Gardens of the Moon

Steven Erikson’s Garden of the Moon is an epic fantasy novel and the first installment in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Published in 1999, the novel follows a large cast of characters as they contend with the threat of an ever-expanding empire and grapple with ancient magical forces. Erikson, an anthropologist and archeologist by training, sets the novel in a fictional world peopled by human and non-human races, magic users, and a pantheon of gods. Gardens of the Moon explores themes relating to rebellion, fate, and human nature.

This study guide refers to the 1999 Tor paperback edition.

Plot Summary

The Malazan Empire, founded by Emperor Kellanved, is under threat of an internal coup when the Prologue opens. A young boy, Ganoes Paran, meets a grizzled army commander, Whiskeyjack, who attempts to dissuade Paran from his dream of becoming a soldier.

Eight years pass between the events of the Prologue and Chapter 1. Laseen, now Empress, has assassinated the former emperor and seized control of his domain. The empire spreads across continents, and Laseen’s forces grapple with a few remaining Free Cities that exist outside Empire control. One such city is Pale, under siege by imperial forces.

On the continent of Itko Kan, Hounds of Shadow—servants of the god Shadowthrone—massacre an imperial force and a nearby town. In the confusion that follows, Shadowthrone and another deity, Cotillion, possess a young girl’s mind. They name her Sorry and send her to join the imperial army so that they will have an agent on the inside.

Ganoes Paran, now a lieutenant in the imperial army, witnesses the aftermath of the Hounds’ attack. Empress Laseen’s dedicated servant, Adjunct Lorn, recruits Paran to her personal staff, committing him to years of searching for the missing young girl as they have deduced that Shadowthrone or Cotillion is possessing her.

Outside of the city of Pale, the imperial mages and sorcerers are told to prepare an attack. They will battle the lord of Moon’s Spawn, a floating city that has been guarding the terrestrial city of Pale. Moon’s Spawn is ruled by Anomander Rake, an ancient and powerful mage in his own right. In the magical battle that ensues, the imperial High Mage turns on his own forces, killing some of the mages who fought at his side.

Tattersail is one of the imperial sorcerers who survives the battle at Pale. One of her compatriots, Hairlock, is mortally wounded. She is on the battlefield with him when now-Sergeant Whiskeyjack arrives in the company of Sorry, a mage named Quick Ben, and an assassin named Kalam. Hairlock made a deal with the mage Quick Ben to attempt ancient magic if he were wounded; Quick Ben transfers Hairlock’s soul into the body of a wooden puppet.

Whiskeyjack is the sergeant of a well-known squad of soldiers called the Bridgeburners. It seems that the empire is eliminating the threat of anyone who might be too rebellious or powerful to control. Shocked by the imperial High Mage’s betrayal, Tattersail joins forces with the Bridgeburners. Hairlock, in his puppet body, teams up with them as well, although Tattersail and Quick Ben become increasingly unnerved by the puppet’s erratic behavior.

Adjunct Lorn and Paran finally track down Sorry, realizing that she’s with the Bridgeburners. Adjunct Lorn assigns Paran to be the new captain of the Bridgeburners and assigns the squad to a mission in the last remaining Free City, Darujhistan. As Paran is arriving in Pale to meet the squad, Sorry stabs him in the street. His wounds are fatal, but the god of chance, Oponn, saves him.

While Paran is recovering, the Bridgeburners leave for Darujhistan. Tattersail and Hairlock stay behind with Paran, who is still healing. They are attacked by a Hound of Shadow, which Paran wounds with his god-blessed sword, Chance. Now convinced that the Bridgeburners’ assignment in Darujhistan is a trap to get them killed, Tattersail sets out to follow them, and Paran follows her soon after.

Tattersail dies in a fight with a fellow imperial mage on the way to Darujhistan. She manages to shift her soul into a preserved corpse at the moment of her death. Later in the novel, a magic ritual involving an ancient god will see her reborn into a child’s body.

Paran is heartbroken to find Tattersail’s dead body on the road to Darujhistan and vows revenge on Adjunct Lorn and the empire. Before reaching Darujhistan, the now-dangerously erratic Hairlock attacks Paran and his companion. Due to Quick Ben’s magical intervention, the Hounds of Shadow attack and kill Hairlock.

