Malazan Book of the Fallen

I needed something else to read after LOTR, GOT (read multiple times over), Sanderson novels (Storm Light and Mist Born), and KingKiller Chronicles.

I hope the switch turns after I get further into it.

Glad someone started this thread.

I am about 2/3 through the second book, Deadhouse Gates.

I agree that GotM was not an easy read. You are just thrown right into the middle of the world and the siege of Pale, I had no idea what was happening and even at the end I still wasn’t sure who all the characters were or how to make sense of what I read.

That said, I did enjoy many of the I dividual scenes in the book.

And I had heard from many that the first book is the hardest to get through.

I would stick it out through the second book before bailing on the series.

I find Deadhouse Gates much easier to follow and the world is beginning to make sense.


Still would say it’s probably not for everyone. But I am liking book 2 and will read book 3 soon after I’m done.

This series is my favorite fantasy series of all time but I got into it in a weird way. I picked up Memories or Ice (book 3) at an airport and just dove in. I then picked up 2, then 1. Then 4. Having gone in the order 3, 2, 1, the first book wasn’t in the same stratosphere as 2 and 3, which are 2 of my favorites in the series. The bouncing around from continent to continent whole books at a time was also challenging early on.

The books are more
1a (1) 1b (2)
2a (3) 2b (4)
3 (5)
Then they tend to follow the entire world (6-10) except for book 8 which strays off the path a good bit.

I’d honestly say people who enjoy this genre are doing themselves a huge disservice if they don’t get to books 2 and 3...but I’d understand if they jumped off at 1 or at other parts in the series.

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He’s certainly more of a concept writer than a storyteller.

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Excellent way to put it, I was having trouble finding the right words.

The first book is a miasma that made me never get into the other books. Apparently they are better and provide a grounding for the world and the goings on, but Book 1 is, frankly, just not that great.

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I am roughly two weeks into reading "Garden of the Moon" and it is slow going. I'm really at a loss envisioning the characters and getting a lay of the land. Is it just me or did others have the same experience starting out?

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Yup, I think pretty much all of us die-hard Malazan fans faced the same thing you are. It's actually a literary technique called in media res, although I'm not sure it was a good idea to use it in his very first book of the series.

As others have said, keep charging through it. The payoff is very, very much worth it. And once you get a good handle on the world/characters, Gardens of the Moon makes much more sense.

I've probably read the entire series four or five times now, and I still end up finding things I missed in the previous reads. To say the series is dense is an understatement.

I'd say yes, Book 3 has a lot of heroics for sure as does the last one - reaching, but not surpassing Coltaine. Most of them have some level of heroics - Book 4, 6 and/or 7 but not quite to the same level.

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Wait until you meet Beak.

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Gonna have to throw out Trull Sengar as well if we are talking about selfless Malazan hero badasses.

But to add on to the others Memphis, you've just hit the beginning of the heroic action in Malazan, though the Chain of Dogs in DG isn't really topped per say, just matched at times.

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Gonna have to throw out Trull Sengar as well if we are talking about selfless Malazan hero badasses.

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I definitely agree. There are just so many absolute gut punches in the series.

Number one for me is the Snake, and I don't even have kids.