Gardens of the Moon

It is increasingly rare that I pick up a fantasy novel written in the last 10 years and find myself thoroughly enjoying it from cover to cover. I tend to enjoy the experience even less when the book is over 500 pages and is but the first in a whole series of novels. Even when I do enjoy the novel, I find myself rejecting the idea of reading another five or six thousand pages just to resolve some of the subplots in these series. I read The Magic of Recluce and liked Modesitt's writing so much, I ran out and bought one of his stand-alone novels. But I never had the urge to buy the second book in the Recluce series. The same thing happened with Kate Elliott's King's Dragon and Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule. It's not that any of them were bad. But none of them left me with the feeling that I would be happy to devote several months of my reading time to a single author, let alone a single series. I would recommend Martin's A Game of Thrones to anyone who loves modern epic fantasy but even here I have simply not been able to bring myself to read book two in the series. In other words, while I have not given up trying I have had no expectation that I would find an epic fantasy series which could capture my attention and hold it.

Until now. (I know. You saw that coming, didn't you?)

Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon -- the first in the Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series -- has completely enthralled me. Erikson has created believable characters with believable motivations, placed them in a believable setting, populated it with fascinating beings, cultures, and magic. It's a somewhat grim world, though not nearly as grim as A Game of Thrones was. The story revolves around intrigue, loyalty, magic, power, and war. Even though it is the first in a series of books, there is a satisfying ending. To be sure, it leaves many threads open for further exploration, but at the same time the events at the end of the book resolve the major plots and reveal many of the mysteries. A very simplified version of the plot goes something like this:

The Malazan Empire continues to expand, slowly but inexorably conquering a new continent. The Empire is ruled by an empress who assassinated the previous emperor and is feared but not well-liked by many of the people. The Empire has just captured the city Pale, which leaves the great city of Darujhistan as the only major prize left to be taken on the continent of Genebackis. The Empress is using the opportunity to clean house and eliminate some of those who once served the old emperor. Among them, is a squad of soldiers, all that is left of a the elite Bridgeburners unit, who were known for their loyalty to the emperor and have become known for drawing suicide missions. They draw a new one, which his to prepare Darujhistan for invasion. One of their number, however, has been possessed by an immortal force and is being tracked by the Empress' most loyal servant. An unlikely group of friends -- an absurdly whimsical fence, a youthful thief, a deadly assassin, a disgraced noble, and a roguish lady's man -- in Darujhistan deal with personal issues of revenge, love and intrigue. Meanwhile, the political forces in the city vie with each other for control -- one side wants to surrender to the Empire, the other to fight.

Meanwhile, there are other powerful forces at work. There is much talk in the book of gods and immortals but the reader gets the feeling that many of the very powerful wizards that exist are a match or near-match for some of these so-called gods. As a result, the impression is that even the gods -- known as Ascendants, implying they were mortal at some point -- are beatable though some of them are distinctly less beatable. The human quality of the gods are also emphasized by the fact that many of these immortals manifest in human form throughout the book and that they are actually afraid of some of the more powerful mortals. Thankfully, the "gods" mostly restrict themselves to talking and indirect action rather than direct intervention.

One theme of the book is that power draws power. This is nowhere more evident than in the forces surrounding the fate of Darujhistan. A powerful cabal of wizards in the city seeks to prevent the city's conquest by the Malazans. The lord of the Tiste Andii, one of the most feared of the powers in the book, also opposes the Empress. The god known as Shadowthrone has also intervened, though we do not know why. The gods of chance are prominent as well. One of the undead T'lan Imass, who in ancient times fought genocidal wars against their enemies, arrives to assist the Empress.

There is no way to properly summarize a novel as complicated as Gardens of the Moon and do it any justice. My point here has been to show that it is incredibly complex and the characters incredibly varied.

The Malazan setting is a human-centric world. There are several non-human races in the novel but most of the important characters are human. The exceptions include the bug-like Moranth, the sinister and elvish Tiste Andii, the ancient and extinct Jaghut, and the T'lan Imass (who apparently were not human, but have certainly been an army of undead for a very, very long time). All of these make some appearance in the book, though the Tiste Andii play the greatest role. At first glance, some of these names may appear to be a real mouthful. I found, however, that once I had gotten a hundred pages into the book they all suggest a likely pronunciation that is not so difficult or odd.

