Reviews - Gardens of the Moon

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3.23k reviews for:

Gardens of the Moon

Steven Erikson

3.85 AVERAGE

prismaticflame's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

snowraven's review against another edition

4.0

Good, took me a while to really be able to follow all the characters and plot points but enjoyable once I get immersed. Reminiscent of The Black Company books.

rkb4299's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark 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

nilhad's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

satanicpuppy's review against another edition

3.0

This is not a review of this book, which was okay, interesting, imaginative, opens a lot of doors and makes you really wonder about what's going to come next. This is a review of the whole series, so that I may save those who come after me from slogging through ten(!!!) 800 page novels which were okay, interesting, imaginative, open a lot of doors and make you really wonder about what's going to come next. Well, spoiler alert, the answer is "nothing." Nothing comes next. Is there such a thing as postmodern fantasy? Books that are full of interesting characters and ideas that are never fully realized or explored, and completely lacking in overall plot?

I read the whole series waiting for it to get somewhere. Then I read the first book of the second series, and then I slapped myself. Repeatedly. Just to see if I was a secret masochist. Just to see if I was subconsciously trying to atone for some horrific atrocities I committed in a past life.

I concluded that, no, no, I was just an idiot. If you're in the mood for 10,000 pages of what are essentially unrelated short stories, then this monster series must be for you. I am a voracious reader, but even for me this was a brutal time commitment, and in the end I just felt cheated.

brennan_meinke's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Black Company-esque grimdark military fantasy. Start of a major series. Enjoyed the first book well enough. Bounced off the second book several times over the years. Fun worldbuilding, magic, and geopolitics. Characters didn't leave as much impression. It's been a while since I've read it, though.