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Nearly two years late review but everyone else reading it and reviewing it brings back memories and I did read it two times so my memories are rather fresh,first translated version than revisited when I switched to original version on book 3.So this is more of a retrospective.

What can I say, I struggled with Gardens of the Moon and I only gotten through on second attempt. World was overall complex and strange (at that point I was unacquainted with China Mieville so my standard for labeling something strange was LOT lower back than) but I seen potential so I kept on. It didn't take lot of time for that potential to be used as second book blowen me away. After this book I officially joined Malazan cult and after third book I decided that most other fantasy writers should be sacrificed as blood offering to Steven Erikson

Story here is more straightforward (as much that can be said for Erikson) and slower paced. Erikson start getting more philosophical and it became obvious to me that this isn't just another fantasy flick. This is military fantasy but it's also has strong anti-war message. It's brutal and dark but also humane and warm.
As I became more familiar with Malazan world become more appreciative of slow and robust worldbuilding. It's world with long history and diverse cultures. Poems, proverbs and book fragments might not be relevant to the story but they add to world that's not just stage but leaving, breathing world and one of the stars of the show in it's own right. There are so many forces at play in this world and that makes Malazan book of fallen very unpredictable series but twists and turns always felt natural and not added there for shock value and so author can say "I got you didn't I?"(yes Sanderson I'm looking at you).

From that point on series only got better and Abercrombie finally got competition for my favorite fantasy author throne.