Discussion of Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon, book one of The Malazan Book of the Fallen 

Erikson here. Just a quick note to thank you all for your genuine enthusiasm and generosity of spirit. Listening to you was very enjoyable. What more could a writer ask for than to see people discussing their work? These RU-vid events are very much a new experience, changing the way writers engage and interact with their audience. Such a thing pretty much never existed before, beyond conversations at conventions or book signings. For writers of genre fiction (though I would argue with myself against even using the distinction, because I view Contemporary Literary Fiction as a genre, one that is in fact profoundly distant from the trunk of the literature tree, that trunk being Epic Fantasy in its purest form as found in Gilgamesh, the Iliad, etc), we've always been further removed from any ongoing dialogue or analysis, back when newspapers and 'serious' magazines like the New Yorker or Harper's published reviews, criticisms and literary analysis, but only for a fairly narrow range of what they held to be serious, grown-up literature, rather than 'popular,' genre stuff. Now, these days, such stalwart institutions have been more or less stepped around (though, being an old fart, I still dream of someone reviewing one of my books in Harper's or the New Yorker, which I also know will never, ever happen), making their gate-keeping increasingly irrelevant. In fact, the gate they guard is itself now obsolete, standing forlorn on an ill-kempt patch of ground beside the online freeway of discourse. Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy the Malazan novels. Oh, and the proper pronunciation is 'Maw-luz-arn.' Just kidding.

Thank you so much for inviting me on, Philip. And again, sorry I derailed your topics so much. I had so many questions!

I feel like Allen is the one most likely to accidentally spoil something because he gets so excited and can't contain himself.

This was so much fun! In retrospect, I probably did say too much about the Azath (whoops) but so much fun anyway!

Amazing-that was fun stuff! Thanks for letting me participate and chat with you great people!

Philip, this was an absolutely great video. Really enjoyed it. It also rather eloquently illustrates an aspect of Erikson's writing that we overlook... The balancing of elements to appeal to a very broad audience. You want battles and military fantasy? Done. You want magic and fantastical imagination? Done. You want buddy cop shenanigans? Done. You want poignancy and emotionally resonant? Done. Fun characters, humorous characters, noble characters, relatable characters, heroic characters, but above all, believable characters? Done. And all done and balanced in one narrative that ensures there is enough of all for all. That was a longwinded way of saying that I really enjoyed how each of you liked completely different aspects of the novel. Fantastic conversation. I look forward to more of them.

I've only read GOTM so far. My husband doesn't read novels(he's a manga guy) but he's always into my journey. He laughed at me the whole time I was reading this book because he'd check in and my explanations were more sound effect than actual words. He finally told he didn't understand anything about this book and I enthusiastically said, "me either and it's frigging awesome!"

Mike n Philip in malazan discussion... It's like dream come true One of the funniest discussion videos I ever seen

Hooray for seasoned BookTubers! No secret that I loved Gardens of the Moon, and it wasn't until after reading it that I heard so many say it's the weakest in the series or something "to push through.' Then I hear discussions like this, and I stop doubting myself. Great discussion!

Love Kruppe both for humour and the fact that he hides his power so so well....under a veil of procrastination and street magic....

Excellent video guys, that hour flew by really quickly!

murillio is one of my favs too. cmon people, show murillio some love!!

English is not my first language but when Erikson's narrative clicked in my brain, I was hooked! Theres something close to narrative poetry in some of the early pages, every paragraph seems to have been taken care of, carefully and artfully designed. Anyways, Im loving this series!

I really appreciated Mike's questions, cause as someone (like me) who has only read Gardens of the Moon so far he was able to voice the sort of questions that I have about the series and what I just read that wouldn't have otherwise come up in a conversation between only people who know the series very well.

That was a fun Malazan discussion - next best thing to actual participation ! ps. Anomander Rake is my favourite character. Whilst others seek power and the status of becoming an Ascendant, he is prepared to sacrifice all for his people ( the Tiste Andii. )

Fantastic! Love all the appreciation that Malazan is getting recently. Great chat guys.

This was incredibly helpful. Thank you, gentlemen! I’m glad that I’m not the only one slightly annoyed by Kruppe. 🙊 I look forward to reading the rest of the series with Mike’s Warband and watching all of the Malazan content you gentlemen roll out. Thank you! 😊

Thank you so much gentlemen for doing this! You've cleared some stuff up and pointed out a few things I missed. Can't wait for the up coming episodes.

