Ranking the Malazan Books of the Fallen

What’s the Best Malazan Book?

(Spoilers for Steven Erikson’s Malazan Books of the Fallen are below, do not read if you want to avoid spoilers).


What’s the best individual Malazan Book of the Fallen?

We rank the ten books in Steven Erikson’s epic series by subtracting the significance of their flaws from the significance of their strengths.  At the bottom there is a poll for people to vote on their favorite Malazan book, so please vote.

Let the ranking begin.

The Best Malazan Book of the Fallen Quotes

Steven Erikson’s Best Malazan Book of the Fallen Quotes

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(Spoilers for the ten Malazan Books of the Fallen series may be included, do not read if you want any spoilers).

Steven Erikson provided a lot of memories with the way he wrote his Malazan series.  Innovative character creations, philosophical musings, and even the occasional dash of humor – listed below are some of the most memorable quotes from the ten books that make up the Malazan Books of the Fallen.

If you’ve got a favorite quote or quotes from the series share it with us in the comments section below.

Are The Malazan Books of the Fallen Worth Your Time?

Should You Read Malazan Book of the Fallen?

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(There are plot overviews, but no major spoilers for Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series below).

This article focuses on determining whether or not reading the lengthy Malazan Book of the Fallen series is worth a readers time.  Below, contains information about the author and creators of the Malazan world, the plot, the length of the series, the strengths and weaknesses of Erikson’s series, and a couple of different reading recommendations.

The Crippled God Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book Ten
Pages: 1,192

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(Spoilers for the previous Malazan books are below).


The final book in Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series is a disappointment.  As an individual book The Crippled God, along with The Bonehunters, is one of the stronger books in the back half of this series.  The Crippled God, though is more than just another book, it represents the culmination of a ten book series.

It has to bring more than just a satisfying ending for itself – and by itself The Crippled God is a fairly strong book. But is The Crippled God satisfying as the ending of a ten book series? No.
The Crippled God along with many of the myriad plots that have been building for over ten books don’t get endings they deserve and while Erikson’s singular structure succeeds in this book, the super structure doesn’t.

Dust of Dreams Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book Nine
Pages: 1,276

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(Spoilers for the previous eight Malazan books are below).

Steven Erikson’s writing style is really getting in the way of bringing this series to a satisfying conclusion.  The time spent on additional characters rather than spending time with characters that were previously established is irritating.  These new characters are nowhere near as endearing as characters from the first half of this series.

Toll the Hounds Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book Eight
Pages: 1,296

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(Spoilers for the previous seven Malazan books are below).

By word count this is the longest book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen.  Toll the Hounds has its moments, but it often feels bloated, especially with the addition of more new characters.

Continuing the Darujhistan story arc, a lot of returning faces are a welcome sight, and with these returning characters there are definitely some powerful moments.  But there are also significant errors to the structure of the story, most of which have to do with timing.  Toll the Hounds has enough moments to surpass Reapers Gale, but it also contains portions that are a lot weaker.  The bottom line is this book gets real hot, but it also gets real cold.

Reaper's Gale Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book Seven
Pages: 1,280

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(Spoilers for the previous six Malazan books are below).

Reaper’s Gale is set in Letheras and it continues the story lines to both the fifth and sixth books in the series.  A lot of passages in this book struck me as some of the most powerful and memorable prose that Erikson had written up until this point. Additionally there are number of unexpected moments, along with expected moments, that pop up, as Erikson manages to defy reader expectations yet again.

The expected convergence at the end of this book did not have me burning through the story like it had in previous books.  Additionally, the action leading up to the convergence felt long winded and often unnecessary. There are plenty of moments at the end, but the book just was not as exciting as previous installments in the series.

The Bonehunters Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book Six
Pages: 1,232

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(Spoilers for the previous five Malazan books are below).

The Bonehunters is a book that is truly all over the place, even by Erikson standards. Continuing a couple of months after the fall of Sha’ik, the Malazan fourteenth takes center stage as it purses the remnants of the Rebellion of the Apocalypse. This time Erikson throws a number of major characters from the Genabackis books into the mix, and although he uses his traditional – building towards a climactic conflict between two opposing forces battling for supremacy – structure, Erikson makes enough changes to make that structure feel very different that in previous Malazan books.

At times this reworking of the structure really serves the story well, but there are moments of down time where the reading pace of the story and the addition of extra characters starts to get in the way, more so in this book, than in any of the previous Malazan books.  Nevertheless the climactic confrontations in this book are brilliant once again, and despite its flaws The Bonehunters still turns out to be an excellent story.

Midnight Tides Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book Five
Pages: 940

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(Spoilers for the previous four Malazan books are below).

Taking place before any of the events of the previous four Malazan books, Midnight Tides looks to explain the origin of the Tiste Edur and their relationship with the Tiste Andii and a race of humans called the Letherii.

Like the previous books though, this installment follows the same structure – which means this is a book that builds to an epic clash between two armies where both sides are narrated from equal standpoints.  Despite the structural repetitions, the book still manages to be exciting.  This is done by Erikson bringing in a fresh new set of characters, most of which bring forward exciting and dramatic stories, and there are finally some explanations for the machinations of Erikson’s world.

Midnight Tides is a sort of prequel, at least chronologically speaking, but it is necessary to read in order to understand the whole story, it’s in this sense where the book doesn’t feel like a prequel at all. Overall this is one of Erikson’s stronger installments in the series at this point.

