"Gardens of the Moon" by Stephen Erickson: summary, main characters

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Stephen Erickson entered the fantasy literature unexpectedly as the author of interesting books with a gripping plot. His "Malazan Book" received not only positive feedback from readers, but also the support of older colleagues in the fantastic workshop.

Erickson created the world, which was influenced by the work of Herbert (the cycle of novels "Dune") and the works of G. Cook ("The Black Squad"). In his novels, we will meet both amazing, unexpected plots, as well as entertaining and funny moments. Erickson himself states that his love of history, mythology and archeology had a strong influence on the ideas and content of the novels, including the first work of the Malazan Book, The Garden of the Moon.

A few words about the author

Modern science fiction writer Steven Erickson writes under a pseudonym, the true name of the writer is Steve Lundin.

We will try to include all the biographical information that we have learned about the writer. Born Erickson in 1956 in Canada, he is an anthropologist and archaeologist. Lived for a short time in England, but, having lost hope of finding a publisher,returned to Canada.

Erickson has a wife and son. He writes novels and short stories in the fantasy genre. World fame was brought to him by the works included in the Malazan Book. After Gardens of the Moon, the first published book, Erickson entered into an agreement with a Canadian publisher in 1999 to write a nine-part sequel.

A brief about the work of Stephen Erickson

Steven Erickson's main work, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, has 10 novels. The action of all works takes place in a fictional world. Malaz, the capital of the empire, is the centerpiece of all novels in the series.

The novels are saturated more with psychologism than adventure, and this despite the fact that Erickson is not fond of monologues of the main characters. Psychologism is created through the internal conflicts of the characters, which are transferred to their actions in the books.

The writer in 2012 wrote the first novel "Forge of Darkness" of the new trilogy "Karkanas", in which there is a development of the storylines of some characters of the previous cycle, but the new novels have nothing to do with the "Malasan Book".

The beginning of a great story

The history of the Malazan Book began with the first novel, written back in 1991, but published 8 years later. "Gardens of the Moon" was conceived and written as a movie script, but after some time Stephen Erickson decided to rework the script into a novel.

The big publishing houses did not want to publish the book, and for a long period the writer waited for someone toagree to the publication of novels. For the sake of these goals, he even lived in Europe for a long time, but never got permission from European publishers to release the first book in the Gardens of the Moon cycle.

The first book in the series impressed many readers by introducing them to the world of the Malazan Empire.

Summary of "Gardens of the Moon"

Under mysterious and mysterious circumstances, the emperor of the Malazan Empire dies, and his place is taken by a "gray mouse" from the secret service under the name of Lasen. It does not stop hostilities, but, on the contrary, intensifies the war even more. Lasena's dream is to capture Jurdistan, a city in the land of Genabackis. In the novel Gardens of the Moon, the city of Jurdistan is described as a beautiful place, the city of blue lights.

If you capture Jurdistan, you can enjoy not only its natural resources, but also become the ruler of the world. Ah, how absolute power attracts people!

Lasena wants to ex alt herself in the eyes of her subordinates, and therefore she needs this war to subdue not only another continent, but also the people of the empire.

The situation in the world is heating up, and the rulers of Jurdistan are ready to surrender the city to end the war. But third forces intervene in the course of events, who do not want one empire to rule the world. The lord of the flying fortress on the continent of Genabackis, Anomander Reik and his troops do not want to share power on the continent with the Malazan Empire, and therefore they give battle to Lasena.

Another power is the immortal gods, who do not like the actions of the newempresses. The gods use the body of a young girl as a vessel and take possession of her soul. After that, she is sent to the Malazan Empire to join the active army.

The empire itself is also restless. An army group of bridge burners rebels against Lasena because they do not recognize her authority. The incinerators cannot forgive her for having eliminated the allies and close associates of the emperor. The head of the incinerators becomes a forbidden person in the empire, falls into disgrace, but the whole army is ready to follow him. An attack on Jurdistan is threatened and may not materialize.

Let's talk about peace

For any reader of science fiction, in addition to the ideas and thoughts of the work, the world that the writer creates is very important. Steven Erickson in Gardens of the Moon did an excellent job of elaborating the structure of the Malazan Empire and the entire universe. The narration of the world goes slowly, one gets the feeling that the writer is in no hurry.

