up in the series I wanted to read so much more about what he was doing and where he went and the shenanigans his team got involved in. There ended up not being enough of Iron Bars. SO many nifty characters showed up and didn’t get limelight again. That’s how many characters this series tosses at you, even the authors seem to lose track of them. ;)
This list of some of the characters has got me to put Gardens of the Moon back on my reread list however.
Eric @34: for more on Iron Bars you need to read the books by Eriksson’s co-creator Ian Esslemont, Return of the Crimson Guard and Stonewielder. You should probably read the first of that series, Night of Knives, before them.
Iron Bars turns up again in Eriksson’s ‘Assail’.
Hi I shared this article with my Goodreads group Sword & Laser who mentioned the article in their Sword And Laser Podcast . Plus Laura M. Hughes also commented on why Hairlock was left out. Did not think of the ‘spoiler aspect”, just the “How cool would it be if..” Thank you for that.
@36 – Thank you again for sharing, Steve!
@laura, thanks for the Blackadder reference.
I started reading Gardens of the Moon in the summer of 2012. I was immediately captivated. The moment that first got me was in the first chapter when we first see Ganoes picking his way through the Hounds’ slaughter of the soldiers and villagers in Itko Kan. Something about the description. Other writers would have written, “He picked his way through the field of bodies.” and left it at that. Instead, we got visceral descriptions of the carnage, of who the victims were, and he kept returning to it. Not just in the moment, but in the characters’ thoughts afterward as well. But not because he wanted to titillate us with gore but because he wanted us to feel what someone seeing that scene would actually feel, the horror, the sadness, the sense of loss any compassionate person would feel at that kind of senseless destruction of life,the persistence of those feelings down the road, and I knew that I was reading something different. This wasn’t going to be an epic tale of heroism against all odds. It was obvious that there would be bravery, but heroes were right out. These books were going to run me through a wringer, but they had a point, a deeply held ethics and a sense of poetics that resonated with me immediately. I wasn’t disappointed. As I read through, I encountered more and more characters that were not just cookie cutter archetypes that had motive’s that were pure in their goodness or evil, but people more like the ones I have met in real life, who have mixed moments of the banal and the cruel and the sublime and the just plain boring in-between. And then there was Kruppe. And I never felt confusion, because I have learned in life that you will never understand everything, as you will never have all the information, and, yes, these books mirror reality in that way. Knowledge is encountered slowly, and cannot always be relied upon because sources are often unreliable. In short I finally found someone who wrote with the deep love and sadness for humanity and the knowledge of the ephemerality of all things believed and created that I had always had.
The following books built on this again and again. Time and time tears were driven out of my eyes by the things that the characters I had grown to know and love went through, and many more times by the general events of the stories that reminded me of the horrific ones that occur in our world that we overlook or ignore. I have sincere doubts about people who fail to be moved by the statement, “Children are dying.” These books remind us of that without the comfort of happy endings, complete knowledge, or easily resolved moral dilemmas. But there is something to be drawn from them, if you stop struggling for control and allow it, because control is a thin veil and we rely on it at our own risk.
After I finished the first read of the series, I immediately started over, and read straight through again, although I started adding in the Esslemont books throughout. Then when I finished the second time, I read three other books, and I started it once more. And I’m someone who rarely rereads books, but here, despite the grimness of them, I felt I was gaining something with each run. Rather than being driven away from life, I am more active in attempting to make this world a better place because of these books, and I have less patience for cruelty and small-mindedness, and I act rather then simply endure it.
So I found no difficulty in the reading of Gardens of the Moon. If you go into these books, you’ll be aware of it’s detractors. Some will say it’s confusing and dense, and I suppose it is if you’re constantly trying to outsmart the author and figure everything out before the author reveals it, or if you just have the need to understand everything immediately. I know people who read mystery novels for that exact purpose, so they can talk about how they saw it all coming beforehand. That’s their thing, and while I would never go for it, I respect their right to pursue their own enjoyment. If you can relax and just let the author take you on a trip, these books might be for you. I’m not saying anyone should not try to figure things out, but you won’t be able to figure it all out, and acceptance is the best tack to take in this circumstance, else I fear for your experience in the much more inscrutable world we exist in.