One of the best features of the book is how well fleshed-out the characters seem. There are really no major characters, meaning that there are something like a dozen major-minor characters. Erikson puts us in the mind of almost all of them, giving us a good idea of their motivations, thoughts and double-dealing. Something that strikes you as you get deeper into the book is the fact that the only POVs the reader is not treated to are those of the "immortal" characters (they are not exactly gods but really, really powerful beings; maybe epic level?). Not only does this make sense but at a subconscious level probably enhances the humanity of most of the characters. Another way Erikson brings these characters to life is that almost all of them have subplots running alongside the grand story. This means their reactions to various events or other characters is not always tied directly to the war but is often marred by personal hangups, histories or even other events of a more personal nature.

There is a pretty hefty down side to the book, at least for Americans. Erikson's work has never been in print in the United States. That means that you have to go the extra mile, and pay the piper too, in order to get it. I ordered mine from a Half.com retailer where the standard paperback edition cost me US$15. But when it came time to order the next installments in the series, I was forced to order them from the United Kingdom and pay roughly $16 for each paperback. There is good news on the horizon, however. Apparently Tor Books has purchased the rights to the whole series and will begin publishing them in the US sometime in 2004.

RPG Uses?

Does the book have uses for your game? Like most epic fantasies, there is a lot of material to draw on here. There are numerous, interesting, fleshed-out characters you could drop into any campaign. The city of Darujhistan, which is the setting for most of the book's scenes, could easily be placed into a campaign. Several key locations are described and detailed in the book, as well as the city's politics and economics. My edition of the paperback even has a map of the city, with key locations marked. (There is also a map of the continent surrounding the city.) Certainly some of the plot elements and more unique of the races (like the Moranth or the Tiste Andii or even the Jaghut and the T'lan Imass) could be worked into a campaign without much trouble.

Aside from this, the entire book provides an elaborate background for an entire campaign world -- or at least one continent of it. I could well imagine running a campaign around Pale, Darujhistan or even one of the other Free Cities after reading just one book in the series. Thankfully, there is a Dramatis Personae and a nine-page glossary to help keep the details straight and fill in some blanks left by the story.

The biggest problem in adapting Gardens of the Moon setting to an RPG would probably be in getting the magic right. In the book, the way magic works is not entirely clear. Essentially, wizards are attuned to "Warrens" of magic, each of which is different, produces different effects, and it is suggested that some are simply more powerful than others, or deaden the effects of others. Some wizards clearly are attuned to more than one Warren, as well, while humans can access some but not all and there are suggestions that some Warrens have no practitioners anymore. These Warrens also seem to be planes of existence, as wizards often disappear into their Warrens, walk within them, and then come out in a different location from where they started. Nonetheless, many of the spell effects described in the book would be reproducible in any magic-oriented RPG. Another concern, however, is that there are no novices to magic in the book. All the magic-wielding characters seem to be exceptionally powerful. As a result, it would require some imagination to find a niche for lesser talents in a campaign world. The glossary includes the names of all the Warrens in the book.

This having been said, the book captures a bit of the feel of Glen Cook's Black Company series in which wizards and sorcerers are insanely powerful, though often subtle and yet the grunts with the swords and knives play a major role. In other words, as important as magic is to the story of Gardens of the Moon, a campaign set in that world should probably downplay the overt effects of magic while playing up the importance of unseen and incomprehensible forces at work.

Conclusion

Gardens of the Moon is an excellent fantasy novel and a great start to a series. I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed A Game of Thrones or The Black Company series. There is no central single character, rather a series of memorable ones who advance the grand- and sub-plots. The plot is definitely epic but the numerous subplots make each of the characters more lifelike and easier to identify with. Not every little action or reaction relates to the fate of empires. It's good stuff --buy it or put it on your list awaiting its US release.