New MALAZAN novel confirmed for this year

Transworld have confirmed that the next Malazan book to be published will be Ian Cameron Esslemont's The Jhistal, which is due in November 2020.

Artwork by Marc Simonetti

The Jhistal will be the fourth volume in the Path to Ascendancy series (despite early speculation it would be a continuation of the six-volume Malazan Empire series) and is presumed to focus on the Malazan Empire's expansion to the islands of Falar.

Steven Erikson's next Malazan novel, The God is Not Willing, the first book in the Witness Trilogy, is almost complete, with Erikson noting this week he'd reached the final chapter in the book. The book is currently scheduled for release in November 2021, but it is unclear if Tor and Transworld would be willing to bring forward the release date if it is indeed completed imminently.

The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson

The rebellion known as the Whirlwind has been defeated and now its last army is fleeing to the storied city of Y'Ghatan. The Malazan 14th Army, the Bonehunters, is in hot pursuit, keen to eradicate the last vestiges of rebellion on Seven Cities. But fate, the gods and the crafty general known as Leoman of the Flails have other ideas. Elsewhere, black ships from beyond the western oceans have set events are in motion that will engulf the greatest warriors in the world, Karsa Orlong of the Teblor and Icarium Lifestealer among them, and will see the Master of the Deck, Ganoes Paran, reluctantly take a direct hand in events.

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series is initially made up of three interlocking story arcs: events on Genabackis, events on Seven Cities and events on the continent of Lether. For the first five books these story arcs have been broadly kept separate, but the sixth volume is when they decisively collide with one another. To put it another way, if Malazan was the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is the first Avengers movie where you get to see characters from all the previous sub-series meet up and rub shoulders with one another.

There is undeniably a visceral thrill to this, as it represents the shape of the over-arcing Malazan storyline starting to come into focus. We start getting a better idea of what the series overall is going to be about and where the final battles will take place, although much remains murky. The feeling that the series is - at last! - starting to coalesce into one coherent, cohesive narrative is satisfying.

That said, it is also not handled entirely well. Previous Malazan books have been relatively smooth and consistent in their tone. This book feels a lot more inconsistent, a side-effect of mashing together characters from rather different previous books and storylines. There's also a slight air of contrivance to the book. Characters meet up in unlikely coincidences and mysterious new allies show up having spent two years pre-preparing a ritual which will come in handy at a key moment. Characters portentously declare things to one another that will leave the reader baffled. At one point, apropos of Douglas Adams, the moon actually explodes for no immediately discernible reason (which gets an explanation later on that still feels rather random).

The book is also a bit on the over-full side. Some Malazan novels are overlong and have a lot of filler in them; others (particularly the first three) are super-lean and bursting out of the page limit with incident, character developments and intriguing themes. The Bonehunters instead feels like the plots of three separate novels have been pushed into it and the focus careens between them with the grace of a pinball machine. So much is going on that major events and characters are given very short shrift indeed (the incidental death of one major, long-standing character is disappointing). In particular, the rise of two previous confirmed villains into positions of supreme power and influence comes out of left field and is fundamentally unconvincing, even moreso on a reread.

But this is still a Malazan novel written by Steven Erikson, so that means we still get excellent and brutally tragic set-piece events, wonderful moments of prose and dialogue and some effectively powerful reflections of the human condition. At one point the book threatens to turn into a disaster novel, which would have been interesting (fantasy disaster novels are pretty thin on the ground), although the book then shoots off in a different direction. There's also a series of phenomenal action sequences paced through the book, with the Malazans and Whirlwind soldiers clashing in a burning city, a naval face-off between two mighty powers and, most impressively, a long-running battle through the streets of a major city as Kalam and the Claw finally settle their debts. There's a lot of good stuff in this book, it just doesn't necessarily hang together as well as it should.

The Bonehunters (***½) is one of the more divisive books in the series - I've seen people lament it as the worst book in the series (which I don't agree with) and praise it as the best (which I also don't agree with) - but it's also one of the most action-packed and is the one that brings the focus and ultimate point of the series into sharper relief, which is a good thing. In order to get there, an (even for this series) unlikely number of plot twists and coincidences have to take place, which makes the book feel more artificial than almost any other Malazan novel released to date. That said, it's written so well that you may not even care. The book is available now in the UK and USA.

Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson

The expansionist Kingdom of Lether has subdued most of the rival kingdoms and tribes on its continent, establishing a hegemony built on notions of debt and service in the name of the king. Its eye now turns to the northern frontier, where the six tribes of the Tiste Edur have recently been united by the Warlock King of the Hiroth. A delegation sets forth to discuss peace and trade, but the true motives of the kingdom are baser. The Warlock King, aware of the growing threat, sends forth the Sengar brothers on a mission to recover a powerful item for him. When the wrong person finds the item, a sorcerous sword of alien origin, it changes the fate of a continent...and the world.

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen fantasy sequence is one that continuously delights in wrong-footing the reader. All of the tropes of established fantasy are here, with powerful empires, great battles, impressive magic and monstrous creatures in spades, but there's also intelligent musings on human nature, philosophical asides on the weirdness of existence and thematic explorations of ideas ranging from colonisation to capitalism and family.

The first four books in the series explored the Malazan Empire and its conquests on the continents of Seven Cities and Genabackis. Although each of the four novels had its own focus and conflicts, common threads regarding the fate of the Empire and the gods ran through each book. Midnight Tides, the fifth book, completely upends this structure altogether. We're now not only on the remote continent of Lether (located far to the south-east of Genabackis or south-west of Seven Cities and Quon Tali), but we're also back in time, with the events of this novel taking place some time before the events of Gardens of the Moon. In fact, you could read Midnight Tides as a stand-alone fantasy novel, as its connections to the rest of the series are, at this point anyway, slight.

Midnight Tides is more traditional, in some respects, than the earlier books in the series. We have two factions, the Tiste Edur and the Kingdom of Lether, with protagonists and antagonists in both camps. Our main POV character is Trull Sengar, a Tiste Edur warrior with a conscience who becomes increasingly concerned over what is happening to his people. Trull is also a link to the rest of the series, as we met Trull at a much later place in his life in House of Chains (and the conceit of the series is that the Tiste Edur storyline of Midnight Tides is being told by Trull to his companion Onrack, although this is not particularly clear - or important - in this novel itself). Other major characters include Udinaas, a Letherii slave who wins the favour of the Tiste Edur ruler; Tehol Beddict, apparently a whimsical madman living in the Letherii capital who is far more than he seems; his brother Brys, the King's Champion; Seren Padac, a traveller, scout and trade factor; and Bugg, Tehol's manservant. It's probably Erikson's most vivid cast assembled so far (which is really saying something) and perhaps his most relatable: with one exception (not made clear until the end of the book) these aren't demigods or Ascendants, but relatively ordinary people dealing in extraordinary circumstances.

Midnight Tides is an enormous book (over 900 pages in paperback) and one that is trying to do a hell of a lot. The primary storyline revolves around the clash between the Tiste Edur and Letherii, a clash of ideologies and beliefs as well as military force. The Letherii have been seen - perhaps too simplistically - as a stand-in for the United States or capitalism in general, a self-described "civilised" nation which destroys the environment, eradicates indigenous cultures and makes everyone subservient to the rule of money, where wealth is the only symbol of worth. The Tiste Edur are not shown as being inherently better (Erikson, an anthropologist and archaeologist, thankfully avoids the "noble savage" trope with some skill), particularly their tendency to take slaves and engage in ritual combat at merest hint of disrespect, but there is something to be said for their much more straightforward honesty compared to the two-faced cynicism of the Letherii. Standing outside this is the Crippled God (another link to the rest of the series), who decides to barge in and get involved to manipulate events for his own benefit.

The result is a busy and (relatively) fast-paced book. Some of Erikson's more characteristic tics, such as characters stopping in the middle of a major battle to exchange philosophical one-liners, are present and correct, but there isn't really enough time for these to bog down the narrative, as is occasionally threatened in other volumes. Instead the book keeps building the tension and narrative layer by layer, chapter by chapter, as we rotate between the Tiste Edur frontier, events in Letheras and elsewhere.

