Stephen Erickson entered unexpectedly into fantasy literature as the author of interesting books with an exciting plot. His "Malaysian Book" received not only positive reviews from readers, but also the support of older brothers in the fantastic workshop.
Erickson created a world influenced by the work of Herbert (the cycle of novels “Dune”) and the works of G. Cook (“The Black Squad”). In his novels, we will meet both amazing, unexpected stories, and entertaining and funny moments. Erickson himself claims that his love of history, mythology and archeology had a strong influence on the ideas and content of novels, including the first work of the Malaysan Book, The Garden of the Moon.
A few words about the author
Modern science fiction writer Stephen Erickson writes under a pseudonym, the true name of the writer is Steve Lundin.
We will try to indicate all the biographical information that we learned about the writer. Erickson was born in 1956 in Canada, he is an anthropologist and archaeologist. He lived in England for a short time, but, having lost hope of finding a publisher, he returned to Canada.
Erickson has a wife and a son. He writes fiction novels and short stories. World fame brought him the works included in the "Book of Malaysia." After the release of The Gardens of the Moon, the first published book, Erickson in 1999 entered into a contract with a Canadian publisher, according to which he must write a sequel of nine works of the cycle.
Briefly about the work of Stephen Erickson
The main work of Stephen Erickson's "Malaysian Book of the Fallen" has 10 novels. All works take place in a fantasy world. The capital of the Malaysian Empire is the centerpiece of all the novels in the series.
Novels are saturated more with psychology than with adventure, and this is despite the fact that Erickson is not interested in the monologues of the main characters. Psychologism is created with the help of internal conflicts of heroes, which are transferred to their actions in books.
In 2012, the writer wrote the first novel “Forge of Darkness” of the new trilogy “Karkanas”, in which there is a development of the plot lines of some characters of the previous cycle, however, the new novels have nothing to do with the “Malazan Book”.
The beginning of a great story
The history of the "Malaysian book" began with the first novel, written back in 1991, but published 8 years later. Gardens of the Moon was conceived and written as a script for a movie, but after some time, Stephen Erickson decided to transform the script into a novel.
Large publishers did not want to publish the book, and for a long period the writer waited for someone to agree to the publication of novels. For these purposes, he even lived in Europe for a long time, but did not get permission from European publishers to release the first book of the Gardens of the Moon cycle.
The first book of the series impressed many readers by introducing the world of the Malaysian Empire.
Summary of Moon Gardens
Under mysterious and mysterious circumstances, the emperor of the Malaysan Empire dies, and his place is occupied by a "gray mouse" from the secret service under the name of Lazan. It does not stop military operations, but, on the contrary, intensifies the war even more. Lasena's dream is to capture Jurdistan, a city on the land of Genabakis. In the novel Gardens of the Moon, Jourdistan is described as a beautiful place, a city of blue lights.
If you capture Jurdistan, you can enjoy not only its natural wealth, but also become the ruler of the world. Ah, how absolute power attracts people!
Lacena wants to exalt herself in the eyes of subordinates, and therefore this war is necessary for her in order to subjugate not only another continent, but also the people of the empire.
The situation in the world is heating up, and the lords of Jurdistan are ready to surrender the city to end the war. But third forces intervene in the course of events, who do not want one empire to rule in the world. The lord of the flying fortress on the continent of Genabakis, Anomander Rake and his troops do not want to share power on the continent with the Malaysian empire and therefore give battle to Lasena.
Another force is the immortal gods, who do not like the actions of the new empress. The gods use the body of a young girl as a vessel and take possession of her soul. After that, they send her to the Malaysan Empire so that she becomes part of the army.
The empire itself is also restless. An army group of bridge burners rebels against Lazena because she does not recognize her authority. The burners cannot forgive her for eliminating the emperor’s allies and associates. The head of the burners becomes a forbidden person in the empire, falls into disgrace, but the whole army is ready to follow him. The attack on Jurdistan is threatened and may not materialize.
Talk about the world
For any reader of science fiction, in addition to the ideas and thoughts of the work, the world that the writer creates is very important. Stephen Erickson in The Gardens of the Moon worked out the structure of the Malaysan Empire and the entire universe. The story of the world goes slowly, it seems that the writer is in no hurry.
