Revisiting Malazan
Ambition
In the preface to Steven Erikson’s notoriously “difficult” novel Gardens of the Moon the author describes the first book of his Malazan series as beginning “halfway through a seeming marathon — you either hit the ground running and stay on your feet or you are toast.” The world-building of Malazan is rich and lived-in, full of character gems, jaded by a grimdark world of warfare:
I’m writing a history and fictional or not, history has no real beginning point
Fantastic realism.
And sometimes, on midnight afternoons, I ask myself: what if I’d picked up that fat wooden ladle, and slopped the whole mess down the reader’s throat, as some (highly successful) Fantasy writers do and have done? Would I now see my sales ranking in the bestseller’s lists?
No Steven! Don’t sell us short!
One last word to all you nascent writers out there. Ambition is not a dirty word. Piss on compromise. Go for the throat.
That’s right! 💪 Talk yo sh✻t!
Medium matters
To be honest, when I first read Gardens of the Moon in 2017 I bounced off the book. From my original review:
This is the first in 10 novels, but reads like it is about novel number 6. About halfway through he finally settles on a group of characters to follow — at least, it seems that way, but he keeps introducing new characters and even new unknown baddies right up to the final chapters! I don’t know who edited this book, but that person needed reinforcements. Erikson has a million ideas for world-building, and every time I was about to give up on the book, he would keep me around for some intriguing concept or set piece. However the lack of any narrative build just renders this story as overly complex and disorienting. I am not likely to pick up the second.
Why did I bounce so hard? I think it was because of the medium. The nice thing about listening to audiobooks is you can do other things while you are “reading”… but some books cannot be given just a portion of your attention.
This time around I got the book in dead tree format so I could keep things grounded.
Supplements
For this marathon you gotta be in shape, so my friends got me some supplemental material to help me along the way.
First, this useful blog series originally from Tor which features two people reading a couple chapters at a time and writing down their commentary. One person is a new reader and the other is a veteran who is careful not to give any spoilers from the future. More than once they caught things that I missed, which helped me feel like I wasn’t falling behind.
Another useful aid is this set of companion guides. Each scene from the book is captured on a single slide with important bits you are supposed to remember conveniently highlighted. This is great for when you need to refresh your memory a bit, say after having put the book down for a few days.
Reading tips
The Malazan series is consistently rated up there with the best fantasy series of all time. And like most things that are difficult but worth it, going in with the right mindset can be a game-changer. Gardens of the Moon is not a lazy book, and you gotta be an active reader. Here are some tips to help you lock-in:
- Read it “scene by scene”
Browsing YouTube before reading the book I came across this complete random short:
What amazing advice! So thankful that the YT algo surfaced this for me. There is a lot going on in GotM, but with aid of the supplements and this guy’s advice, I enjoyed it so much that I ordered the sequel before finishing it.
- Read it like you read Shakespeare
The first draft of GotM was a film script. Erikson writes a lot of snappy dialogue, but you still have to read between the lines. By combining the supplemental material and the technique of reading scene by scene, reading GotM is almost like reading a Shakespeare play. The clues are right there on the page, and it is rewarding to feel like you are an audience member in the know. Oh, and there are laughs everywhere, too.
- Read it like you are listening to your rapper’s favourite rapper
Erikson is a writer who loves a bit of wordplay. Like a talented rapper (eg Avelino or Ghetts or the Coast) he’s got bars. Doubles and triples all over the place! Be prepared to catch the punches.
Is this even a book review?
Hell no! I don’t want to spoil anything. I am merely preparing you for your own journey. Once you are done, then we can talk about the book.