Gardens of the Moon
Before reading ‘Gardens of the Moon, A tale of the Malazan, Book of the Fallen’ by the author Steven Erikson, ask yourself, do you crave a truly epic fantasy? Continent spanning action? Vast and brutal military conflict? Terrible irresistible magic? Noble quests and sudden violent death? Heart wrenching passion and the intertwining of fates? Layers and layers of detail with no pause to catch your breath?
If you are desperate for a story to satisfy all these cravings, just be warned; be careful what you wish for because you might eventually regret getting it.
To be fair, the title chosen for this epic does signal caution from the outset. Any tome that requires three titles is probably going to be a bruiser. However, fool that I was, I neither grasped my shield tighter nor checked the edge of my blade before leaping into the adventure. As a result, I found it an almost painful experience.
…this book was like actually being in a fantasy epic.
For me, listening to this book was like actually being in a fantasy epic. The crushing density of the narrative is like being clobbered by an Ogre’s club. Again and again, the story lands hammer blow after hammer blow of exposition and action. Even in the brief gaps as the bludgeoning text is lifted for another brutal strike, there is no respite. The cast of characters are whipped away to be replaced by a new set of people in a new scenario. Still dizzied by this neck wrenching change of course, the listener fails to notice that the truncheon is already descending again.
If this were not already intimidating enough the old world style of lyrical prose, though perhaps fantasy appropriate, combines with the plodding, overly melodramatic, intonation of the narrator to construct an almost impermeable layer of language from behind which the story can take swing after swing at the listener with impunity.
Perhaps the only saving grace in all this is the narrator’s vocal range which is able to conjure up a variety of distinguishable character voices wide enough to cover the host of characters in this saga.
If you do decide to polish your blade, strap tight your vambraces and descend into this epic, please leave a short comment to let me know what you think about my review.
Even better, if you have already listened to (or read) it, let me know if you agree with my assessment or if you think I have grossly misrepresented something, but do remember NO SPOILERS! We don’t want to ruin it for others.
Find out more about Steven Erikson and his books at: