Why I’m determined to finish the 10 Malazan books
I’m already at the last two chapters of the second novel in the 10-book high fantasy series by Steven Erikson and I just can’t put it down — well, okay, I did put it down to write this entry, the first in what I hope would be a collection of reviews (or rants) about books I read.
I have always been in love with fantasy stories. I have read J.R.R. Tolkien’s works, including The Silmarillion. I am waiting for the final two books in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. I’ve even read a couple of “Elder Scrolls” novels. But I do also enjoy my science fiction, from Dune to Star Wars to The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey.
When I started reading Gardens of the Moon, the first book in the “Malazan Book of the Fallen” collection, I was actually in the middle of reading two other fantasy titles. One of these was Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, which is also part of a series called “The Stormlight Archive.”
See, before I stumbled upon Malazan, I was enjoying my journey on Roshar following the interesting stories of Kaladin and Shallan and Dalinar and Szeth-son-son-Vallano… that is until I was mesmerized by what seemed to me to be a grander, more magical — but also deadlier, as I no sooner discovered — world of “Wu,” which is what Erikson had once jokingly called the fictional realm in his Malazan books.
So I veered off from The Way of Kings, hoping to come back to it soon after I finish the Malazan series. Less than a month later and I’m about to finish Deadhouse Gates. And, boy, am I enjoying every page of it!
A buffet of Warrens
What captured my attention and imagination in the world that Erikson created is magic. Yes. Magic. Erikson created what I think is one of the most complex magic systems in all of fiction that I know. And the way he made use of this system in the books, oh how enjoyable!
It was that huge battle just a few chapters in into the Gardens of the Moon that captured me. A huge mage battle, really. I had never read anything like it before, not even in Tolkien’s classics. Being that guy who plays a mage in every Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim playthrough I’ve done, I was hooked. After all, who doesn’t like a surge of sorcery flying through here and there, striking friend and foe alike, ripples of raw energy you could almost feel leaping out of the pages.
But magic in the Malazan world isn’t about using books or words of power or wands with magical cores. It’s a system built on what Erikson calls Warrens. These aren’t easy to explain, but I will try.
A Warren is a location of sorts, like a realm that mages and some priests tap into to harness power. High mages can have a stronger affinity to certain Warrens, and there are even those who can access and use the power of more than one.
Some of these realms can be used as portals to travel from one place to another. Some of these realms are home to beings of a higher nature, Ascendants as Erikson calls them or gods as most of the characters in the Malazan books call them. Some ancient and have given birth to other Warrens, like branches, if you will. Some you do not visit at all, unless you are left with no choice, like Hood’s Path. Hood is the god of death in the Malazan world, and there is no escaping his Warren. Or is there?
Anyway, no spoilers. Don’t worry.
I’ll stop here and I’ll update this page with more notes from the Malazan series as I progress through the 10 books. With only two chapters left in Deadhouse Gates, the second entry on this page would be coming soon.