Midnight Tides is also a bizarrely funny book. Of Erikson's numerous fantasy cities, Letheras is probably the closest to Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork, with its subsidence problems and slightly preposterous murder rate. The comic elements come to the fore in the story of Tehol and Bugg, as Tehol realises the only way to really destroy Lether is from inside its banking system, and the (apparently) hapless Bugg helps him to this end. Cue lots of financial skulduggery, plans-within-plans, political intrigue and the increasingly unpleasant details of Tehol's diet and wardrobe emerge. Given the story can get quite grim elsewhere, the laughs in this storyline come as a welcome relief. That's not to say that Tehol's story is disposable - very far from it - but it allows for some well-handled tonal variance.

The book does falter with a slightly redundant storyline in which one of the female characters suffers a sexual assault during a battle. Erikson already covered this story in Deadhouse Gates and did a sterling job of it, presenting the ramifications of physical and sexual abuse on a character in a realistic manner that was well-explored and informed the story without it feeling exploitative. Here the story point is handled very briefly, written off quite quickly (with magic used to take away the psychological damage) and feels almost entirely redundant to both the story and character. Erikson is one of the egalitarian of fantasy authors with well-realised male and female characters, so this feels like a (fortunately) rare misstep on this score (the last in the series until Dust of Dreams) rather than a major problem, but it's still a regrettable move.

Beyond that, the book's biggest weakness might be its awkward placement in the series: Midnight Tides sets up the events of The Bonehunters (where the events of this novel come into conflict with the wider Malazan world) and, most especially, Reaper's Gale, and several of its story threads continue into those books. For that reason, I'd hesitate to recommend reading Midnight Tides by itself (as the sequels won't make any sense unless you've read the first four books as well, and if you read this book you'd then have to double-back and read the other books before being able to press on with the sequels) despite it's stand-alone feel.

Midnight Tides (****½) isn't quite up to the standards of the best volumes in the series, Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice, but it isn't far off. It's an epic fantasy novel with heart and brains, an intelligent deconstruction of capitalist ideology but also an action-packed war story with philosophical musings. It is available now in the UK and USA.

Rejoice, a Knife to the Heart by Steven Erikson

A Canadian science fiction writer is abducted by a UFO from the streets of Victoria, British Columbia. The world shrugs and dismisses it as a social media hoax. Days later, mysterious forcefields start appearing around wilderness areas in danger of human encroachment. Fracking sites are cut off, animal migratory routes disrupted by human civilisation restored and fishing boats are unable to cast their nets. Then people find themselves being forcibly prevented from hurting one another. An Intervention has taken place.

Far above the Earth, an alien presence has arrived. Its mission is to repair and restore the biosphere of the planet but it is conflicted over what to do about humanity, who have been abject failures in their role as custodian of the planet's welfare. Fortunately, they have another job in mind for humanity, one that merely requires them to completely transform the very paradigm of their existence, forever...

Steven Erikson is best-known in genre circles for his Malazan Book of the Fallen fantasy sequence, consisting of ten brick-thick novels packed with battles, sorcery, comedy, tragedy, drama and musings on compassion, morality and ethics. The Malazan series is both an epic fantasy and an inverted interrogation of epic fantasy. His forays outside the field into science fiction have been less noteworthy, consisting of three Star Trek pastiches and a post-apocalyptic novella.

Rejoice, a Knife to the Heart is therefore his first serious, full-length science fiction novel and it's probably going to take people by surprise. It's relatively short (400 pages of quite large type), focused and a bit of a throwback to SF's golden age, consisting of story development through sequences of conversations between core characters. It feels like something Clarke or Asimov would have written in the 1950s, except with far superior character development.

Integral to the story is the fact that people can no longer hurt or kill one another, which means that the good old genre stand-bys - shoot-outs, nukes, battles, chases, character deaths - are unavailable to the author. This feels like a challenge Erikson has set out to himself and he meets with relish. The wit and erudition of the Malazan series is still present here, but seriously pared back to more human and witty levels. Rejoice, a Knife to the Heart is, surprisingly, Erikson's most approachable and accessible novel to date.

It's a novel that asks big questions about the future of humanity and what our fate will be, self-destruction (either in war or from societal collapse resulting from environmental disaster, dwindling resources or simple exhaustion of the human spirit) or enlightenment, discovering means of abolishing scarcity and moving into a truly utopian existence, and how that will impact on a species conditioned by centuries of exposure to free-market capitalism. To that end, those expecting "Malazan, but in space," (at least in terms of sheer scale) will be disappointed. But those up for a stimulating, question-raising, intelligent SF novel which explores ideas of scarcity, postcapitalism, paradigm shifts, fake news, populism, climate change, Big Dumb Objects and environmentalism, all done in a concise manner, this book is for you.

Challenges abound in the novel, most notably how to build tension when it's literally impossible to have any kind of military confrontation or action resulting in injury or death. Erikson does this with a great philosophical debate: the mysterious aliens spare humanity for a specific reason, because there's something we can do they cannot, and this central mystery is gently teased out over the course of the book in a manner that's compelling. It's also not quite resolved in the space of this one novel: sequels are not strictly necessary, but would be welcome to explore some of the mysteries left unexplained in this book.

This is also a novel which may be tapping SF's golden age, but it's also a very timely novel. There's nods to the #metoo movement and almost all of the movers and shakers in the story are based on real people. It's pretty obvious which US President the fictional one is based on, and spotting the fictional equivalents of the Koch Brothers, Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch is amusing. The book also has a very human side, and the key theme of the Malazan series - compassion and empathy - rears its head here as well. There's also a few touching tributes to SF authors who have passed away in the novel, which may make a few lower lips quiver.

Rejoice, a Knife to the Heart (****) is going to be a divisive book, I feel. I suspect some will be bored by a novel which consists almost entirely of conversations between people without a laser gun battle in sight (there are a couple of small explosions though), but for those who read SF for ideas, for intelligent observations on the world around us and explorations of what humanity could be if it could throw off the shackles of inequality and exploitation, this is a fascinating work. It will be published in the UK and USA on 18 October 2018.

House of Chains by Steven Erikson

North Genabackis. Karsa Orlong of the Teblor tribe sets out on a raid that will go down in infamy among his people and their neighbours. He plans to carve his name in blood and chaos across the north, and succeeds far beyond his original aims. But Karsa's journey also opens his eyes to a world that is far stranger than what he thought it would be.

Months later, the Malazan 14th Army arrives in Seven Cities to crush the rebellion known as the Whirlwind. Newly-appointed Adjunct Tavore Paran is untested, and so are most of her troops. Only a few key veterans can be found to hold the force together. Ranged against them are veterans of years of raiding and war, the Dogslayers and the formidable sorcery of the Whirlwind Goddess herself. The seeress Sha'ik's victory appears inevitable, but internal divisions threaten to tear her army apart. As the 14th Army marches on the Holy Desert, the Seeress chooses to wait. Elsewhere, a new threat has arisen: strange ships bearing powerful warriors sailing out of the western seas, seeking the Throne of Shadow on remote Drift Avalii. The god known as Cotillion seeks champions to defend the Throne, whilst one of those strange warriors - the disgraced Trull Sengar - turns traitor to redeem his honour, and that of his entire race.

For the three previous books in the Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson adopted a similar structure: the introduction of multiple plot threads which proceed in apparently isolated tandem for many hundreds of pages before meeting in an almighty final battle at the end. This structure didn't entirely work for Gardens of the Moon (due to a somewhat confusing opening) but was spectacularly successful for Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice, two of the finest epic fantasy novels published this century so far. For House of Chains, Erikson decided to change things up.

This is more of a collection of two separate novels rather than one long narrative. The first 270 pages or so form a continuous, self-contained story focusing on Karsa Orlong (think of Conan the Barbarian dialed up to 11) and his quite spectacularly bloody journey of self-realisation across Genabackis, a bit like The Pilgrim's Progress if the pilgrim was a psychotic ten-foot tall barbarian warrior wielding a sword so massive it would struggle to get into a Final Fantasy game. Karsa is the favourite character of many Malazan readers, for his clear character arc and growth (from psychopathic murderer to philosophical warrior-savant), his straightforward approach to solving problems (destroying them utterly), his clear nod to fantasy antecedents (like Conan and Fafhrd) and his cool action scenes. However, it's also worth noting that in his origin story, he's also a bloodthirsty maniac, repeat rapist and murderer. Erikson himself has noted that Karsa is a problematic character and was intended to be so. Karsa's odyssey is fascinating, well-written (Erikson's growing confidence in his prose skills from book to book is impressive to behold) and raises important questions, such as interrogating Robert E. Howard's old notion that barbarism is the natural state of humanity with civilisation as a brief interregnum which will end as soon as natural resources run out. There's plenty of black humour in the sequence as well, and it does explain at least part of what on earth was going on with that ship in the Nascent (a plot thread that's been running for three books now), but it's hard to entirely enjoy a story which relies so much on human suffering.