House of Chains Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book Four
Pages: 1,040

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(Spoilers for the previous three Malazan books are below).

Continuing directly after the conclusion of Deadhouse Gates, House of Chains is beautifully set up to deliver an epic personal clash between the Malazans and the Army of the Apocalypse – and between Felisin and Tavore.

The emotional complications of this clash tie directly into the relationships and actions that were committed in the previous Seven Cities centered book.  Felisin who was greatly wronged leads an army that committed horrible war-time atrocities against Tavore who did great wrong to Felisin but leads an army that was greatly wronged.  Both sides are motivated for revenge, and the war between these two opposing armies is truly one of the most unique wars in fantasy put on paper.

The bar is set high with House of Chains, and for the most part Erikson delivers, but the before mentioned clash between the armies and Felisin and Tavore is underwhelming.  The outcome was amazing, but the manner in which it was told didn’t seem to take full advantage of the pathos that situation could have provided.

Memories of Ice Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book Three
Pages: 928

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(Spoilers for the previous two Malazan books are below).

Memories of Ice brings the Malazan story back to Genabackis where the outlawed Malazans under Whiskeyjack and Dujek find themselves in an uneasy alliance with Brood and Rake, and a few familiar faces from Darujhistan. These unlikely allies face the growing threat of the emerging Pannion Domin Empire to the south.

From start to finish, Memories of Ice is non-stop fighting and war scenes.  The final battle scene is especially impressive as it moves through many different areas of the battle, while still making it possible for the reader to comprehend what is going on.  The chaos that comes from war is truly felt in this book.

Memories of Ice also spends a great deal of time exploring the ancient races that inhabited the world before the arrival of the Malazans, and thus the first significant chunks of backstory start to be revealed to readers.  In my opinion this installment is certainly an improvement over the previous Genabackis story, which took place in Gardens of the Moon, but it falls short of eclipsing Erikson’s writing in Deadhouse Gates.  However, depending on what you like in a book, it wouldn’t be too hard for anyone to argue Memories of Ice being the best installment in the series up until this point.

Deadhouse Gates Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book Two
Pages: 844

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(Spoilers for Gardens of the Moon are below).

As a reader if you ever feel like you want to challenge yourself to lose faith in humanity, then I suggest you read Deadhouse Gates.  This book is packed to the brim with acts of cruelty and human suffering. Erikson is absolutely merciless in the treatment of his major characters in this book – every single one of the major narrators endures some sort of Hell-on Earth type of experience.

Cynicism aside, the book is interspersed with moments of great triumph and perseverance. I became very attached to this book emotionally because of all that has to be overcome by the major characters.  The fact that Erikson manages to do all this without 90% of the characters from the previous novel, Gardens of the Moon, makes this book even more impressive.

For those readers who can stomach the violence and maintain the focus (which is absolutely necessary to comprehend these Malazan books) then those readers who choose to read Deadhouse Gates will be rewarded with one of greatest installments in a fantasy series.

Gardens of the Moon Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen Book One
Pages: 666

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Richly imagined, highly complicated, and brutally violent are just some of the adjectives I could use to describe the first book in the ten installment Malazan Book of the Fallen series.  Gardens of the Moon is as unrelenting in its depiction of violence as it is in being unforgiving to its major characters.

The Malazan series is a highly complicated.  The first book has close to forty major significant characters, many of whom change or switch names during the course of this book.  Many aspects of the series are left unexplained, forcing readers to go with the flow and patiently wait for answers or subtle hints of what’s to come.

The point being Gardens of the Moon is a magnificently realized beginning to a great series, but with its depictions of violence and insistence on the reader being patient may mean this book isn’t for everyone.  If you’re willing to brave the storm then this book comes highly recommended.

Return of the Crimson Guard Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Ian Cameron Esslemont
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Novel of the Malazan Empire Book Two
Pages: 880

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(Spoilers for Night of Knives and Malazan Books of the Fallen 1-6 are below and spoilers for Return of the Crimson Guard are in a clearly marked section below).

After reading Night of Knives I believed that Esslemont proved he had some skill with words. He had a tall order to climb writing in a world that was already made famous by his partner Steven Erikson, but he bravely tackled the rise of Laseen, which was a major event in the Malazan world.  Esslemont turned out a novel that was better than I expected, but not as great as I had hoped for. I did end up leaving the novel with the belief that there was a lot of potential for the author to grow and turn out some decent stories in the Malazan world.

Unfortunately, Return of the Crimson Guard is anything but decent. Esslemont struggles with writing sentimental characters, and he really struggles with creating unique personalities.  The most entertaining characters in this book had been written at length by Erikson in his Malazan Books of the Fallen, and Esslemont can’t write those characters anywhere as well as Erikson did. What’s worse is that Esslemont is given some major, long awaited for moments to set in prose, and he falls way short of the mark. I wouldn’t recommend reading this book, but If you’re going to read Return of the Crimson Guard, read it after completing Night of Knives and The Bonehunters. 

Night of Knives Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Ian Cameron Esslemont
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Military Fantasy
Series: Novel of the Malazan Empire Book One
Pages: 298

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Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Night of Knives is the first book in his Malazan Empire series.  If you’re not familiar with the Malazan books, Esslemont is a joint creator of the Malazan world alongside his friend Steven Erikson who wrote the Malazan Books of the Fallen. As Steven Erikson appropriately dedicated the first book in his series to Ian Cameron Esslemont, Esslemont does the same in his first book for Erikson.