Erickson lovingly describes the life of the common people who inhabit the continents of the universe.
People settled the lands of the world, replaced other civilizations. In addition to people in the world of Ekrikson there are nonhumans, gods and magicians. Inhumans the writer endowed in the "Gardens of the Moon" even his own thinking. There are no typical representatives of fantasy worlds in the book, such as elves, gnomes, or goblins. Erickson created his own world, with his own invented races.
Some readers notice that Erickson paid little attention to the elaboration of household details, but this minus is offset by the intrigues of the powerful and the exciting plot of the novel.
Something about magic
Magic in Erickson’s universe is key. To become a magician, a sorcerer or wizard needs to open his own path. What is the way? This is a kind of predestination, an invisible path for the mortal along which the magician goes.
So, the magician opens the way and, in accordance with it, chooses what he will do: heal people, control the natural world, participate in intrigue, accumulate wisdom, etc. Choosing the path, the magician can change it in the future, arrange the universe as he pleases. .
Paths have the power of moving in space. If the magician wants to get to the right place, he can do it many times faster than an ordinary person. Paths also serve as weapons and defenders of magicians. Some paths may lead to the gods, but for this the wizard must have the highest magical skill.
Inhumans also have the ability to move through paths, but their paths are special, acting according to certain rules. Ordinary mortals cannot move in space.
In the “Gardens of the Moon” there is not only magic of the paths, but also magic artifacts, for example, enchanted weapons and other objects endowed with magical powers.
Book characters
"Gardens of the Moon" is replete with interesting, unique and characteristic characters. Heroes are very colorful, spelled out in a good literary language.
Among the main characters in the "Gardens of the Moon" you can distinguish the following characters:
- Ganoes Starbo Paran;
- Dujek One-armed;
- sorceress Leaky Sail;
- Sergeant Burdyuk;
- Anomander Rake;
- Caladan Brood.
Let's stop and talk about some of the brightest characters.
Dujek Odnoruky is the army commander in Genabakis, a very bright and famous commander with deep knowledge of military affairs and an invincible warrior. In the novel, he is confronted by Caladan Brud, an ally of Anomander Reik, a talented military man who is not inferior in mind and strength to Dujack.
The Sorceress Leaky Sail is a witch who walks the path of light. This is a very mysterious and eccentric sorceress: she is two hundred years old, suffers from an excess of weight in the body, but despite this, she is beautiful and positive. Skillfully lays out fortune-telling cards.
Sergeant Burdyuk is the charismatic leader of the Burners, an army unit that rebelled against Lazena.
Anomander Rake is an enemy of the empire, a very tough and powerful ruler, even the name of which is afraid of the inhabitants of all continents. Together with Caladan Brud, he confronts Lasena and her conqueror ambitions.
It should also be noted among the characters of the book of five friends from Jurdistan, whose life story is described by Erickson. In the huge city of Jurdistan, a conflict of interest arises between several groups, among which one very colorful structure stands out, which includes:
- happy fat Krupp;
- thief Crocus;
- Rally Noma, Assassin;
- Murillo;
- Drink lover Coll.
One could write a lot about the characters of the book, in the novel there are a large number of interesting heroes. The abundance of characters leads to a confusion of names and surnames, so you should carefully monitor the development of each individual hero.
Reviews and features of the novel
Readers note that reading Erickson is not so easy. The artistic language is good, no one can argue with this, but not every fan of science fiction can master a large array of characters and a viscous, viscous plot, unhurried and monotonous. Erickson goes on from one part of the story to another for a very long time. The plot, for example, is described in a third of the novel.
Readers who are accustomed to battle scenes, the rapid development of the plot are unlikely to master Erickson's novel. This is a book, first of all, for thoughtful reading, for those who like to think and analyze.
But if you do not take these minuses into account, the writer writes interesting books with an exciting plot, so those who decide to master the path will be completely happy: intrigues, conspiracies, wars, and immersion in another reality unlike other fantastic worlds. The novel is saturated with humor, riddles, makes you think about eternal problems: who is a person, what is slavery and freedom, the desire for absolute power, dependence on faith and religion.
The book “Gardens of the Moon” is a large-scale story about power, friendship, freedom and love, which will not leave indifferent any reader.