Malazan Book of the Fallen Breakdown, Reading Guide & Ranking!

Hi everyone. It has been quite a while since I did a reading guide on my channel. The last time was for The Realm of the Elderlings almost two years ago. Today, I am back with a reading guide for Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. I will also do a brief breakdown of each book in the main series. And I will let you know my personal ranking for them. The purpose of this video is simple, to help and guide first-time readers of the series to succeed at finishing it. If you have read Malazan Book of the Fallen, let me know what you think about the series. It is one of my top favorite series of all time, and I truly hope more readers will pick up and love the series. :)

Booktuber mentioned: @PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy

0:00 Intro & Purpose
3:04 Tips & Tricks
6:51 Reading Order & Ranking
23:57 What's next after the main series?

Books and Series Mentioned:
Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
-Gardens of the Moon
-Deadhouse Gates
-Memories of Ice
-House of Chains
-Midnight Tides
-The Bonehunters
-Reaper's Gale
-Toll the Hounds
-Dust of Dreams
-The Crippled God

Malazan Empire by Ian Esslemont
-Night of Knives
-Return of the Crimson Guard
-Stonewielder
-Orb Scepter Throne
-Blood and Bone
-Assail

The Kharkanas Trilogy by Steven Erikson
-Forge of Darkness
-Fall of Light
-Walk in Shadows

The Witness Trilogy by Steven Erikson
-The God is Not Willing

The Path to Ascendancy by Ian Esslemont
-Dancer's Lament
-Deadhouse Landing
-Kellanved's Reach
-Forge of the High Mage

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[mormengil]

The weird thing about the Malazan series is its limited availability in print form. There are the mass market paperbacks, which for the most part should be available, and after that is is sheer chaos. Some TPB are available, some are out of print, across different editions / lines (I assume us / uk), some hardcovers exist, some do not... A mess!

[theotang]

malazan books are special. so unique. what a cast of characters! truly special and the books suits my style. dark. grim. funny. emotional. weird. bizarre. w.t.f. moments galore in this series. i am on my re-read right now.

[ADudeWhoReads]

Great timing with this video. I start Book 1 this week!

[esmayrosalyne]

Super insightful video, Petrik! And I enjoyed seeing your personal ranking!
I have yet to dip my toes into this epic universe, so for now I am keeping my fingers crossed that it's going to live up to all the hype when I eventually get to it. Thanks for making this video!!

[MarsRoverly]

Thanks for the guide! I've always wanted to start and this helps so much

[heretic]

Malazan is love, Malazan is life.
Nothing comes close but I hope someday something will. World needs more of heavy philosophical (dare I say biblical level) epic fiction like this.

[DanExploresBooks]

Great guide Petrik. I think encouraging voices are important, as this series has a reputation of being beyond the reach of people or needlessly cryptic. I don't think people need to be intimidated as much as people tend to be. It just needs to be read when you are in the mood for slowing down your reading journey. It is a great series but only as good as what you are willing to put into it... as is the case with plenty of books that can be a bit more demanding. You can breeze through the books and enjoy the surface plot fine enough, but there is some seriously very special if you are willing to stop and dig down in places to try and really understand some of the deeper things to be found.

[PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

Thank you for making this guide, Petrik! I'm sure that many of your viewers will benefit from this encouragement. As you know, I am a huge fan of The Malazan Book of the Fallen, just like you. My personal experience has been that all the other Malazan series by both authors have enriched The Malazan Book of the Fallen and have been awesome reads in themselves. All the best!

[Talking_Story]

Thanks for this. I go back and forth if I want to give this a try or not.

[dinocollins]

Another fantastic video!!! Thank you Petrik!!!

[ernstbrehm]

This is the series I’ve tried & stopped more than any other!! I only made it through half of Deadhouse Gates & stopped. Then I reread Gardens of the Moon & stopped again at Deadhouse Gates. Hearing how much people just love the series, stupid me, picked up Gardens of the Moon again & guess what, stopped halfway through. I think I finally come to the realization that this series isn’t for me. Maybe someday in the future I’ll try again🤪🤪🤪But thank you Petrik for your great videos. Definitely one of my favorite booktubers!!!👍🏼

[book_scent]

Thank you for this great overview & guide, Petrik!! 😃 Starting Malazan feels very daunting, but I plan on finally taking the plunge this year - it's about time (especially since The Broken Binding announced they'd be doing this series next year ^^)!

