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Gallus

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Gallus is Currently Reading

Gallus is currently reading

The Iliad

by Homer

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Aug 10, 2025 01:16PM

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Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1)

by Steven Erikson (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in August 2016

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Gallus said: " This book is not for everyone. The writing and world are anything but accessible and if that's not your thing you won't like this book. on the other hand, if you like massive sprawling worlds that just seem to get more detailed as you go, mixed with This book is not for everyone. The writing and world are anything but accessible and if that's not your thing you won't like this book. on the other hand, if you like massive sprawling worlds that just seem to get more detailed as you go, mixed with the most real and often harrowing depictions of war I've found in the fantasy genre, this series is for you.

This next bit is copied from my review of the last book.
Should You Read the Malazan Book of the Fallen
Now I'm going to do something very typical of a Malazan fan here. I recognize that on the surface, these books aren't for everyone. The world is incredibly deep and difficult to get used to, the writing is dense, the viewpoints are plentiful, bordering on absurdity, and the plot is as convoluted and confusing as they come. All that said, I think that if you give yourself the chance, you will love these books, no matter who you are. If you're an epic fantasy reader I don't know what you're waiting for. Go buy Gardens of the Moon right now. If you don't like fantasy, Erikson goes out of his way to take the piss out of many of the genre's tropes. If you're worried about lacking thematic or character depth well. . . don't, this series has what you want. If you're worried about the barriers to entry mentioned above that's reasonable, and as someone who loves lots of viewpoints, deep worldbuilding, and clever if sometimes flowery prose, I can speak only from secondhand experience. That experience, however, is that even non-fantasy readers who don't think they like all these things love the series all the same by the end of the third book.

How To Read the Malazan Book of the Fallen
If you've made it this far, I assume you're actually considering picking up this behemoth of a series and I commend you for it. I'm going to give you some advice I wish I'd had when I first started reading the series. First thing's first. The Malazan wiki is a great resource that you must avoid at all costs. Unless you want major spoilers like how and when characters die, who certain mysterious people actually are and who ends up meeting that you might not expect, don't go on the wiki. They do their best to keep unnecessary spoilers out of the eyes of newcomers, but one can only do so much. Second, use the Malazan reading companion found here. https://www.reddit.com/r/Malazan/comm... This is the companion for GotM, but from here you should find the helper for the next two books as well. They're long powerpoints that serve as spoiler-free notes to help readers keep track of where and who characters are, what the different races are, what they look like, and many other things new readers might have difficulty with. The maps in particular are extremely helpful. Next, if you go online you'll probably see many suggestions about recommended reading orders, ignore these for your first readthrough. Read the books in the order they were published. With hindsight, I can see some merit to moving around the order on subsequent reads, but there's no reason to get bogged down in that for your first readthrough. Finally, listen to Ten Very Big Books. It's an excellent podcast in which the three hosts, one of whom is rereading the series while the other two read for the first time, release a new episode for every few chapters of the series. They unpack what's going on in the story quite well, often explaining things to each other and pointing out what the others missed. Very helpful for getting your bearings in such a complex story and very entertaining besides. In the end, you don't need to do any of these things. I didn't (well, I did read the books in order) and I still loved the series to bits. If you made it this far, go pick up gardens. If you've already read it, think about when to start your reread, I know I am. ...more "

Jun 09, 2020 06:49AM · see review

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Nine Princes in Amber (The Chronicles of Amber, #1)

by Roger Zelazny

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May 17, 2025 08:02PM

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Gallus’s Quotes

“Tell me, Tool, what dominates your thoughts?'
The Imass shrugged before replying.
'I think of futility, Adjunct.'
'Do all Imass think about futility?'
'No. Few think at all.'
'Why is that?'
The Imass leaned his head to one side and regarded her.
'Because Adjunct, it is futile.”
― Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon

tags: malazan

442 likes

“Children are dying."
Lull nodded. "That's a succinct summary of humankind, I'd say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three words.”
― Steven Erikson, Deadhouse Gates

823 likes

“Her voice left a flavor of honey and gunpowder on the air.”
― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

175 likes

“For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half-known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!”
― Herman Melville

tags: adulthood

20 likes

“Everyone thinks that courage is about facing death without flinching. But almost anyone can do that. Almost anyone can hold their breath and not scream for as long as it takes to die.

True courage is about facing life without flinching. I don't mean the times when the right path is hard, but glorious at the end. I'm talking about enduring the boredom, the messiness, and the inconvenience of doing what is right.”
― Robin Hobb, The Mad Ship

tags: amber, courage, fantasy, life

454 likes

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