Spoiler-free book guide
Gardens of the Moon
Book 1 of 10 in Malazan Book of the Fallen · by Steven Erikson
How it opens
On a coast road in Itko Kan, more than four hundred people lie dead, a whole regiment of Malazan cavalry among them, torn apart by something with huge jaws and no tracks. Lorn, the Adjunct to the Empress, decides the slaughter was a diversion, and she takes a young noble lieutenant, Ganoes Paran, onto her staff to follow the trail. Two years later, across the sea on Genabackis, the city of Pale falls after a three-year siege, but the attack on Moon's Spawn, the fortress hanging in the sky above it, costs Onearm's Host dearly. The sorceress Tattersail, the last of her cadre left standing, comes to suspect that the High Mage Tayschrenn struck at his own side, and she makes a pact against him with a squad of Bridgeburners under Sergeant Whiskeyjack.
Who you meet early
- LornLorn was the Adjunct to Empress Laseen, a young woman of about twenty who carried the Otataral longsword marking her office and made her the empire's most feared killer of mages.
- Tattersail
- WhiskeyjackWhiskeyjack was a Sergeant of the Bridgeburners, a solidly built veteran with the scarred hands and the hard grey eyes of a man who had once commanded armies.
- TayschrennTayschrenn is the High Mage of the Malazan Empire, a hooded, dark-faced sorcerer with smooth, ageless features who brings Empress Laseen's orders to her armies in the field.
- Dujek OnearmDujek Onearm is the Malazan High Fist in command of the Genabackan campaign, at the head of an army called Onearm's Host.
- HairlockA squat, swaggering Seven Cities mage of the Malazan 2nd Army cadre who took service over execution when Aren fell, and resents serving under Tattersail rather than commanding in her place.
Where it sits
Gardens of the Moon is the first of 10 books in Malazan Book of the Fallen. Start here.
Next · Book 2
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