The remaining 750-odd pages of the book return to a more traditional format, with multiple story threads unfolding in tandem: Trull Sengar and his rescue from the Nascent by a band of T'lan Imass; the misadventures of a Tiste Liosan warrior party (who learn that their overwhelming arrogance is not helpful when asking others for help); scheming and backstabbing in the Whirlwind camp; Crokus, Apaslar and Kalam being recruited by Cotillion for various missions; and the march of the 14th Army towards Raraku (a sort-of reverse Chain of Dogs, except we spend far fewer pages on it). The shorter page count for this sequence requires greater focus from Erikson, which he achieves admirably: each story unfolds with verve and pace, and there's less long-winded moments of moral reflection as Memories of Ice occasionally threatened to unleash. The shorter page count does occasionally mean that some story arcs are sold a bit short, and the occasional Gardens of the Moon-esque moment of total confusion (such as the introduction of a new pack of psychotic magical hounds who are not the same pack of psychotic magical hounds as those who appeared in the three previous books, but are very similar) does threaten, but is mostly averted.

The book is also something of an anti-epic fantasy, and indeed, an anti-Malazan novel in structural terms. When I first read the book fifteen years ago I regarded it as a massive anti-climax, as the novel builds and builds to what appears to be a huge conflagration which never quite arrives (we do get it in the sixth volume, The Bonehunters, instead, which makes me occasionally wonder if Erikson could have restructured things so Karsa's arc was removed to its own novel and the Battle of Y'Ghatan was moved into the end of House of Chains; I suspect this would not be practical). On rereads the reasoning behind the far less epic (although still very bloody) ending is much clearer, and more laudable. House of Chains is a dark book in a sometimes very dark series, but also a series where compassion and shared humanity are key themes. These themes are explored further in this novel and given greater weight, contrasted against the dark insanity of characters such as the loathsome Bidithal. This is good, but it can make for hard going at times.

House of Chains (****½) is not operating on quite the same qualitative plain as Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice. It's a faster and more concentrated read, but it's also a darker and much murkier one, where the reader has to follow some very unpleasant characters for large stretches of the book. It's also the most philosophically and intellectually stimulating book in the series so far, asking big questions and refusing to offer pat answers. For some readers House of Chains marks a shift in the tone and feel of series which they don't much care for, away from a epic fantasy narrative and more towards musings on the human soul (which threaten to overtake later books in the series altogether), but for others it's the moment that Malazan grew up and started staking a claim to being the most literate epic fantasy ever attempted. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.

Steven Erikson releases original MALAZAN maps

Over on his Facebook page, Steven Erikson has begun releasing images of his original Malazan maps, including maps created for the novels and for the original roleplaying campaign (beginning in 1982) where the world was created. That map and a cleaned-up version I created are as follows (click for larger versions):

First up is his original world map. This map was created some time before work on the novels began in earnest (so probably late 1980s/early 1990s) and does not reflect some changes made for the books. The major differences are as follows:

• Quon Tali is much bigger on a east-west axis. This was reduced for the novels.
• Korel and Stratem were given over to Ian Esslemont to redesign in greater detail, hence why Korel doesn't look much like the map in Stonewielder.
• Similarly with Assail and Jacuruku, also though they at least kept their general shapes (the cities noted on Erikson's map are not present on the book maps though).
• Genabackis, especially in the north, was significantly redesigned for the books, and may have already been redrawn by this time (as noted in the errata section on the right).
• Jacuruku appears to be too close to the east coast of Kolanse, and probably should be more central in the White Spires Ocean.
• Reacher's Ocean was moved to the stretch of sea between NW Assail, SW Genabackis, NE Korel and eastern Quon Tali (where "Seeker's Deep" is marked now).
• Seeker's Deep was moved up to between Genabackis and Seven Cities.
• The Ilbain Ocean was renamed the Dryjna Ocean.
• The Bager Sea was renamed the Sea of Kaltepe Kadesh.
• The Cragg Sea was moved north-east to near Falar. The Horn Ocean was introduced in its stead.
• Drift Avalii in the books is much, much smaller.
• Lether appears to have been stretched somewhat on an east-west axis. There isn't enough room for the Wastelands and the Glass Desert on this version of the map.
• Spelling: Shal Morzin became the Shal-Morzinn Empire, Cabil became Cabal, Leathers became Lether and so forth.

New and probably still-canonical information from this map:

• There is a south polar continent, with a possibly-habitable extension moving up towards Assail.
• The location and shape of the island kingdoms of Genostel and Umryg.
• The shape of the far south and west coasts of Seven Cities.
• The location of Shal-Morzinn, Perish, Nemil and Cabal.

Erikson has also posted the first map he used for a roleplaying campaign involving the Bridgeburners. This campaign took place in north-west Genabackis, in and around Blackdog and Mott Wood.

More maps are to come. It is interesting to note that the world maps D'rek created for the Malazanempire forum (and modified by myself) are very close to the original:

I recently covered the Malazan world in a series of maps over on Atlas of Ice and Fire. I get the sense I'll have to revisit these maps very soon.

Cover art for KELLANVED'S REACH, the next MALAZAN novel

Bantam Press have released the cover art for Kellanved's Reach, the next novel in Ian C. Esslemont's Path to Ascendancy series, set in the Malazan universe he co-created with Steven Erikson.

The book is the third in a prequel series, so far consisting of the well-received Dancer's Lament (2016) and Deadhouse Landing (2017). Esslemont and Bantam signed a three-book contract for the series but have indicated it may go longer, especially since the titular Ascendancy doesn't happen until around 100 years after the events of the next book and the series has sold very well.

The cover blurb:

The incessant war between the bickering city states of Quon Tali rages. So engrossed are the warring lords and princes in their own petty feuds that few notice that an upstart mage from Dal Hon has gained control of the southern seas. But some powers are alarmed. And in the meantime, as Purge and Tali indulge in what seems like a their never-ending game of war, a mercenary caught up in the fight between the two states suddenly refuses to play along and causes all sorts of chaos. Simultaneously, a pair of escapees from Castle Gris make their way across this ravaged landscape of flame and butchery. Their intention to seek out the legendary Crimson Guard.

And then there's Kellanved who could not care less about any of this petty politicking or strategy or war. Something other and altogether more mysterious has caught his attention and he - together with a reluctant and decidedly sceptical Dancer - traverse continents and journey through the Realms in pursuit . . . But this ancient mystery that has so captivated Kellanved is neither esoteric nor ephemeral. No, it is of an altogether darker and more dangerous hue. It involves the Elder races themselves, and more specifically - certainly more alarmingly - the semi-mythic, and universally dreaded, Army of Dust and Bone. 

Surely no one in their right mind would be so foolish as to embark on a journey from which none have returned? Well, no one except Kellanved that is . . . 

Returning to the turbulent early history of what would become the Malazan Empire, here is the third awesome chapter in Ian C. Esslemont's new epic fantasy sequence.

Meanwhile, in other Malazan news, Steven Erikson is working on The God is Not Willing, the first novel in The Witness Trilogy, which is set after the main Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence and focuses on what happens when Karsa Orlong finally returns home to northern Genabackis, along with following up events in Darujhistan. I'd wouldn't expect this book much before 2020.

In the meantime, The Second Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach will be released on 20 September (yes, next month). This collects the Malazan novellas Crack'd Pot Trail, The Wurms of Blearmouth and The Fiends of Nightmaria into one handy volume.

