From Publishers Weekly
In this sprawling fantasy epic of the Malazan empire at war with its enemies and itself, the first of a projected 10-volume series, Canadian newcomer Erikson offers many larger-than-life scenes and ideas, but his characters seem to shrink to fit the story. Perhaps they need to stay small enough for the reader to keep them all in mind. Jumping often between plot lines, the novel follows Ganoes Stabro Paran from his boyhood dreaming of soldiers to his escape from imperial service. Paran travels on journeys of body and soul, going from innocent to hardened rebel against gods and empire without losing his moral core. Other characters may go further, to death and back even, but none is as sharply portrayed. The book features a plethora of princes and paupers, powers and principalities, with much inventive detail to dazzle and impart a patina of mystery and ages past. The fast-moving plot, with sieges, duels (of sword and of spell), rebellions, intrigue and revenge, unearthed monsters and earth-striding gods, doesn't leave much room for real depth. Heroes win, villains lose, fairness reigns, tragedy is averted. Erikson may aspire to China Miéville heights, but he settles comfortably in George R.R. Martin country. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
In the first of a projected 10 volumes of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, the Malazan Empire is up to its eyebrows in the intrigues of mage Anomander Rake and his sorcerous minions, the Tiste Andii. The empress Laseen pursues her grisly ambitions with the aid of the Ninja-like Claw assassins, but Erikson focuses on the grunt-level fighting of military engineers Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his Bridgeburners and the field-grade mage Tattersall, who are more than ready to go home, when the empress commands a battle in and around the Free City of Darujhistan. Erikson portrays this hurly-burly--something very like the Lord of the Rings' Battle of the Pellenor Fields--from the perspective of those who had to get out of the way of the charges and exchanges of spells and sometimes died anyway. It remains to be seen whether Erikson's excellent writing will carry through nine more volumes of this gritty, realistic fantasy in the manner of Glen Cook's Dark Company series. Wager on fantasy readers' robust appetites, however. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Neil Walsh, SF Site
"An astounding debut . . . has the potential to become known as a defining work in Fantasy."


Review
"Steven Erikson is an extraordinary writer. My advice to anyone who might listenn to me: Treat yourself to Gardens of the Moon."


Elizabeth Haydon
"Gripping, fast-moving, delightfully dark, with a masterful and unapologetic bruutality reminiscent of George R. R. Martin. Utterly engrossing."

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Gardens of the Moon is the first novel of a shelf-cracking ten-volume saga called the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson (pseudonym for Canadian author Steve Rune Lundin) that is as richly storied as J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, as brutally realistic as Glen Cook's Black Company novels, and as thematically intricate as Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.

Reading the first pages of Gardens of the Moon can be likened to jumping off a cliff into a lake far below; it is sudden and total immersion into a sprawling empire seething with discontent. The Empress Laseen -- who, since the mysterious death of the former emperor years earlier, has solidified her rule with the aid of assassins and spies -- is in the process of expanding her empire. The city of Pale has just fallen, and Dirujhistan, the last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, is next. Leading the strike is legendary military leader Dujek Onearm, a favorite of the former emperor, but the chaotic campaign may just be a means for Laseen to get rid of Onearm and his renowned squad of Bridgeburners. But the leaders on both sides of the conflict are just pawns in a much larger, much more sinister game.

Fantasy fans who are easily irritated by series that stretch on for years without any comprehensible conclusion need not worry here -- although the Malazan Book of the Fallen is by definition a series, according to the author, the ten novels can be better described as historical episodes during the rise and fall of the Malazan Empire, and each can be read as a stand-alone story. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long injured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dreaded Claw assassins." "For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze." However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In this sprawling fantasy epic of the Malazan empire at war with its enemies and itself, the first of a projected 10-volume series, Canadian newcomer Erikson offers many larger-than-life scenes and ideas, but his characters seem to shrink to fit the story. Perhaps they need to stay small enough for the reader to keep them all in mind. Jumping often between plot lines, the novel follows Ganoes Stabro Paran from his boyhood dreaming of soldiers to his escape from imperial service. Paran travels on journeys of body and soul, going from innocent to hardened rebel against gods and empire without losing his moral core. Other characters may go further, to death and back even, but none is as sharply portrayed. The book features a plethora of princes and paupers, powers and principalities, with much inventive detail to dazzle and impart a patina of mystery and ages past. The fast-moving plot, with sieges, duels (of sword and of spell), rebellions, intrigue and revenge, unearthed monsters and earth-striding gods, doesn't leave much room for real depth. Heroes win, villains lose, fairness reigns, tragedy is averted. Erikson may aspire to China Mi ville heights, but he settles comfortably in George R.R. Martin country. Agent, Howard Morhaim. (June 16) FYI: The first four volumes have already been published in the U.K. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Charles de Lint - Fantasy & Science Fiction