Way back in the day, I created a Malazan reading order that became quite popular. This was in response to a terrible list published on Tor.com, apparently itself derived from a confused communication with Steven Erikson and Ian Esslemont (they themselves did not approve of the list as a reading order).
My reading order is pretty straightforward, being basically order of publication with a few shifts around taking into account spoilers and minimising breaking up storylines. I've seen various suggestions on how to improve the list over the years, but they usually come with caveats and trade-offs that make each of them questionable in different ways, though several have merit. The obvious one is that since the original list was published in 2017, multiple new Malazan novels have been published, so it makes sense to update the list to account for them.
NOTE: I have tried to minimise spoilers, but the map and some of the discussion text may nod to what storylines are in what book and area, which some may prefer to avoid.
The Wertzone Recommended Malazan Reading Order (rev. 2025):
- Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen #1), Steven Erikson
- Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen #2), Erikson
- Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen #3), Erikson
- House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen #4), Erikson
- Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen #5), Erikson
- Night of Knives (Novels of the Malazan Empire #1), Ian Cameron Esslemont
- The Bonehunters (Malazan Book of the Fallen #6), Erikson
- Return of the Crimson Guard (Novels of the Malazan Empire #2), Esslemont
- Reaper's Gale (Malazan Book of the Fallen #7), Erikson
- Stonewielder (Novels of the Malazan Empire #3), Esslemont
- Toll the Hounds (Malazan Book of the Fallen #8), Erikson
- Orb Sceptre Throne (Novels of the Malazan Empire #4), Esslemont
- Dust of Dreams (Malazan Book of the Fallen #9), Erikson
- The Crippled God (Malazan Book of the Fallen #10), Erikson
- Blood and Bone (Novels of the Malazan Empire #5), Esslemont
- Assail (Novels of the Malazan Empire #6), Esslemont
- The God is Not Willing (The Tales of Witness #1), Erikson
- No Life Forsaken (The Tales of Witness #2), Erikson
- Legacies of Betrayal (The Tales of Witness #3, forthcoming), Erikson
- Dancer's Lament (Path to Ascendancy #1), Esslemont
- Deadhouse Landing (Path to Ascendancy #2), Esslemont
- Kellanved's Reach (Path to Ascendancy #3), Esslemont
- Forge of the High Mage (Path to Ascendancy #4), Esslemont
- The Last Champion (Path to Ascendancy #5, forthcoming), Esslemont
- tbc (Path to Ascendancy #6, forthcoming), Esslemont
- Forge of Darkness (Kharkanas #1), Erikson
- Fall of Light (Kharkanas #2), Erikson
- Walk in Shadow (Kharkanas #3, forthcoming), Erikson
Standing outside the list for the time being: the six Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas are mostly self-contained stories exploring the backstory of three minor characters from Memories of Ice. They are fun but inessential. They can be read after Memories of Ice or whenever.
The Path to Ascendancy series (Dancer's Lament, Deadhouse Landing, Kellanved's Reach, Forge of the High Mage and the forthcoming Last Guardian, with one more book beyond that) are prequels which recontextualise a lot of what we think we know from the main series. Even though you can read them in the chronologically correct position, I think they work best as prequels after the main series.
As for the Kharkanas Trilogy (so far, Forge of Darkness and Fall of Light), you can read that right at the end or you can hold off until we know when the final book, Walk in Shadow, is coming out. I would, under no circumstances for a newbie, put it first.
Rationale for the order:
The order is mostly in order of publishing, although with a couple of caveats. Night of Knives is both the oldest novel in the series (it was written circa 1987, but not published until 2004) and chronologically takes place before Gardens of the Moon. However, the events of Night of Knives are not particularly germane to Gardens (the "big event" takes place off-page). Instead, Night of Knives is more important for the characters it establishes on Malaz Island. These characters do not recur in the series until The Bonehunters, over 4,000 pages later. It therefore makes more sense to read Night of Knives immediately before The Bonehunters.