Wertzone Classics: Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson

A dark shadow has fallen across eastern Genabackis: the Pannion Domin, an empire of madness and death whose coming has been heralded by poison and chaos in the warrens of sorcery. The Domin's armies are now marching against the small city-state of Capustan, defended by an army of doubtful skill and the Grey Swords of Elingarth, a religious order of soldiers. Aware of this threat, the outlawed Malazan 5th Army - Onearm's Host - has allied with their former enemies: Caladan Brood's mercenaries, the Rhivi tribes, the Tiste Andii of Moon's Spawn and the city-state of Darujhistan. Their goal is to relieve Capustan and destroy the Pannion Domin. From the south comes another force, the punitive army of the Seguleh (consisting of an unprecedented three of the greatest warriors in the world). But the Pannion Domin is no mere mortal empire and three impossibly ancient, terrifying forces have joined together to spread its evil across the world, an evil which will challenge all that face it.

Memories of Ice is the third novel in Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, returning the action to the continent of Genabackis, the setting of the first novel in the series, Gardens of the Moon and taking place simultaneously alongside the second, Deadhouse Gates. Memories of Ice is a direct sequel to Gardens of the Moon, so whilst is possible to start reading the Malazan series with Deadhouse Gates, it is not really possible to do so with Memories.

Like Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice consists of four major storylines proceeding in tandem. In the first, Onearm's Host has to ally with its former enemies to march against the Pannion Domin. This storyline follows the awkwardness of the former bitter enemies working alongside one another. In the second storyline, the entity Silverfox (created during the events of Gardens of the Moon) has summoned the undead T'lan Imass legions to undergo the Second Gathering, which will determine the future of the species and their endless (and increasingly pointless) war against the Jaghut, which has now spanned a quarter of a million years. In a third storyline, Toc the Younger and Onos T'oolan (both from Gardens of the Moon) find themselves on the other side of the continent, where they meet and ally with the Seguleh punitive army (all three of them) and the enigmatic sorceress Lady Envy. In the fourth, we join the Grey Swords as they strive to defend Capustan against utterly overwhelming odds. Numerous subplots - such as the fate of the Mhybe, Silverfox's mother whose lifeforce is inadvertently being consumed by her daughter; the journey of a T'lan Imass emissary with news of a desperate war on the distant continent of Assail; the misadventures of two necromancers and their long-suffering servants; and the story of Gruntle, a caravan guard who suddenly becomes something more - abound.

As with Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice is an epic and sprawling novel but which benefits from rotating its storylines on a regular basis to give the novel an impressive sense of momentum, so that it's 1,100 pages fly past at an impressive rate of knots once the story gets underway. That does take a little while, though. Memories opens slow, with the various forces gathering, and there's perhaps a couple too many intense strategy meetings near the start of the book as characters gather and discuss the plot. This is quite refreshing - the primary criticism of Gardens of the Moon is that Erikson fails to explain what's going on, whilst Memories of Ice is lot clearer on the stakes and what's happening - but it does mean that it takes a while for the story to start picking up.

Art by Corporal Nobbs

Once it does, things don't let up until the end of the book. The storylines build towards a convergence (to use a favoured term of the author) in the city of Coral and it's fascinating to see the players moving towards this meeting. It's also interesting to see how our protagonists deal with having an unusual preponderance of force on their side, unlike the previous novel where the Chain of Dogs is up against superior odds all the way through the book. The combination of the Tiste Andii, the Bridgeburners, Caladan Brood, the Rhivi, the Barghast and, later, the Seguleh and the T'lan Imass give them an immense advantage over the Pannion Domin. This is later reversed when see what other forces the Seer can bring to the field, not to mention infighting within the alliance that threaten to shatter it, but it's unusual in epic fantasy to see characters realising the overwhelming power they have at their command and the moral responsibility this entails.

The Malazan series has always excelled in sometimes avoiding or inverting epic fantasy tropes and sometimes playing them straight, but always interrogating them. There is a lot of blood-letting, duels, battles and sorcerous enfilades in the series, but the cost of such violence is always laid bare. The core themes of the Malazan series (and one that I think belies its occasionally-claimed status as grimdark) are compassion and the moral cost of whatever conflict is to be fought. Actions result in consequences, some of which can stain the soul, and Memories of Ice is the novel that most directly, painfully and tragically deals with this cost, particularly through the moving story of Itkovian, the soldier who volunteers to carry the guilt and trauma of thousands on his own shoulders. The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a tragedy and Memories of Ice is perhaps the novel that most dramatically embodies that, through the awe-inspiring finale (still one of the finest in all of fantasy fiction) at the city of Coral.

There are a few minor issues. In terms of pacing, the book takes a little longer to get going, so in that sense it's not quite as tight a novel as Deadhouse Gates (which is a clear 200 pages shorter as a result). Whilst the central conflict - the battle against the Pannion Domin - is resolved in this novel, the book is also a little more plugged in to the story arcs that will span the rest of the series, most notably the saga of the Crippled God. It's highly arguable - fans have been arguing about it for seventeen years so far - but it's also debatable that a late-novel act of profound treachery was set up a bit too obviously and supposedly intelligent characters should have picked up on that earlier and stopped it, but this feels a little bit too pedantic a complaint and one reliant on hindsight.

Memories of Ice (*****) almost matches the dramatic power and intensity of Deadhouse Gates, perhaps falling a little short in structure and tightness but making up for it with the sheer scope of the tragic (and traumatic) final battle. This is a fantasy novel about compassion, forgiveness, war, peace, sacrifice and everything inbetween, related through a huge cast of interesting and sympathetic characters. (Very) arguably, the Malazan series will never quite reach these heights again, but will often come close. One of the strongest books in the series and one of the very finest fantasy novels published this century. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.

Wertzone Classics: Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson

Madmen, seers and witches proclaim the coming of the Whirlwind, a rebellion of unprecedented ferocity, a scourge that will wipe the subcontinent of Seven Cities clean of the pestilence of the Malazan Empire. The rulers of the Empire pay no heed, denuding the occupied territories of troops to reinforce the faltering campaign in Genabackis. From that continent comes an assassin, a thief and a former plaything of a shadowy god, who are the unwitting harbingers of the prophecy, and from the east comes a broken women and a shattered priest, who will defy it. As the Whirlwind is unleashed, the Malazan Seventh Army is given an impossible mission: to escort thirty thousand civilian refugees from Hissar to Aren, more than a thousand miles, facing constant attack all the way. This is a task that no ordinary human can handle, only a legend.

Deadhouse Gates is the second novel in the Malazan Book of the Fallen, succeeding (but not a direct sequel to) Gardens of the Moon. Deadhouse Gates relocates the action to the continent of Seven Cities with an almost entirely new cast of characters and a whole new storyline. Although having read Gardens of the Moon will be a help in reading this book, it is not necessary and it is indeed not unknown for readers to be directed to Deadhouse Gates as their first Malazan novel. This unusual recommendation has a solid rationale: Gardens of the Moon is a fine novel, but one that has to overcome a confused and somewhat incoherent opening before it starts to make sense. In contrast, Deadhouse Gates ranks comfortably as one of the single greatest works of epic fantasy ever written.

Indeed, the year 2000 may go down in history as one of the finest for fantasy fiction. That year also saw the publication of China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, Mary Gentle's Ash: A Secret History and George R.R. Martin's A Storm of Swords, three of the defining works of the modern fantasy genre. Deadhouse Gates sits very comfortably in such company.

Compared to the potentially confusing opening to Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates follows four storylines in a much more linear fashion. In one storyline, and the most epic, the Malazan Seventh Army must cross the entire subcontinent, escorting a refugee train to safety. With echoes of Xenophon's Anabasis (itself later fantasised as Paul Kearney's The Ten Thousand), or even Battlestar Galactica, this is a story of epic battles being fought as the innocent are defended in the face of a remorseless enemy and - sometimes - their own hubris. It's here that Erikson establishes some of his most memorable characters, such as the Imperial Historian Duiker, the indefatigable Bult, the warlocks Nil and Nether, and of course, Coltaine of the Crow Clan, High Fist of the Malazan Empire having formerly been a bitter foe of it. Their story - the Chain of Dogs - is a stunning and gripping narrative in its own right, every league of the journey bringing with it new formidable obstacles to be overcome, new enemies to be defeated and new tragedies to endure. The Chain of Dogs is Steven Erikson's Red Wedding, except drawn out to the length of a novel: an emotionally taut and increasingly shocking story of heroism and betrayal on a colossal scale.

