Malazan Book of the Fallen: An Introduction For New Readers

Malazan Book of the Fallen is one of the most incredible fantasy series out there. It's an immense 10 book series, with a number of associated novels set in the same world, and it contains a sprawling narrative that takes place over millennia. Steven Erikson was an archaeologist for years, and his expertise in the field really shines through with his detailed world building. Every city has a history, every race an evolutionary path, civilizations rise and fall, and every new empire is built on the bones of the ones that came before. It is mind-bendingly glorious, and until you are accustomed to the depth of the narrative, mind-bendingly tedious. Erikson doesn't pull any punches, and the first novel feels like an information dump. He drops you into the middle of the world and you are expected to start swimming. DO NOT LET THIS DETER YOU. Seriously, this is one of the best series out there.

With Gardens of the Moon, the first book in the series, free UNTIL TODAY (September 7) as part of TOR's eBook of the month club, I decided to make this introduction to the series to make the first book a little more palatable. It is by far the most difficult to read, and many readers drop it b/c of the complexity and unusual terminology, which is a huge mistake.

So here it goes. I've decided to split this up into five different sections, maybe I'll do individual posts, I haven't decided yet, but it's going to be a long read.
1. The World and Recent History
2. The Races
3. The Magic System (which was the hardest for me to understand)
4. The Gods/Ascendants
5. The Main Characters

Free eBook here: http://ebookclub.tor.com/

EDIT: Based off of some comments on reddit I want to add this:

For many, the love of the mystery is what hooks them into the series. They like that Erikson *doesn't* hold your hand. If you are the type of person that loves to read deeply and puzzle together the little details, this post isn't for you. Come back to it if you get through the first book and are still confused. I avoid as many spoilers as I can, and am intentionally vague about certain details, but there are minor spoilers here. Mostly in the history of the empire and the races section.

But if you don't mind some minor spoilers that will give you some context for the first book, or if you are planning on re-reading the series and want to brush up on your Malazan history, then give this a read.

EDIT 2: I am in no way affiliated with the author or publisher, I'm just a huge fan of the series and wanted to share these amazing books with others. I actually don't even own them. Yet. I would die of boredom w/o libraries.

The World and Recent History

The series focuses on empires: those current and those long past. The most important, and the focal point of the story, is the Malazan Empire.

The Malazan Empire has humble beginnings, coming to existence in a small dirty tavern. Kellanved, the first emperor, built it from the ground up with the help of some powerful companions: Surly and Dancer, who had a very particular set of skills; Whiskeyjack, Dujek, and Dassem Ultor who led the armies; Tayschrenn, a High Mage and priest of the God D'rek; and Cartheron and Urko Crust (brothers) who led the Navy. (There were more, and you will learn of -or meet- many them, but these are the ones that are important to Gardens of the Moon)

Firmly established on Malaz Island (Just southwest of the center of the map on the western end of the Traveller's Ocean. South east of Quon Tali) they extended their reach north to the continent of Quon Tali, then Kartool, and then even further north to the Seven Cities.

Shortly after Seven Cities was conquered Emperor Kellanved disappeared and Surly, the spymaster and leader of the Assassin organization called "The Claw", ruled in his stead. At this time Surly changed her name to Laseen, which in her native tongue means 'Thronemaster'. This is the time period in which the prologue of the first book takes place, shortly after the emperor's disappearance, with the framework of the chapter being riots in the city of Malaz and the Burning of the Mouse Quarter. The characters and events in the prologue have a long term impact on the story, which is probably why they were introduced so early. Seriously, pay attention to the Prologue.

 It's hard to give more information without straying into spoiler territory, and I do want to emphasize that nothing I've said is a huge spoiler, most of it takes place or is explained in the first few chapters and is the basis for the setting of the story. But Erikson doesn't give much context for some of this history, so it can be confusing when he doles it out in drips and drabs. The series is based on the political and military machinations of the Malazan Empire, so a lot of the history is wrapped up in intrigue, but this is a good foundation so you won't be completely lost the first time you hear 'Quon Tali' or 'Urko Crust'.

EDIT: This is a more accurate map of the world, but it has less things labeled. Thanks to cantlurkanymore on reddit for sending me the link. http://malazan.wikia.com/wiki/File:Malazan_World_Map_by_D'rek.jpg

After the Emperor's return he was assassinated by Laseen, and many of the 'Old Guard' -Kellanved's trusted allies- were either killed or demoted. Laseen then began to expand the Empire even further and at the beginning of Chapter One many years have passed and the Malazan Empire has already begun it's conquest of Genabackis and have taken control of most of the northern half of the continent, with the striped area still contested.

