Malazan Book of the Fallen

A coworker was talking to me the other day and asked if I had read the Game of Thrones series and I responded that I had a long time ago. He proceeded to fan-boy about them and then said "they were the best books I've ever read." He looked at me as if I was to respond in the same way. I simply said "I've read better" and then proceeded to list books that I thought we amazing and better than Game of Thrones. One of these series was the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

It is a series that is quite under-discovered and under appreciated. These books, there are ten in the Steven Erikson series, are the most fantasy driven, in-depth, creative, absorbing books I have ever read. They stand next to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in depth and creativity.

The series contains a massive world populated by various unique races scattered across the map, each with a unique culture, language, behaviour, and ways of waging war and fighting. It is such a colourful and extensive story that will blow you away.

The story focuses mostly on a few group of characters and the focus changes both within the book and from novel to novel. This does create difficulty, at times, when trying to follow the story but it necessary with such a large tale and it does get easier as you get used to the writing method. The main characters are Ganoes Paran, a nobleman's son who is an untested officer in the Malazan Empire's army, The Bridgeburners, the most feared and well known squad in the army,

Don't stop reading because of Deadhouse Gates, it's a good book but it is the slowest of the series and will feel like it drags a little. It's a pivotal portion of the story so you have to read it and trust me it only gets better afterwards.

Author	Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen)	Ian Cameron Esslemont (Malazan Novels)
Malazan	Gardens of the Moon Deadhouse Gates Memories of Ice House of Chains Midnight Tides The Bonehunters Reaper's Gale Toll the Hounds Dust of Dreams The Crippled God	Night of Knives Return of the Crimson Guard Stonewielder Orb, Sceptre, Throne Blood and Bone Assail
Novellas surrounding the necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach	Blood Follows The Healthy Dead The Lees of Laughter's End Crack’d Pot Trail The Wurms of Blearmouth
The Kharkanas Trilogy	Forge of Darkness Fall of Light (2015) Walk in Shadow (TBA)

In the above table I have read the books with the bolded titles, they are listed in correct order as well. They are fantastic and I hear good things about Cameron's writing in the world the two authors share. 

I urge you read these books, they are beyond fantastic but I word of advice, don't read them while reading another series or other fantasy books in between. The plot lines will start to become intermingled in your mind and you'll forget key characters and events.

Please read and enjoy. The Malazan Book of the Fallen series is the definition of high fantasy. 

M.