They don't even fit

10 reasons why you should read the Malazan Book of the Fallen series*

1. Because Erikson and Esselmont set out to write fantasy that deliberately avoided many of mainstream fantasy literature’s worst failings.  Fantasy literature as a genre is often derided as thick-skulled, tin-eared, cliche-ridden and clumsy.  The Malazan books are an (often successful) attempt to try and write novels that stand up as literature, while still being recognizably-and unashamedly-fantasy.  While Esselmont might not be as technically gifted as Erikson in the quality of his prose, there are flashes of brilliance in all books.
2. Because the books are light on exposition, but heavy on (fictional) history.  It’s rare to read passages explaining “This is how magic works” or “These two characters will now discuss things that they and everybody they know surely takes for granted.”  Instead, you’re required to pick things up as you go-it’s hard work, but (much like The Wire) the payoff is worth it.  Additionally, Esselmont and Erikson are both archaeologists by training, and have carefully mapped out the history of the world in painstaking detail.
3. Because the characters are doers, not observers.  These people are smart, courageous, tough and resourceful.  They’re the people who make the plot happen, and often they’re two steps ahead of you the reader in guessing what is happening and what they need to do about it.  They’re actual protagonists, not just people who are swept along by unlikely events.
4. Because this isn’t a book about one person, or even one group of people, but a whole raft of individuals across the world, many of whom will never meet each other.  Characters come and go from one book to another-or they’re killed off, unexpectedly, brutally.  The people you think are the “heroes” and “villains” quickly switch roles, or otherwise surprise your expectations.  The full list of “point of view” characters must get close to a hundred-and there are more major characters who are deliberate cyphers, only ever viewed through the eyes of others.
5. Because this isn’t just another “Medieval Europe with dragons and wizards” story.  The Malazan Empire is the fantasy love child of the Roman Empire and Chinese Empire, spanning multiple cultures, continents, ethnic groups and even species.  Most characters in the books (when they’re described at all) are non-white, and the one continent where white folks are the majority is a quite remarkable reimagining of the USA as a feudal kingdom.  (Trust me, it works much better than you’d think.)  Many of the non-human cultures are completely unlike anything you’d expect: there are Stone Age Neanderthals, suicidal Dark Elves, introspective giants, demons who rebel against their own summonings, science-y lizard people, and so much more.
6. Because sexism and homophobia aren’t considered “normal” in the books.  Women are soldiers, leaders, Empresses, wizards-and the few people who have a problem with that are considered idiots by everyone.  Likewise, there are gay and bisexual characters who experience no discrimination at all.  Two of the toughest soldiers in the entire series are both women, and both madly in love with each other.  One of the most badass men you’ll ever read is gay and far too busy thinking about how to kill dragons in single combat to care what anyone thinks.  And the Empress didn’t get to where she was just because she was ambitious-she could take anyone apart with her bare hands.
7. Because the world is not assumed to be fair or just.  ”Good” people die in senseless ways, “bad” people live happily ever after.  The justice that exists in the books comes from the actions of people striving to make things better, not some convenient “hand of god” balancing a moral scale.  At a more fundamental level, the books are about the importance of actively striving for justice divorced from our personal prejudices, even-especially-when the going gets tough.
8. Because soldiers and the military are depicted with clear-eyed compassion.  The bulk of the books concern marines of the Malazan Empire’s armies, and the the drudgery and brutality of their daily lives.  Individual soldiers are depicted as brave and cowardly, smart and stupid, cruel and kind.  They deal with the mundane boredom of a soldier’s life and the horror of losing comrades in an eyeblink, for good reason or for no reason at all.  The commanders are likewise competent and incompetent, compassionate and brutal, fair and capricious.  The books are clearly informed by not just Roman and Chinese history, but also the more recent tales of World War II and Vietnam, with magic and Moranth munitions standing in for artillery and napalm.  The care with which the stories of these soldiers is told brings to mind Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried in its tone and themes.
9. Because not all heroes swing swords.  Many of the important characters in the books are not soldiers at all, and do not solve problems through violence.  In fact, many of the characters do their best to prevent violence when possible.  Whether it’s manipulating a network of spies, or trying to solve centuries-old problems in military strategy, or even just making sure hundreds of jugs of water will be on hand to fight a fire that noone else sees coming, people from all walks of life contribute and make a difference.  People aren’t considered more heroic or significant just because they aren’t of noble birth-indeed, most of the “nobles” in the books are irrelevant to the stories, placed into their roles by accident of birth and deftly maneuvered around by everyone else.
10. Because for all that, it’s a stonking great series about gods walking the land, and what happens when ancient powers are woken up, and how many cities wizards and dragons can blow up, and a whole bunch of exciting things you probably won’t see coming.  The Malazan books are deliberately about history coming around again to impact the present, often in stupendous or explosive ways.  Gods walk in disguise or in their natural forms, and fuck shit up.  Undead monstrosities wake and take out entire companies of soldiers.  Dragons burn things.  Wizards rip apart reality and glimpse horrors that give them cold sweats or drive them mad.  Armies clash by the tens of thousands, sword masters duel to the death, assassins cut throats at the most unexpected moments. And the finale (while not neatly tying up all the strands of the books) is one of the most audacious inversions  ever attempted in fantasy literature, as well as being one of the most epic fantasy battles ever written.

So go on, read the damn things!  10 books + 3 short stories by Steven Erikson, and another 4 books by Ian C. Esselmont-it’s not like you’ll run out any time soon.

* I’m using the “Malazan Book of the Fallen” title to cover all the Malazan books written by Erikson and Esselmont, even though that title is technically only relevant to Erikson’s books.  Esselmont is, as I mentioned, a less gifted writer (at least until Orb Sceptre Throne) but the world as a whole is a shared work, and it’s only fair to treat them as a single body of work.