Steven Erikson

Canadian author of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, one of the most ambitious and complex epic fantasy series ever written, beginning with Gardens of the Moon.

Steven Erikson is the pen name of Canadian author Steve Rune Lundin, a trained archaeologist and anthropologist whose academic background profoundly shapes the Malazan Book of the Fallen — the ten-volume epic fantasy series he co-created with fellow writer Ian Cameron Esslemont. Beginning with Gardens of the Moon in 1999, the Malazan series is widely regarded as one of the most ambitious, intellectually demanding, and rewarding works of fantasy fiction ever written.

The scale of the Malazan world is staggering: a history spanning hundreds of thousands of years, multiple continents, dozens of cultures, gods, and ascendants, and a cast of hundreds of fully realized characters. Erikson does not condescend to his readers by explaining the world to them — Gardens of the Moon drops readers into the middle of an ongoing imperial campaign with no orientation, trusting them to piece together the history from context. This approach demands patience but rewards it with an experience unlike any other in the genre.

The series is notable for its philosophical depth, its sympathy for soldiers and the disenfranchised, and its willingness to confront tragedy on an epic scale. Erikson was a longtime roleplayer and game designer before becoming a novelist, and the richness of the Malazan world reflects years of collaborative world-building. For fantasy readers seeking the genre’s equivalent of a great, demanding literary novel, the Malazan series is the answer.