Malazan Book of the Fallen


The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a series of epic fantasy novels written by the Canadian author Steven Erikson. The series, published by Bantam Books in the U.K. and Tor Books in the U.S., consists of ten volumes, beginning with Gardens of the Moon and concluding with The Crippled God. Erikson's series presents the narratives of a large cast of characters spanning thousands of years across multiple continents.
His stories present complicated series of events in the world upon which the Malazan Empire is located. Each of the first five novels is relatively self-contained, in that each resolves its respective primary conflict; however, many underlying characters and events are interwoven throughout the works of the series, binding it together. The Malazan world was co-created by Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont in the early 1980s as a backdrop to their GURPS roleplaying campaign. In 2004, Esslemont began publishing his own series of six novels set in the same world, beginning with Night of Knives. Although Esslemont's books are published under a different series title – Novels of the Malazan Empire – Esslemont and Erikson collaborated on the storyline for the entire sixteen-book project and Esslemont's novels are considered to be as canonical and integral to the series' mythos as Erikson's own.
The series has received widespread critical acclaim, with reviewers praising the epic scope, plot complexity and characterizations, and fellow authors such as Glen Cook and Stephen R. Donaldson hailing it as a masterwork of the imagination, and comparing Erikson to the likes of Joseph Conrad, Henry James, William Faulkner, and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Books

List

Erikson and Esslemont recommend reading the books in order of publication. Tor.com published a reading order based on the approximate chronological order of events in the series, which the authors did not consider suitable as a reading order for a first-time reader.
#TitleSeriesApproximate Word Count1st Publication
1Gardens of the MoonMalazan Book of the Fallen #1205k1999 April 1
2Deadhouse GatesMalazan Book of the Fallen #2264k2000 September 1
3Memories of IceMalazan Book of the Fallen #3346k2001 December 6
4House of ChainsMalazan Book of the Fallen #4298k2002 December 2
5Midnight TidesMalazan Book of the Fallen #5265k2004 March 1
6Night of KnivesNovels of the Malazan Empire #192k2004 September 1
7The BonehuntersMalazan Book of the Fallen #6355k2006 March 1
8The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 1The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #1-368k2009 September 15
9Reaper's GaleMalazan Book of the Fallen #7378k2007 May 7
10Toll the HoundsMalazan Book of the Fallen #8391k2008 June 30
11Return of the Crimson GuardNovels of the Malazan Empire #2273k2008 August 15
12Dust of DreamsMalazan Book of the Fallen #9371k2009 August 18
13StonewielderNovels of the Malazan Empire #3233k2010 November 25
14The Crippled GodMalazan Book of the Fallen #10376k2011 February 15
15Orb Sceptre ThroneNovels of the Malazan Empire #4217k2012 February 20
16Blood and BoneNovels of the Malazan Empire #5227k2012 November 22
17Forge of DarknessThe Kharkanas Trilogy #1292k2012 August 2
18AssailNovels of the Malazan Empire #6207k2014 August 5
19Fall of LightThe Kharkanas Trilogy #2355k2016 April 26
20Dancer's LamentPath to Ascendancy #1144k2016 February 25
21The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 2The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #4-6123k2018 September 20
22Deadhouse LandingPath to Ascendancy #2130k2017 November 15
23Kellanved's ReachPath to Ascendancy #3112k2019 February 19
24Upon a Dark of Evil OverlordsThe Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #72020 October 31
25The God is Not WillingThe Tales of Witness #1191k2021 July 1
26Forge of the High MagePath to Ascendancy #4151k2023 April 6
27No Life ForsakenThe Tales of Witness #22025 October 23
TBALegacies of BetrayalThe Tales of Witness #3TBA
TBAWalk in ShadowThe Kharkanas Trilogy #3TBA
TBAUnnamedThe Tales of Witness #4TBA
TBAUnnamedPath to Ascendancy #5TBA
TBAUnnamedPath to Ascendancy #6TBA
TBATime's Cursed CartwheelThe Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #8TBA
TBAUnnamedThe Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #9TBA

Malazan Book of the Fallen

This is the main series, written by Steven Erikson, and commenced, in terms of publication order, before any of the other series. This first novel, Gardens of the Moon, was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award. The second novel, Deadhouse Gates, was voted one of the ten best fantasy novels of 2000 by SF Site.

The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach

The first three novellas were published together as The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 1. The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 2 includes the second three novellas.

Novels of the Malazan Empire

Novels of the Malazan Empire is a six-part novel series written by Ian Cameron Esslemont. The novels cover events simultaneous with the Book of the Fallen, like the mystery of the Crimson Guard, the succession of the Malazan Empire, the situation on Korel and Jacuruku and the mystery of Assail.