Most novelists would have settled for that, but alongside that epic story we have Erikson's most emotionally intense and internalised struggle, that of Felisin Paran (sister of Ganoes Paran, a key protagonist from Gardens of the Moon). Felisin, a pampered and spoiled noble girl, is arrested and sentenced to exile on a distant island, to toil in criminal slavery. She endures horrors that afflict her soul and she becomes brittle, angry and bitter. Eventually the story takes her to a destiny that she was not expecting, and a responsibility she steps into for both vengeance and self-realisation. Felisin's story is hard to read but impressive in its emotional resonance. This is a realistic story, albeit also an incomplete one, with the other half of the story waiting to unfold in House of Chains (the fourth novel in the series; Book 3, Memories of Ice, returns instead to Genabackis and the story of the Bridgeburners).

Artwork by Corporal Nobbs.

Next to that we also have two smaller quest narratives: the story of Icarium and Mappo, two wanderers out of the wastelands whom we gradually learn are cursed to live a life of friendship, trust and bitter deception; and the story of some familiar characters from Gardens of the Moon, namely Apsalar, Crokus, Kalam and Fiddler, who are on a journey back to Quon Tali and a confrontation with the treacherous Empress, but who are sucked up instead in the chaos of the Whirlwind.

These four storylines - which ultimately combine to a degree - give the novel a sense of unifying coherence missing from Gardens of the Moon. Instead of the start-stop opening to that book, Deadhouse Gates starts much more slowly and traditionally, the novel gathering a relentless and inexorable pace as it evolves. Erikson's prose is vastly superior to Gardens, the result of the nine year gap that fell between the two books and slightly awkward circumstances that led to its creation: originally Memories of Ice was the second novel, but Erikson lost the manuscript to a hard drive error when he was halfway through writing it; unable to face it, he instead switched to writing what was supposed to be the third book in the series instead, inadvertently giving us the continent-hopping structure of the saga that would become one of its hallmarks. The result is a novel that fairly seethes with intelligence, memorable prose and ambition.

Weaknesses? A first read will occasionally brush against confusion (particularly the introduction of a certain jade statue and the events that spiral out from it), but beyond that there are none. Deadhouse Gates takes all of the strengths of Erikson's writing and loses almost all of the weaknesses.

The Malazan Book of the Fallen is many things. It is a comedy and a drama, but it is also a tragedy - as the title implies - and it is a series about compassion and humanity. Arguably later books in the series suffer to a limited degree from Erikson's increasing introspection at the cost of plot and character, but no such weakness is present here, or in the book that follows it. Deadhouse Gates (*****) is a fantasy novel that does that rare thing and makes you think and feel. It is a good encapsulation of the entire series. It is available now in the UK and USA.

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

On the continent of Genabackis the Malazan army lays siege to the city of Pale, which sits under the protection of Anomander Rake, Lord of the Tiste Andii. As the final battle begins, the elite Malazan unit known as the Bridgeburners and several High Mages suffer a calamitous betrayal. Their next mission takes them to Darujhistan, City of Blue Fire, where an even more dangerous showdown awaits...

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen began unfolding back in 1999 with this divisive novel. Strongly hailed by authors from Stephen Donaldson to J.V. Jones as an important, breakthrough work and found utterly baffling by others, Gardens of the Moon has acquired a bit of a reputation over the years as a hard book to get into.

I've always found this suggestion to be overstated, just as much on this fourth reread as on my first fifteen years ago. Gardens of the Moon is a busy, bustling and striking novel which has little interest in slowing down to providing worldbuilding infodumps. You cling on for dear life and follow the story through or you don't. Still, the benefit of fifteen additional years of books from both Steven Erikson and co-creator Ian Esslemont means there are now other, gentler introductions to this world and this story: you can also jump on board with Erikson's Deadhouse Gates or Esslemont's Night of Knives or Dancer's Lament, which all have somewhat easier opening sections.

Gardens of the Moon opens with a bang and doesn't stop for 700 pages. In that time it introduces a whole, vivid world dominated by a powerful empire, dozens of characters, a whole new (and rather vague, at this stage) magic system, a dozen races, multiple gods, a prophetic Tarot card game, undead Neanderthals, a race of elves who are also dragons and more nods to other authors (from Leiber to Donaldson to Cook) than it's possible to parse in one read. It's a mess, without reasonable exposition or grounding in the reality the characters find themselves in.

But it's also a glorious mess. Erikson's imagination here is bigger than a planet, his prose is erudite and far wittier than any first-time author has any right to be (this was Erikson's second-published novel but was written many years earlier), and through the confusion the chaotic charisma of characters like Whiskeyjack, Anomander Rake, Quick Ben, Tattersail, Ganoes Paran, Kalam, Fiddler, Rallick Nom and Caladan Brood is clear. Yes, Gardens of the Moon sometimes feels like starting watching a movie that's already been on for an hour, but that can also be quite good fun.

Once you get through the opening, confusing section at Pale, the action moves to Darujhistan where nobles scheme, assassins plot and thieves fight a clandestine war on the rooftops and things become a lot clearer. From there on it's an easier ride to the big climactic showdown, which is epic, impressive and random (not helped by a deus ex machina resolution, although on rereads when you know what the hell's going on this is much less of a problem).

There are other niggling problems, mainly relating to "GotMisms", worldbuilding and character tics that Erikson put into this book which he changed his mind about in the nine years that passed until he wrote the second volume, Deadhouse Gates. In particular, if the key theme of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is compassion, that theme feels a bit absent in this book as Anomander Rake shows an uncharacteristic amoral ruthlessness (compared to later books) and no-one seems to know anything at all about the ancient races and history of the world whilst later on everyone seems a lot more clued up (one of the more relatable things about this novel is that the characters are often as confused about what's going on as the reader, which is less the case in later volumes of the series). Still, these continuity issues are minor and understandable given the protracted genesis of the series.

Gardens of the Moon (****) is by turns bewildering, confusing, rewarding, exciting and intriguing. It will bewilder a lot of people, but out of that bewilderment will come understanding. The Malazan Book of the Fallen is the most accomplished work of epic fantasy published (predominantly) in the 21st Century to date, and this remains the best place to start, setting the scene as it does for its two successors, which are simply two of the finest fantasy novels ever written. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.

Sales of the MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN pass 3 million

According to Steven Erikson's new website, sales of the ten-volume Malazan Book of the Fallen series have now passed 3 million.

Erikson started publishing the Malazan Book of the Fallen series in 1999 with Gardens of the Moon and completed it in 2011 with the publication of The Crippled God. He has also written six spin-off novellas (The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach), two prequel novels in the Kharkanas series and is now working on a sequel trilogy, called Witness. His co-creator Ian Cameron Esslemont has also published eight novels in the same world (the six-volume Malazan Empire sequence and the first two books of a series called Path to Ascendancy) and is working on more. These figures apply to the original ten-book series alone.

Sales of the series passed 1 million in 2012, which was quite a long time, but the fact that the series has tripled its sales in just six years is very good going. Erikson's sales are of course better than 99% of authors will ever experience, but he's still a fair way off the likes of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (sales c. 90 million) or Terry Pratchett's Discworld (sales c. 85 million). Erikson's first novel, Gardens of the Moon, is infamously a novel that many readers find "difficult" to get into, so it's even more impressive that so many readers have stayed the course and gotten into the whole series.

The reasons for the booming sales in the last few years may be down to social media, such as strong recommendations for the series on Goodreads and Reddit, and also the fact that the original series is both long and complete, making it an appealing alternative for epic fantasy fans waiting for the next Song of Ice and Fire novel.

The next release in the Malazan series will be The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach: Volume II, which collects the fourth through sixth Malazan novellas. It will be published this autumn. Ian Cameron Esslemont's third Path to Ascendancy novel, Kellanved's Reach, is due in 2019. Erikson is now working on The God is Not Willing, the first Witness novel, with no publication date yet set.

