2008-05-20 Gardens of the Moon

I got Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson from Daniel and enjoyed it. Unlike many fantasy books I had read when I was younger, this one didn’t assault me with a gazillion ideas that seemed lifted from the Lord of the Rings.

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

The book was hard to get into. The first hundred pages were confusing because various scenes from the character’s past are jumbled together, leading to two dozen names and confusing jumps in time. Later the storyline stabilizes and I enjoyed the various parts.

What I really enjoyed was that this was not a fight against a great evil but that there are interesting people on all sides. I was also relieved to find practically no sex in the book. Such scenes are very hard to pull off and I hardly ever enjoy them. What made this book particularly enjoyable was the power the various sorcerers wielded. Again and again, I enjoyed reading about the effects of sorcery and never did it fall flat.

Recommended.

Fair warning: Apparently this is going to end up an endless series much like the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Perhaps you want to wait and see whether the author actually manages to finish the series. The thought troubles me.

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

I bought volumes one to three in German so Claudia can read them, too. It has been a long time that I read a translation of a Fantasy book from English to German. I’ll try and read volume two in German. Wheeee! 😄

Claudia

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