Malazan Book of the Fallen

Malazan Book of the Fallen
Ebook cover of the series
AuthorSteven Erikson
LanguageEnglish
GenreHigh fantasy
PublisherTor Books (US)
Bantam Press (UK)
Subterranean Press (Limited Edition)
Published1 April 1999 – present
Media typePrint
Digital
No. of books10
Followed by

Malazan Book of the Fallen /məˈlæzən/[1] 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 (1999) and concluding with The Crippled God (2011). Erikson's series presents the narratives of a large cast of characters spanning thousands of years across multiple continents.[2][3][4][5]

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.[6] In 2005, 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 (The Black Company) and Stephen R. Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) hailing it as a masterwork of the imagination, and comparing Erikson to the likes of Joseph Conrad, Henry James, William Faulkner, and Fyodor Dostoevsky.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ Malazan is an adjective meaning "of Malaz" /məˈlæz/. For the pronunciation: Erikson, Steven (28 October 2020). "Steven Erikson Talks Building Malazan, Facebook Post, & MORE!" (Interview). Interviewed by Daniel Greene. YouTube. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  2. ^ Bangs, Arthur (14 May 2006). "The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson". SFFWorld.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  3. ^ "What I'm Reading #22 - GARDENS OF THE MOON by Steven Erikson". The Alexandrian. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  4. ^ "Steven Erikson's TOLL THE HOUNDS cover art". Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. 16 January 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  5. ^ Floresiensis. "Reviews - Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson". Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  6. ^ Erikson, Steven (2007). "Preface to the Gardens of the Moon redux". Gardens of the Moon. Bantam Books. pp. xii–xiv. ISBN 978-0-553-81957-1.
  7. ^ "Stephen R. Donaldson: Epic Fantasy: Necessary Literature". The New York Review of Science Fiction. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  8. ^ "Episode 264: Glen Cook and Steven Erikson". The Coode Podcast, Discussion and digression on science fiction and fantasy with Gary Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson". macmillan.com. Retrieved 23 April 2017.