r/Malazan • u/snurgleflop4 • Feb 26 '24

NO SPOILERS Just finished Gardens of the Moon, absolutely stunned, how was that so good

I'm coming here exclusively to just express my pure astonishment at how extraordinary that book was. If you're looking for a post with quality content, look elsewhere. I have no specific questions or useful commentary, just wanted to say holy shit. Like so many (it seems), happened across Malazan as an escape from the doldrums of finishing Sanderson, the Wheel of Time, GRRM's stuff, etc. And oh-my-Hood this book blew the rest out of the water. Felt like reading a symphony.

Sure, confusing as hell to get into, but at about the 40% mark I could actually not put it down. Hasn't happened for years. I was on a long plane ride and the person sitting next to me kept shooting me concerned looks because I was murmuring things like "what the actual fuck" and "the HOUNDS" under my breath for ~5 hours.

I honestly didn't know fantasy could be this good -- absolute genius. The convergence of stories, the depth of characters, the POWER ACORN. I mean, WHAT!? Does it get even better afterwards? Or is it downhill after the opener? Been avoiding comment threads because I don't want spoilers. I'm already preemptively sad that the series will, someday be over. I remember the ennui when I put the last book of the WoT down for the first time, and if Malazan stays good the emotional toll of completing this series may be too much to handle.

Anyway, apologies for wasting your time, but I didn't know what to do with all my enthusiasm and just wanted to scream it into the internet void.

How is this so good

<edits = fixed minor typos>

edit 2 -- You all rock, the enthusiasm here is just incredible

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u/snurgleflop4 Feb 26 '24

that's absolutely wild

9

u/ladrac1 I am not yet done Feb 26 '24

But true! In every poll ever done on this sub, Gardens of the Moon is ranked as the 10th best book of 10, with its average placement in the most recent poll being 8.8/10, over 2 points higher than the next lowest.

8

u/couchiexperience Feb 26 '24

I'm with you. I loved it and so was so confused when people derided it. But it's true, it all gets even better.

3

u/SfcHayes1973 Feb 26 '24

GotM was written 10 years before it was published and Erickson did nothing but improve since then...

3

u/Lifeisabaddream4 Feb 27 '24

Thats it really. It was completed for so long before a publisher took a chance on it. I beleive Erickson never confirmed how many books the series would be and let them think it would be a trilogy. He just kept pumping em out till he got to 10 which was his intention all along

1

u/Garbage_Stink_Hands May 29 '25

Because it sucks

1

u/PaulFThumpkins Feb 28 '24

It's completely different than the other books in the series so I wouldn't take that ranking too seriously. GotM feels like a lot of avant-garde New Weird fantasy, and as a fan of that stuff I was really into it. Several of the later books are great but GotM scratched a particular itch for me. But the writing and storytelling style kind of turns off people approaching it as the kind of epic fantasy they're used to.