Cover of Gardens of the Moon

Gardens of the Moon

core novel 1999 Malazan

Record

First published1999
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statuscore
Reader rating3.94 (144,461 ratings, collected 2026-09-11)
Page count666
First-edition ISBN9780593044704

Synopsis

Set on the continent of Genabackis, the Malazan Empire wages a grinding military campaign to conquer the last independent free city, Darujhistan, having already crushed most other resistance across the continent. Multiple viewpoint characters, including army captain Ganoes Paran, newly commissioned and untested, sergeant Whiskeyjack leading a squad of battle-hardened elite soldiers, and the mage Tattersail, are drawn into overlapping struggles among rival Malazan commanders, the city's own assassins' guilds, ancient and capricious gods, and other powerful beings whose agendas rarely align with the Empire's own, as imperial ambition and older, stranger forces collide over the fate of Darujhistan, drawing in assassins, mages, and beings whose true allegiances are never entirely what they first appear to be.

Where it sits

  • Universe: Malazan
  • Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen core; position 1 of 10 in the series' recorded order
  • Author: Steven Erikson

Awards (verified)

  • World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2000: nominated; Shortlisting confirmed; ceremony year lightly verified (publication 1999).

Notes

  • From the series record (Malazan Book of the Fallen): Ten novels, 1999-2011.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

  • Publication order, within the series Malazan Book of the Fallen: position 1 of 10: next Deadhouse Gates (2000)

Sources

← Malazan dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.