[Los Mul]

Hello. I'm quite new to the Malazan world, having only read GOTM and a little bit of Forge of Darkness.

What I really want to know about is warrens, as I am rather confused as to what they actually are. I know that certain characters draw energy from warrens and can "open" warrens and pass through them. Are warrens essentially alternate dimensions? That is the impression I am getting, though I'm not quite sure, and I can never find a simple, straight answer anywhere

Help would be appreciated, thank you!

[Esa1996]

Maelys I Blackfyre, on 14 April 2015 - 09:49 PM, said:

Hello. I'm quite new to the Malazan world, having only read GOTM and a little bit of Forge of Darkness.

What I really want to know about is warrens, as I am rather confused as to what they actually are. I know that certain characters draw energy from warrens and can "open" warrens and pass through them. Are warrens essentially alternate dimensions? That is the impression I am getting, though I'm not quite sure, and I can never find a simple, straight answer anywhere

Help would be appreciated, thank you!

I'd say they are alternate dimensions, yes. That's how I've described them whenever I've been talking about them to friends.

Ps. You really should read the main series before Forge of Darkness.

A good reading order would be something like this:

MBF 1-6

NME 1

MBF 7

NME 2

MBF 8-10

NME 3-6

KT




MBF = Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

NME = Novels of the Malazan Empire by Ian Esslemont

KT = Kharkanas Trilogy

The Bauchelain and Korbal Broach stories can be read whenever you want to read them, they spoil nothing.

This post has been edited by Esa1996: 14 April 2015 - 09:59 PM

[worry]

I suppose if it helps you can think of Warrens as alt dimensions, and a mage's personal warren as that individual's "wormhole" to the dimension. For now it's a functional metaphor. If you want a straight answer though you're not going to get it in GotM. Read and find out.

[Nevyn]

Maelys I Blackfyre, on 14 April 2015 - 09:49 PM, said:

Hello. I'm quite new to the Malazan world, having only read GOTM and a little bit of Forge of Darkness.

What I really want to know about is warrens, as I am rather confused as to what they actually are. I know that certain characters draw energy from warrens and can "open" warrens and pass through them. Are warrens essentially alternate dimensions? That is the impression I am getting, though I'm not quite sure, and I can never find a simple, straight answer anywhere

Help would be appreciated, thank you!

Dimension is a good basic way of thinking about them to start with.

Your understanding will deepen evolve as you keep reading. I know that that's a frustrating answer, but it is intentionally a style choice of the author to have understanding build this way, not just about this but about a LOT of questions you may have. So anything further we told you would in some way be a spoiler.

[Los Mul]

Esa1996, on 14 April 2015 - 09:57 PM, said:

Maelys I Blackfyre, on 14 April 2015 - 09:49 PM, said:

Hello. I'm quite new to the Malazan world, having only read GOTM and a little bit of Forge of Darkness.

What I really want to know about is warrens, as I am rather confused as to what they actually are. I know that certain characters draw energy from warrens and can "open" warrens and pass through them. Are warrens essentially alternate dimensions? That is the impression I am getting, though I'm not quite sure, and I can never find a simple, straight answer anywhere

Help would be appreciated, thank you!

I'd say they are alternate dimensions, yes. That's how I've described them whenever I've been talking about them to friends.

Ps. You really should read the main series before Forge of Darkness.

A good reading order would be something like this:

MBF 1-6

NME 1

MBF 7

NME 2

MBF 8-10

NME 3-6

KT




MBF = Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

NME = Novels of the Malazan Empire by Ian Esslemont

KT = Kharkanas Trilogy

The Bauchelain and Korbal Broach stories can be read whenever you want to read them, they spoil nothing.

Yah, I had started out with Forge of Darkness but when it felt waaaay to confusing, I put it aside and picked up GOTM instead, which was till confusing, but a lot easier to get into the Malazan world with.

And thanks for the responses, everyone. At least now I know I'm thinking along the right lines

This post has been edited by Maelys I Blackfyre: 15 April 2015 - 01:36 AM

[SwiftBenjamin]

Warrens are similar to 'planes' or 'realms' from real life religions. They're locations where energy is self-contained, which can be accessed mentally from this plane.