Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, Vol. 1)
The most demanding epic fantasy series ever written. Erikson built a sprawling, merciless, anthropologically rigorous world with hundreds of gods and empires, then trusted readers to keep up. Those who do find the most emotionally overwhelming fantasy series in print.
You are “flung into the fantasy world from the first page with no explanation,” no glossary and no account of the magic or history, dozens of names and factions arriving at once. Some feel “people were necessary vehicles for him to create his fantasy world” rather than the reverse. New powers and gods keep appearing without groundwork, as if Erikson “pulled a new thing out of his ass every five pages.” Others find the whole “constructed like an RPG game.” The structure is choppy and cinematic, which readers trace to its literal origin as a failed screenplay. And even the fanbase calls it the weakest of the ten volumes.
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
