Gardens of the Moon Book Review

Title: Gardens of the Moon
Author: Steven Erikson 
Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Published: 1999
Pages: 488 (Kindle Edition)
Goodreads Rating: 3.92
Rating: 8/10

“Self-righteous wrath had planted more corpses in the ground than an empire could lay claim to…” 

In Gardens of the Moon, you are thrown into an epic world of war, magic, gods, dragons, and so much more. What at first may seem like a simple war of greedy expansion is quickly warped and twisted into a complex web of deceitful loyalty and conniving honor. Confused? Get comfortable with that feeling.

Pros:
Characters
Gardens of the Moon is full of unique, interesting characters – which says a lot considering just how many characters are in this book. I quickly fell in love with a few of them including Ganoes Paran, Quick Ben, Kalam, Crone, and Anomander Rake. 

Pacing
This book was wonderfully paced where nothing felt rushed or dragged out. Not a single page was wasted or unnecessary. 

Multiple POVs per chapter
Each chapter contains multiple POVs and it was absolutely essential to better understand the full extent of what was happening. Having a variety of POVs for the same situation led to some of my favorite scenes in the book. 

Cons:
Time to get your bearings
It took me about 200 pages to get my bearings… The author throws you into the deep end and doesn’t take the time to clearly explain who is who and what is going on. With a legion of characters, a variety of magic users and powers, and multiple settings… it can feel disorienting. 

Overwhelming details
I would like to give a huge shoutout to Iskar Jarak for all of his amazing YouTube videos explaining what exactly is happening in this book. I would often read a chapter and grasp about 90% of it. That’s where Jarak’s videos stepped in to fill in the blanks. Without his videos, I don’t know if I would have fully understood the intricacies of the book.

Dense
The Kindle edition is 488 pages but it easily felt like an 800+ page book. You have to read each paragraph very carefully to understand the POV you’re in, the situation they’re dealing with, who’s involved, and so much more. There is no skimming with this book.  

Overall…
When you read this book, get comfortable with a deep sense of confusion. I’m still not sure I fully grasped all of what happened in this book. And despite that general feeling, I thought Gardens of the Moon was fantastic. I look forward to continuing with this series!