Book Review: Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1)
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars.
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen (Book 1 of 10)
Genre: Epic fantasy, grimdark fantasy
First published: 1999 by Bantam (UK) and 2004 by Tor (US)
Gardens of the Moon is the grand overture to Malazan Book of the Fallen, providing just a glimmer of what this massive, grimdark epic fantasy tale has to offer, which is best described below in the author’s own words.
“Now these ashes have grown cold, we open the old book.
These oil-stained pages recount the tales of the Fallen,
a frayed empire, words without warmth. The hearth
has ebbed, its gleam and life’s sparks are but memories
against dimming eyes – what cast my mind, what hue my
thoughts as I open the Book of the Fallen
and breathe deep the scent of history?
Listen, then, to these words carried on that breath.
These tales are the tales of us all, again yet again.
We are history relived and that is all, without end that is all.”