Prologue and First Chapter

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Prologue and First Chapter

#1 Guest_MoonStar_*

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 12:36 AM

I have completed the first chapter of Garden of the Moon. I must say I was quite confused throughout most of it. I found the constant switching of characters didn't help with that.

Now that I am into the second chapter things are beginning to become clearer. I am finding the second chapter far more enjoyable then the first. I wish I could go back and re-read all the first chapter, just to see if I would have a better understanding of what was going on. However, I think that would be a waste of time because I am sure more of it will become apparent in the future.

If anyone wishes, could you please give me a small summery (of the first chapter and prologue) of your own to help me understand a bit more (no second chapter spoilers, please). I appreciate it. I'm sure I just have to keep reading, but it's better to be safe the sorry.

#2 vahlar

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 01:12 AM

just read the book, you shouldn't have to have someone break down every single chapter for you. read it and enjoy, because your starting on one hell of an adventure. where's the fun in having it all explained to you, putting the pieces together for yourself is much more satisfying.

#3 Guest_MoonStar_*

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 01:46 AM

vahlar said:

I'm not asking someone to "break down every chapter for me"... I just didn't get the chapter and would like some help...

#4 Folken

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 01:56 AM

Trust me all is made clear towards the end of the novel. I personally read over the first 50pgs of the novel 6times before moving on. Just think of the first part of the novel as the opening of a movie, where all the players are still being introduced and everything is highly mysterious. Most, if not all, readers have this experience. None of us can get into the book because of the confusion until around 170pgs. After that the ride gets even more bumpy but you just want to keep on going and going;)

<div align='center'>You must always strive to be the best, but you must never believe that you are - Juan Manuel Fangio</div>

#5 QuickTidal

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 02:48 AM

I agree with Jen'isand, definitely feels like a movie where you don't know who the people are or why they do what the do....but that's the beauty of Erikson....you wait and find out little bits along the way, and then you put it together.

Keep reading.

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon

#6 Trotts

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 03:14 AM

i dont have my gotm with me cos its sittin in my rez room, haha

it would be a lot easier if you asked questions about certain things, but i really think that most of gotm, till about the end, is very very very confusing, and i think its kinda on purpose. so you get a bit of a sense of whats going on, but youre basically thrown in the deep end. dont worry about it, the malazan world is huge and you gotta start somewhere. just read through (id take it very slowely, read, then stop and absorb) and a number of questions will be answered. of course a number wont be answered, and youll have a pile of fresh questions too, but thats what the next book is. well.. the book after the next book.

#7 QuickTidal

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 03:51 AM

It's like the first time I read past mention of Soletaken or D'ivers.....my eyes did a double take and I was like "The hell is a soletaken?!"....but you accept it is a relevant term in the theology of the Malazan world, and keep reading till it gets explained.

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon

#8 Guest_BAD_*

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 06:09 AM

MoonStar said:

If anyone wishes, could you please give me a small summery (of the first chapter and prologue) of your own to help me understand a bit more (no second chapter spoilers, please). I appreciate it. I'm sure I just have to keep reading, but it's better to be safe the sorry.

Summaries of GotM chapters should be coming to a forum near you soon, courtesy of ---> :bad:

#9

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 11:23 AM

After one chapter there's not a lot to say that won't be revealed further in the book... hence they would be spoilers.

so read and enjoy.... and get to the questions later

#10 Guest_MoonStar_*

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Posted 24 December 2005 - 12:31 AM

Things are getting easier to understand. I'm getting further (though it's difficult to read a lot during the christmas season) and things are becoming clear. In no time I'll understand all the stuff I don't get...

#11 jayisspecial

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Posted 24 December 2005 - 11:01 PM

I recall blazing through Book One, generally being confused but not questioning. Eventually, I forgot the name of the book.. for months I would search high and low for "book of the fallen" and come up short

Then one glorious day, I heard someone mention it. It all came back to me in a single moment. It had not been a particularly great book, but it had been a refreshingly dark fantasy so I went ahead and jumped to part two..then ordered three..and four.. and five.. and I will not stop anytime soon

Eventually I went back and read part one, and it is sooo much better when you know how it all ties together.

