How to Read Gardens of the Moon
So you're looking for a new serial to digest and have heard a lot of hype nigh Steven Erikson's 10-volume epic fantasy, the Malazan Book of the Fallen. You've heard that it'south huge and bewildering, or y'all've heard it's an unforgiving slog, or you've heard it's brilliant and sublime, or y'all've heard that it'due south not virtually so impressive as everyone claims.
If yous've heard none of these things, and so, dear reader, I encourage yous to quit this commodity, pick up the first novel Gardens of the Moon and begin your genre-warping journey through the loftier-h2o mark of modernistic fantasy. And if that unmarried sentence of mine is not enough to convince you, read alee regardless and I will explain what makes Malazan unique and worthy of your fourth dimension. One thing upon which everyone can concur is that Malazan Volume of the Fallen is dumbo as dark matter, and it is best to approach such epics knowing the full gravity of the undertaking.
At present, for those reading this who are keen on the Malazan Volume of the Fallen, but might be stumbling over some inhibiting preconceptions, allow'south go to the centre of whatever is preventing you from taking your shot at the serial, exorcise it, and get y'all going. With any luck y'all'll soon suckle from Togg's teats similar the residual of us. But beginning…
As book readers we seek one essential affair: an escape into which to feel.
Nothing is for everyone, simply some works offering a far greater potential for engaging your heed. A far greater potential to inspire feeling. The Malazan series evokes a wide array of emotions in its readers because, in chronicling the history of an unabridged globe rather than focusing on the story of a few select individuals, it brings with it a world's breadth of passions and experiences: climactic convergences rife with dazzling magics, flashing daggers, beast strength and hectic action. Thoughtful moments of serenity observance, engaging philosophy, stoic wisdom and eloquent beauty. Brutal humanity. Animal ferocity. Humorous verbosity. Abject tragedy. With such formidable scope and a proven success charge per unit at bravado people'due south minds, Malazan should rocket to the superlative of your current To Be Read list, regardless of the delivery the series entails—information technology's worth a read if only to find out what compels the legions of defended fans who've been converted over the years. (More than on that later…) If this is not plenty to convince the fickle among you, though, cull the quibble that's holding yous dorsum and let's start addressing some of the realities backside the serial' reputation…
You've heard information technology's huge and bewildering:
Huge? Yes, Steven and Cam (Ian Cameron Esslemont, Malazan's co-creator and author of associate novels) did nothing small when they created their earth. In add-on to numerous storylines roping across multiple continents, as well equally an incredible number of worlds inside worlds equally found in the warrens (a master aspect of the series' magic system), they produced a land rich in history, where events thousands of years in the by still shape the present, both in terms of how decisions are made and in the very contours of the landmass. Every bit an archaeologist and anthropologist by trade, Erikson brought a wealth of applicable knowledge to the projection, using the growth of civilizations and the retentivity of the physical world every bit a backdrop upon which to depict the conquests of the Malazan Empire. Huge? Huge is good. Huge facilitates immersion.
Bewildering is non so practiced, but the term is not as much an overall assessment as it is a common reaction to the complexity of the novels, especially for beginners. It's true that Malazan tin be daunting for new readers, merely here y'all're in luck, because a whole community of fans accept been working for years to build a supportive and incredibly helpful infrastructure online. Where theories once had to exist pieced together past private readers diligently excavation through the text—working page by page like students researching homework back in the benighted days before the Cyberspace—at present these collective theories and research take been confederate into the Malazan Wiki page. The Malazan Empire forums are also a haven for argue, give-and-take, explanations, the communal piecing-together of information, hypothesis, and fact. You are in skillful easily. What'southward even more exciting is that in that location are still depths still to plumb…
1 of the all-time aspects of Malazan Volume of the Fallen, however, is that the serial goes as deep as you lot want it to go. If you're willing to gloss over moments where correlations are not always laid out in total, or the sometimes frustrating tendency of characters to avert referring to ane another past name, the serial is still chock-full of rich action and inspired moments that keep the stride hurtling forward. Indeed, while reading the books, I came to realize that I lacked the mental gymnastics to go on everything ordered in my caput—and letting go of this was freeing. I was staring upwards into outer space well past bedtime, awed both at the scope of what I could see unfolding and the awareness that there was so much more beyond the horizon. Life is non streamline. A moment in history cannot be fully understood without looking at what came before and what came subsequently. A deeper conception of worldbuilding understands this fact, and then kicks it upward a notch by insisting that such histories are often misinterpretations by unreliable narrators. Erikson knows history is bewildering, but yous are the reader. You choose the level of detail you care to absorb. Let information technology go. Be of the earth, don't expect to grasp the world entire, and if y'all're not adamant to go to the bottom of every Easter egg and potential connective thread, give up whatever preconditions yous take where yous need to know. You'll still accept Caladan Breed and his massive hammer. You'll nonetheless take ingenuitive wizard Quick Ben. You'll still have the undead blademaster Onos T'oolan. And it helps to note that each book becomes less bewildering with each reread.
