Gardens of the Moon is a tough book; not in a stylistic sense or even the plot necessarily. It's the fact that Erikson drops you into his world in the middle of the story. The Siege of Pale is our first real taste of what is happening in Seven Cities as the Malazan Empire is eating up continents in brutal campaigns. All of the soldiers we meet have backstories and interactions that are rarely explained and a lot of the world building simply comes from taking in the dialogue and piecing together exactly how the Bridgeburners, our main heroes, wound up where they are.
If that isn't confusing enough the magic system is very unique and barely explained even in the dialogue. Magic comes from Warrens, which are essentially pocket dimensions that may touch each other and certainly touch the world of the story, but beyond that it is left to the reader to piece together the rules and limitations.
So if you're a reader who has no prior knowledge of the series you may be lost within the first hundred pages. For some this is a fun challenge and makes the world even more interesting as pieces are discovered (that's how I feel). For others, it's a lot of gobbledygook that honestly carries into future books. I think it's commendable that Erikson is trying something different and I've always enjoyed the first part of this book as the open to the whole series because it's a breath of fresh air. You can argue the young Captain Paran is our avatar into the world of the Malazan military, but even then he's not the usual, plucky fantasy hero who goes out on a quest.
On the flipside of Oponn's coin, the ambiguity can still be frustrating for someone like me who has read the book a handful of times (four or five now). There are events in this book that are still complete nonsense to me; things that are explained later but feel lacking in this first book. To be fair, this is Erikson's first book so it's to be expected it won't be as strongly constructed as later books.
The beginning and end of the book are nonstop with action and major events. There is a bit of a slump in the middle, not helped by how many characters we are following and how some of them you won't care for as much as others. The Bridgeburners are cool as hell and all of them have great personalities and feel integral to the overall world. Some of the characters from Darujhistan are interesting but many only serve to help explore the various aspects of the city. They all get payoff in some way but characters like Coll aren't easy to invest in. It's tough to write 25 different characters and make them all appealing but Erikson still does a good job. Even if Adjunct Lorn's portions could drag, I still liked to see where it all ended up.
Erikson's writing may be my favorite part of this novel. Because he doesn't overexplain or info-dump, the book moves at a surprisingly good pace. A lot of the novel is dialogue, so the pages can fly by when Erikson's really in his element and delivering engaging political and military back-and-forths.
There is so much that happens in this book and so many plot threads to process -- and Erikson is only warming up to get even more difficult in how he delivers the story (trust me, I get it, this series is not for everyone). Overall, Gardens of the Moon is wholly enjoyable even at its most dull moments. Fans always say if you finish this book and enjoy it you're gonna read through the whole series and be obsessed. If you can't get past the "show don't tell" of it all, you'll probably want to bow out and find something else.
Four or five read-throughs later, I still think Gardens of the Moon is one of my favorite and maybe the best opening chapter to a fantasy series.
Rating: B+
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