Why read The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

This series is the essence of epic fantasy series to me. And I could leave the why you should read The Malazan Book of the Fallen series to that. Yet, when I have given this suggestion in the past, people trusted me and got disappointed. Because this is a difficult journey and I will try to summarize why this is the case.

On the interesting side of things, this world is the result of the combined efforts and experience of two authors. The first is Steven Erikson - who is probably better known in the fantasy community today and is an anthropologist and archaeologist - and the second, who is as much a contributor and world builder, is Ian C. Esslemont. Both of them wrote multiple series in this world and most of the books tend to be tomes. This adventure started as a D&D campaign (or a role playing game) and it morphed into a completely stand alone world.

As I briefly mentioned before, each author published multiple stories. Ian C. Esslemont wrote Novels of the Malazan Empire and Path to Ascendancy (and at the time of publishing this post, it is still incomplete and it is a prequel to the other series).

Erikson also worked on other works in this world, from The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, The Kharkanas trilogy (that takes place about 1000 years before the events of the Malazan Book of the Fallen) to the Witness Series that continues after the events of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Now, and in order to repeat the name of the series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen has 10 book published books to the series: Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains, Midnight Tides, The Bonehunters, Reaper’s Gale, Toll the Hounds, Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God.

I can, without hesitation, say that this is the series that hooked me on fantasy and I have, very embarrassingly, not finished the series just yet. This would also be the first time I read it taking notes and I cannot wait to read. and I cannot wait to return to this world (without the pressure of having to achieve the goals of the year!).

Gardens of the Moon is truly the book that has sentimental value for me and connects me personally to fantasy. This book has a lot of meaning for me; we already covered how it connects me to fantasy. But it also was my first English read of a fantasy book (and let me tell you that I made progress very slowly, and I did not feel like the brightest bulb many times, yet the reward of finishing a complex book in a different language, just sent me to cloud nine). This book also has some of my favorite characters I have ever read. I would spend a lot of time creating an alter ego in this world and be a member of the Bridgeburners.

One of the best things that this series does is world building. It is complex, it is multifaceted, it is deep. There are many different scenarios, including clash between people, dragons (but also really ancient dragon), magic (and to a level able to destroy worlds and it has different versions of it, including necromancy) and gods meddling in human affairs. In essence, from a tropes perspective, this series has it all for me.

It is a gruesome story. The choices and the impact on people’s lives are brutal most of the time and the lives some have to live are just challenging. Yet, there is so much hope in it. Even at the worst moment for each of the characters, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even if they do not see it.

So if I love this series (and the world around the Malazan Empire so much), why don’t I consider it a priority read for me in 2023? Well, this is probably where the rubber meets the road.

I have historically put this as a priority read for many years. I feel a lot of pressure when I want to complete this series. The books, each and every one, are incredibly dense and it requires a lot of effort to go through them (which is part of the beauty of this story but also its challenge). Someone once described it as going to war. This is clearly a metaphor but it is spot on with regards to its intensity. So I want to give myself the freedom to slowly making progress and get to know (and know again) this world and the characters.

Have you read the Malazan Book of the Fallen or any other series in the Malazan Empire? What do you like the most? Would you recommend others read this series?