Don't make my mistake, get through it and jump to two immediately

#12

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Posted 27 December 2005 - 02:08 PM

jayisspecial said:

Don't make my mistake, get through it and jump to two immediately

....only to find the insanity and madness beginning all over again!

well book 2 isn't quite that bad as there are one or two familiar characters in it, but there are still an awful lot of new story arcs too

#13 Guest_malaz3_*

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Posted 31 December 2005 - 10:45 AM

*but GOOD story arcs, in all fairness

Gardens of teh Moon was one of my favourites to be honest, but in a different way - it is the most fun to read (in a way, some of the other books are definitely better) because it is like a movie, you dont understand whats going on at all really but it builds up to a really great climax.

Just struggle through the book as you can, read Deadhouse Gates, and then reread it. Everything wil be a whole lot clearer, especially the prologue. Thats what I did, and I remember thinking 'oh riiiiiight, that makes more sense now', 'h, so he's a God', 'what? That still makes no sense. The b est part of the series is its rereadability.

#14 Guest_Choronzon_*

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Posted 04 January 2006 - 10:46 PM

MoonStar said:

the first few chapters of gotm are difficult, especially if you're used to the typical doorstop fantasy info-dump. but fear not, it gets much easier. the second time i read the series (when midnight tides was released), i picked up quite a bit more from the prologue & first chapter to gotm.

in fact, i highly recommend to anyone who's read the books that they re-read them every year or two; you'll be amazed at what you pick up, and what makes so much more sense, in light of later developments and revelations!

#15 Lather

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Posted 08 January 2006 - 07:04 PM

heck o pete, i've read the whole series through House of Chains and i STILL don't REALLY know what a "sapper" actually DOES and why they are called sappers. the things i didn't understand didn't diminish my enjoyment of the story as a whole.

i have convinced several of my pals over at the Donaldson board (Kevin's Watch) to read GoTM and they are all complaining about being confused! i haven't been here in a while so i thought i'd come 'round and find some words of encouragement for them! heh.

#16

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Posted 08 January 2006 - 07:19 PM

sapper - a soldier who digs trenches...

we've all been through the confused stage - I remember getting to the end of GotM and hoping DG would be a little more easy to follow... well it was in a way, but I couldn't work out where all the other GotM characters were...and who all the new folks were.. :Erm:
but then I read MoI - and didn't care anymore - I'm on the roller coaster for life now

#17 Lather

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Posted 08 January 2006 - 07:28 PM

Hetan said:

sapper - a soldier who digs trenches...

ah! trench digger! 'k. that works for me! thanks Hetan! and nice to see you! i had a similar experience...and, as you said, by the time MoI was finished, i was hooked. i'm on my way back through for the second time now, (reading along with my pals who are reading for the first time) and enjoying it even more! :cool:

#18 Kimpo

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Posted 08 January 2006 - 08:14 PM

I got the impression they do a bit more than that hehe, though it all seems to involve digging, maybe engineers would be a better description?
I never was truly confused, too busy waiting to see what'll happen next I guess

#19 ObsoleteResolve

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Posted 08 January 2006 - 10:28 PM

I agree with Choronzon: I re-read book one after getting, and reading, Midnight Tides and alot of the stuff is cleared up. Hell, the whole book got viewed in a different light: certain references are dropped that have little relevancy at that point, but by book 3 they start to clear up.

Actually, Sappers are a real life thing: they don't just dig trenches, they are saboteurs. They dig under walls and fortifications and help to bring them down (with the assist by the Moranth munitions): thus the job they are sent to do in ... bugger me, it's been awhile

... is explained.

Also: that's why there's a high mortality rate

But, yeah: the things that have relevance later don't really detract from the novel itself, because it's not like, "Okay, here's twenty pages on something that'll make no sense to you, and have no relevance yet." It's more like, "Hmm, odd paragraph..."

That and the fact remains: Gardens is the weakest of the BotF, by far- and I don't say that because of the rapidly shifting perspectives and such, but because of some stuff nearer the end.

Spoiler

.david

"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!"- Kurt Vonnegut

#20 Guest_Gytha_*

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Posted 15 January 2006 - 01:54 AM

I read GotM as a proof copy before it was released in Australia. It was great. I remember thinking 'I have no idea what is goin on. Wow!'. It really didn't bother me that much I was just enjoying the ride. I have since reread it twice and it got better with each read. I started a book that a friend recommended and every time a new character was introduced there were pages of backstory and I got so bored I stopped reading before I finished chapter 2. Erikson has spoiled me.