The majority of the book takes place on Genabackis, starting with the Massacre at Itko Kan (a small village in Quon Tali), the siege at Pale (Middle of the continent) as the army is marching further south, and the infiltration of Darujistan (Southern bank of Lake Azure- Purple).

 The Empire is well managed and in general the occupied cities are better off for the occupation. To use the Alignment grid from D&D, the Malazan Empire as an entity is kind of Lawful Evil. They do terrible things for personal gain, but they do leave law, order, and prosperity in their wake.

EDIT: Itko Kan is on the continent of Quon Tali, not Genabackis. I forgot to clarify that here.

The Races

These are all of the races (species?) present in the Malazan Series, but for the first book you really only have to worry about three of them: The T'lan I'mass, the Jahgut, and the Tiste Andii.

There are Four Founding Races, marked with asterisks in the picture. The T'lan Imass, the Jahgut, the Forkrul Assail, and the K'Chain Che'malle. There are other Elder races that are not considered part of The Four Founding Races. The Tiste belong to this group. Why the distinction exists will be revealed throughout the series.

The Barghast and the Moranth play an important role, but they don't need much introduction. They are a humanoid race native to Genebackis. They live in the Moranth Mountains and the Barghast Range on opposite sides of the continent. Some of them choose to help the Malazans in their conquest, others are fighting against them. The Moranth ride giant dragonfly like insects and are the creators of incredible explosive munitions, they also wear their insect's carapace as armor, hence the buggy features in the picture. The Barghast are kind of like the ancient Scots. A loose coalition of clans and tribes that constantly compete and war with each other.

EDIT: Like I explain later on, I don't think I should have included images of one of the races b/c it was too much of a spoiler for certain parts of the series, so I cropped them out b/c I couldn't remove the offending images entirely.

The Jahgut

The Jahgut are one of the Four Founding Races, some of the first intelligent creatures to walk the earth. They are large in stature, have greenish tinged skin, and large boarlike tusks. Sworn enemies of the T'lan Imass.

Their source of magic comes from the Elder Warren of ice: Omtose Phellack.

T'lan Imass

This is a picture of Onos T'oolan, aka Tool, The First Sword of the Logros T'lan Imass.

The T'lan Imass are an enigmatic bunch. Their physical appearance resembles Homo Heidelbergensis or Homo Neandertal. They were primitive humanoids that used stone weapons. What you need to know for the first book is that they are one of the Four Founding Races.

 The T'lan Imass draw their magic from the Elder Warren of fire: Tellan

K'Chain Che'malle

One of the Four Founding Races. These creatures are mentioned, but aren't essential, in the plot of 'Gardens of the Moon'.

They draw their Magic from the Elder Warren of light and sound: Kaschan

 EDIT: I messed up when I included a picture of this race, too much of a spoiler for Book 3 and beyond. I tried to remove or replace it, but it wouldn't let me. So I cropped it. But you can still enjoy this guy, who is awesome in his own right. He'll pop up in book 3.

All you need to know about them is their name, and possibly their warren. Again, I'm sorry for including this big spoiler.

Forkrul Assail

The last of the Four Founding Races. They aren't very important to Gardens of the Moon, but you will hear them mentioned numerous times in passing.

They draw their magic from the The Elder Warren of the psyche: Ahkrast Korvalain.

Dragons

Dragons also play an important role in the series, but theirs is usually behind the scenes. You'll catch glimpses of them every once in a while, but you'll have to wait until the last few books in the series to understand their true importance.

Dragons can draw magic from their Elder Warren: Starvald Demelain

Warrens- The Magic System

The magic is one of the hardest concepts to grasp. Not that it's complicated or difficult to understand, but because the names are hard to remember and strange. First I'll explain how the magic works, then I'll get into what the names are, starting with the most important.

Alright, what are the Warrens? You can think of the Warrens as extradimensional realms. Some are overflowing with magical energy, and some are not. These realms are real physical places with inhabitants, foliage, water, ecosystems, etc. If you have the knowledge and skill to do so, you can open up a rent in space and enter one of these realms, or summon creatures out of them.

A mage is someone who can tap into those realms and draw the excess energy into their bodies, then manipulate it as they see fit. Tattersail explained it like this: "The Warrens of Magic dwelt in the beyond. Find the gate and nudge it open a crack. What leaks out is yours to shape. Open yourself to the Warren that comes to you - that finds you. Draw forth its power - as much as your body and soul are capable of containing - but remember, when the body fails, the gate closes".

The warrens you can draw from depends on you, like Tattersail said: it depends on what comes to you, what your natural talents are. Most mages can only draw from one. High Mages are masters of one, but truly talented mages have access to two or more. To have access to more than one is rare, but you don't have to have more than one to be considered a High Mage or powerful. A mage who can access multiple warrens, but imperfectly, will be trounced by someone who is a master of one.

