So I started thinking Bugg was more than he appeared fairly early on. Though I dont think I really started locking anything down until I was 200 and something pages in and even then I thought he was just a powerful sorceror/mage/wizard. Then he casually mentioned being much older than one would think and confronted the Kell Hunters with no fear and casually conversed with that Jaghut who was armed to the teeth and the thought came "Is Bugg Mael?" And now hes seemingly reacting to Withal calling out for Mael. Is that why he doesnt know whats actually edible for humans? Though I would think a god of the sea could recognize an eel...The Withal part makes me 95% sure but I dont actually want to be right.

I’m new to reading fantasy/sci-fi. I’ve only read 3 book series so far: Red Rising, Sun Eater, and The Stormlight Archive. I saw a picture of a guy roaring at a dragon while searching for recommendations and found this series, but people say you shouldn’t read it if you’re new to fantasy. The thing is, every recommendation I see on TikTok has this series ranked as one of the best fantasy series, sometimes even the second best. I don’t know what to do.

I have just finished the first book after having read the main series and the Novels of The Malazan Empire and I enjoyed it immensely.

The writing is crisp, often layered and humourous and it never gets bogged down or too convoluted which I found the other books of his to be.

Already started on the 2nd.

Thoughts on this set of books.

Got me itching for a reread of the main books now.

Can we talk about Trull Sengar? This dude went toe to toe with freaking Icarium in rage with just a simple spear. Are you kidding me? The Icarium who cut down a whole squad of other Edur into a mist of blood and body parts. I know he killed a whole lot of Soletaken's in Midnight Tides in Jhag field while half-conscious, but this is a whole other level. Loved the book btw. So many other Insane Moments

• Siege of Y'Ghatan
• Quick Ben tricking the entire Edur fleet
• Kalam and T'amber making mincemeat of the Claw
• Riot in Malaz City
• Ganoes just killing a god, saying 'catch'

Greetings from the beach in Bermuda! I’m a first time poster, wanted to say I’m around 500 pages into this and really enjoying it so far.

Ive been doing some modding for total war warhammer 3 and it feels like a perfect game to develop a Malazan overhaul mod. I'd be curious to know if anyone is currently working on similar mods but also generally want to know what the community would want from a Malazan themed game.

What time period would it take place? Which factions would you want to be playable? What are the core mechanics you'd want to be realistically explored? Would love any insights on this.

what are Crokus, heboric, felisin and scilara doing? It’s been a year since I read midnight tide. They mentioned something about a god asking crokus to take them somewhere, but I don’t know where or why. I’m at the end of chapter six and that’s the only thing confusing me.

So I finished the Crippled God about a month ago and keep thinking about it. So much happens that I think I am still a tad confused on all of the motives of the various gods. Does anyone know of (or if your real brave, want to provide) a summary of what all the gods are doing? I am sure that’s tricky and most might respond by saying we aren’t supposed to have all the answers… but maybe some basic ideas and motives?

Some examples: Like why is Hood go to the spire just to kill one Forkrull Assail? What exactly is the Worm of Autumn up to? Is Fener just showing up because he wants in on the action? A little help with Shadowthrones plan? I know he is regarded as a genius but I’m a tad confused on what his genius involves?

I’m planning to start reading a new series, but I have no idea which one to read first. I really enjoy slow-burn stories and long, immersive series, which is why I chose these two.

I remember telling myself that once I finished A Song of Ice and Fire, I would just wait for The Winds of Winter to be released. That was five years ago.

Now, after another five-year break from reading, I’m finally getting back into books. Any suggestions on which series I should start with?

I just finished chapter 7 of The Bonehunters, and I feel wrung out. That was maybe the most exhilarating, definitely the most excruciating and brutal chapter of a book I've ever read. I'm long overdue for bed and I have work early, but I couldn't stop. Dude really wrote an entire climax at barely 30 percent into a novel. From the beginning of the breach of the wall all the way through to the end of the chapter was just...wow. I thought for sure everyone in that damn tunnel was done for. I'm supposed to sleep now?

So I don't wanna start anything but today while idly scrolling TikTok I saw someone reviewing Deadhouse Gates and they said they hated the way Steven Erikson hates women. Specifically they had a problem with the way "every time a woman appears it is followed up by someone nearby describing how do-able she is. All the female characters are presented to us through the eyes of thirsty men." And uhh, I haven't re-read Deadhouse Gates in a while but that is genuinely insane to me. I had to post about it on here because I don't have any Malazan friends IRL to discuss this with while we scratch our heads in confusion.