House of Chains should be read before Midnight Tides: the events of Midnight Tides are actually being told in flashback by one character to another at the end of HoC. I know some people like to move Midnight Tides up because if you read in publishing order it "spoils" the fate of that character in Midnight Tides, but that's a bit weird as a reason. Plus moving Midnight Tides up disrupts the expertly-paced flow of the first four novels with the alternating between Genabackis and Seven Cities. Dumping Lether in the middle, although chronologically correct, throws off the pacing. Plus it also means you have to wait several thousand pages before catching up to the Lether crew in Reaper's Gale (which has to be read after The Bonehunters).
Return of the Crimson Guard should be read after The Bonehunters. In terms of publication order this is correct but also in terms of internal chronology. More than a year passes between The Bonehunters and Reaper's Gale, and Return of the Crimson Guard explores what happens during that year. In addition, Return has a major, game-changing ending which the later novels (by both Erikson and Esslemont) spoil. Delaying Return also means delaying the later Esslemont novels, which is a bad idea because of the way the later books interface with one another.
On different lists I place Stonewielder in different orders: it can be read immediately after Return of the Crimson Guard as this is chronologically correct (the two books are separated by a few weeks, and chronologically Reaper's Gale takes place after both books) or you can put Stonewielder after Reaper's Gale to mix things up a bit more between Erikson and Esslemont. However, Reaper's Gale ends with our heroes ready to go kick some backside in Kolanse. Putting Stonewielder after Gale means this storyline hangs for three full novels before we get back to it, whilst putting Stonewielder before Gale reduces this to two books.
The order is important because it places Toll the Hounds and Orb Sceptre Throne next to one another. Orb Sceptre Throne is the direct sequel to Toll the Hounds and Toll the Hounds does a lot of setup work for Orb Sceptre Throne which otherwise goes to waste or might be forgotten. Toll the Hounds is a significant amount of set-up with only one bit of pay-off at the end. Orb Sceptre Throne actually has the rest of the pay-off.
Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God are one extra-long novel split in two for length, so they should definitely be read together.
Blood and Bone takes place chronologically at the same time as The Crippled God (literally, our heroes in B&B see and sense the world-changing events at the end of The Crippled God three-quarters of the way through the book) and extends beyond it, so should be read after The Crippled God. Assail then picks up and resolves some storyline left dangling from Blood and Bone so they work well together.
So, what's wrong with the Tor list?
The Tor list suggests starting with the Kharkanas Trilogy novels Forge of Darkness and Fall of Light. This is really not a good idea. The Kharkanas Trilogy is a prequel in the purest form, working better when you have knowledge of the characters from chronologically later on. In addition, Fall of Light may be the most divisive Erikson novel published to date. Having it as the second book in the series I think would be a major mistake, as I've seen that novel drive off twenty-plus-year veterans of the series (some have returned, now that The God is Not Willing and No Life Forsaken have been more warmly received).
