A review by dreamer_deceiver
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

2.0

Gardens of the Moon is a deeply flawed book. There are too many characters, with too many overlapping roles, with too little depth, with too many quickly shifting points of view, with too little plot to disperse all of this. The confusion does not come from the ambiguity of the magic, or the history, or the gods, but simply from an inability to write to the level that the scope of this book demands. A Song of Ice and Fire is the benchmark for this level of epic storytelling, and it is hard to not compare. A Game of Thrones has just as many “primary” characters as Gardens of the Moon and many more “secondary” characters, all participating in even more disparate plots, yet never once does is it feel anywhere near as convoluted or disorienting as Erickson’s introductory novel. The key is this: clear points of view from deeply developed characters. By following fewer primary characters, we are able to see more of the world, go through more plot, and interact with more characters, but we are always oriented. Unfortunately, without such a literary technique (or an appropriate substitute) Gardens of the Moon is left as a garbled mess of cardboard characters doing things to other cardboard characters.

That being said, the world Erickson has created stunning. Knowing we are simply visiting only a single continent in this vast globe, we are introduced to cities and tribes of both significance and insignificance. We are constantly reminded of the year, calculated based on multiple historic/cultural benchmarks, which reinforces the scope of history, including the fact there have been multiple writers of these histories. The magic system is innovative, the elder races are mysterious, and the gods and their motives are fascinating as they are ambiguous. The biggest motive for the reader to continue to plow forward is to uncover more information about all of these rich otherworldly elements.

The consensus seems to be that this is one of the weaker chapters in the series and that the writing greatly improves from the following book forward. That is enough to keep me motivated to continue, so much so, that I am immediately jumping into Deadhouse Gates. However, I am approaching it with a balance of both enthusiasm and trepidation. Make no mistake, I want to love this series. There is some outstanding potential here. However, if Deadhouse Gates does not greatly improve upon it’s latter’s flaws, I will likely drop out.