You can read Rick Yancey's The Monstrumologiston-line for a limited time.
Blurb
Will Henry is an orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet. Critically acclaimed author Rick Yancey has written a gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does a man become the very thing he hunts?
I write four hours a day, usually in the afternoon (I’m a late riser), at a local pub or cafe — the ones run by friendly, accommodating people who don’t object to my taking up a table and occasionally plugging in my laptop.
A nice interview but Erikson is still not smiling on the picture, though! ;)
This is not a small accomplishment. I hope that it is a true indicator of e-book reader usage and what can be achieved with an appropriate pricing model. I'm sure people are going to argue about publisher's margins etc. but there are more and more e-book readers sold. It's a healthy market. We just need to solve a few important problems (such as appropriate pricing, DRM and common formats) for it to become mainstream relatively quickly. But for now, I'm savoring the moment.
Title: Gardens of the Moon
Author: Steven Erikson
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Bantam (UK & Canada) & Tor (USA)
Publishing Date: 1 April 1999
Paperback: 752 pages
Series: First of ten (or maybe more) novels of the epic fantasy series, The Malazan Book Of The Fallen.
Summary
The story starts with the encounter between a boy called Ganoes Paran and the Sergeant Wiskeyjack during the final year of the Emperor Kellanved's reign. Ganoes, who's in Malaz City with his father, witnesses the raiding of the Mouse Quarter. During their conversation, Wiskeyjack disapproves the young Ganoes' dreams of becoming a soldier.
Then the book fast forwards seven years: Emperor Kellanved and his ally called Dancer have been assassinated. Since then, the Empire has been ruled by the Empress Laseen whose eyes are set on the Genabackis continent. The Malazan 2nd army is besieging Pale, one of the two free cities remaining on this continent. And we find Wiskeyjack and Ganoes Paran among the many characters whose lives are touched by these events.
Don't Judge A Book By It But...
I know that there have been various different covers depending on the editions. Those are my two favorite ones. I really like both and they would be the type of cover that makes me pick up a book and have a look. The first cover doesn't tell much about the martial aspect of the book however it creates a better mystery. From this point of view, I think that the second cover makes more justice to the story. Furthermore, the person on the second cover is Anomander Rake, Lord of Moon's Spawn and the leader of Tiste Andii. He is an extremely cool character.
Review
Wow! I just discovered that reading Erikson is a very fulfilling experience, in many ways. It's like drinking a pint of Murphy's (if you're asking "a pint of what?", it's like Guinness but it's better :). It's a superior stout from Cork, Ireland): It's tasty, it's rich, it has character, it has depth...
Gardens Of The Moon had been on my to-read list for a long while and I don't quite know why, I had always had something else to read. I mean, I don't know why I preferred to read something else but you know how it works. You have a list in your mind and depending on your mood you reshuffle that. Or you have a nice blog that you follow, you read a new review and bang! The list is reordered.
Anyway... I'm glad that I decided to plunge into the Malazan world. After a few dozen pages, I put the book down and I asked myself "Have I missed a few introductory chapters? Was there a book before Gardens Of The Moon?" It seems that it's normal to feel a bit lost in the beginning. It turns out that Erikson tells a story as it happens without constant background information giving. This becomes a very interesting style. On the one hand, potentially boring introductory chapters are avoided and it creates further mystery, and on the other hand the book reads like a real life event. Almost like the reader is a true witness to the story unfolding before her eyes but because she just arrived, she doesn't have much background information, naturally. So, at this point, if the reader is patient enough to follow Erikson's lead, she's rewarded by a window opening onto an incredible universe. I understand, now, what the author himself meant by saying "you either like it or you don't". Luckily I liked it very very much.
My first introduction to fantasy happened when I started to read my uncle's Conan comic books during my childhood. I still enjoy reading Conan, every now and then. The richness and the possibilities offered by the universe and the setting in Gardens Of The Moon reminded me of the Conan universe. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that the storylines or the styles are similar. It's just that the world created by Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont is so rich with martial action, diverse races, deities, magical warrens, types of magic wielders, demons, armies, long forgotten civilizations, myths, etc. that the comparison came to me naturally, I guess.
