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Sango Zonke is currently reading

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

by Steven Erikson (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, malazan

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Sango Zonke said:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

" **Book Four, Chapter Two — Reread Update**

⚠️ **FULL SPOILERS AHEAD, obviously** ⚠️

Okay so. We're deep in it now. Book Four is where Erikson stops setting up dominoes and starts actually knocking them over, and Chapter Two is that horrible, delicious **Book Four, Chapter Two — Reread Update**

⚠️ **FULL SPOILERS AHEAD, obviously** ⚠️

Okay so. We're deep in it now. Book Four is where Erikson stops setting up dominoes and starts actually knocking them over, and Chapter Two is that horrible, delicious feeling of watching every thread. Darujhistan politics, the Bridgeburners, the Malazan high command's civil war, Anomander Rake's agenda, Oponn's dice-loaded meddling finally converge on the same city at the same time.

**THE GOOD:**
Rereading this is such a different experience than the first time through. On my first read I was drowning (this is Erikson's whole thing, (throw you in the deep end and refuse to hand you a life jacket), but now I can actually *see* the architecture. Tayschrenn's presence looming over everything hits different once you know what he actually is and what he's playing at with the Empress's paranoia toward Whiskeyjack's crew. Kruppe being Kruppe... bumbling fat little man who is very obviously not bumbling at all. Is even funnier the second time because you know he's five moves ahead of literally everyone in that city, mortal or ascendant. And Crokus and Apsalar's dynamic reads so much sadder now, knowing what Apsalar actually is underneath, watching Crokus fall for a girl who's currently a vessel for Cotillion is just brutal dramatic irony on reread.

**THE BAD:**
Real talk this section is where a lot of first-time readers tap out, and I get it even more now. The POV hopping is relentless in these chapters. You barely get settled with Paran's arc before you're yanked to the T'orrud Cabal plotting in Baruk's tower, then straight into Rallick Nom stewing in guilt over Simtal, then over to the Bridgeburners' cadre mages preparing for a fight they don't fully understand yet. It's a LOT of plates spinning and Erikson genuinely does not slow down to let you breathe. If you're not taking notes on who's aligned with who at this point, you will lose the thread.

**THE UGLY:**
And then there's the dread. That's the ugly part, not "bad writing" ugly, but "oh no I remember what happens" ugly. Knowing the Hound of Shadow is coming. Knowing what's waiting under the city with the Jaghut Tyrant and Moon's Spawn. Knowing certain Bridgeburners we've grown attached to are not walking away from this book unscathed. There's a particular kind of pain in rereading Malazan where you catch every single piece of foreshadowing Erikson planted a hundred pages back and just think "oh you poor bastards, you have no idea."

Anyway. Buckled in for the rest of Book Four. This is the part of Gardens of the Moon where the whole series announces what it's actually going to be for the next nine books, and it's wild watching that announcement land differently now that I know the shape of everything that's coming. ...more "

progress:

(65%)
— 11 hours, 19 min ago

11 hours, 11 min ago · see review