"Gardens of the Moon" seriously just drops the reader into a massive war scene. Gods are walking around in Mortal form, totally Frakking with people in ugly, ugly ways, suddenly there's a flying mountain, and hell rains down on these Marines and Mages called the Bridgeburners, but there is treachery, and meek little Sorry is a badass all of a sudden, and killing everyone, and where the hell did this Jaghut Tyrant and the Imass come from... WTF is an Imass? What's up with the goofy names, and WHA??? Just WHA??? But, boy, there were some outrageous battle and magic scenes. Whoa! Everything snaps into focus, and BAM!!! The Eel!!!

That's how GotM was for me, and the reader keeps getting dropped blind into strange, new parts of the world, in "Meanwhile over here... (poof! reader lands in a cloud of dust into a totally new part of the current events)" moments through the entire series. In "Deadhouse Gates" Massive ancient powers are being unleashed in the holy desert of Raraku by parties resistant to the Malazan push. An Historian, sworn to the War god, Fener, inadvertently rips the Pig God out of the Pantheon. Power draws powers, and gods, ascendant demi-gods, and powerful armies explode in the Whirlwind. Meanwhile, Coltain, a beloved Tribal warrior, and a High Fist for the Malazan Empire leads thousands of refugees to safety, but higher powers are set against him, and in destroying him, birth his martyrdom. We have no idea how all this came to be before we witness it first-hand as we read. It's a History.

Are we supposed to know what's really going on? No. RAFO. As pieces of one book come together, it slowly brings "A-HA!" moments in the Big Picture of the epic... The one certain Truth-- the Bridgeburners will both win your heart, and break it in monumental ways.

Gods above, this series is enormous, and you're just one reader, one Historian trying to take it all in... The entire story is written in past- tense. Some of that past is half-million years ago, some is just recently. Rolling with Erikson's flow brings surprises, demises and rewards with every page and every book.

--mf