Gardens of the Moon

This series was one I only recently heard about. But was immediately curious. Most who have read and love it say the same thing; it can be extremely confusing to get in to, but it's worth it. And wow are they right.

You're thrown right in the deep end of a story that's already alive, with little to no explanation on what's going on. On top of that, it feels like every chapter, you're introduced to 2-3 new characters. Combine that with a magic system it doesn't really explain, multiple races and so many gods, and you can easily find yourself going cross-eyed trying to piece it together. I almost put it down and walked away, as I hate feeling lost in a story.

But then, something just clicks. You start picking up things here and there. You get some idea to the magic, the races, the gods, the mini-plots (of which there are many). But builds, brick by brick. See, they don't hand hold you through the story (which don't get me wrong, I'm totally ok with), but instead let you catch the subtleties on your own to understand this lived in story. And that's pretty refreshing. There's so much going on, that if they did hand it to you on a spoon, I think the book would have to be twice as big, and it's already a meaty-boy.

So to summarize my experience with this book; it can be extremely confusing to get in to, but it's worth it. I'm hooked till the end.