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.
Nobody gets a tour here. The book opens mid-war, hands you a crowd of viewpoints, and expects you to keep up. You have to accept being lost before it starts paying you back.
The payoff is a world that feels ancient and lived-in, with histories that hint at far more than the plot uses. That fits an author trained in archaeology and anthropology. The heroes are tired professional soldiers, not chosen ones, and the Bridgeburners are the characters people remember. The book began as a roleplaying world and a rejected film script, which helps explain the dropped-in-the-action feel. Several fans rank it as the weakest of the early books. Think of it as a rough doorway to a better series, and don't try to decode everything on a first pass.
It's brilliant, exhausting and often bewildering. The ancient-feeling world and the soldiers are the draw, while the pacing and the avalanche of names will send some readers running. Fellow fantasy authors were enthusiastic.
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Malazan Book of the Fallen
3 books in catalog
The ten-volume epic fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen introduced readers to an expansive, highly detailed world defined by deep historical lore, complex military campaigns, and intricate pantheons of gods and mortals. Canadian author Steven Erikson launched this massive literary sequence with his 1999 debut novel, Gardens of the Moon, establishing a distinctive subgenre of gritty, immersive fantasy that resists conventional exposition and predictable tropes.
Born Steve Rune Lundin on October 7, 1959, in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Winnipeg, Erikson spent roughly twenty seasons working as a field archaeologist and anthropologist in central Canada, Central America, and the United States. He studied creative writing at the University of Victoria before earning his degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where his thesis of linked short stories became his debut publication, A Ruin of Feathers, in 1991 under his legal name, Steve Lundin. After publishing additional contemporary fiction and short story collections—including the novel This River Awakens in 1998—he adopted the pen name Steven Erikson for his fantasy writing and secured a notable ten-book publishing deal with Bantam UK.
Erikson's background in anthropology and archaeology heavily informs his approach to fiction, shaping worlds with layers of ancient history, shifting civilizations, and realistic cultural friction. His narratives are recognized for their unsparing, gritty tone, subversion of standard fantasy archetypes, and multi-layered storylines told across vast geographic and chronological landscapes. Rather than relying on traditional exposition, his writing drops readers directly into ongoing conflicts, balancing dark themes of warfare and mortality with sharp humor, philosophical inquiry, and deep human empathy.