Others will say the character’s are indistinct. I posit a different interpretation. While there are a very few characters who express the extremes of good and evil (and even those will turn those expressions on their heads in future books), most do share a certain moral in-betweenness, a lack of true certainty, and a tendency towards self-doubt, but they all have more subtle differences, ranging from the motivations that brought them to the present, to the particular differences in their personalities that make them react in different ways, to the side they just happened to land on in a particular conflict, all of which the reader becomes privy to as they get to know the characters as one gets to know real people: over time. This is harder to see in a genre which tends towards clear good guys and bad guys whose motivations are easy to understand, revealed in the first pages after meeting them, and remain the same over years and books.
There is also one more thing to consider. The genre in general has long featured powerful, heroic white men who battle to protect communities of ineffectual women and generic children from the predation of other races and dirty foreign barbarians. I know there are exceptions, but the vast majority fit this mold, or some part of it. The Malazan books intentionally toss this trope in the fire-pit. Over half of the characters, including most of the most badass ones are women and non-white. This could tend to promote a reactionary response from those who have a more conservative view towards these things, who are comfortable with the idea of White Male Hero Guy, saving the day. I’m in no way saying that if you don’t care for this series that you must be a racist or a sexist. However, after seeing eight years of the conservative over-reaction (by an almost entirely white extreme right wing splinter group) to a black president, I’ve learned to question the motivations of those who proselytize vehemently against something when they don’t even have a dog in the proverbial fight.
In summary, I would advise that you listen to no opinions, not even mine. Just read for yourself, decide for yourself. That alone is worth anyone’s time. You might not like it. It might change your whole world. You can’t find out until you try it. If, however, you are going to listen to opinions, as in all things, listen to all of them, and if you can, figure out what motivates the opinions and whether the opinion is considered or vague. When it comes to the Malazan books, I feel that the positive opinions come from people wanting to share something that was meaningful to them. As to the ones who are so vehemently against it, I honestly don’t understand them. When I don’t like a book, I give it no more of my time, no more of my thoughts. I don’t go searching out places where people are discussing it to badmouth it. But, hey, maybe there is a good reason for it. Or at least an understandable cause. I try not to be certain of anything anymore, because certainty is another curse that drives wedges in between people. That’s another thing that these books taught me.
Thank you for this guide. It’s difficult to keep checking the Dramatis Personae in an audiobook, especially when it and the glossary together are 30 minutes long.
I don’t love or hate GOTM thus far, but find it mildly entertaining.
I just wanted to thank you for writing this article. I had tried to get into this series years ago, but just couldn’t do it. I think my head just wasn’t in the right place. After reading your article, however, i decided to try again. Since then, I have now finished the first 4 books in the series. I have grown to truly appreciate the writing, the connections throughout the books, the emotions that are brought out by reading these books. So thank you for re-kindling my interest and giving me a kick start into this world.
@Techn9ne – You just made my day. I’m so glad you enjoyed the article, and that you’re having so much fun with Erikson! Wait until you start book five (it’s one of my favourites!)
“Kruppe is needed at all times, in all places.” — Kruppe, Memories of Ice
This is true. Kruppe is the light of this world’s story, and I enjoy it far less when he’s absent. Kruppe is witty and wise and hilarious and shameless and subtly badass and parties like a Manderly. Kruppe’s ego knows no bounds. I want to be like Kruppe.
Thank you, thank you for writing this article! I’m halfway through GoTM, I realized that you can’t really just skim through it unlike some fantasy novels I’ve read (which aren’t that many). Text rich, character rich, lots of references, lots of POVs that it’s hard to keep up with the plot within plot and layers of conflict mass of it.
Your insights about the characters are so true. I started out with Tattersail and Paran as favorites, then I moved to Quick Ben and Whiskeyjack, but darn, there’s Sorry also (the weird side of me likes her, don’t know why). Then Kruppe, and Crokus. I was kind of scared of Anomander Rake for a while there but learning about his plans with Brood about the Free Cities gets him a spot in my fave characters list (and the way you described the Tiste Andii, gaaaahd…) I love the Daru plot, contacts with the gods, and the complexities of the Warrens! There should be an encyclopedic-ish book for the series much like Awoiaf for Asoiaf I think.
I’d like to parrot the requests of others up there, gods and warrens for dummies, ascendants, and a bit on history, like what exactly happened before the Malazan plans to besiege the cities.
Thanks much.