Erickson lovingly describes the life of the common people who inhabit the continents of the universe.

People populated the lands of the world, replaced other civilizations. In addition to people in the world of Ekrikson, there are non-humans, gods and magicians. In the Gardens of the Moon, the writer even endowed nonhumans with his own thinking. There are no typical fantasy world characters like elves, dwarves or goblins in the book. Erickson created his own world, with his own fictional races.

Some readers notice that Erickson paid little attention to the elaboration of everyday details, but this minus is compensated by the intrigues of the powerful and the exciting plotnovel.

Something about magic

Magic in Erickson's universe is key. To become a magician, a sorcerer or wizard needs to discover his own path. What is a path? This is a kind of predestination, the road invisible to mortals, along which the magician goes.

So, the magician opens the path and, in accordance with it, chooses what he will do: heal people, control the natural world, participate in intrigues, accumulate wisdom, etc. Choosing a path, the magician can later change it, arrange the universe as it pleases.

Paths have the power to move through space. If the magician wants to get to the right place, he can do it many times faster than an ordinary person. The paths also serve as weapons and protection for mages. Some paths can lead to the gods, but for this the wizard must have the highest magical skill.

Inhumans can also move through the paths, but their paths are special, acting according to certain rules. Ordinary mortals cannot move through space.

Gardens of the Moon not only features path magic, but also magical artifacts such as enchanted weapons and other magical items.

Book Characters

Gardens of the Moon is full of interesting, unique and characteristic characters. The characters are very colorful, written in good literary language.

Among the main characters in the Gardens of the Moon, the following characters can be distinguished:

• Ganoes Starbo Paran;
• Dujek the One-Armed;
• sorceress Leaky Sail;
• sergeantWaterskin;
• Anomander Rake;
• Kaladan Brood.

Let's stop and talk about some of the most colorful characters.

Dujek the One-Armed is a military commander in Genabackis, a very bright and famous commander with deep knowledge of military affairs and an invincible warrior. In the novel, he is opposed by Kaladan Brood, an ally of Anomander Reik, a talented military man who is not inferior in mind and strength to Dujek.

Sorceress Leaky Sail - a witch who walks the path of light. This is a very mysterious and eccentric sorceress: she is over two hundred years old, suffers from an excess of weight in the body, but despite this, she is beautiful and positive. Skillfully lays out divination cards.

Sergeant Waterskin is the charismatic leader of the Incinerators, the army unit that rebelled against Lasena.

Anomander Reik is an enemy of the empire, a very tough and powerful ruler, even whose name is feared by the inhabitants of all continents. Together with Kaladan, Brood confronts Lasena and her ambitions of a conqueror.

It should also be noted among the characters of the book five friends from Jurdistan, whose life story Erickson describes. In the huge city of Jurdistan, a conflict of interests arises between several groups, among which one very colorful structure stands out, which includes:

• happy fat Krupp;
• thief Crocus;
• Rallick Nome, assassin;
• Murillo;
• Drinker Koll.

One could write a lot about the characters of the book,There are many interesting characters in the novel. The abundance of characters leads to confusion of names and surnames, so you should carefully monitor the development of each individual character.

Reviews and features of the novel

Readers note that reading Erickson is not easy. The artistic language is good, no one argues with this, but a large array of characters and a viscous, viscous plot, unhurried and monotonous, will not be mastered by every fantasy fan. Erickson moves from one part of the story to another for a very long time. The plot, for example, is described for a third of the novel.

Readers who are accustomed to battle scenes, the rapid development of the plot, are unlikely to master Erickson's novel. This is a book, first of all, for thoughtful reading, for those who like to think and analyze.

But if you do not take these disadvantages into account, the writer writes interesting books with an exciting plot, so those who decide to master the path will find sheer pleasure: intrigues, conspiracies, wars and immersion in a different reality, unlike other fantastic worlds. The novel is imbued with humor, riddles, makes you think about eternal problems: who is a person, what is slavery and freedom, the desire for absolute power, dependence on faith and religion.

Gardens of the Moon is a massive story of power, friendship, freedom and love that will impress any reader.