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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Great book the second time around but definitely noticed a somewhat bad attitude towards the female characters.
Starts of confusing as all hell but develops into an interwoven storyline unlike any other book I've read.
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Gardens of the Moon… whoa! What a tough book to read, and tough to review. Somehow this book was simultaneously amazing and frustrating. More than anything I am intrigued and excited to continue the series, but wishing my introduction to Malazan was more fun and less work.
I loved so much of this book. Incredible world building. Awesome characters. Lore galore. Intricate magic systems. Political intrigue and war. Epic battles. Legendary weapons. Unique races. Gods among mortals. So much more too. The list of awesomeness goes on and on.
But all of that may be part of the problem. Gardens of the Moon felt overwhelming and often confusing. I had to read very slowly and consult supplementary material including the Wiki and a powerpoint that was provided for the buddy read I joined. Without this help, this would have easily been 3 stars or less.
I get that Erikson’s style is to throw the reader in the deep end. He’s unforgiving and intentionally challenging. Every word is critical, and wildly important people, places and things are thrown at you with no context or explanation and you’re expected to absorb the information. BUT I read for enjoyment and escapism. This book sometimes gave me terrifying flashbacks to college, like I was studying for a final exam. I’m not even sure I really understand what happened at the end of the book. I need to go back and review my notes and the wiki. I think that is a shortcoming of Erikson’s storytelling. There had to be a way to tell this story without making readers like me feel lost. I wish it were written in a more digestible way. If it was it may have been one of my favorite books. I’m sure this book is essential to the overall story of the series, which I’ll probably enjoy immensely, but this specific intro to the series could have been done better. Even if that meant splitting it into a trilogy or something like that.
I also didn’t like a few perplexing character decisions and cringed at the heavy-handed sexual attractions and “romance” elements. Just a few instances of poor writing in my opinion. Overall though I’m pretty forgiving with these slight annoyances knowing it was Erikson’s first book.
Ultimately, I’m incredibly grateful for my fellow buddy readers and Malazan fans who encouraged me to keep going and finish Gardens of the Moon. I’m thrilled to continue my journey with Malazan Book of the Fallen despite my frustrations with this book. I hear the books get better from here. We’ll see!
I loved so much of this book. Incredible world building. Awesome characters. Lore galore. Intricate magic systems. Political intrigue and war. Epic battles. Legendary weapons. Unique races. Gods among mortals. So much more too. The list of awesomeness goes on and on.
But all of that may be part of the problem. Gardens of the Moon felt overwhelming and often confusing. I had to read very slowly and consult supplementary material including the Wiki and a powerpoint that was provided for the buddy read I joined. Without this help, this would have easily been 3 stars or less.
I get that Erikson’s style is to throw the reader in the deep end. He’s unforgiving and intentionally challenging. Every word is critical, and wildly important people, places and things are thrown at you with no context or explanation and you’re expected to absorb the information. BUT I read for enjoyment and escapism. This book sometimes gave me terrifying flashbacks to college, like I was studying for a final exam. I’m not even sure I really understand what happened at the end of the book. I need to go back and review my notes and the wiki. I think that is a shortcoming of Erikson’s storytelling. There had to be a way to tell this story without making readers like me feel lost. I wish it were written in a more digestible way. If it was it may have been one of my favorite books. I’m sure this book is essential to the overall story of the series, which I’ll probably enjoy immensely, but this specific intro to the series could have been done better. Even if that meant splitting it into a trilogy or something like that.
I also didn’t like a few perplexing character decisions and cringed at the heavy-handed sexual attractions and “romance” elements. Just a few instances of poor writing in my opinion. Overall though I’m pretty forgiving with these slight annoyances knowing it was Erikson’s first book.
Ultimately, I’m incredibly grateful for my fellow buddy readers and Malazan fans who encouraged me to keep going and finish Gardens of the Moon. I’m thrilled to continue my journey with Malazan Book of the Fallen despite my frustrations with this book. I hear the books get better from here. We’ll see!
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of those books where you just trust the author to bring everything together at the end. It takes reading up to about 60% to get some understanding of the bigger picture in this world, but then the story takes off at a great pace. The world looks interesting, and I feel there's so much more to be covered that just reading one book will not do this story any justice.
One thing that did strike me about the way Steven Erikson has chosen to write this book - there are no unrealistic conversations among the characters for the benefit of the readers, unlike in some books where they start throwing in details that should be known to everybody in the world just so the reader can follow along. Instead, we see things happening from multiple angles, and are trusted to figure out the details like putting together pieces of a puzzle. While I enjoyed that, the confusion this approach generates for a majority of the book is the reason why I'm knocking off a few points in my rating. Even after putting together the pieces, parts of the puzzle are clear, but much of the puzzle remains incomplete. I think I would rate this much higher on a re-read, once I've read the rest of this series someday.
One thing that did strike me about the way Steven Erikson has chosen to write this book - there are no unrealistic conversations among the characters for the benefit of the readers, unlike in some books where they start throwing in details that should be known to everybody in the world just so the reader can follow along. Instead, we see things happening from multiple angles, and are trusted to figure out the details like putting together pieces of a puzzle. While I enjoyed that, the confusion this approach generates for a majority of the book is the reason why I'm knocking off a few points in my rating. Even after putting together the pieces, parts of the puzzle are clear, but much of the puzzle remains incomplete. I think I would rate this much higher on a re-read, once I've read the rest of this series someday.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes