The Malazan Book of the Fallen ()Malazan is an adjective meaning "of Malaz" . For the pronunciation: 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.
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 (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.
Books
List Tor.com published a reading order based on the approximate chronological order of events in the series. #TitleSeriesApproximate Word CountWordcount based on Kobo Listings. 1st Publication 1Gardens of the MoonMalazan Book of the Fallen #1205k 1999 April 1 2Deadhouse Gates Malazan Book of the Fallen #2264k 2000 September 1 3Memories of Ice Malazan Book of the Fallen #3346k 2001 December 6 4House of Chains Malazan Book of the Fallen #4298k 2002 December 2 5Midnight Tides Malazan Book of the Fallen #5265k 2004 March 1 6Night of Knives Novels of the Malazan Empire #192k 2004 September 1 7The Bonehunters Malazan Book of the Fallen #6355k 2006 March 1 8The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 1 The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #1-368k2009 September 15 9Reaper's Gale Malazan Book of the Fallen #7378k 2007 May 7 10Toll the Hounds Malazan Book of the Fallen #8391k 2008 June 30 11Return of the Crimson Guard Novels of the Malazan Empire #2273k 2008 August 15 12Dust of Dreams Malazan Book of the Fallen #9371k 2009 August 18 13Stonewielder Novels of the Malazan Empire #3233k 2010 November 25 14The Crippled God Malazan Book of the Fallen #10376k 2011 February 15 15Orb Sceptre Throne Novels of the Malazan Empire #4217k 2012 February 20 16Blood and Bone Novels of the Malazan Empire #5227k 2012 November 22 17Forge of Darkness The Kharkanas Trilogy #1292k 2012 August 2 18Assail Novels of the Malazan Empire #6207k 2014 August 5 19Fall of Light The Kharkanas Trilogy #2355k 2016 April 26 20Dancer's LamentPath to Ascendancy #1144k 2016 February 25 21The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, Volume 2 The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #4-6123k 2018 September 20 22Deadhouse Landing Path to Ascendancy #2130k 2017 November 15 23Kellanved's Reach Path to Ascendancy #3112k 2019 February 19 24Upon a Dark of Evil Overlords The Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #7 2020 October 31 25The God is Not WillingThe Tales of Witness #1191k 2021 July 1 26Forge of the High Mage Path to Ascendancy #4151k 2023 April 6 27No Life ForsakenThe Tales of Witness #2 2025 October 23 28Legacies of Betrayal The Tales of Witness #3 2026 October 1TBAWalk in ShadowThe Kharkanas Trilogy #3 TBA TBAUnnamedThe Tales of Witness #4 TBA TBAUnnamedPath to Ascendancy #5 TBA TBAUnnamedPath to Ascendancy #6 TBA TBATime's Cursed CartwheelThe Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #8 TBA TBAUnnamedThe Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #9 TBA
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. Blood Follows (2002) The Healthy Dead (2004) The Lees of Laughter's End (2007) Crack'd Pot Trail (2009) The Wurms of Blearmouth (2012) The Fiends of Nightmaria (2016) Upon a Dark of Evil Overlords (2020) Time's Cursed Cartwheel (TBA)
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 (Dorin and Wu, in this series) 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.
The third book of the series Legacies of Betrayal is expected to be released on October 1 2026.https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/405106/legacies-of-betrayal-the-third-tale-of-witness-by-erikson-steven/9781787632844
The God is Not Willing (2021) No Life Forsaken (2025) Legacies of Betrayal (2026)
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.Introduction to Gardens of the Moon, Special Edition 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".Interview with Steven Erikson in SFX Magazine issue #99, Christmas 2002.
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.http://caballerodelarbolsonriente.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/steven-erikson-no-hay-nada-para.html Interview with El Caballero del Arbol Sonriente, December 2017
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 [Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings]... most subsequent writers of fantasy are either imitating him or else desperately trying to escape his influence'—sorry. You're flat-out wrong."
Themes