Admitting Defeat - The Malazan Books of the Fallen

When I read Gardens of the Moon (first of Steven Erikson's massive 10 Malazan Books of the Fallen epic series) some months ago my intention had been to gradually read each of the books, finishing up with the final of that particular section of the series; The Crippled God. There are five planned books by Erikson's co-creator Ian Cameron Esslemont, 4 of which are currently out, and Erikson himself has another two trilogies and 6 novellas planned. I was going to confine myself to Erikson's 10 books, and possibly read the Esslemont's if I enjoyed the Erikson's enough.

I found Gardens of the Moon tough going at times, but not particularly hard to follow, as some have said. I didn't find myself getting caught up in the story or warming to any of the characters, although I must confess to liking Kruppe and his penchant for referring to himself in the third person. Various events in my reading life meant that I was delayed from reading the 2nd book in the series; Deadhouse Gates, until December of last year.

Like Gardens of the Moon I struggled with Deadhouse Gates. The ending was spectacular, but again it took a long time to get there, and although I knew this was the case, it didn't make the fact that it followed a completely separate storyline to the one begun in Gardens of the Moon any less frustrating. I did ask myself multiple times throughout the book exactly what the point of it all was. Both books showcased a seemingly endless struggle between warring parties of which the members seemed to vacillate between sides on a whim. In that particular book the cast expanded significantly and Erikson killed off the only character I even came close to connecting with, although I thought he was probably doomed from the start anyway.

I hate giving up on books or series, so I dutifully picked up Memories of Ice this month. Some of what I'd read from various bloggers said that if you had been able to stick with the series through the first 2 books then Memories of Ice provided a payoff of sorts because it was an excellent book, well Kruppe returned and I liked some of the exchanges between Toc the Younger and Lady Envy, but there was still a disconnection for me, and I have to admit I gave up halfway through the book. I haven't given up on a book for years without finishing it, but with Memories of Ice I didn't see the point in continuing. For whatever reason the series just wasn't grabbing me and apart from Kruppe, largely because I find him funny, and Toc and Envy, I really didn't care about the rest of the characters.

The fact that The Malazan Books of the Fallen didn't do it for me is in no way a reflection on the quality of the series. It's actually quite well written, if in my opinion, under edited. I just felt that after two and a half books and near 2,000 pages there should have been something to keep me reading and for me there just wasn't.

So, I have to admit that The Malazan Books of the Fallen have claimed another victim.

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson

Deadhouse Gates is the second book in Steven Erikson's epic Malazan Books of the Fallen.

I had some idea what to expect having read Gardens of the Moon, and also being aware that the action in Deadhouse Gates was centred away from the setting of Gardens of the Moon (in fact the events in the 3rd book; Memories of Ice, apparently run concurrently with a lot of Deadhouse Gates), and would follow a different set of characters.

There are different groups of characters with their own agendas in Deadhouse Gates, and they converge a little towards the end. While the storylines are wrapped up this is far from standalone and you know there's a definite continuation.

It took Erikson, and his co creator Ian Cameron Esslemont, some time to secure a publishing deal for Gardens of the Moon, and the result is that Deadhouse Gates was written some years after the first book of the series.

Steven Erikson did grow and improve as a writer in that time, there was less influence of Glen Cook's Black Company in Deadhouse Gates, although it was still present at times. The game play aspect was not so evident either.

One thing Erikson could use is a ruthless editor. All his books are long, and they don't need to be as long as they are. A good editor could easily cut 200 - 300 pages from Deadhouse Gates and not lose anything in the process, in fact it may have even improved the narrative, at times I did find my eyes glazing over a little and wondering why I need to read what I was reading. It took over 100 pages before the main set of characters had been introduced and the stories set in motion.