[joeri]

I started Malazan a week ago, I've had it on my TBR since 2016. I'm just cruising and seeing what Malazan has to offer, the worldbuilding is already 5 stars.
It's been wonderful so far, I just hope I remember stuff. (I reread the first 120 pages because I had too take a break due to hayfever/insomnia & already forgot a lot).

Anyway, thanks for the guide, this is exactly what I need! (I'm only 7 minutes in, but ADD)

[jedyty]

Great video. I am staring the series next month and this was very helpful. It made the series seem a little less intimidating.

[MichaelBrown]

Petrik, I really have to commend you for this video and all of your love for the Malazan series in the past. I was gifted the entire collection on my kindle a few months ago, and have been way too nervous to try it out. There are so many negatives out there, but also so many positives. It kind of put me off of the series for a long time when people say it’s difficult to read. I think after watching this video, it’s time to start Gardens of the Moon. Thanks for finally giving me that push I needed.

[Thefantasybookwarrior]

Petrik, I am starting book 4, House of chains, this week. I am excited as I already think this is the best series i have ever read and I still have 6 books left. In order to not feel any fatigue, I have been mixing in other books as i go. I read Gardens of the Moon-Meories of Ice. Read Lonesome Dove and The Will of the Many ( which I will finish tomorrow). Next, I will read Ryan Cahills first novella (The fall) and then I will start book 4 of Malazan afterwards and probably alternate back and forth with the Bound and Broken series.

There are definitely “things” I missed, forgot, or didn’t understand it every book, but I pushed through because the overall world, themes, and writing is so amazing. I heard the Broken Binding is going to be making their own books for the series in 2024. I hope so, hardcovers are expensive due to the lack of availability. But YES! MALAZAN IS SO AMAZING SO FAR!!

SPOILER

My favorite character is Kruppe. 😂 I pronounce it like this… Krup-uh. How do you pronounce it. Some people find him annoying. But I find him hilarious, and apparently hilariously overpowered. FOR EXAMPLE: when Caladan Brood swings his hammer and everyone gets thrown around but Good Ole Kruppe is still just chillin like nothing happened. Someone get that man some more cake.

Also, Anomander Rake is pretty awesome. A freaking floating Moon fortress!?! A sword named Dragnipur. Etc etc etc

This series is the Bee’s Knees, the Cats meow, and Kruppe’s dream. 😂

[ronniefranco]

For some reason these last weeks I've been watching a lot of booktube channels speaking about Malazan and how people struggle reading it.

[PoorPersonsBookReviewer]

Great video petrik, I'm planning on reading malazan next year and will definitely give this video a re watch

[EstoNoEsUnSpoiler]

I’ve read up to HoC. Malazan is a masterpiece, especially DG and MOI, but getting the mental energy to continue reading it is sometimes too hard. I’ve put off starting MT for quite a while now.

[claytonhomer]

First I would say excellent video, Petrik. Secondly the thing I find having seen a lot of rankings is: due to the way the series is written you can tell what story lines a person likes by the way they order the books. Finally here is my ranking, for whatever that is worth to anyone.

1. The Crippled God - Pretty easy number 1. It is brilliant and the ending forever changes the other books.
2. Toll the Hounds --Brilliant book with, imo, the best final sequence (excluding TCG series finale)
3. Reaper's Gale --Probably the hottest take but I love Tehol and Bugg and Lether, Redmask was great for me.
4. Midnight Tides-- Again I love everything Lether.
5. Memories of Ice -- Fantastic book with one of the best endings.
6 The Bonehunters -- Great book. Certainly one of the most action packed books, I have the hot take that the ending is the best chapter not chapter 7.
7. House of Chains -- Another hot take but I loved the Karsa stuff and the continuation of book 2 storylines.
8. Deadhouse Gates -- Great book overall, Chain of dogs is epic.
9. Dust of Dreams -- I still enjoyed this book but It had the most moments of "why is this here" on the first read. After finishing the series it all makes sense though.
10. Gardens of the Moon --- None of these books are even close to bad but this one is the weakest overall imo. The story is fun and epic enough to hook me but I am comparing it to other Malazan books not fantasy books in general, so it's last.