Gardens of the Moon

The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1

By: Steven Erikson

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Length: 26 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©1999 by Steven Erikson. (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Erikson is an extraordinary writer. My advice to anyone who might listen to me is, Treat yourself to Gardens of the Moon. And my entirely selfish advice to Steven Erikson is, write faster." --Stephen R. Donaldson

"I stand slack-jawed in awe of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. This masterwork of imagination may be the high water mark of epic fantasy. This marathon of ambition has a depth and breadth and sense of vast reaches of inimical time unlike anything else available today. The Black Company, Zelazny's Amber, Vance's Dying Earth, and other mighty drumbeats are but foreshadowings of this dark dragon's hoard." --Glen Cook

"A world that is both absorbing on a human level and full of magical sublimity...a wonderfully grand conception...splendidly written...fiendishly readable." --Adam Roberts

Thoroughly Enjoyed This!

I've heard from countless people that this story is hard to follow. I think because I've read Herbert, Tolkien, Lewis, Jordan and Sanderson that it was much easier to follow.
I laughed multiple times, and the narrator was phenomenal.

Unjust bad reviews

Personally I really enjoyed this story. Yes it could have benefited from a bit more editing and breaking the chapters up to more dedicated POVs, but other than that I have no complaints. The magic system in this series is fascinating, ancient and ambiguous. The writing and the performance was brilliant! And the characters were unique and very memorable. My favorite being Kruppe! Give it a listen, you might just like what you hear.

Ralph Lister brings the book to life.

I have recently starting reading the series and enjoyed the premise enough to listen to the audiobooks. The story seems so much more vivid with the storytelling skill of the narrator. Mr. Lister is able to bring the different characters to life in a way that I just can't seem to in my head. The pacing is perfect for myself, remaining smooth and steady but not becoming monotonous. Truly love the performance here, and I hope the rest of the series is as well done.

Stay till The End

Initially I found this book hard to get into. It has multiple characters and doesn’t do a lot of explaining. However if you stick with it the story is deep and absolutely amazing. The characters I was initially not thrilled with become some of my favorite characters in fantasy novels. The only thing I thought could be better is a greater pause in narration when switching scenes. Sometimes it was confusing due to a scene change not being noticed because of the speed of narration.

too confusing,

was hard to get though, half the time couldn't understand what was actually going on, who people were talking to, which character it was focusing on, or what was happening, the times I could understand what was happening were good, but those weren't often, plus the fact that there was no world building to help people understand who was who didn't help at all

Must listen!

Love this series!
Didn't care for the nasal voices that were given by the narrator.
Definitely recommend.

Not hard to follow if you are a little smart

Not a book for dummies, incredible if you are even a little bright and able to hold two thoughts together in your head at once. Every character is well connected to the over all plot, the ones who aren’t well explained are intentionally vague and have very short scenes. All the clues for what will happen are laid out like a well crafted puzzle. And the structure of the book is done in a very intentional way. Thisbook is alot like the black company , and glen cooks books in that series.

great plot/storyline... narrator is super!

I read the series starting in 1999 or there abouts ... it's a long 10 book series but well worth it in humble opinion...

Slow starter. Mildly interesting at 80% mark....

Very poor character development and really boring mostly. By the end, it was picking up, but the book is a long grind.

Great story, bad production

I enjoyed the story and performance but it was hard to follow sometimes because the first word in every other paragraph was clipped.