Sequential Order of the Series:
- Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen #1), Steven Erikson (1999)
- Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen #2), Erikson (2000)
- Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen #3), Erikson (2001)
- House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen #4), Erikson (2002)
- Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen #5), Erikson (2004)
- The Bonehunters (Malazan Book of the Fallen #6), Erikson (2006)
- Reaper's Gale (Malazan Book of the Fallen #7), Erikson (2007)
- Toll the Hounds (Malazan Book of the Fallen #8), Erikson (2008)
- Dust of Dreams (Malazan Book of the Fallen #9), Erikson (2009)
- The Crippled God (Malazan Book of the Fallen #10), Erikson (2011)
- Night of Knives (Novels of the Malazan Empire #1), Ian Cameron Esslemont (2004)
- Return of the Crimson Guard (Novels of the Malazan Empire #2), Esslemont (2007)
- Stonewielder (Novels of the Malazan Empire #3), Esslemont (2010)
- Orb Sceptre Throne (Novels of the Malazan Empire #4), Esslemont (2012)
- Blood and Bone (Novels of the Malazan Empire #5), Esslemont (2012)
- Assail (Novels of the Malazan Empire #6), Esslemont (2014)
- Forge of Darkness (Kharkanas #1), Erikson (2012)
- Fall of Light (Kharkanas #2), Erikson (2016)
- Walk in Shadow (Kharkanas #3, forthcoming), Erikson
- Dancer's Lament (Path to Ascendancy #1), Esslemont (2016)
- Deadhouse Landing (Path to Ascendancy #2), Esslemont (2017)
- Kellanved's Reach (Path to Ascendancy #3), Esslemont (2019)
- Forge of the High Mage (Path to Ascendancy #4), Esslemont (2023)
- The Last Champion (Path to Ascendancy #5, forthcoming), Esslemont
- tbc (Path to Ascendancy #6, forthcoming), Esslemont
- The God is Not Willing (The Tales of Witness #1), Erikson (2021)
- No Life Forsaken (The Tales of Witness #2), Erikson (2025)
- Legacies of Betrayal (The Tales of Witness #3, forthcoming), Erikson
You can, and with the expansion of the franchise across yet more sequel and prequel books since the original list, risking confusion, this is more viable than it was previously, but I would still broadly recommend against it. Although some readers are less keen on Esslemont as a writer than Erikson, it is inarguable that Esslemont's books are fully canon and Erikson does refer to them in his later novels. This is particularly egregious with regard to major events that happen in Return of the Crimson Guard; having them spoiled by later Erikson books is very lame compared to seeing the events happen as they should. In addition, Esslemont and Erikson paced their books and the events within them on the basis of their publication dates being mixed up, so it is more effective to read them with that in mind.
Chronological Order of the Series:
- Forge of Darkness (Kharkanas #1), Erikson
- Fall of Light (Kharkanas #2), Erikson
- Walk in Shadow (Kharkanas #3, forthcoming), Erikson
- Dancer's Lament (Path to Ascendancy #1), Esslemont
- Deadhouse Landing (Path to Ascendancy #2), Esslemont
- Kellanved's Reach (Path to Ascendancy #3), Esslemont
- Forge of the High Mage (Path to Ascendancy #4), Esslemont
- The Last Champion (Path to Ascendancy #5, forthcoming), Esslemont
- tbc (Path to Ascendancy #6, forthcoming), Esslemont
- Night of Knives (Novels of the Malazan Empire #1), Ian Cameron Esslemont
- Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen #5), Erikson
- Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen #1), Steven Erikson
- Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen #2), Erikson
- Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen #3), Erikson
- House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen #4), Erikson
- The Bonehunters (Malazan Book of the Fallen #6), Erikson
- Return of the Crimson Guard (Novels of the Malazan Empire #2), Esslemont
- Stonewielder (Novels of the Malazan Empire #3), Esslemont
- Reaper's Gale (Malazan Book of the Fallen #7), Erikson
- Toll the Hounds (Malazan Book of the Fallen #8), Erikson
- Orb Sceptre Throne (Novels of the Malazan Empire #4), Esslemont
- Dust of Dreams (Malazan Book of the Fallen #9), Erikson
- The Crippled God (Malazan Book of the Fallen #10), Erikson
- Blood and Bone (Novels of the Malazan Empire #5), Esslemont
- Assail (Novels of the Malazan Empire #6), Esslemont
- The God is Not Willing (The Tales of Witness #1), Erikson
- No Life Forsaken (The Tales of Witness #2), Erikson
- Legacies of Betrayal (The Tales of Witness #3, forthcoming), Erikson
The chronological order of the series is, to be honest, far too bonkers for a first-time readthrough of the series. The Kharkanas Trilogy, which would open the narrative this way, is much more concerned with philosophical musings and is very slow-paced, with even less regard for newcomers than the main series. It's also notably incomplete. However, for a reread by a very experienced Malazan fan, this approach may yield interesting results.
Ultimately these are just options, and people should feel happy to read as they're enjoying and not get too hung up on different options. These are just ideas here.
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