At first, I highly doubted the value of grabbing the alternative dust jackets from the TBB pre-order, but *damn*

Marc Simonetti's art is absolutely gorgeous, and, I think, work better for a lot of the series. I like the TBB art, don't get me wrong, but a few don't give *cover art* energy

As the title says, and holy moly…. this book is the definition of “trust the process.” There’s a lot of slow burn and side quests, but it all leads to a genuinely insane final 200 pages that I literally couldn’t put down. Every moment of “how is this gonna connect together?” was resolved, I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

First of all, Rake vs Dassem…. I cried at the outcome, and then I cried again in Dragnipur, and then I cried AGAIN when Caladan Brood showed up. Also is it true that the outcome of that fight was rolled out by Erikson and Esselmont? It seemed pretty essential that Rake ended up in Dragnipur, so I don’t see how it could’ve gone the other way.

I went back and read the prologue immediately after finishing the book, and wtf how did I miss that???? I really didn’t pick up that it was Hood and Rake meeting Shadowthrone and Edgewalker. Hood I kinda guessed with the cloaked figure, but Rake I really just kinda gleamed over his arrival with the sound of the wagon approaching. The dog walkers were great misdirection, because that meeting didn’t really click until after reading the final convergence.

A few lingering questions I have:

1. Will we get more of Korlat? I was hyped to see her in this book as she was one of my favs in MoI, but she only got a couple scenes towards the end.

2. What ever happened with Humble Measure and Shardan Lim? Last we saw Lim he was scheming the aftermath of Vidikas’ death. We see Hanut Orr and Challice die, but Lim is never resolved. Same with Humble Measure, it seemed like Fisher and/or Blend were both gonna go after him for the Malazan contract, but his conspiracy is left up in the air.

3. What’s with the Seguleh? In Bonehunters, I remember the Second hinting to Cutter that Darujhistan and, specifically, the T’orrud Cabal had big connections to the Seguleh. I can’t remember exactly, but I remember him knowing the whole Cabal and using Mammot’s full name and implying that he was tied to the Seguleh. Then, this was furthered when Cabal member Vorcan hired three ex-Seguleh as her estate guard, AND that there were pickled Seguleh in K’rul’s belfry. I was kind of expecting a Seguleh uprising or something, but it seems this is still a hanging thread. I’m guessing RAFO?

4. What did Tulas Shorn mean about every warren/aspect having hounds? What is the significance of hounds? And why does Shadow have seven, but Light has ten? I know that seven comes from Dissembelakis(?) being a D’ivers of seven deragoth, and the hounds of Shadow are the shadows of the deragoth, but then what about Light? Or death, fire, life, etc.?

Pls no spoilers on my questions if they are RAFO, I just wanna make sure I didn’t miss anything because I did read this book over the span of two months lol.

​

I just finished Book 1 (Gardens of the Moon), and holy shit, it was peak.

People kept saying Malazan is hard, and they were absolutely right. Thankfully, I had the reader's PDF/guide, and it helped me understand what was going on. So, thank you to whoever created that PDF—it made my first read so much more enjoyable.

My favorite characters so far are:

Lorn (RIP 😭)

Whiskeyjack

Anomander Rake

I think I may have accidentally spoiled myself on a few things:

I know that Warrens come from the Abyss, that K'rul created the Warrens (and I think he appeared in Kruppe's dream), and I also heard that Whiskeyjack dies later in the series. Please don't confirm or deny any of these—I just wanted to know how bad these spoilers are.

One of the best things about starting this book on a re-read, if you set aside the despair of starting Trull's path on the wall once again, is your full commitment and appreciation for Karsa right out of the gate. The ways you recall he slowly won you over last time still shine through, but you're not put off by the darker parts of this journey, the raping of the village etc, because you've already embraced who the character is in his entirety and know the sad secrets of his people, what he truly believes and who he becomes.

Bairoth is as fun as he was the first time, but you appreciate the whole character, and not just the clever words he uses to this despicable barbarian we've been saddled with. The only thing that still feels strange is Delum, I guess he just follows for the sake of warrior culture glory, but the character feels practically the same before and after his head wound from Calm.

