Gardens of the Moon

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World Fantasy Award nominee 2000.

The Malazan Empire is a continent-spanning dominion over which the ruthless Empress Laseen holds sway, her rule enforced by the Claws, the Imperial assassins. Bled dry by incessant warfare and undermined by dissension, signs indicate that the Empire could be crumbling from within.

The Genabackis campaign has been a war of attrition in which the Malazans have spent years fighting the combined forces of local armies aided by the formidable Son of Darkness and Lord of the Tiste Andii, Anomander Rake, the Crimson Guard, the powerful warlord Caladan Brood, and their allies.

Though they emerge victorious from the siege of Pale and impel the flying fortress of Moon’s Spawn to retreat and abandon the conflict, the Malazan triumph is bittersweet. Evidence implies that the Bridgeburners were nearly wiped out by treacherous elements from within the ranks of their own army.

Before any light can be shed on what truly occurred, the Malazan troops are sent marching to subdue Darujhistan, the last of the Free Cities of Genabackis. Soon, as the conflict escalates, powerful forces converge on Darujhistan.

And with gods and Ascendants watching and manipulating events, nothing is as it seems in the City of Blue Fire.

Thus begins The Malazan Book of the Fallen, one of the greatest and most ambitious fantasy epics of our time.

"Steven Erikson is an extraordinary writer. I read Gardens of the Moon with great pleasure. And now that I have read it, I would be hard-pressed to decide what I enjoyed more: the richly and ominously magical world of Malaz and Genabackis; the large cast of sympathetically rendered characters; or the way the story accumulates to a climax that hits like machinegun fire. My advice to anyone who might listen to me is: Treat yourself to Gardens of the Moon. And my entirely selfish advice to Steven Erikson is, write faster." – Stephen R. Donaldson

"Erikson's style is no-nonsense, and his military campaigns have a reality to them that's often lacking in fantasy… complex, challenging… Erikson's strengths are his grown-up characters and his ability to create a world every bit as intricate and messy as our own." – J. V. Jones

"Steven Erikson… has the breadth and detail of imaginative vision, he is able to create a world that is both absorbing on a human level and full of magical sublimity, and, above all, he can write… a wonderfully grand conception… fiendishly readable." – Adam Roberts