Adjunct Lorn also heads toward Darujhistan in the company of a T’lan Imass, an ancient, animated skeleton with powerful magic abilities. They plan to awaken an equally ancient being, a Jaghut, that has magic that can enslave all living things in its proximity. Adjunct Lorn hopes that releasing the Jaghut will force Anomander Rake onto the battlefield. Adjunct Lorn plans to attack Rake and then Darujhistan after Rake is weakened from fighting the Jaghut.

In Darujhistan, the Bridgeburners are following the usual imperial process for softening a city for take-over. They are tasked with contacting the local assassins with an offer: Kill all the city leaders (and shadow leaders), and you will run the city in the name of the empire. They are also planting explosives around the city in case the need for violence arises. The Bridgeburners have trouble finding the assassins of the city to set up a meeting because Anomander Rake knows the imperial pattern and has preempted the empire by sending in his own agents to assassinate the assassins. Crokus, a young thief in Darujhistan, and his friend Rallick, an assassin, encounter Moon’s Spawn’s mysterious agents but come away unharmed.

Crokus and Rallick are part of a group of friends who hang out at the Phoenix Inn in Darujhistan. Also part of this group is Kruppe, a mage with prophetic dreams whose alter-ego is the Eel, the city’s master spy. Crokus finds Oponn’s coin, a token of the god of chance. As the powers of the empire, Moon’s Spawn, and rebellious factions converge upon Darujhistan, everyone is unnerved to find that Oponn is interfering in matters by selecting a Coin Bearer, around whom luck holds more powerful sway.

Anomander Rake contacts the mages in Darujhistan, establishing an alliance. They suspect that Adjunct Lorn might seek to free the Jaghut, so they ask Kruppe, Crokus, and their friends to investigate in the hills.

In the hills, Adjunct Lorn runs into Kruppe and his friends. Sorry is also there, having followed the Phoenix Inn crew from the city. Adjunct Lorn injures a few of the friends but allows them to live. Just as Sorry is about to attack Crokus to steal Oponn’s coin, her possession breaks. Confused and with no memories of the past few years, Sorry travels back to the city with Crokus, who renames her Apsalar.

Paran also happens upon the hill outside of Darujhistan and finds Coll, an injured member of the Phoenix Inn crew. Paran and Coll travel back to Darujhistan together. This connection to the Phoenix Inn helps Paran find the Bridgeburners upon arriving in the city.

Adjunct Lorn succeeds in waking the Jaghut. She steals the Finnest, the item in which the Jaghut’s magic powers were stored while he was buried. She travels to Darujhistan and buries the Finnest in a garden, knowing that the Jaghut will be drawn to it. A local noblewoman, Lady Simtal, is having a masquerade party in that same garden to celebrate the new year's holiday. All the characters attend, each with secretive plans of their own. As the party begins, the Jaghut makes his way to Darujhistan. Dragons from Moon’s Spawn battle him, slowing him down but not killing him.

At the party, Rallick assassinates a council member, seeking justice for his friend Coll, who is actually Lady Simtal’s noble-born husband. The Jaghut, weakened, hops bodies and possesses Crokus’s uncle, who is a guest at the party. After a terrible fight, a magical entity called an Azath emerges in response to the uncontrolled power of the Finnest and imprisons the Jaghut’s magic so that his body can be killed. The Bridgeburners finally succeed in contacting the local assassins, who set out to kill the city’s mages, claiming that the mages are the true political power in the city. Crokus prevents them from killing all the mages. Adjunct Lorn wants to kill Crokus because he is the Coin Bearer. She releases a powerful demon into the city; Anomander Rake fights and kills the demon. Adjunct Lorn is killed after a series of skirmishes. Paran finds her while she is dying and takes her sword, getting rid of his Oponn-blessed sword.

Having survived the chaos, Paran and the Bridgeburners commit fully to rebellion against the empire. They plan to join the rest of the rebel army. Kalam and Crokus decide to escort Apsalar to her home continent of Itko Kan.