The Kharkanas Trilogy

The Kharkanas Trilogy is a prequel series written by Steven Erikson after the completion of the main series. The series deals with the Tiste before their split into darkness, light and shadow. It sheds light on the events that are often hinted at in the background of Malazan Book of the Fallen. Many of the important Tiste characters from the Malazan Book of the Fallen make an appearance like Anomander Rake, Draconus, Spinnock Durav and Andarist.

Path to Ascendancy

The Path to Ascendancy is a prequel series set in the world of Malazan, written by Ian Cameron Esslemont. The stories deal with the early adventures of Dancer and Kellanved and their eventual rise to power on Quon Tali.

The Tales of Witness

The Tales of Witness is a series written by Steven Erikson as a sequel to the main series featuring Karsa Orlong and his quest to destroy civilization.
In July 2024, Erikson stated that the series would now be four novels instead of the planned trilogy, as the second novel needed to be split in two.

Conception

The Malazan world was originally created by Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont in 1982 as a backdrop for role-playing games using a modified version of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. By 1986, when the GURPS system had been adopted by Erikson and Esslemont, the world had become much larger and more complex, approaching its current scope. It was then developed into a movie script entitled Gardens of the Moon. When this was not successful in finding interest, the two writers agreed to each write a series set in their shared world. Steven Erikson wrote Gardens of the Moon as a novel in the period 1991-92 but it was not published until 1999. In the meantime, he wrote several non-fantasy novels. When he sold Gardens of the Moon, he agreed to a contract for an additional nine volumes in the series. The contract with Bantam UK was worth £675,000 making it "among the largest fees ever paid for a fantasy series".
Ian Cameron Esslemont wrote the Novels series from 2004 to 2014.
After finishing the two main series, Erikson and Esslemont continued on to further projects in the Malazan universe. While writing the last novels in The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Erikson decided that his next project, The Kharkanas Trilogy, would be a "trilogy traditional in form," saying the following: "If the Malazan series emphasized a postmodern critique of the subgenre of epic fantasy, paying subtle homage all the while, the Kharkanas Trilogy subsumes the critical aspects and focuses instead on the homage."
At one point, Steven Erikson indicated that the two authors would collaborate on The Encyclopedia Malaz, an extensive guide to the series, which was to be published following the last novel in the main sequence. In an interview on a later date, however, he mentioned talks underway with an RPG 20D group to produce a game adapted from the Malazan universe, in which case the maps and notes created by Erikson and Esslemont would be released through installments or expansions rather than through the publishing of an encyclopedia.
The Malazan world has no official unified name, although Steven Erikson has jokingly called it Wu.
In an interview with a Spanish fantasy blog, Erikson said that the hand-drawn version of the Malazan world which he had at home was too large to be photocopied; however, he also said that the maps created by fans were coming close.

Influences

In a general review of The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn, Erikson fired a shot across the bow of "the state of scholarship in the fantastic as it pertains to epic fantasy," taking particularly to task James's opening lines in Chapter 5 of that volume. Erikson uses a handful of words from that chapter as an epigraph for a quasi-autobiographical essay in The [New York Review of Science Fiction]. James's sentences read in full:
Erikson writes, "But epic fantasy has moved on, something critics have failed to notice." He goes on,
Erikson concludes, "So, Professor James, when you say 'since ... most subsequent writers of fantasy are either imitating him or else desperately trying to escape his influence'—sorry. You're flat-out wrong."

Themes

The Malazan series contains many themes around socio-economic inequality and social injustice throughout such as gender equality with Erikson stating "It occurred to us that it would create a culture without gender bias so there would be no gender-based hierarchies of power. It became a world without sexism and that was very interesting to explore." as well as the inevitability of and role of art in civilizational collapse and many other themes rooted in a postmodernist and post-structuralist deconstruction of the fantasy genre and magical realism.

Critical reception

The series was positively received by critics, who praised the epic scope, plot complexity and the introspective nature of the characterization, which serve as social commentary. Fellow author Glen Cook has called the series a masterwork of the imagination that may be the high water mark of the epic fantasy genre. In his treatise written for The New York Review of Science Fiction, fellow author Stephen R. Donaldson has also praised Erikson for his approach to the fantasy genre, the subversion of classical tropes, the complex characterizations, the social commentary — pointing explicitly to parallels between the fictional Letheras Economy and the US Economy — and has compared him to the likes of Joseph Conrad, Henry James, William Faulkner, and Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Reviewing for SF Site, Dominic Cilli says, The Malazan Book of the Fallen raises "the bar for fantasy literature", that the world building and the writing are exceptional. Cilli claims the series is written for the "most advanced readers out there.", going on to state that "Even they will have to make two passes through all ten books to fully comprehend the myriad of plotlines, characters and various settings that Erickson presents to us." Reading Erikson's "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" might be "the most challenging literary trial" a reader has ever tried, yet "the payoff is too enormous to ignore and well worth taking on the endeavor. Steven Erikson doesn't spoon feed his readers. He forces you to question and think on a level that very few authors would even dare for fear of finding and perhaps losing an audience."