The Last Word

Novel Reviews

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

Return to the books by Steven Erikson

Visit the author's site

Gardens of the Moon

Malazan Book of the Fallen

Gardens of the Moon Cover

Steven Erikson’s Gardens of the Moon is the first book in his series The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Even though the book is his first tale of the Malazan Empire the author wastes no time in throwing the reader into his world. Without any descriptions or explanations you will find yourself immersed in a living, breathing fantasy world full of grand plots and intrigue. Both gritty and dark the story follows many individuals as they struggle against the world and those around them, often weaving a plot filled with many shocks and surprises as various characters join together and separate. In a word the world that Erikson has created is epic.

However Erikson’s writing can be confusing to some, as I mentioned earlier you will be immersed in the world without any descriptions or explanations, when I say this I mean Erikson does very little to help readers ease into his story. I believe that Erikson’s explanation of why he doesn’t help ease the reader into his book is the best. Erikson says that he is writing a history, and in any history, whether or not it is fictional, there is no real beginning or end. I happen to agree with this idea; there can be no true setting of the scene to help integrate readers into the world because important details would be left out in any attempts to provide an introduction. A proper introduction would likely require a prelude book which in turn would leave unanswered questions from what came before. But I digress, my point is if you can keep up then you could be hooked.

Gardens of the Moon primarily follows a squad from a company of elite soldiers, called the Bridgeburners who are sent ahead of the Malazan army on a suicide mission to ensure that the last major city still resisting the Malazan forces will be defeated. Complications arise as Empress Laseen of the Malazan Empire sends one of her own to release a dangerous and powerful entity in hopes that it would defeat the single greatest threat to the Malazan campaign, Lord Anomander Rake.

My rating for Gardens of the Moon is 4/5.

About

This is The Last Word, I’m Benjamin Randall and this is my website of novel reviews. On the home page are the most recent two reviews that have been written. The featured reviews page holds a list of my favorite books, the books featured there I would recommend to anyone. The archives hold a comprehensive list of all of the books I have reviewed sorted alphabetically by the author. A little about me is I am a multimedia artist, web developer and author living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Please enjoy your stay!