Wooooo!!! So excited..... I’ve been waiting for this video.

Loving these chats! I'm following in Mike's readalong and this is really helping my memory and interest in the series in the breaks between books.

I really loved this. Hope to see these for the rest of the series!

Lorn was one of the most interesting aspect of Gardens that I was disappointed that we didn’t get more of her. As for the booby trapping the roads, this was the part where I had the hardest time suspending disbelief. That not a single one of them thought about the gas until the very end.

Great video. Helped clear some aspects of the book for me.

Amazing video, Philip. Loved seeing all of you talking so passionately about this absolutely great series. I’m doing Mike’s read along for the series and in it for the long haul. I’ll be eagerly waiting for the subsequent discussion of the rest of the series. :)

Hi, Philip! I really enjoyed watching your discussion. You guys are like Malazan ninja turtles. You are Donatelo, Iskar is Leonardo, Mike is Raphael, and Allen is definitely Michelangelo :D Greetings from Serbia!

Great discussion and great idea for a series, Philip! I am excited to watch the next ones as I go along with the series. I enjoyed gardens of the moon and got a lot out of this discussion! I am really looking forward to diving deeper into the series, I feel like I’m just skimming the surface atm 😂. Great job! Thanks, guys!! 👍

Again a great discussion guys, loved it! It's great that not only there's a lot more attention focussed on the Malazan books , a large percentage of it comes in the form of these talks and discussions. So many perspectives, questions and answers. Just awesome 🤓

This is awesome. Love seeing the Malazan content. I was instantly hooked by Gardens of the Moon and it is my favorite book, because that feeling of being introduced to such an amazing world was one of a kind.

Brilliant discussion. Malazan at its best makes me want to be a better reader. At its worst is that it's so good I struggle to read any other fantasy series.

It's been so cool seeing you and Mike put out so much Malazan content right now! I love this channel and the level of discussion here and I love the Malazan animations that Mikes channel showcases. I just recently started reviewing the series on the Legendarium green team podcast. every time one of y'all puts out a new malazan vid someone inevitably shares it in our Discord in the Erikson channel. it's great to be diving into the Book of the Fallen on a parallel course to such awesome booktubers. 😊

Thanks for the hosting such wonderful discussions, Phillip! Between this planned series of group discussions and your one-on-one discussions with A.P., we're in for a lot of great Malazan content well into the future! I can''t wait! I look forward to following along as I read through the series, as I too am currently following Mike's read along schedule. Though, I see myself binging the series by the end of the year >_

Great discussion. These always remind me of my college BA/MA English years. Gosh , I miss having people to chat with books with (in person). Envious.

Hi Philip and guests. Great video and awesome guests⚔🛡🗡🏹

This is one of my favorite book series, I gotta subscribe and listen

Been waiting for this video! appropriate the Malazan content :)

I love this. Even though I don’t plan on starting this series until 2022, I don’t mind the spoilers because I know I won’t remember most of them. What I will remember, though, is that booktubers that I trust are passionate about this series and are enjoying themselves reading it. That is what I will remember and that is what has helped me invest my time and money in all the series that I have in the past 12 months. Thank you for doing what you do guys.

this is so awesome. just finished GotM and quarter of the way through Deadhouse and LOVING IT! Top Tier content, great work!

You only get to read it for the first time once, so cherish it.

Awesome video! I’ve just read Gardens Of The Moon as part of Mike’s read along. The Bridgeburners remind me a bit of the crew in Full Metal Jacket - hot take!

Just finished reading the first book. I love listening to other peoples take on things ! Cant wait to get through the next few

Thanks for this very entertaining video, guys! It was lovely to watch it! Allen was extremely fun, especially when talking about the Moranth munitions :) Keep up the good work! :)

Really enjoyed this chat.... Brightened up a pretty poor day...

I found Adjunct Lorn fascinating as a character. Currently on Deadhouse Gates.

