I‘ve had a few people whose opinion I highly trust recommend Steven Erikson’s Malazan series to me.  So I finally got around to giving it a read and I’d like to say a huge thank you to those who urged me to pick it up.  I can’t comment on the whole series since I’ve only read the first book, Gardens of the Moon.  But it was a heck of a good start.

The book reads almost like historical fiction that happens to be set in an alternate world.  It’s a lot like the work of George R. R. Martin (who is referenced on the back cover of my paperback edition) and also that of Joe Abercrombie (which I’ve discussed previously).  It has the same realism, the same sweeping scope, the same detailed world rife with political intrigue and war.  And, like those authors, Erikson does not simply focus on the glorious or heroic aspects of war but on the senseless death and hardship.  Like Martin’s work, it follows multiple storylines.  And continuing my compare-a-palooza here, in all three works it is often unclear as to who is Good and who is Evil.   Who exactly are we supposed to be “rooting” for?  It’s more complicated than that, just like real life.  Malazan is filled with the same shades of grey I loved in the other books.

If I had to point to an obvious difference in Malazan, I would say that the use of magic (and the supernatural in general) is much more common in Malazan than in Martin or Abercrombie’s work.

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