Malazan: Ten Doorstops That Made Me Take Writing Seriously
Why Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson is my Favourite Fantasy World
Today, I will attempt to convince you to read ten books averaging around a thousand pages each: Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen.
I’ve always read a lot, and I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I still remember when my English teacher handed me back a story I’d written for an assignment and told me I had talent. While that can be debated, I can confirm it was my first push towards wanting to be a writer.
So, for a few years I’d tap away at my laptop, filling blank Microsoft Word documents with off-the-top stories that I never took seriously but still imagining myself as the next Stephen King.
Then the hobby faded away as I fell into the same traps we all do as we find the world beyond school. College, getting a first job, then getting a good job, then quarter-life crises.
At some point I picked up a book called Gardens of the Moon, the first entry in the ten-book series known as Malazan Book of the Fallen. Before that, my education on the fantasy genre was confined to random scenes from Lord of the Rings whenever it was on TV, and trying to convince my friends that the Wire was actually better than Game of Thrones after watching the first episode.
So, I picked up this battered and tattered pre-owned book on Amazon, deciding I’d get through this first entry at least. If I didn’t care for it, I’d just skip the nine other books.
I did care. I blasted through Gardens of the Moon in about a month. Then I moved on to the second book, hoping for more of the characters I’d come to know.
The thing about the Malazan books though, is they aren’t written like another series would be written. In the second book, Deadhouse Gates, after you’ve already spent hours learning the names and backstories of probably a hundred different characters in the first book, you’re dropped remorselessly in the middle of a different continent. Only a few familiar faces return to help keep you afloat.
It doesn’t matter. In Malazan, the world is the main character. The story isn’t about one person, it’s a tapestry, weaving together threads with agonising slowness until they all come together in an awe-inspiring climax in the tenth book.
I’m getting ahead of myself though.
While some might get disheartened by this sudden shift in focus, if you stick with it, I guarantee the second book will surpass the first for ninety-nine percent of readers. This is where the series really dug its hooks into me. I’d fiend for my lunchbreak so I could devour another sliver of the story, retreating from the petty politics of the workplace. By the end, Steven Erikson will have guided you through triumph, horror and heartbreak. Yet, even when some scenes turn as bleak as the darkest moments in Game of Thrones, there’s always hope.
The theme of hope, redemption, sacrifice, the spark of goodness that makes us human, runs as a thread through the whole series, building to a truly incredible finish as characters from across the nine previous books come together for the finale. This is nothing new to fantasy, of course, but, with ten doorstops to follow your favourite characters across, seeing how they’ve slowly changed over the series will hit hard.
The best characters in the Malazan world are just regular people. Their main goal is survival, for the most part, while terrifying forces and struggling gods spin their lives for their own ends. Soldiers, mercenaries, merchants, orphans, assassins, mages, tribespeople, historians, undead dragons… There are hundreds of characters. Yet those you spend time with are never forgettable. Each goes through their own tribulations, struggles against their own flaws and undergoes their own change.
But, as I said, the world is the main character. Across the ten books, Erikson shows a variety of cultures, religions, traditions and people across different continents. The richness of the world and the details sprinkled throughout the books border on obsessiveness.
And then everything knits back together at the end. Not perfectly, of course, as Malazan isn’t about neat endings. Characters fade away and a few return, some don’t. It’s life. The realest moments are the most infuriating because I can imagine something similar happening. For example, there’s a scene where a historian is being told to ride away from the army as it faces near-certain defeat. Not all of his friends are there to bid him goodbye. Characters who you just want to see reunited miss each other by seconds. That’s life.
When I got to the final page of the tenth massive book, after blitzing through it in under a week, I tried reading every word slowly, to put off the sense of loss I knew was waiting. But, the final word came, and I shut the book, and I wondered what the hell I was going to read now.
More than anything I’ve read since my parents brought home the first five Harry Potter books, the ten novels of Malazan ignited my imagination.
Some stories use their setting as the equivalent of a cardboard background for the main actors to skim across. In Malazan, the world breathes. Some of this comes from Erikson’s love of history and anthropology. The worldbuilding is not something fluffy thrown over the story: it is the seed of the story.
And yet, within each novel, the scope narrows to show the lives of the characters. Moments of black comedy sit alongside profound philosophical observations. But, though they are big books, there never really feels like a wasted page. For me, the Malazan series was the next push.
I needed to write. It was like an itch on my brain. I could only aim for the high bar Erikson had set. So, after finishing the tenth book, I started tapping away in earnest at my laptop again, this time studying worldbuilding and plot structure and character development and all the things normal people wouldn’t really fuss over.
There’s no denying, a series of ten brick-sized books is a tough sell in this day and age. Still, if you persevere, I don’t doubt the world of Malazan will inspire and amaze you.
About the Creator
Charlie C.
Attempted writer.
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