Fantastic discussion. I finished Gardens of the Moon last night, and have frustrations with the plotting/events/explanation style to be sure, but not enough to shelf the series. Hearing the writing style improves and things connect (in time) is giving me a lot of hope for keeping momentum up for this enormous, bewildering series. Really enjoyed hearing things that were so confusing to me at the end (The Finnest, the Azath houses) being detailed. My favorite section was Paran breaking the Hounds’ chains within Rake’s sword.

Great discussion guys can’t wait for Deadhouse Gates!

I love how wound up Allen gets. LOL.

Excellent chat. Three topics I wished you had covered: the Deck of Dragons; convergence (power draws power); and the scheme of the basic plot (freeing Raest to weaken Rake). The last one is difficult to untangle, because Rake himself ultimately has little to do with what happens to Raest, although the other soletaken dragons get weakened in the process. Also, if Raest was supposed to be the main obstacle, it makes me wonder about whether releasing Tayschrenn’s demon was integral to Laseen’s plan, or simply a back-up measure. I’ve read this book three times and I still am not sure I have unraveled it all.

Wow! Great discussion guys. I've joined Mike's warband and just finished Gardens of the Moon so this was like eavesdropping on a great book club discussion. I can understand how people can dislike Kruppe, but I found him to be a great character for subverting expectations because he has so much hidden power under his somewhat bumbling exterior. I've really enjoyed the series so far and like Mike said it's so different from anything else I've ever read. Great characters with a whole lot of nuance. One of my favorite little character touches was very early in the book with Paran; he was very concerned for the safety of the horse and I loved what that said to me about his character and how I saw it reflected in a lot of his later actions. Looking forward to the next book and the next discussion.

This channel is amazing!

Ganoes a prick? The man was absolute badass in this book. Spoilers ahead: Killing a Hound of Shadow? "Must've been my lucky day". Entering the throne room on horseback? "Waddup empress?" Meeting a random dude on some hills? Literally leading to the most bro moment in the whole book. Getting inside Dragnipur? Summons a god, almost suffocates him and gets away with it like a madman. Spending five minutes with a hot chick? Easy bed time. What a guy! Great talk guys!

So glad I read the book and listened to it. I got so much more out of it that way. Loved it. In fact, I was going to try and stick to Mike's read along schedule but I HAD TO dive into Deadhouse Gates. (Sorry Mike. ) Thank you all for this video.

Perfect timing. I just finished my reread last night. What a fantastic epic story. Eric is a courageous author willing to kill major characters without epic climatic events or battles. Death is not always heralded with trumpets, but is rather brutal and shocking. Great discussion and thanks for representing us gray (Arctic blond) hairs.

I'm loving this because it's everything I've wanted an epic fantasy story to be. This level of precision and artistry what I wanted from The Wheel of Time. I'm about Halfway through The Dragon Reborn and I'm about to DNF the whole series out of boredom and dislike of literally the entire cast. What I've read of Malazan (Book 1 and 2) has been an eye opening experience. I've been looking for this for years without knowing it. I went in knowing absolutely nothing but I just buckled up for the ride. I'm asking a few questions but I'm trusting the series to answer them in good time so I'm just in the moment, enjoying one of the best first time reads of my life

Just finished this, great conversation. I've read through twice and still learned a few things. I'd say the only thing I'd like to hear more about are the meta narratives, breaking of fantasy tropes, Erikson's and Esselmont's archaeological and history background influencing races/cultures, and the general overall theme (without spoiling anything of course).

Loved this discussion! I’m currently on my first reread of the series

Very entertaining stuff! The time for Malazan certainly has arrived. (Almost halfway through Reaper's Gale, which is now really hitting its stride.)

My dudes your enthusiasm for the series wont stop cropping up as spoilers for me, who just wants book 1 discussion. Cant finish.

I will return when I finish the book.... Looking forward to this. Some of my favorite booktubers in one place? Sign me up

This is awesome. I finished The Crippled God nearly 10 years ago. Think a reread is in order.

Best part of the book is Anomander’s sword prison...coolest nightmare scene with Paran, the hounds, the chains...gave me chills

Mike is finally here!

Alan, love the Oceans Eleven type group feel of the Phoenix Inn crew and love Murrilio!

Loved the discussion. Was there ever a discussion on deadhouse Gates? I would listen to you 4 all day. Can't wait for Mike to finish the series if he hasn't already.

