Since I’m so invested in this series AND since I would passionately argue that it’s well worth the time of any Fantasy fan BUT given the complexity of the world Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont have created AND the challenges I faced the first time I tried to read through this, I thought I’d lay out a recommended reading order for anyone interested in getting started.
Taking the books in this order – along with frequent use of the Malazan Wiki – should help flatten the learning curve as you try to understand all the things happening in this amazing world. The recommendations below are based on both my reading experience and some help from the Malazan Wiki.
I’d start with The Kharkanas Trilogy by Steven Erikson consisting of “Forge Of Darkness”, “Fall Of Light” and the “Walk In Shadow” (publication date yet to be announced). These three books chronicle the early history of the world and introduce several key races – the Tiste, the Jaghut and the Azathanai.
Once done, progress to the Path Of Ascendancy series by Ian C. Esslemont – currently consisting of “Dancer’s Lament” and “Deadhouse Landing” and “Kellanved’s Reach” (publication date to be determined). These books tell the story of Kellanved’s founding of the Malazan Empire and introduce all the pivotal Malazan characters that you either meet directly or by reference in the later books.
Next step would be the first of the novels in Ian C. Esslemont’s primary series – “Night Of Knives”. This one tells the story of Kellanved and Dancer’s Ascendancy and precede all the remaining novels.
The next few steps will be books by Steven Erickson in this order:
- Gardens Of The Moon – Steven Erikson
- Deadhouse Gates – Steven Erikson
- Memories Of Ice – Steven Erikson
- House Of Chains – Steven Erikson
- Midnight Tides – Steven Erikson*
- Bonehunters – Steven Erikson*
*I don’t know that it makes any difference which of these two you read first – but they should be read after “House Of Chains”.
After “Midnight Tides” and “Bonehunters”, it becomes a bit ambiguous but I think this will work best:
- Return Of The Crimson Guard – Ian C. Esslemont
- Stonewielder – Ian C. Esslemont
- Reaper’s Gale – Steven Erikson
- Toll The Hounds – Steven Erikson
- Orb, Sceptre, Throne – Ian C. Esslemont
- Blood And Bone – Ian C. Esslemont
- Dust Of Dreams – Steven Erikson
- The Crippled God – Steven Erikson
- Assail – Ian C. Esslemont
Now – please be aware – even if you read the books in this order, you’re still going to deal with a narrative timewarp or two and here’s an example. In Deadhouse Gates, there’s an episode where a group composed of Kulp, Stormy, Gesler, Truth, Felisin, Baudin and Heboric gets pulled into a fragment of the warren Kurald Emurlahn called The Nascent. While there, they encounter a Quon dromon named the Silanda crewed by a magically animated, decapitated crew of Tiste Andii and a number of newly slain Tiste Edur. They eventually win free of the Kurald Emurlahn and the episode is one that seems relatively inconsequential to the overall narrative.
When you get to House Of Chains and you’re reading Karsa Orlong’s story, he and Torvald Nom also find themselves trapped in The Nascent and they also stumble onto the Silanda but in Karsa’s story – the Tiste Edur that Kulp et. al. find slain are still alive and Karsa Orlong is actually the one that winds up killing them all. You’ve progressed two more books into the series but Steven Erikson has jumped backward in his timeline.
You’ll also find that the leader of the Tiste Edur slain by Karsa Orlong on the Silanda – Binadas Sengar – appears in Midnight Tides.
In no way is this a negative – it’s just one of those aspects of the series that occasionally tripped me up the 1st time through.
I sometimes wish I’d been able to read the books in this order the first time through but – in truth – the two new trilogies – Kharkanas and Path To Ascendany – and the discovery of the Wiki – just inspired me to go back and read them all again – and that’s a decision I most definitely will not regret.
🙂