Gardens of the Moon

It took me a long time to work up to the decision to take on the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. It's length and hearing that it wasn't an easy read always kept me back, but I finally decided to dive in. I heard prior to reading that the first book Gardens of the Moon is the weakest of the bunch, but if that's the case, then I look forward to what's to come, because I really enjoyed it. The sense of the epic and the intricacies of motivations, whose connected to whom and let's not forget the magic. Much more overtly fantastical than Game of Thrones and I loved that about it. Magical battles, dragons, different races and gods all play significant roles. A lot of things are still vague at this point, but the world and characters have pulled me in and grabbed my interest and imagination. Characterization suffers a bit, only because the details for their motivations are a slow and guarded reveal and some are still a mystery, making it difficult to decide how you feel about certain characters, however, there is a definite sense of so much more to come, so much more going on that will be revealed in future books, that it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. - I guess that's the plus of reading the series knowing that it's finished.
The pace of the book was much faster than I anticipated as well. So much going on and changing that I never felt any kind of dragging or parts where I lost interest. My curiosity was fuelled from beginning to end in all the various storylines, each just short enough not to drag, but long enough to impart important details. Erickson is not an author of description however. Descriptions of people and places are sparse and used only to give a sense of place and no more, the focus instead is on the story and the characters interactions. Very impressed overall and really looking forward to where things go from here.