Because of the cast of characters, George Martin puts a lot of characters in his epic A Song of Ice and Fire series, but he's got nothing on Steven Erikson, I found it a little difficult to connect with many of them. Too many of the cast of thousands seem similar. Three that will stay with me are Corporal List, the little soldier reminded me of Colonel Huxley's aide Corporal Zilch, from Leon Uris' WW II epic Battle Cry, and I always liked Zilch. Coltaine, the driven Wickan leader who was trying to get his vast train of refugees across hostile territory to safety. The Wickan horse warriors themselves were a great idea and something that I enjoyed reading about. Then there was Felisin. Felisin seems to rub readers up the wrong way. I started out feeling sorry for the fallen, pampered noble girl, but while she was trying to escape slavery with the discommunicated handless priest Helboric and the huge psychotic murderer Baudin, she became thoroughly unlikeable. I was actually hoping that Baudin may twist her head off, but unfortunately it stayed attached to her shoulders. Crokus the young thief from Gardens of the Moon returned, but I found him less interesting this time around, I did like his familiar, the bok'haral Moby, although in typical Malazan Books of the Fallen fashion I don't think he's what he appears to be.

The twists and turns that the story took and the sheer breadth of Erikson's creation plus his stunning ideas that are well presented did my head in, and I really want to see where he takes this and how it turns out.

Gardens of the Moon

To be considered a serious SFF fan these days it appears that there are a handful of ‘must read’ series. One such series is Steven Erikson’s massive Malazan Books of the Fallen. I’d been meaning to read the first Malazan book; Gardens of the Moon, for some time, but had held off for a couple of reasons. One it was a work in progress, believed to eventually complete at 10 books, having been burned by Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time (the author passed away before he could complete the series and it is being finished by Brandon Sanderson) and George Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (Martin is still alive, but the series shows no sign of being completed any time soon, the 5th volume has been coming since 2005) I was reluctant to pick up another long running incomplete series. The other reason was that the concept had failed to really grab me each time I picked it up, and had a look at it.

It popping up on the list as the last of the E’s when it did was pretty good timing. The 10th Malazan book; The Crippled God, came out earlier this year, so I wouldn’t be forced into a wait between volumes.

Gardens of the Moon does require some commitment from the reader. There’s no real coherent storyline in the first volume, it’s largely about participants in a never ending war for control of the continent of Genabackis. These fighters are not only soldiers, citizens and rulers, some of them are all powerful Gods who have chosen to walk amongst men. For instance my feelings towards Erikson’s beloved Bridgeburners changed multiple times throughout the book. They vaccilated between being on the right side and the wrong side depending on whose story you were reading.

Like a growing number of recent epics Gardens of the Moon is rather noirish in feel. I often felt like none of the action took place in daylight. By the end of the book the reader has seen a lot and read a lot, but has only scratched the surface of Erikson’s gargantuan creation. It’s not surprising to learn that when he and friend and co creator Ian Cameron Esslemont hawked the concept around as a TV show or movie they were told that it was simply too grand in scale for them to even contemplate. This is largely why it became a series of books and not a purely visual spectacle.

Two things tended to stand out to me. One was the similarity between Erikson’s band of hard bitten soldiers and mages; The Bridgeburners and Glen Cook’s company of mercenaries; The Black Company, in the series of the same name. Erikson admits to being a fan of Cook’s and it shows in Gardens of the Moon. The Bridgeburners and the Black Company kept putting me in mind of each other, right down to the nicknames they gave their members. At times I felt as if the Bridgeburners hard bitten sergeant; Whiskeyjack was channelling the Black Company’s captain; Croaker. Erikson and Esslemont were both keen gamers and that’s how they came up with the concept, this too is obvious, with some passages reading as if they were right out of game play.

Despite the feeling that this was 700 pages of setup I still felt strangely compelled to keep reading, and while there isn’t always a lot of action, at other times the action is almost overwhelming. The reader can get lost with the sheer cast of thousands that Erikson has chosen to populate his creation, and as he doesn’t write linearly it can become confusing, which is why despite it’s length the reader cannot afford to skim. I found it hard to connect to any of the characters while reading the book and thought that they may be rather two dimensional. Reflecting on it afterwards I found myself finding that they had layers I hadn’t initially picked up on. I did develop some affection for two of the leads; the mysterious and quite often amusing Kruppe, who refers to himself in the third person and narrates his own action, and the young and somewhat naïve thief Crokus.

Despite it’s flaws, and Gardens of the Moon is most definitely a flawed book, it has me intrigued and I know that in the not too distant future I’m going to pick up the equally thick Deadhouse Gates and keep following Steven Erikson’s vision.