Steve Erickson's Gardens of the Moon is a reasonably-done high fantasy. I think it's a bit of an indictment of the field that that's already a stand-out quality for me. After the disappointments of The Warded Man and The Way of Shadows (not to mention the even-worse sequel) it's nice to read a novel where most of the characters approach a semblance of being well-rounded, without a whole lot of silly angst, and dialog that doesn't leave me wincing after every third sentence.
The above paragraph sounds pretty negative, but I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed Gardens of the Moon, more than I've enjoyed a high fantasy novel in a while. But I have the sneaking suspicion that's because the competition is so weak, not because Gardens is so strong.
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