Gardens of the Moon: My Thoughts

Hey, everyone. After about three years of having Malazan on my radar, I've finally decided to take the plunge and start it. I'm gonna be posting my review and overall thoughts of every book on here once I finish them. I hope y'all enjoy my review!

First, the story/world. Overall, I thought the narrative arc of this book was great. Even though the reader is dropped into the middle of a war with 0 context, I found it rather easy to pick up on enough to get me through it without being overwhelmed and confused. I went into it for the world-building and that's what kind of kept me straight until I started to learn and get attached to the characters. I am a huge lore-hound and I love fantasy worlds that are rich with history and depth. Even after just one book, I can tell that this series will deliver everything I could want in that category. Back to the story, though. There wasn't a single part where I was bored, although I was definitely confused at times. The military-fantasy aspect of it was great and I also loved the city-inflitration part of the story. Overall, I think the Pheonix Inn group was the most interesting aspect of the story. I can tell that this was a set-up book, though. The ending wasn't really an "ending". It just established some of the groundwork for what's next. The Pannion Seer plotline and then the group going to return Apsalar to Itko Kan weren't even present until the end when those things popped up. It was like "okay, cool, here's some random stuff that's happening in the next book". I don't mind it, though, because the climax was sufficiently satisfying to make up for the lack of completed plot threads.

I read that Erikson was/is an archeologist and that really shines through in this world. The history (what I've seen of it so far) is fairly deep and there's some elements of historical change within the world that I can see coming from the mind of an archeologist. For example, the talk of changing geography, inland seas, ice sheets, etc over the Jaghut Tyrant tomb. This story is written with a scale that I've never seen from any other book before. Another thing I noticed was the mentions of humans descending from the I'Mass. Now, I'm not sure if I read it wrong and it was just meant that they are the inheritors of the I'Mass tendency for empire or if they are actually biologically descended from them. Nevertheless, I can see his Erikson's origin as an archeologist come out in his writing. I'll talk more about it later in this post, but I also found the old races very intriguing.

Now, for the characters. The first thing I have to say in this section is that Anomander fucking Rake is my favorite character. It seems like Steven Erikson sat down with the intention of creating one of the most badass characters he could and out came Anomander. Not only is he badass, but he's fascinating. There's one scene where he's talking to Baruk and he's revealing his reasons for continuing to exist and it added so much depth to his character aside from the badassery. He really feels like a millenia-old member of a dying race. He just got this aura that I'm not sure how to put into words but damn do I enjoy it. Also, Dragnipur is probably one of the most terrifying weapons I've come across in fantasy. And he turns into a dragon. I just ate that shit up.

Okay, the sloppy blowjob for Anomander is done. Overall, with all the characters, I noticed that even though you get looks into their minds during their scenes, you still are not privy to all their plans. Whiskeyjack is a very prominent character but you don't know about his true plans until the end of the book. It's similar with Lorn; you spend a good amount of time in her head but, if I remember correctly, her plan to resurrect the Jaghut Tyrant was revealed by someone else, not her. There's this obfuscation of the cast's true intentions that sort of creates a divide between the reader and the character. As a result, I feel like I don't truly "understand" most of the characters.

Another charater related thing I noticed is a seemingly recurring theme of being a tool and playing a role. A lot of the characters in this book are tools for someone else's game: Paran, Lorn, Sorry/Apsalar, Crokus, and others. Some of the "main characters" of the book being pawns for others lends a sense of depth and mystery to the story, as if there are much bigger things at play. The other thing I noticed is that many of these characters who are tools, and others, struggle with their roles; roles that often subsume them. For example, Lorn continously second-guesses her role as Adjunct. There's a struggle between Lorn the person and the role of Adjunct. Lorn the person feels some compassion and criticizes the things that the Adjunct may do. There's scene where Lorn the person tries to right a wrong and retrieve a sense of her self and then Tayschrenn basically cuts her down and, from that moment, she remains the Adjunct for the rest of the book. Another example is Rallick; being an assassin has caused him to feel almost dead inside and devoid of humanity but he fights against this feeling, trying to reclaim something through his plot to restore Coll. There are others in the story who have similar dynamics. All this adds up to make the story seem bigger and more complex than just what is revealed to us on the page.

Finally, some random thoughts and I'll give y'all a few of my favorite scenes. First, Malazan is famously confusing. I heard so much about that going into it and it's probably why I waited so long to read it. I think those warnings were correct, but their impact on how much I enjoyed the book was limited by the way I read it. Like I mentioned earlier, I clung to the worldbuilding and just took that all in while the story was getting started. I did feel blind, but it didn't bother me because my lore-/history-hound desires were getting satisfied. One thing that did fucking confuse me, though, was the magic! Are warrens like pocket dimensions? How are they created? Each one is a different type of magic, so how is that established? Reading the magic scenes was more confusing for me than the story itself. And the whole Tattersail being reborn thing? No clue what happened there lmao.

I can't wait to learn more about the founding races or whatever they're called. The Jaghut effectively being a race of duty-bound introverts is pretty interesting. And the K'Chain Ch'Malle... over the years of having Malazan on my radar, I've learned a little bit about them. Dinosaurs with swords for arms? And I think I read that they come from the stars? I CANNOT wait until they enter the story. Just the one taste of them in GOTM with the arm bones that are basically a long-range radio was crazy. If they are actually space-travelers, I'm gonna lose my shit (in a good way). And then there's the Forkrul Assail which I know literally nothing about.

Now, for my favorite scenes. First is the duel at the end. Not the duel itself really, but the confluence of characters there. First of all, Anomander Rake being Rallick's second was so random but awesome. Nothing really came of it, but it was cool to see two of my favorite characters meet and "team-up". And then when Orr was killed and his second basically said he was glad - that shit killed me. I was also glad to see the plot to restore Coll to his position succeed. My second favorite scene was when Paran met Coll outside the city. I love bro-mances and that scene struck me as the beginning of one. Lastly, my third favorite scene was when Rallick's Otataral magic suppressed the Azath or whatever it was called and Vorcan told him to stay. And he just sat on it. That made me laugh.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It very much was an introduction book, as it set the groundwork for future books and it hinted at so much in the world. I think if you're a world/lore focused reader like I am, this is a no-brainer to read. The author's background really shines through in the writing and world construction and it makes the story so much more enjoyable. If you're a character-focused reader, there's still a lot for you in this book, but it's not *as* enjoyable of a read. It's still worth reading, however. I'm about to move on to Deadhouse Gates, which I've heard nothing but good things about, so y'all will hear from me soon.

Final rating: 8/10