There are two main distinctions made by the characters about the magic system: the Elder Warrens, and the Paths- the Warrens accessible to Humans.

The Elder Warrens are associated with the elder races: all of them, not just The Four Founding Races. The Elder Warrens are also sometimes referred to as 'Holds'. These Elder Warrens are racial specific. So the T'lan Imass use the Tellan Warren; The Jahgut, Omtose Phellack; The Tiste Andii use Kurahld Galain.

You won't really see anyone else using Omtose Phellack, only the Jahgut; or anyone else use Tellan, only the T'lan Imass; or anyone else using Kurahld Galain, only the Tiste Andii. I say 'really see' b/c it is possible, but uncommon, practically nonexistent. In addition, these warrens are ancient, hundreds of thousands of years old; so there aren't very many people around who know about them, or if they do, how to access them.

The Paths are associated with Human warrens, and anyone with the aptitude or training can access them. The human Warrens are referred to as The Paths in the Appendix. The two terms are mostly interchangeable. Someone who can access the Path of Death can do necromancy or other death aspected magic. Someone with access to the Serc warren, the Path of the Sky, could use it to make themselves fly. Someone who can access the Ruse Warren, the Path of the Sea, can manipulate water. Some warrens are more commonly used than others. You will meet multiple practitioners of Thyr and Denul, but Telas and Serc are much less common, for example.

And finally there is the warren of Chaos. It is a realm, but it's considered to be the space between the other realms. Unaligned.

 All of these names are in the appendix, so you can use that as a reference when needed, but I'll include some of the most commonly referenced Warrens here:

Elder Warrens:
Omtose Phellack: Ice; Jahgut
Tellan: Fire; T'lan Imass
Kurald Galain: Darkness; Tiste Andii
Kurald Emurlahn: Shadow; Tiste Edur
Starvald Demelain: ?; Dragons

Warrens/Paths
Denul: Path of Healing; Mallet
Thyr: Path of Light; Tayschrenn, Tattersail
Telas: Path of Fire; Tayschrenn
Rashan: Path of Darkness; Cotillion, Ammanas, Hairlock
Meanas: Path of Shadow and Illusion; Ammanas

Other
Aral Gamelon: summoning; Tayscrenn. It seems like this warren can be accessed by any mage.
Imperial Warren: a non magical realm used for rapid travel. Anyone can access it, if they know about it.

Side Note: I threw in a lot of names and terms to help you get over the shock of seeing them used. They are new and strange, but are used frequently in the books.

EDIT: Further clarification. Throughout the text of the books you will only see the terms "Warren" and "Elder Warren" used. As Onos T'oolan explains: "the term ‘Elder’ is relative only to the existing Warrens of this age". There is no difference between the natures of the Elder Warrens that the Elder Races employ and the Warrens that the humans use. It is just a matter of age. The Imass and Jaghut thrived hundreds of thousands of years before the humans, so their Warrens are older than those of the current age, thus "Elder Warrens". But even though -practically speaking- there is no difference in the natures of the Elder Warrens and the Human Warrens, they are both physical realms that you can draw magic from, the people in the story make a distinction between the two.

Also, It is only in the appendix where you see the phrase "Path of ____". In the text itself you only see the word "Warren" used. But, as I explained earlier those two terms are largely interchangeable. The Warren is the name of the realm the magic is pulled from, but The Path refers to the nature of the magic itself. For example: The magic drawn from the Denul Warren is called "The Path of Healing", because that's what the magic does. The type of magic drawn from the Telas Warren is called the "Path of Fire" because it is fire aspected. And so on and so forth. But you wont hear Mallet say "I used the path of healing", he will instead say he "opened the Denul warren and healed _________."

Someone was confused by the distinction I drew between "the paths" and the "warrens", so I wanted to make sure that was perfectly clear

The Gods/ Ascendants

The gods are very active in The Malazan series, much like the gods of the ancient greeks. They leave their realms and interfere in the lives of humans, but usually only for specific reasons or personal benefit.

The gods each have their own 'House', with members of their pantheon assigned to roles in the House. The other members of the House may or may not be deities, but mortal agents whose lives and actions align with that House's nature, and they may not even be aware of their association.

So for example, the god of High House Death is Hood. He is a deity. He rules over the dead and it is his responsibility to bring the dead's souls into his realm. In High House Death there is a King: Hood; but there is also a Queen, Knight, Magi, Herald, Soldier, Spinner, Mason, and Virgin. Dassem Ultor, early companion of Kellanved and First Sword of he Malazan Empire before Laseen took over, was the Knight of the High House Death. I could give the names of some other people who filled those roles, but that would be spoiler worthy. I know it's complicated, but this is listed in the backs of the book to help you keep track.