Gratuitous Lists: Twenty Great Complete Fantasy Series

When writing articles about “the best fantasy series ever”, it’s inevitable that 1) the list will feature a lot of incomplete series, and 2) the list will feature a lot of complaints about “how can you call this series great when it’s incomplete, the next book might be rubbish?” This is a fair criticism. In fact, given that some of the biggest and most-namechecked modern fantasy series are incomplete (including A Song of Ice and Fire, The Kingkiller Chronicle, The Stormlight Archive and more), removing them from such a list immediately adds a lot of lesser-known series, which makes the list more interesting.

So here is a list of twenty great completed fantasy series. The criteria I used was as follows: the series can have sequels, but the core series itself must be done. You can read more books set in the world, but the story told has to be a complete entity with a beginning, middle and end. Hence the presence of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn even though Tad Williams has written an incomplete sequel trilogy, two short stories and two short novels set in the same world. The same thing for Steven Erikson’s Malazan sequence (although this was a little more dubious, given the presence of sequel and prequel series and complementary books written by his co-creator Ian Esslemont).

More arguable was a series which is ostensibly complete but more blatantly stands as part of an inter-connected whole. This immediately invalidated Scott Bakker’s Second Apocalypse series, which comprises two complete sub-series but requires the upcoming third series to complete its narrative arc, and Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, where the story finishes but key thematic and character stories continue into three stand-alone novels and the incoming sequel trilogy. Brandon Sanderson was particularly difficult to juggle with this, although ultimately the original Mistborn trilogy was omitted from the list more for comparative quality purposes (it’s just bubbling under) rather than being an incomplete narrative itself.

This is list is also not presented in any kind of numerical order, as doing so would simply invite arguments about the order rather than discussion of the books themselves, and when you’re talking about this quality level the differences are going to be somewhat slight. This is also not a list of the twenty "best series ever" (which is too big a claim), but merely twenty really good completed series. There are many others.

The Middle-earth Series by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit (1937) • The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) • The Silmarillion (1977) • Unfinished Tales (1980)

Further reading: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962) • The Road Goes Ever On (1967) • The History of Middle-earth series (12 volumes, 1983-96) • The Children of Húrin (2007) • Beren and Lúthien (2017) • The Fall of Gondolin (2018)

J.R.R. Tolkien created – or at least defined – the entire modern field of epic fantasy with The Lord of the Rings, a vast tome chronicling the War of the Ring between the free peoples of Middle-earth and the Dark Lord Sauron, as seen through the eyes of four modest hobbits. The novel was written as a sequel to his much simpler earlier story, The Hobbit, but grew in the telling to a huge story about the meaning of simple heroism and the passing of an age. Together, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings form a complete story, but fans wanting more can read The Silmarillion, the vast history and mythology of the entire world that Tolkien spent most of his life writing (he started working on it in 1917 and it was published sixty years later, four years after his own death). The oft-overlooked Unfinished Tales collects his other extant canonical writings on the subject of Middle-earth, including short stories and worldbuilding essays, some of which (like Gandalf’s account of the Quest of Erebor and a more detailed history of Númenor) are essential reading.

Hardcore fans can also read every single surviving draft, memo and note Tolkien wrote on the subject of Middle-earth, collected in The History of Middle-earth, as well as curiosities such as a collection of sheet music and songs about Middle-earth (The Road Goes Ever On) and some poems about tertiary characters (The Adventures of Tom Bombadil). There’s also The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin, episodes from Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion which have been edited into stand-alone novellas.

Tolkien wrote with poetry and skill, creating an entirely new type of literature on the fly. More to the point, he wrote epic and personal stories which continue to resonate today.

MANY MORE AFTER THE JUMP

Cover art for Steven Erikson's REJOICE, A KNIFE TO THE HEART

On 18 October, Gollancz in the UK will be releasing Steven Erikson's first non-comedic science fiction novel. Entitled Rejoice, a Knife to the Heart, it's a story about first contact and survival. The cover art is below.

Erikson has previously written twelve novels and seven short stories in the epic fantasy Malazan Book of the Fallen setting, and is working on a new novel in that setting, The God is Not Willing, which will open a new trilogy, Witness, about the popular character of Karsa Orlong. He has also written an SF novella, The Devil Delivered, and a mainstream novel, This River Awakes, as well as three short comedic SF novels, the Wilful Child trilogy.

Thanks to Jussi of Rising Shadow for spotting this on Westeros.org.

A Better Malazan Reading Order

This week, Tor.com published a recommended reading order to Steven Erikson and Ian Esslemont's Malazan series, apparently approved by the authors themselves. It's a curious list because, well, it's really not very good. If you use the Tor reading list, I suspect a lot of readers would run screaming for the hills. To this end, I have updated my old Malazan reading list with the latest releases:

The Wertzone Recommended Malazan Reading Order: 

1. Gardens of the Moon
2. Deadhouse Gates
3. Memories of Ice
4. House of Chains
5. Midnight Tides
6. Night of Knives
7. The Bonehunters
8. Return of the Crimson Guard
9. Reaper's Gale
10. Stonewielder
11. Toll the Hounds
12. Orb Sceptre Throne
13. Dust of Dreams
14. The Crippled God
15. Blood and Bone
16. Assail
17. Dancer's Lament
18. Deadhouse Landing
19. Kellanved's Reach
20. Forge of Darkness
21. Fall of Light

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, the forthcoming Kellanved's Reach, possibly more books beyond that) are prequels. They may be read before the main series, but as they are incomplete I would put them later.

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, 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. Also, although Toll the Hounds is probably Erikson's best-written book it is almost the most obtusely weird in terms of plot movement and events (it's the longest book in the series but arguably has the least amount of actual important events taking place in it). It's a huge 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, whilst Forge of Darkness is divisive, Fall of Light is easily the worst-regarded 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 eighteen-year veterans of the series who've been with it since Gardens of the Moon was published eighteen years ago.


Can you just read the series sequentially and not bother mixing up Erikson and Esslemont?

You can, but I would strongly 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.

Thank you for reading The Wertzone. To help me provide better content, please consider contributing to my Patreon page and other funding methods, which will also get you exclusive content weeks before it goes live on my blogs. The Cities of Fantasy series is debuting on my Patreon feed and you can read it there one month before being published on the Wertzone.

New Steven Erikson interview at Black Gate

Black Gate have undertaken a video interview with Steven Erikson about his fantasy work and the recent decision to delay the final Kharkanas book for the time being.

It's a fascinating interview, even if Erikson's assertion that Voyager is preferable to Deep Space Nine is one I would disagree quite strongly with!

Malazan Franchise Familiariser

It's entirely possible that, at some point in the last dozen or so years, you've asked for a fantasy recommendation on a message board, a Reddit post or on social media somewhere and immediately had someone scream at you "MALAZAN!", followed by an extensive list of caveats ("the first book sucks, but just stick with it!") and warnings ("Erikson will not SPOON FEED you anything, you have to work at it!"). You may have then looked up how many books there are in the series and how big they are, and immediately broken out in anxiety when you realised that there are now over 5 million words of Malazan material to get through. How to deal with this body of work? Time for a franchise familiariser course!

The Basics

The Malazan world is a setting for epic fantasy stories. It was created by Canadian authors Ian Cameron Esslemont (b. 1962) and Steve Rune Lundin (b. 1959), better-known by his pen-name, Steven Erikson. The two authors have written separate series in the same world, sharing characters and canonical events, but tend to focus on different parts of the overall story.

Steven Erikson is the more prolific of the two authors, having written twelve novels and six novellas in the world. Ian Esslemont has written eight novels to date, with more planned.

Erikson's work consists of the ten-volume Malazan Book of the Fallen series (which is generally what people mean when they say "Malazan series") and the first two volumes of The Kharkanas Trilogy, a prequel work set approximately 300,000 years before the events of the main series. Esslemont's work consists of the six-volume Malazan Empire series (which runs contemporaneously with the Malazan Book of the Fallen) and the first two volumes in the Path to Ascendancy prequel series, which is set about 120 years before the events of the main series. Erikson's novellas are known as the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach series and run alongside the main novels.

Erikson plans to write a trilogy called The Toblakai Trilogy, which will be a sequel to The Malazan Book of the Fallen, set five years after the end of the series. He also plans one more book in The Kharkanas Trilogy. Esslemont plans additional novels in the Path of Ascendancy series, although has not yet settled on a final number. The two writers have, from time to time, mused on directly collaborating on a novel or encyclopedia for the series, but there are no firm plans in place for this to happen in the near future.

