Malazan Book of the Fallen

GWC Community GWC Book Club
#1

Just wondering if there anyone out there into Steve Erikson’s massive series The Malazan Book of the Fallen?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen#References

It’s a kind of “anti-heroic fantasy” set in a vastly detailed and complex world ruled by the Malazan Empire - a fantasy equivalent of Rome - and a fascinating, shifting array of political and supernatural forces.

Erikson’s trademarks are lots of grown up, often bitterly introspective, characters, an original take on magic which allows him to spice things up with a few SF tropes and an ability to move fleetly from low comedy to gut churning action. Anyone who liked Michael Moorcock’s Elric books will particularly love the inhuman hell-sword-wielding Tiste Andi, Anomander Rake.

http://speculativehorizons.blogspot.com/2008/11/more-artwork-from-sub-press-version-of.html

I’m currently Book 9, Dust of Dreams, but newbies will need to start with The Gardens of the Moon! :smiley:

#2

I’ve just started reading the first one. (Okay, not just, but I got distracted and will probably be restarting it soon.) Everything I’ve heard about it sounds awesome, and I liked what little of Gardens of the Moon that I’ve read. Apparently it’s great for GRRM fans who have gotten sick of the wait for “A Dance With Dragons” :stuck_out_tongue:

#3

I bought Gardens of the Moon a few years ago but couldnt finish it as I got bored and confused. Sitting on my shelf next to the first in the Runelords series which I also never finished. Blech, I need to get those two read already.

#4

God i love it. its so complicated. but it really is, the book of the fallen, and thats what i love so much about it. its not about one little kid like harry potter or something. its about a world and all of its inhabitants. Ian c Esslemont also writes in the same world with Steven Erickson, Ian picks up on characters that Steven passes, so they share the world. its amazing.

#5

The Malazan Book of the Fallen is an epic fantasy series written by Canadian author Steven Erikson, published in ten volumes beginning with the novel Gardens of the Moon. As of August 2009, nine novels in the series have been published leaving only the final volume forthcoming. Erikson’s series is complex with a wide scope, and presents the narratives of a large cast of characters.[1][2][2][3][4][5] Erikson’s plotting presents a complicated series of events in the world upon which the Malazan Empire is located. Each volume is relatively self-contained for the first five novels, in that the primary conflict of each novel is resolved within that novel. However, many underlying characters and events are interwoven throughout the works of the series, binding it together.

The Malazan world was co-created by Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont in the early 1980s as a backdrop to their GURPS roleplaying campaign.[6] In 2005 Esslemont began publishing his own series of five novels set in the same world, beginning with Night of Knives. Although Esslemont’s books are published under a different series title - Novels of the Malazan Empire - Esslemont and Erikson collaborated on the storyline for the entire fifteen-book project and Esslemont’s novels are considered as canonical and integral to the series as Erikson’s own.