The book has parallel stories running at the same time. Jumping from one story to another one is very frequent. And as I've already mentioned, it is rich in characters. My favourite ones are Anomander Rake, Whiskeyjack, the mysterious Kalam and Quick Ben who seems to be so much more than a simple mage. There are so many others: Irritating Tattersail, the confusing Ganoes Paran, the fat Kruppe, the young Crokus, Rallick Nom the assassin, Toc the Younger (I have the feeling that we're going to meet him again in a later book)... there are so many of them who make the whole book a delight to read. Furthermore, I found it was easy to connect with most of the characters.
Despite feeling lost in the beginning, Gardens Of The Moon ended up being a brilliant read. So much so that I had to continue with the second book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series immediately after finishing the first one. I've never been afraid of ambitious books and Gardens Of The Moon certainly starts like the first book of a very ambitious series. So, if you're like me, you are going to love it.
Rating: 9/10
Quote
"Such tears had been shed before, and would be again - by others like her and yet unlike her. And the winds would dry them all."
Question: Why does Steven Erikson never smile on pictures?
Final Note: Even though I haven't been playing for a few years, I played role-playing games for a long time (mostly table-top and on-line – not much video games). I can clearly see the creative minds behind such a rich world and how this whole universe can relate to an RPG world. I believe it would truly be a wonderful experience to role-play in a game GMed by the author.
I'm very impressed by some of the titles given away by Suvudu for free. This month, Suvudu Free Book Library displays China Miéville's Perdido Street Station among the 3 free e-books they have available in multiple formats:
From Douglas Clegg, award-winning author of The Hour Before Dark and The Abandoned, comes a novel of unimaginable terror and heart-pounding suspense. What secrets lie within the ancient place known as the Goat Dance? A Haunted Lake . . . Seven-year-old Teddy Amory should have died that winter's day on Clear Lake, when she fell through the ice while skating with her older brother, Jake. But something got inside her that day . . . something terrifying . . . A Haunted Town . . . Nightmarish forces lurk in the mountains of Virginia, and a shadowy darkness has begun to spread like a shroud over the living. Now a town must face its terrifying past as a possessed child threatens to unleash an unspeakable horror . . .
I haven't read Abercrombie's Best Served Cold yet however I greatly enjoyed his The First Law trilogy. And the Best Served Cold has been on my list, patiently waiting for its turn to be read.
A few days ago Joe Abercrombie talked about his next book, The Heroes, on his blog:
Both because the action centres around a ring of standing stones called the Heroes, and because it's about heroism and that (meant semi-ironically, of course). It mostly takes place over the course of three days, and is the story of a single battle for control of the North. Think Lord of the Rings meets A Bridge Too Far, with a sprinkling of Band of Brothers and Generation Kill. It's about war, you get me? Principally it follows the (mis)adventures of six assorted persons on both sides and different levels of command, whose paths intersect during the course of the battle in various fateful, horrible, wonderful, surprisingly violent, surprisingly unviolent, and hilarious ways. With the Northmen: a veteran losing his nerve who just wants to keep his crew alive, an ex-Prince determined to claw his way back to power by any means necessary, a young lad determined to win a place in the songs for himself. With the Union: A depressive swordsman who used to be the king's bodyguard, a profiteering standard-bearer, and the venomously ambitious daughter of the Marshal in command. But of course a fair few familiar faces show up on both sides...
It sounds like another exciting book but unfortunately we won't be able to read it until February 2011 it seems.
I simply love fantasy, sci-fi and horror stories. And I share my thoughts about the books that I read on this blog.
Please feel free to contact me at betweentwobooks at gmail dot com.
You can read Rick Yancey's The Monstrumologist on-line for a limited time.