So far the franchise exists purely as a series of novels: a planned comic adaptation of the first-published novel in the setting, Gardens of the Moon, never materialised and plans for a movie version of a storyline in the second novel, provisionally entitled Chain of Dogs, foundered for a lack of funding in the mid-2000s. There was some interest in adapting the series as a computer roleplaying game in the late 2000s, but this also came to nothing. A pen-and-paper roleplaying game has been mooted several times, but has never gotten off the drawing board.


The Canon

The Malazan canon consists of the following books, all published by Bantam Transworld (in the UK) and Tor Books (in the USA). In addition, PS Publishing has released handsome limited editions of most of the books in the series:

The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

1. Gardens of the Moon (1999)
2. Deadhouse Gates (2000)
3. Memories of Ice (2001)
4. House of Chains (2002)
5. Midnight Tides (2004)
6. The Bonehunters (2006)
7. Reaper's Gale (2007)
8. Toll the Hounds (2008)
9. Dust of Dreams (2009)
10. The Crippled God (2011)

An e-book omnibus consisting of all ten books is also available in the United States from Tor.

The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach by Steven Erikson

1. Blood Follows (2002)
2. The Healthy Dead (2004)
3. The Lees of Laughter's End (2007)
4. Crack'd Pot Trail (2009)
5. The Wurms of Blearmouth (2012)
6. The Fiends of Nightmaria (2016)

The first three novellas in this series were collected as The First Collected Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (2009), with an introduction by Paul Kearney, Stephen Donaldson and James Barclay. A second collection has not yet been announced.

The Novels of the Malazan Empire by Ian C. Esslemont

1. Night of Knives (2004)
2. Return of the Crimson Guard (2007)
3. Stonewielder (2010)
4. Orb Sceptre Throne (2012)
5. Blood and Bone (2012)
6. Assail (2014)

The Kharkanas Trilogy by Steven Erikson

1. Forge of Darkness (2012)
2. Fall of Light (2016)
3. Walk in Shadow (forthcoming)

The Path to Ascendancy by Ian C. Esslemont

1. Dancer's Lament (2016)
2. Deadhouse Landing (2017)

The Toblakai Trilogy by Steven Erikson

1. The God is Not Willing (forthcoming)

The races of the Malazan world, by YapAttack.

Backstory

The backstory of the Malazan world is long and complex. It can, however, by boiled down to the following:

Over half a million years ago, several races began evolving on a single planet. These "Founding Races" are known, in rough order of age, as the K'Chain Che'Malle, Forkrul Assail, Jaghut and Imass. The K'Chain Che'Malle appear to have evolved from a dinosaur-like species and are noted for their mastery of gravity through magic, such as the creation of vast flying cities known as Skykeeps. The Forkrul Assail are the most amoral of the races, appointing themselves judges over creation. Thanks to their powerful magic they are almost indestructible. The Che'Malle and Assail fought one another to near-annihilation, with the Che'Malle also divided by an internal struggle, the result of an attempt by one Che'Malle Matron to breed a new species. This resulted in a genocidal and xenophobic internal war.

Some time after this conflict, the Jaghut arose. A tusked species, the Jaghut had absolute mastery of ice as their primary form of magic. They were pacifists, but every now and then one of them turned to evil and conquest. These "Tyrants" were immensely powerful and destructive.

The Imass were a hominid species, evolving from an earlier, more primitive race known as the Eres. The Imass were tribal and relatively primitive (sharing some similarities with Neanderthals), but soon began learning more about the world and their origins. They worshipped certain Jaghut as gods, but later rebelled when they realised that the Jaghut were just another race. Many Imass were killed in conflicts brought about by Jaghut Tyrants. Eventually declaring the entire Jaghut species guilty for the sins of a relatively small number, the Imass fought a genocidal war against them, wielding powerful magic to make up for their lack of technology. Many of the Jaghut Tyrants were slaughtered, but the pacifist majority of the species chose instead to retreat and hide, using their ice magic to raise massive glaciers as fortress redoubts and places where they could go to sleep for millennia.

Realising the Jaghut meant to simply outwait them into extinction, the Imass underwent the Ritual of Tellann. This resulted in the entire species becoming undead, effectively immortal. Now known as the T'lann Imass, the species chose to wait until the glaciers collapsed and they could complete the genocidal work. This took over 300,000 years to unfold. In the meantime several off-shoots from the Imass continued to evolve: the Barghast and Moranth are among those races who evolved out of those Imass who missed the Ritual of Tellann, whilst humans were a race that evolved in parallel to the Imass, from the same Eres origins. The Thel Akai may have been a third hominid species whose descendants became the Toblakai, Tarthenal and Fenn.

Around the same time, another race arrived on the same planet from the other-dimensional realm of Kurald Galain. The Tiste were a race of immensely long-lived humanoids wielding tremendous magic and skills in combat. Originally a united species, the Tiste split into three sub-races: the Tiste Liosan (the Children of Light), the Tiste Edur (the Children of Shadow) and the Tiste Andii (the Children of Darkness). Bitter internal wars were fought between the three sub-races and within their own ranks until eventually they learned to avoid one another.

Also notable in the world are dragons, in this setting called Eleint. These are incredibly powerful creatures, far moreso than in most settings, but also (fortunately) quite rare.

Looming over all were the Azathani or Azath. An extremely enigmatic species, the Azathani took humanoid form but had godlike powers. The Azathani are believed to be responsible for the creation of the other species, the creation of the warrens and holds of magic and the mysterious phenomenon of Ascendancy. Ascendancy is the granting of immense powers to individuals once they achieve a level of power, worship or notoriety. The process of who Ascends and who does not is extremely obscure. Those surviving Azathani seem themselves to be unclear on how the process works, suggesting they may be the last surviving remnant of a once-greater civilisation who no longer understand or remember their point of origin. Related to the Azath are the Azath Houses, magical prisons which appear to constrain those who try to use their power in an unbalancing or destructive manner. The Azathani seem concerned primarily with the maintenance of a balance of power between the races and forces of the world, and avoiding the destruction of the world itself.

At some point the human First Empire arose on the continent later called Seven Cities, along with the Kallorian Empire on the continent of Jacuruku (with possible colonies on its sister continent of Korelri). The two empires were the first major human powers to arise in the world. The First Empire was, somewhat, civilised but the Kallorian Empire became, under the rule of the High King Kallor, corrupt, evil and dictatorial. Approximately 112,902 years before the Battle of Pale (the event which begins the contemporary events of the novel series), eight powerful mages opposed to the High King conducted a ritual which summoned a deity from another world, Kaminsod, whose power they hoped could be used to destroy Kallor. This event, the Fall of the Crippled God, tore asunder the continent of Korelri and devastated much of the planet. The gods and ascendants had to gather to chain the Crippled God lest his power obliterate all life on the planet.

Three gods - K'rul, Draconus and Nightchill - then confronted Kallor, aware that he had become a threat too great to ignore. To their horror, Kallor had burned his own empire down to the bedrock and slaughtered the entire population. He used the power of this sacrifice to curse the three gods to tragic fates. They in turn cursed him with life unending, never to ascend.

1,163 years before the beginning of the series, the goddess Burn, the living embodiment of the planet itself, was forced to enter a slumber due to the presence of the chained Crippled God, whose very existence was antithetical to her.

In the year 1058 of Burn's Sleep, the Malazan Empire was founded by the mage Kellanved and the assassin Dancer. A mighty human nation, the Malazan Empire would eventually span four continents and rule over tens of millions of lives. In 1154 Kellanved and Dancer disappeared during the night of the Shadow Moon in Malaz City and were succeeded by Laseen as Empress of Malaz.

The events of the Malazan Book of the Fallen proper begin in the year 1163 of Burn's Sleep, with the Malazan Empire launching an assault on the free city of Pale on the continent of Genabackis, which is allied to the formidable ascendant Anomander Rake of the Tiste Andii and the Warlord Caladan Brood, another being of tremendous power. The battle opens with the elite Malazan military formation known as the Bridgeburners going into action, unaware that this engagement will completely change their destiny, that of the Empire and that of the world.

A map of the Malazan world. Map by D'Rek of the Malazanempire forum, letting and continent placement by myself.