Of course, a lot of people say, "I don't want to read a serial if I have to reread it only to get information technology all." It's important to consider what kind of fantasy serial inspires such rampant rereading in its faithful in the offset place. Mediocre books reap no such devotion. Neither practise a lot of excellent books where the story runs directly from kickoff to stop as the crow flies. So many fans of Malazan Book of the Fallen have read a wide array of other fantasy, and other genres, and nonetheless they render to the series over and over in an effort to better comprehend the depth of the worldbuilding. To appreciate strands of the narrative web they missed before. Having reread books ane-nine myself back in 2011 (in preparation for the 10th book's release), I can tell you from personal feel that the serial shines upon revisitation. Loose threads go connections. Epiphanies uncover previously unidentified figures. Stray sentences and bits of interior monologue reveal themselves as dextrous foreshadowing. Some of these links and correlations are withal being revealed, every bit a recent fan discovered an example of foreshadowing from Book Ii, Deadhouse Gates, that ties in to Erikson's electric current Kharkanas trilogy—three novels set thousands of years in the series' past that shed calorie-free on characters and races prominent throughout the Book of the Fallen. Those who love this series tend to cherish their rereads, and with no novel is this more than truthful than Gardens of the Moon, where the action begins in media res and readers generally have a very dissimilar perspective on events the 2nd time around, one time free of what's ofttimes considered "the slog"…
You've heard information technology'south an unforgiving slog:
The series is most definitely unforgiving. Whether it's a slog is relative.
Starting time, the "slog." Aye, Gardens of the Moon in detail can be hard for some readers to get into. One of my closest friends tried iii times before mustering himself to finish the book—and he had my enthusiastic guidance. Erikson himself admits this flat out in the preface to the republished Runted UK mass market place paperback edition:
Beginning with Gardens of the Moon, readers volition either hate my stuff or love it. There's no in-between. Naturally, I'd rather everybody loved it, but I understand why this volition never be the case. These are non lazy books. You lot tin't float through, y'all just can't. Fifty-fifty more than problematic, the get-go novel begins halfway through a seeming marathon—you lot either hit the ground running and stay on your feet or y'all're toast.
—Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon preface (xii), 2007
Some readers will hitting the footing running and fall in love immediately. It happens all the time. The world resonates with ancient secrets and mysteries, whole races and diverse individuals affluent with power. The novel is riddled with duels between rooftop assassins, cataclysmic battles, dreadful beasts and yeah, even a few dragons. The cadre soldiers known as the Bridgeburners present a strong mix of witty quips and infamous efficiency. The deific presence of the Lord of Moon's Spawn, Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness—who happens to possess Dragnipur, one of the genre's all time bad-donkey grimdark swords—is a palpable force that can easily draw a reader in without qualm.
Others will stammer, and in that location is no shame in that. A slog is a slog if the novel doesn't grab y'all right off. But Gardens of the Moon should be given greater leeway than your typical fantasy debut and here's why: the story is vast, masterfully conceived, and information technology's finished. The bigger the story, the bigger the potential payoff, and in one case you motility beyond Gardens of the Moon that payoff becomes more and more apparent as y'all approach the final novel. This is a series that was conceived and plotted principally in the years earlier information technology was first published, meaning each novel progressively draws the readers towards a climactic end game. Unlike, say, sure hit Tv shows—whose showrunners are forced to constantly aggrandize and add to the premise of the first flavour, attempting to preserve continuity and create meaningful new storylines season by season—Malazan has e'er been, for all intents and purposes, pre-conceived and self-contained. This means that despite the weaving, challenging nature of the story, it rarely (if ever) gets tied upwardly in knots of its own design or stumbles over plot holes or glaring omissions. Dissimilar many of the vast, sweeping epic fantasy serial with no real terminate in sight, The Malazan Book of the Fallen is likewise satisfyingly complete; the stunning task of penning all ten books in a mere 12 years yet another indicator that Erikson is a special author. His commitment as a author created a serial more worthy of commitment on the function of its readers.
Now, you might also be wary of the 'unforgiving" nature of the serial. That description is admittedly truthful. Erikson approaches his books with the mental attitude that if y'all are having problem keeping up you lot should read harder, which can be disconcerting for many readers who assume, relatively reasonably, that the principal job of an author is to tell his or her story with complete clarity. As stated above, these are non lazy books. Erikson works at making you piece of work. The thing is, there are a metric ton of books nowadays that don't make you work at anything, and are chock-full of explanatory exposition. It is easy to fall into the trap of reading nothing but fluff equally the years grow longer and our lives grow more complicated with historic period. It is too easy. As Tyrion Lannister once said, "A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." Diverge too far from great literature and complex, ambitious works, like the many exceptional and challenging fantasy series uplifting the genre in recent years, and you go soft. Information technology becomes difficult to find the fourth dimension to claiming yourself. That's why I praise the books' unforgiving nature: in demanding attention and then rewarding that attending, they gradually build themselves into something both vivid and sublime.