@14 hamstank: I have read all of the Wheel of Time, and all of Sanderson’s Cosmere works as well as the 2 Kingkiller Chronicles books, but I began to read the Malazan books after I read those. I am currently about half way through Deadhouse Gates and I am still waiting to really empathize or sympathize with any of these characters. I’ve felt nothing even close to what I felt for young Kaladin in Way of Kings not to mention the metal gear in The Slow Regard of Silent Things. This post lists 22 individual characters from GotM and only four of them show up in the second book–actually, not even four, Sorry only counts as half. So far, I’d agree with @20 vatsan16 that “Erickson expects you to just stick with him”, but I find that the author has given me very little reason to “stick with him” without characters I can connect to.
I think someone on this thread commented that Erikson’s pointing a camera at different places in the Malazan Empire (couldn’t find the comment again, sorry) and that’s kind of my experience with these books so far. The world-building is very impressive and I have no plans to abandon the series (yet), but from what I’ve seen the books are focusing on the events rather than the people. I don’t see any of the characters having any personal emotional investments in the events occurring around them. Or if they do they’re not coming across in a way that would allow the reader to feel it the way the characters would.
I’ve read most of the series, and I’ve got to say: what’s with all the rape? I can’t think of a single female character that isn’t subjected to pretty horrific sexual abuse (maybe Pust’s wife?), and that’s across the nine books I made it through. I get that it’s a grimdark fantasy, but there’s some serious mysogyny going on there.
I found that the Kindle ‘search’ function came in very handy when reading this series.
When a character pops up and you think “when did I last see them?”, you can just run quick search to find out.
It beats flicking through a hard copy to try and find the bit you’re looking for.
The series worth the time. Truly epic and my favourite series.
Thanks Laura.
I just finished “The Deadhouse Gates” and so far my experiences is pretty much parallel to @44 tkThompson. I’ve read the entire “A Song of Ice and Fire” so I’m not adverse to dark and gritty fantasy with tons of brutality and death. I’ve also read the entire “Wheel of Time” series and all of the books in Brandon Sanderson’s cosmere currently published.
The main difference between those series, and the two books I’ve read in Malazan so far, is that I actually cared and empathized with the characters in those series. Here, I just feel completely disconnected and detached from the characters. There’s nobody I really empathize or sympathize with. I’m not as “into” this series as I was with ASoIaF, WoT, or Cosmere.
I did get “Memories of Ice” and hopefully things will start to pick up. But for now, it’s just a slog.
You saved my life and my reading experience with this. Thank you.
The books can be confusing with the number of characters/races/gods/ascended ones/locations etc. Is some of it sterile and unemotional – yes. Is some of it heart breaking and gut wrenching – yes. I can’t help but wonder why people feel the need to say this or anything like it is “better” or “worse” than Sanderson, Donaldson, Zelazny etc. Like saying I can’t like War on Drugs because I like Prince. Bottom line: these books are very interesting and written well. I’ve not read the other author involved with the series but Erikson is a fantastic wordsmith that can spin a damn good yarn. I can get frustrated with most of the books I’ve read in the series so far – for the same reasons most of you have mentioned- but I’ve also been challenged as a reader and derived a much higher ratio of enjoyment than frustration. Although there may be some element of product output overriding engaging content, I’ll plant my flag in the camp of lucky that we have these to read and re-read.
@49: I don’t understand the “better” or “worse” thing either. I’ll think a book/story is “good” if it happens to feature things I like and not too many things I dislike, but that has no bearing on how anyone else feels or should feel about it. It can be objectively problematic or shoddily-written, but I seldom feel able to pass judgement on that. I personally found the Malazan series a bit meh and wouldn’t put it in a list of my Ten Favorite Fantasy Serieses, but that doesn’t mean it’s worse than those I love, just a less-perfect mesh with my tastes.
/rant
Thank you! Halfway through Gardens of the Moon, I couldn’t clearly picture few ofthese characters. Reading this has got me even more excited to continue :)
@6 I think you have no conception of the quality of writing presented in the wheel of time. My impression of Malazan is that it’s more organic than wheel of time, a grotesquely realistic series that feels like it’s taken out of some lost historical archive. The wheel of time is a superbly balanced, completely fleshed out WORLD that is not a historical record because it feels like you’re living history itself. “Better written” … what a poor description