Setting

The setting for the Malazan books is a single, unnamed planet. This planet consists of seven major continents and numerous smaller islands and subcontinents. These are as follows:

• Quon Tali: equatorial continent, home of the Malazan Empire (founded on Malaz Isle, just off the coast). The setting for the novels Night of Knives, Return of the Crimson Guard, Dancer's Lament and Deadhouse Landing.
• Genabackis: large continent north-east of Quon Tali, the location of the city of Darujhistan. The setting for the novels Gardens of the Moon, Memories of Ice, Toll the Hounds, Orb Sceptre Throne and (possibly) The God is Not Willing.
• Seven Cities: the world's largest continent. The setting for the novels Deadhouse Gates, House of Chains and The Bonehunters.
• Lether: the world's second-largest continent. Fairly remote from the other landmasses and rarely visited until late in the series. The setting for the novels Midnight Tides, Reaper's Gale, Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God.
• Korelri: the shattered continent to the south-east of Quon Tali, consisting of the subcontinents of Korel (or Fist) and Stratem. The setting for the novel Stonewielder.
• Jacuruku: the jungle island-continent located south-west of Quon Tali. The setting for the novel Blood and Bone
• Assail: a much-dreaded and mysterious continent located south of Genabackis and east of Korelri, the setting for the novel Assail.

The primary focus of the books is the Malazan Empire, a relatively young nation founded on the island of Malaz off the coast of Quon Tali which rapidly conquered the entire continent before expanding into Seven Cities, Korelri and Genabackis. The Path to Ascendancy novels charts the founding of the empire and Night of Knives is set on the night that Empress Laseen ascends to power.

The Malazan Book of the Fallen proper begins with the Malazan Empire attempting to conquer the continent of Genabackis in the face of stiff resistance from the native Free Cities, allied to the Tiste Andii led by Anomander Rake, the mercenary army led by the Warlord, Caladan Brood, and the rebel Quon Talian army known as the Crimson Guard, under Prince K'azz D'Avore.

The Jaghut Tyrant Raest confronts the Eleint Silanah Redwings, by Michael Komarck.

Magic

Magic or sorcery is an important part of the Malazan series, although Steven Erikson and Ian Esslemont have refused to outline the "rules" of their "magic system", feeling that mystery is part of magic's innate appeal.

Magic in the Malazan universe is related to other dimensions and realities. These other dimensions were originally called Holds and mages could access them to perform wild and untamed feats of magic. Over the course of many tens of thousands of years, the Hold magic metamorphosed into the considerably more refined and powerful form of magic known as Warrens. A mage opens a portal to their warren and taps its power to create intended effects. Warrens/Holds are also actual places and mages can physically enter them and use them as shortcuts to re-emerge elsewhere in the world.

The older races can also access the Elder Warrens, which are keyed to their specific races (Kurald Galain for the Tiste, Omtose Phellack for the Jaghut etc) and are more powerful than the Paths, the types of Warren accessible by humans.

Some can also tap the completely wild and untamed powers of Chaos, that exist outside of creation. This is exceptionally dangerous.

Anomander Rake, by Michael Komarck.

Structure

The Malazan Book of the Fallen unfolds in an unusual, non-linear fashion. The first book in the series, Gardens of the Moon, is set on the continent of Genabackis and depicts the battle by the Malazan army for control of the city of Darujhistan. The second novel, Deadhouse Gates, moves the action to the continent of Seven Cities with almost an entirely new cast of characters. The third book, Memories of Ice, returns to Genabackis and takes place after Gardens of the Moon but simultaneously with Deadhouse Gates. The fourth book returns to Seven Cities again. Book 5, Midnight Tides, is a prequel to the rest of the series and is set on a completely different continent, Lether.

This "rotating continent" structure is possible because the Malazan series does not have a single, over-arcing narrative like Wheel of Time or A Song of Ice and Fire. Instead, each Malazan novel is (more or less) self-contained, with only subplots continuing between each novel. It's only at the end of the Malazan Book of the Fallen that these subplots become the main story, and this is resolved in the two-part novel consisting of Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God. The Malazan Empire sub-series uses a similar structure. The Kharkanas, Path to Ascendancy and presumably Toblakai series are each more traditional and linear in structure.


Entry Points into the Series

The Malazan series is notable for having several different "entry points" for new readers: Gardens of the Moon is the traditional starting point for new readers, but Night of Knives, Deadhouse Gates, Midnight Tides and Dancer's Lament are all viable starting points as well. Part of this is down to the perception that Gardens of the Moon, written considerably earlier than most of the other books, is confusing and unforgiving, not to mention is less well-written and has some odd continuity issues (given that Erikson wrote it almost a decade before the rest of the series).

However, given the immense complexity of the series I would, in general, recommend following publication order as the preferred reading order of the series, with the caveat that if Gardens of the Moon is really not working for you, you can skip ahead to Deadhouse Gates and come back later to finish Gardens.

Quick Ben, Kalam and Whiskeyjack of the Malazan Bridgeburners assess the suboptimal health of the mage Hairlock in the aftermath of the Battle of Pale. Art by Michael Komarck.

Conception and Development

Steven Erikson and Ian Esslemont conceived of the world circa 1981 as a setting for roleplaying game adventures, initially using the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (1st Edition) rules and later the GURPS system when they wanted something more flexible. They quickly evolved from "hack and slash" adventures to a more narrative-based form of roleplaying, deeply rooted in character, comedy and tragedy.

Esslemont wrote two novels in the setting, Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard, in the late 1980s but they failed to sell. Erikson wrote a film script called Gardens of the Moon which also failed to sail. He converted the script into a novel in 1991, keeping the name, but it also failed to sell. Erikson finally got several non-genre works published which attracted the attention of Bantam UK, who finally bought Gardens of the Moon. In 1998 Bantam and Gollancz fought a brief bidding war for the rights to nine sequels, which Bantam finally won by awarding Erikson an advance of £675,000 ($1,125,000 in 1999 money), one of the largest advances in fantasy publishing history (and possibly a still-unbeaten record for a debut author).

Gardens of the Moon was published in 1999, but Erikson hit a snag when his computer blew up halfway through the writing of Memories of Ice, the originally-planned second volume in the series, with insufficient backups. Unable to face rewriting the novel straight away, he instead wrote what had originally been conceived as a later book in the series, Deadhouse Gates. This situation inadvertently gave rise to the series' continent-rotating structure.

Erikson wrote the nine novels and 3,116,000 words (after the already-completed Gardens of the Moon) of the Malazan Book of the Fallen in about twelve and a half years. The series was written in bouts of Erikson living in both Canada and the UK, writing in coffee shops for four hours a day, five days a week. To complete the series in this timeframe, Erikson did not write multiple drafts and did not engage in extensive rewrites. He also did not pay exacting attention to matters of continuity, to the occasional despair of readers. However, the series attracted significant critical acclaim. Sales did lag behind, mainly due to American publishers not picking up the series until 2004. By the time the series was completed in 2011, it had sold over one million copies. However, the first two books in the Kharkanas Trilogy sold poorly by comparison, forcing Erikson to rethink his approach and delay the conclusion to that trilogy in favour of writing a sequel series revolving around the fan-favourite character of Karsa Orlong.

Ian Esslemont was busy as a working archaeologist, so could not capitalise on his friend's success at first. Eventually he got Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard into print in 2004 and 2007 via the small press PS Publishing, before Bantam UK and Tor picked up his series. Initially his sales trailed Erikson's significantly, but by the time of Dancer's Lament's release he had overtaken Erikson with sales-per-book.

Karsa Orlong by Ylva Ljungqvist.

The Future

Steven Erikson is now writing the first book of The Toblakai Trilogy, which will pick up the story five years or so after the events of The Crippled God and focus on the plan of the Toblakai warrior Karsa Orlong to destroy civilisation on the Malazan planet.

Ian Esslemont is working on the third volume of The Path to Ascendancy, continuing his story of how a disgraced mage and assassin working out of a run-down bar in a backwater town on a forgotten island forged one of the greatest empires in the history of the world.


Further Reading

The main online fan community for the Malazan series can be found at Malazanempire. Steven Erikson has a new Facebook page. The Malazan Wiki is a good resource for those confused by some (or all) aspects of the series.

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