Each of the members of the High Houses have their own cards in the Deck of Dragons, which is like a Tarot deck used for divination. Quick Ben explained that "the High Houses of the Deck relate to certain warrens and as such they present a kind of window looking in on those warrens—conversely, of course, things can in turn look out from the other side, which is what makes a reading so . . . risky. The Deck is indifferent to barriers—in the right hands it can reveal patterns and relationships hidden to mortal eyes." Additionally, b/c there are gods associated with the Warrens they can sense when someone is drawing power from their realm. Being a mage is a risky business.

Try and pay attention to the readings of the Deck of Dragons. They are cryptic, but in them are hints into the future of the series, it's really incredible.

Now that you have the basics of who the gods are I'll talk about some specific ones that are important to Gardens of the Moon.

Shadowthrone- Ammanas

King of High House Shadow. He is always depicted as cowled, and sometimes uses a cane. He has a thin reedy voice and commands the Hounds of Shadow. His names 'Shadowthrone' and 'Ammanas' are used interchangeably in the story.

The Rope- Cotillion

He is the Assassin in the High House Shadow. You meet both him and Shadowthrone in the beginning of Chapter One. His names 'Cotillion' and 'The Rope' are used interchangeably in the story.

Oponn

The twin jesters of chance. They play a very important role in Gardens of the Moon, and they were the ones I had the most trouble following. The book always refers to "the Lord's push" or "the Lady's pull", and I could never remember what each meant. So I will tell you:

The Lord's Push: Bad luck. Like the lord is going to push you off a cliff.
The Lady's Pull: Good luck. As in she will pull you back up if you fall. Lady Luck.

Anomander Rake

Leader of the Tistii Andii.

The Main Characters

The Imperial Marines are the best trained and most effective soldiers in the world, and the Bridgeburners are best of them all. The bulk of this series is about them.

If you're a fan of Glen Cook's The Black Company, then you will love this series, and you will love the Bridgeburners. They are always the first in when the city wall is breached and always the last out when the occupying force leaves.

Whiskeyjack

We first meet Whiskeyjack in the prologue as a commander of the Third Army, one of the Emperor's elite. When we next see him he is a lowly squad Sergeant, his demotion a result of Laseens's purge of the Old Guard.

Ganoes Paran

We first see him as the young boy who dreams of being a soldier in the prologue. Most of 'Gardens of the Moon' is about him.

Quick Ben

One of the Squad mages under Whiskeyjack's command, he is a native of the Seven Cities.

Sorry

A new recruit in Whiskeyjack's squad. Sorry grew up in Itko Kan, a small fishing village on Quon Tali.

Fiddler

A Sapper (Demolitions Expert/Engineer) in Whiskeyjack's Squad. Close friend of Hedge.

Kalam Mekhar

Member of Whiskeyjack's Squad. An assassin who is a native of the Seven Cities. Close friend of Quick Ben. He blackens his blades, not sure why the artist drew them so shiny- seems like a bad idea for an assassin.

Hedge

A Sapper (Demolitions Expert/Engineer) in Whiskeyjack's Squad. Close friend of Fiddler's. Hedge is on the left, Fiddler on the right.

Tattersail

Not much else to say. Her name is Tattersail, and she is a Cadre mage. She has a great character arc in the first book, but I always imagined her with a little more weight.

Mallet

The Bridgeburners, some of them. From left to right: Sorry, Hedge, Detoran, Fiddler, Quick Ben, Whiskeyjack, Mallet, Antsy, Kalam.

Mallet is the squad healer, he plays more of a minor role, so he doesn't get his own fan art. Mallet draws upon the Warren of Denul for his healing magic.

Detoran is one of the Heavies (heavy infantry) and a sergeant in another squad. Also a minor character.
Antsy is also another squad sergeant. minor character.

Some of Whiskeyjack's squad after the siege at Pale. From left to right: Sorry (background), Kalam, Quick Ben, and Whiskeyjack. Guy on the ground is Hairlock. Hairlock is having a bad day.

Laseen

Laseen is from Napan, so she has their characteristic blue/dark greyish skin. Once barmaid, now Empress. Napan is part of the Quon Tali Continent and lies between Quon Tali and Malaz Island

Crokus Younghand

A young thief from Darujistan (this pic makes him look older than he is). He is the nephew of Mammot, an elderly scholar and mage who dabbles in alchemy.

His Friends are:
Kruppe: an obese fence, Crokus brings him his ill gotten gains to sell.
Murrillio: an accomplished duelist and womanizer.
Rallick Nom: An assassin in Ocelot's clan.
Coll: a minor noble who lost his position and became a drunkard.

They all spend their time together at the Phoenix Inn.