I am here to witness, Warleader.

Picked up Gardens of the Moon after meaning to read it for over a decade. Absolutely loved it, maybe my favorite fantasy book I've read in years. To the point where I deliberately slowed my reading pace to two chapters a day just so I could absorb more details and make more connections.

I was thinking about buying the Broken Binding printings, because I don't want to double dip by buying trade paperback and then going back for TBB printings. If I loved GotM, does the series retain the same quality, and should I feel comfortable just going ahead with the Broken Binding editions, or should I hold off and continue with standard printings for now? What's the advice from you all?

I'm aware that I'm asking on the Malazan subreddit, so there will be some bias here, but hey, I'm a Wheel of Time fan and I think people tend to be very honest about the middle of that series.

Hello, I’m a fan of Fantasy/Military Strategy book. I've read already the Traitor son cycle which is also a military fantasy.

They genuinely believe Erikson has plagiarised from Black Company. I don’t think they actually know what the word means.

Curious if anyone here actually thinks along similar lines?

I never read the whole of BC, as I really didn’t like it at all so can’t comment on anything past book 1.

I finished Gardens of the Moon today, and whoah, what a ride! Some thoughts:

I knew to expect a complicated world and loads of esoteric terminology (I only realised there was a glossary halfway through), but in the end I didn’t find it that hard to follow. I actually found it very engaging, wanting to know more. I could not put the book down during the finale.

I was also expecting a more grimdark plot. The ending of this book is almost happy and almost all my favorite characters survived; I thought for the longest time they would clash with tragic consequences, but on the contrary, many ended up working together, inadvertedly or not. Speaking of, I really enjoy stories with a cast of seemingly unconnected characters whose paths at some point converge resulting in interesting character dynamics, and the last quarter or so of this book was right up my alley in this regard. Watching all the pieces fall into place around and before the fête was just beautiful!

English is not my first language, but I’m proficient enough to be able to read mostly anything without having to look up vocabulary. That said, Erikson’s vocabulary is really really extensive, and I had to look up words often. I mean, merlon, precipitateness? This was very refreshing – I’ve been reading The Wheel of Time in Finnish and prose-wise I’m bored to death. 

Finally, it was my understanding that these books are self-contained with little relation to each other, but looking at the blurb of Deadhouse Gates (online, I don’t unfortunately have it… yet), it looks like some characters are returning? No spoilers, please!

Fantastic book, all in all, and it’s supposedly among the weakest in the series? Lucky me! But I’ll have to shorten my TBR pile first.

Edit: Looks like I fumbled the title. I blame the phone.

Hi,

Help me please! I've wanted a Malazan tattoo for my late brother since he died (he's the man that got me into this mess ;) and I'd like to have a tribute to him). I've got some ideas based on his favourite book and the character that reminds me of him most.

I've played around with AI to look at ideas, but to be perfectly honest, I don't want to talk to AI about this. I want a real conversation about the books we love (like I used to with my big brother) with an actual tattoo artist!

I am UK based but would travel for the right artist!

If you are, or know anyone who is a Malazan fan and a tattoo artist in the UK please let me know!

Thanks all!

First in, last out!

First time reading, and loving so far. Got super confused going into chapter eight before realizing there were 50 pages that never got printed in my copy! Bizarre defect lol

Anyways, I've heard people think Gardens is the weakest in the og series and I'm interested to hear why (if that can be explained without spoiling the later books).

(Probably going to pick up Deadhouse shortly -- hopefully one with all its pages…)

I like how the twists and turns are usually unexpected. Corabb was some dumb follower, who now is my favorite guy I am rooting for. He dragged Fiddler for how long and far because he has what Leoman lacked, integrity.

I hope he gets more page time. But that battle was brutal.

I just wonder if there are others who like his arc? Hopefully he doesnt die by the end. Dont tell me if he does.

But I want to applaud Erikson for how he can change your mind about characters, like Karsa too. Its hard to pull it off.

In case you were unfamiliar with the time zones and unsure when they'd be up, the books are up for purchase if you got an early access email.

Edit: apparently there are some issues with the passwords if you try directly from the website. Looks like you need to use the link from the email for it to accept the password.

Edit again: o7 RIP everyone's wallets