[Everlag]

Most good rules always have an exception, Malazan[0] is a fun set of exceptions to these.

If you're not familiar, Malazan is a series of high fantasy novels and they're quite good. Well, they're excellent apart from the first book which is usually what kills the series for people. Just start on the second book if you're interested in trying out the series.

Malazan started as a setting from some campaigns and grew from there, so this feels pretty appropriate to bring up.

- It has an absurd number of characters. On your first read you will lose track of who Widdershins is. Hell, between books you'll probably forget who Bottle is. This is a listed of named characters[1].

- A bunch of events that happen in earlier books don't make sense at that point. The setting slowly unveils its magic system and world between each books. By the tenth book, most things that were confusing are justified.

- Character motivation is usually upfront except for a few characters that define the majority of the plot's direction. Those characters are complete blackboxes. Some of those are viewpoint characters that become non-viewpoint characters.

- Jokes are sometimes appropriate in even the worst situations because its appropriate to that set of characters.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Malazan_Book_of_the_Fa...

[Wowfunhappy]

> Just start on the second book if you're interested in trying out the series.

Can you keep going from two onward or do you have to go back at some point?

[AllegedAlec]

Gardens of the moon is sort of required for Memories of Ice. A lot of the characters pivotal in Memories of Ice are introduced in the Gardens of the Moon.

If Malazan book of the fallen is for you, you'll know after reading book 2.

Although, in all honesty: I wouldn't start with Deadhouse Gates. Although it contains one of the best plotlines in the series, it also contains the worst character, and she drags stuff down a lot. Were it not for having read through the first book, I would've probably stopped because of her.

[Everlag]

The first book has context that I'd say is required to fully enjoy the third book. So, second->first->third->...

Most the downside of the first book is the quality of the writing; it was written before author really nailed the formula. If you like the second book, the first book will be fine because you get fed more nuggets of information about the broader setting.