You lot've heard it'due south likewise brilliant and sublime:
This is what'due south staying your paw? You lot don't savour brilliance? Sublimity perplexes and angers you? Relax. Dedication is required, far more than an impressive vocabulary or penetrating critical intelligence—yous merely need the ability to see Gardens of the Moon as a stepping rock towards something bigger and read accordingly. And as I've noted higher up, if it turns out that you bask piecing together subtleties and foreshadowings after the fact, the serial invites farther investigation on whatsoever number levels once yous've scaled the heights of all ten books.
You've heard it's not and so impressive as anybody claims:
First off, report the names of such rabble-rousers in the comments below! (Non really.) Second, a story:
I began reading Malazan Book of the Fallen in the early on 2000s, around the time Firm of Chains was released. Despite impressive reviews and the support of Stephen R. Donaldson, information technology was relatively unknown—dwarfed by the success of A Vocal of Ice and Fire and (al)Thor-similar magnitude of The Wheel of Time. Thus, when a stranger flat out insisted on the superiority of this newfangled series on an Net forum, I was skeptical.
Nevertheless, whose accolades are known are prone to claiming: we are creatures of habit, and we defend that which we honey. I only needs to look at fandoms the world over to run into how rooted we humans get in our choices, our favorites. These choices meld with our personalities. Fandom becomes a part of who we are and how we express ourselves. A stranger praises your favorite band? Instant connection. A stranger trashes your favorite movie? Information technology feels similar an unwitting set on on your power to "correctly'" ingest media. But here'south the thing: when someone claims an unknown property is quantifiably better than your electric current favorite, everyone – everyone – gets their dorsum upwardly. As did I, along with a few other forum-using unbelievers.
So when these co-unbelievers opted to take this stranger'due south challenge… only to come up back utterly converted to Malazan Book of the Fallen… everything changed. That was not how information technology was supposed to work! What happened? How could they get and merely prove the stranger right? What kind of serial could walk all over my thrice-read favorite? Was it luck? Coincidence? Could it just be that good? The just manner to find out was to start reading.
This is all the same truthful.
Seventeen years after Gardens of the Moon was first published, the accolades are numerous and well known. They are prone to challenge. The series has reached a level of fame where people who have not fifty-fifty read it nonetheless tend to take formed an opinion. Reddit forums similar /r/fantasy are near sick to death with listening to the praise of faithful like myself, or filtering through the ongoing hype that refuses to die down. Understandable. There are lots of great fantasy serial out in that location and very trivial time. We've probably all experienced this phenomenon earlier: the more dedicated a fantasy aficionado you are, the more tiresome and redundant the repeated endorsements of other more populist fans can get. This in turn leads to lower levels of tolerance and a kind of knee-wiggle contrarianism. Boosters promote a book also enthusiastically, boo-birds attack a book also viciously, and newcomers are left to navigate the white racket. Don't let this sway you. Such responses are both adequate and inevitable.
Come across, it is typical that the more pop a belongings becomes the more detractors it takes on. There is a natural proclivity in people to discredit a work considering they deem it unduly popular compared to their own personal likes and dislikes–the dreaded, dismissive "overrated." But let'south non forget how a series becomes popular in the commencement place—particularly considering Malazan is non similar virtually serial. Erikson'southward popularity has risen at a steady pace over many years, the daunting nature of the series alternative one-half-hearted readers early on until only dedicated fans remain. Its popularity should non exist considered in the same calorie-free equally series like The Wheel of Time or The Kingkiller Chronicle or A Song of Ice and Fire where success came relatively quickly, far-reaching and stratospheric. These series accomplished exponential success. Malazan's success is more linear, maintaining a gradual increase in popularity despite having started from an esoteric niche non necessarily conducive to immediate mainstream success. The elements that prepare the series apart, such as Erikson's unorthodox incorporation of poetry and philosophy, serve to emphasize the magnitude of this anomaly, but likewise give usa insight into the source of his staying ability. Years later nosotros faithful still crow! We still believe there is no greater success story in fantasy. We're secure in our knowledge that Erikson has written a series that defies conventions, retaining the integrity and creative merit of its most ambitious conception even every bit it grows in mass market popularity.
And this is all office of the criticism the serial faces—whose accolades are known are prone to challenge. The deviation between detractors and proponents may create a wider gulf with each review and discussion as new fans detect their way to the series, but in the instance of Malazan few who walk the walk find cause to disavow themselves. Of form, the only true way to expel inhibiting preconceptions or mixed messages is to option upwards Gardens of the Moon and requite information technology a whirl…
Joel Minty is the writer of Purge of Ashes, Book I of his Imbalance series, and is currently seeking representation. He lives in Toronto with his wife, son and daughter, and tin be establish online at world wide web.joelminty.com, on Twitter @JoelMinty, or anywhere good fantasy novels bring people together.
citation
How to Read Gardens of the Moon
Source: https://www.tor.com/2016/09/12/gardens-of-the-moon-and-difficult-fantasy-advice-to-first-time-readers/