[Nikolas Niall]

Thanks all, think ill give it a go.

[Abyss]

Excellent.When can we schedule you for the initiation ritual and cervical implant?
...also, are you by any chance allergic to alpacas?

[Kanese S's]

Nikolas Niall, on 30 March 2016 - 02:37 PM, said:

I picked up Gardens of the Moon second hand in a Garden Centre of all places. I havn't gotten around to reading it, but have been reading reviews, wikis and other sources etc to decide if this 10+ book world was worth investing my time in. I've always loved secondary worlds but other than Arda and The Known World of A Song of Ice and Fire, they all bore me. Malazan is the only non mainstream fantasy world that the author of which seems to love like a child. But, its so BIG AND LONG.

So a FEW questions.
1: Is it really that hard to follow for the first 3-4 books?
2: does it really focus so much on the world, magic and story, that the characters suffer?
3: is there time travel? (Instantly ruins it for me)
4: does anyone suggest keeping notes while reading it?

1. No. Only for the first book. And even then, if you just accept that there's not going to be a whole opening exposition explaining the setting, and that you're kinda just being dropped into the story sort of "in the middle," it's not that difficult. Info about the setting comes in small snippets, so you can't skim without potentially missing important details, is all. I found it relatively easy to follow from the second book on.
2. No. The characters are amazing. There are a lot of ways in which the setting affects how they act, but that's true of any well constructed speculative fiction setting. The series is about characters and themes, primarily. The setting just happens to be very well put together.
3. Not in the traditional sense. There is a character that sorta breaks some rules of time, but I can't go into it without spoilers. It's a tiny part of the series overall. As others have said, less than 1%. This isn't Doctor Who. There are a lot of times when stories are told not in chronological order, however. Piecing those puzzles together can be fun. Also the time scale is enormous. There are events that occur thousands upon thousands of years before the main setting that affect it.
4. Not necessary, in my opinion. You can if you want to, though.