From reading comments I feel like Allen is the Kruppe of this conversation. Hilarious to some annoying to others. Great chat!

So much fun. Iskar hits on the head - people are looking for the ring, frodo, sauron and where Mordor is to find out what the series will be about and get frustrated as they just aren't there. Ten Books is great to listen to as they ask a lot of the same questions on their journey and their reactions when they kind of get the answers. Allen is Bugg. Is that golden Christmas tree leaning ominously in the corner?

This was fun to watch. Just started deadhouse gates.

Yay! Another Murillio fan!

The humor is one of my favorite things about the series! If you look at Kruppe, Iskaral, Tehol & Bug alone...

What! I loved Kruppe!

When I got to that Sorry reveal at the end.... It definitely creeped me out. It's very rare that a Fantasy work does that to me

I finally read GotM and get to watch all of this now 😄

Awesome video. Maybe just a tad too much info given out about stuff like the azath being places to travel to and from, and some more info revealed in later books, but over all was great to listen to

I feel so stupid now. I grew up reading KJV Bible and your explanation of divers just hit me upside the head. I should have known!! But I'm listening and not reading and I was just thinking in terms of diving in and yeah .... divers makes much more sense. Thanks.

I’m not watching the entire video since I haven’t read it yet. But you all have definitely eased my anxiety and I feel encouraged to start with Garden of the Moons. Thanks for that :) Btw, I’m new to your channel and saw that your a professor and that you teach a course about Fantasy literature? Is that by any chance an online course? I would totally sign up for that 😂

WHY IS ALLEN SO UNASSUMINGLY HILARIOUS

So i just finished the book and i am currently loving these discutions. rEgarding the Warrens, i got the impression that Elder Warrens were not more powerfull becasue they where older but because they where used by more powerfull races, similar to how an Elder God is not exactly a more powerfull than a current god.

lineup is fuckin STACKED

Allen either loves or hates characters he's a funny dude! I've not seen any of his videos before. Will have check them out.

44:00 Talking about "chaos" - when I read this I thought to myself this is like Naked Lunch, which Burroughs wrote by literally cutting up his manuscript and rearranging it randomly and pasting it back together.

The true identity of Shadowthrone and Cotillion is not something that is blatantly obvious, and I think that is so cool because you dont even need to realize that for them to work in the story.

I am agreed with Allen. Blackdog swamp is referenced throughout the series. can we get a book about that please?

Mike, holding us back c'mon! Haha

@36:00 that Kruppe part was hilarious hahaha

I love Kruppe. He is like the Scarlet Pimpernel. All veterans of D&D have played a version of him at some point 😊.

Kruppe is my favorite3!

Well Allen, as long as you like Nihilism and Existentialism you'll love Erikson.

I'm with Alan.... Deadhouse Gates was the big sell for me... Loved GoTM though

I wish there was 50% less ads in these longer videos

Man I hope we get to see lorn somehow again. Just finished GOTM an hour or so again.

In the middle of the second book now. The only thing I have looked up on the Google machine is the world map of the setting. The maps in the books are not the easiest to discern. Other than that, I'm reading these books for the first time and reading them back to back to back (repeat many more times).

I don't think I've read a book where I've loved and rooted for so many characters.

I was under the impression that Circle Breaker was actually Fiddler lmao

At 31:50, Allen asks why they didn't just kill him. This question is answered more than once in the series, and it's not "so that he'd be around in GotM". And I'm pretty sure it's also answered in GotM, but I wouldn't swear to that, so I won't spoil it here.

Kruppe reminded me of Varys from GOT so I kind of guessed the EEL thing a little bit early. Not much mind

I took Rake wearing the dragon mask to the fete that he was having a laugh that for as long as he has been around no one would notice that he was telling everyone who he was. I have read every book in the world multiple times so it is hard for me to to GotM with fresh eyes, GotM is a great read on the second time through compared to the first.

Really good discussion guys. But way too many ads. Not sure if you we aware of that.

1:04:23 did you read Crippled god? Also, this little clip from Reaper's Gale: 'it is not common that... that I attend to arrivals in person" 'My name is Beak.'

"Four grandpas of Booktube today" lol

Erikson or ICE do need to dedicates some time to the Mott Irregulars!

Allen is hilarious.