Gardens of the Moon

   This is the first novel in Erikson's Malazon series.  Some people really like these books-- but I'm not one of them.  This first book was so poorly written and unfocused that I gave up on the series.

 There are lots of characters in this book.  Erikson never describes much of anything about them.  They just appear, and start doing stuff.  Then they disappear for 100 pages, then they reappear, then they suddenly die.  That's pretty much how this book goes.

 Additionally the prose can be painful, this is not lyrical, and repeated words and phrases within just a few lines are common--this drove me crazy! A good editor should have caught and fixed shit like this.

 Some people say the later books are better, and that Erikson's writing improves.  I haven't bothered to test these claims yet, and I'm not sure if I ever will..

 Anyway, this book is not worth reading, perhaps the sequels are, but this one is absolutely not.  It reads like a D&D campaign, and as such has about as much depth.


7/10