Quotes from book
Gardens of the Moon

Gardens of the Moon
Steven Erikson

Gardens of the Moon is the first of ten novels in Canadian author Steven Erikson's high fantasy series the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It was first published in 1999 and was nominated for a World Fantasy Award.The novel details the various struggles for power on an intercontinental region dominated by the Malazan Empire. It is notable for the use of high magic, and unusual plot structure. Gardens of the Moon centres around the Imperial campaign to conquer the city of Darujhistan on the continent of Genabackis.

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“Paran shook his head, his only surprise the realization that nothing surprised him anymore.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 15 (p. 446)

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“Prediction had become a privilege now lost to her. Never mind the outside world, she could not even guess her own actions, or the course of her thoughts.
Was this the true nature of emotion? she wondered. The great defier of logic, of control—the whims of being human. What lay ahead?”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 16 (p. 457)

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“A title as meaningless as the woman bearing it. The Empress—just another face she’d seen somewhere before, a mask behind which someone hid from mortality.
“No use hiding,” she whispered, frowning down at the dead leaves and branches around her. “No use.””

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 21 (pp. 562-563)

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““The Empress expects obedience of her servants, and demands loyalty.”
“Any reasonable ruler would have the expectation and the demand the other way round.””

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 3 (p. 90)

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““Since when is speaking the truth presumptuous?”
“You are young, aren’t you?””

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 1 (p. 25)

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“Have any of these thoughts been my own? Look at me—my every move seems a desperate search for someone to blame, always someone else. I’ve made being a tool of a god an excuse, a justification for not thinking, for simply reacting. And others have died for it.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 15 (p. 446)

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“Kallor said: “I walked this land when the T’lan Imass were but children. I have commanded armies a hundred thousand strong. I have spread the fire of my wrath across entire continents, and sat alone upon tall thrones. Do you grasp the meaning of this?””

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

“Yes,” said Caladan Brood, “you never learn.”
Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 10 (p. 302)

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“Celebrating Gedderone’s Rite of Spring shouldn’t be an excuse to avoid the pressures of reality. It wasn’t just a harmless escape: it was a means of delaying the probable and making it inevitable.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 11 (p. 344)

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“As for presumption, I honestly couldn’t care less. Truth can’t be danced around, not out here, not now, not ever again.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 1 (p. 25)

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“Should you ever outrun the guilt within your past, Sorceress, you will have outrun your soul. When it finds you again it will kill you.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 9 (p. 292)

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“In the empty eyes of this child, he’d seen the withering of his own soul. The reflection had been unblemished, with no imperfections to challenge the truth of what he saw.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 11 (p. 341)

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“The power he commanded insisted upon subjects. Strength was ever relative, and he could not dominate without the company of the dominated.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 20 (p. 555)

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“Hunger for vengeance poisoned the soul.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 4 (p. 153)

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““What do you mean by a tyrant?”
“One whose blood was poisoned by the ambition to rule over others.””

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 10 (p. 309)

Steven Erikson photo

“The Empress expects obedience of her servants, and demands loyalty.”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

“Any reasonable ruler would have the expectation and the demand the other way round.”
Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 3 (p. 90)

Steven Erikson photo

“What do you mean by a tyrant?”

Steven Erikson book Gardens of the Moon

“One whose blood was poisoned by the ambition to rule over others.”
Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 10 (p. 309)