Gardens of the Moon: Will I start to Understand It...

[thesoothsayer]

Reading GotM and, some times, it's a jumble of confusion due to so many characters and concepts being dumped onto the readers. Must say Tool is a great source of information, though.

Heard great things about this series, so I'm going to soldier on and hope to be rewarded at the end.

 

[Tragedy]

Deadhouse Gates is 2000000000000x times better. Gardens is an atrocity of a book IMO.

 

[Chaoticheart]

Deadhouse Gates is 2000000000000x times better. Gardens is an atrocity of a book IMO.

Burn heretic!

Although my personal favourites in the series were Midnight Tides & Reaper's Gale.

 

[Demonomania]

The chain of dogs is something that stays with you for ever.

Yes!

The climax of the chain of dogs arc gives me shivers every time I think on it. On of the most affecting moments I have ever read.

 

[TheRealScott]

I'm about 200 pages in and so far I don't find it as confusing as I was expecting, although maybe I just need to get further in...

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'm about 200 pages in and so far I don't find it as confusing as I was expecting, although maybe I just need to get further in...

Welcome to the chronicles forums @TheRealScott.

Have you got to the big change in point of view character yet? That seems to be what throws most people...

 

[TheRealScott]

Welcome to the chronicles forums @TheRealScott.

Have you got to the big change in point of view character yet? That seems to be what throws most people...

I don't think so, I think I'm really close to it though, lol now I can't wait to see if I can push through it

 

[Boaz]

TheRealScott, I'd love to know your thoughts once you finish.

In the following words, I'll share my experience with Malazan. I will not spoil any plot nor character developments. But I will share my feelings and maybe that is a SPOILER for the series...

Read at your own risk.

Once I felt that GotM turned (as Brian mentioned above), I finished it quickly. And I eagerly started Deadhouse Gates... to find a whole new cast of characters, a new continent, a new war... i.e. an entirely new learning curve. I finished DG.. I liked it.

But I felt that I could not do that again... Obviously, many posters here have thoroughly enjoy the Malazan series, but I felt emotionally shorted....

What I mean... is that I felt like I put in the work. I read the first two books of the series which featured an incredibly detailed world; nations, races, governments, economies, languages, religions, magic, time-space travel.... and I still felt the author was purposely keeping me in the dark as to the nature of the real battle of the gods versus the ascended humans. I felt like I deserved more plot information, more character motivation, and more information about the supernatural.

I'm a fairly intelligent man. After reading two books, I did not like feeling like I was in the dark regarding the real story. I had put in the work, I deserved a better payout.

A good friend of mine got into Malazan a year ago. He's enthralled. He can't believe I put it down.

After swearing not to do it... I read Night of Knives last year. Mistake. I felt the same.

Maybe I'm just not that intelligent.

 

[picklematrix]

Im going to take the plunge and start reading Malazan books soon. I wonder if i should start with deadhouse gates though. Some people recommend doing so, but i am unsure.

 

[nixie]

I wouldn't, some people do find GOTM confusing, I can see why but buckle in and enjoy the ride.

I was hooked from the first and found it fast paced and riveting.

 

[nixie]

Speaking off the Malazan World, I'd highly recommend Esslemont's new series, Path to Ascendancy gives us an insight to the beginnings of the Empire.

 

[Lenny]

I wonder if i should start with deadhouse gates though.

I did, purely by accident, but didn't realise until about a third of the way through when characters started popping up, or being referenced, without any explanation to them. Still an enjoyable read, but I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point. For all the criticism Gardens of the Moon gets for throwing you into the middle of the action with no lead-in, it's a far cry from actually starting in the middle of the action with no lead-in.

The other alternative is to start with Midnight Tides - the first four books centre around one, very large set of characters, locations, themes, and events. Midnight Tides is almost entirely new in every department, introducing a second branch to the overarching story that converges around book seven or eight. It's definitely a more accessible book than GotM, and will give you a vague idea of the world as a whole, its mythology, and some backstory to what's going on. From there, though, you definitely need to go back to GotM and read things in order (the MT story continues in the sevent book, Reaper's Gale).

All that said, I'm going to echo @nixie and recommend starting with GotM.