Notes on: Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
Caution: this is essentially a plot summary and thus filled with spoilers

Dramatis Personae:
Malazans
Whiskeyjack ~ A Sergeant in the Bridgeburners, former commander of the 3rd Army.
Quick Ben ~ Whiskeyjack's powerful mage.
Kalam ~ A master assassin in the Bridgeburners, a former Claw agent and friend of Quick Ben.
Sorry ~ (a.k.a. Apsalar), fishergirl possessed by Cotillion and member of the Bridgeburners.
Hedge & Picker ~ Sappers, or munitions experts in the Bridgeburners.
Fiddler ~ A Bridgeburner soldier, sapper and fiddler.
Ganoes Paran ~ The new Captain of the Bridgeburners, only son of a powerful Malazan noble family, and assistant to Adjunct Lorn.
Lorn ~ Adjunct to the Empress, survivor of Laseen's massacre in Malaz City. Carries an otataral sword.
Laseen ~ Empress of the Malazan Empire. Formerly Surly, a serving wench in a tavern and later commander and founder of the Claw.
Tayschrenn ~ High Mage of the Empire.
Topper ~ The current head of the Claw. Partial to wearing green.
Toc the Younger ~ Claw agent and warrior among the 2nd Army.
Dujek ~ High Fist of Genabackis and commander of the 2nd Army.
Tattersail ~ The commander of the 2nd's mage cadre.
Calot & Hairlock ~ Members of the 2nd's mage cadre.
Onos T'oolan (a.k.a. Tool) ~ Once First Sword of the Logros T'lan Imass, he is now clanless.
Tavore Paran ~ Ganoes' elder sister, living in the Paran Estate in Unta. Hard-edged and contemptuous of weakness.
Felisin Paran ~ Ganoes' younger sister, living in Unta. Soft and fond of horses.
Kellanved ~ The self proclaimed Emperor and founder of the Malazan Empire, Kellanved was assassinated in a coup by Laseen.
Dancer ~ High Assassin of the Empire and Kellanved's companion, he was also slain by Laseen.
Dassem Ultor ~ The former First Sword of the Malazan Empire and a servant of Hood, the God of Death. Slain outside Y'Ghatan, Seven Cities, after betraying his god.

Darujhistan
Kruppe ~ a fat man fond of his comforts. Talks about himself in the third person. A Phoenix Inn regular. More powerful and craftier than people suspect.
Coll ~ former nobleman fallen on hard times. A Phoenix Inn regular.
Rallick Nom ~ a skilled assassin with a conscience. A Phoenix Inn regular.
Crokus Younghand ~ a young thief. A Phoenix Inn regular.
Murillio ~ a courier and a Phoenix Inn regular.
Meese & Irilta ~ regulars at the Phoenix Inn.
Baruk ~ High Alchemist and member of the T'orrud Cabal.
Derudan ~ a Witch of Tennes and member of the T'orrud Cabal.
Mammot ~ a High Priest of D'riss and member of the T'orrud Cabal. Crokus' uncle.
Travale ~ a scholar of the Cabal.
Tholis & Parald ~ High Mages of the Cabal.
Turban Orr ~ city council member.
Lady Simtal ~ city council member.
Estraysian D'Arle ~ city council member.
Challice D'Arle ~ daughter of Estraysian, Crokus' beloved.
Vorcan ~ head of the Assassin's Guild.
Ocelot ~ assassin and Rallick Nom's clan leader.
Circle Breaker ~ an agent of the Eel.

Tiste Andii
Anomander Rake ~ Lord of Moon's Spawn, Son and Knight of Darkness.
Serrat ~ second-in-command to Rake.
Korlat ~ Orfantal (both soletaken in the form of dragons) & Horult, night-hunters.

Further Players
Ammanas (a.k.a. Shadowthrone) ~ an Ascendant, the King of High House Shadow.
Cotillion (a.k.a. the Rope) ~ an Ascendant of High House Shadow, the patron god of assassins.
Crone ~ a Great Raven and Rake's courier.
Silanah ~ an Eleint (dragon) and companion of Rake.
Caladan Brood ~ commander of the Crimson Guard mercenary band. Rake's rival.
Kallor ~ second-in-command to Brood, once the High King of a powerful empire, now accursed.
K'azz D'Avore ~ commander of the Crimson Guard, a mercenary group of extreme capability.
Jorrick Sharplance, Cowl, Fingers & Corporal Blues ~ members of the Crimson Guard.
Baran, Blind, Gear, Rood, Shan, Doan & Ganrod ~ Hounds of Shadow.
Raest ~ a Jaghut Tyrant.
K'rul ~ an Elder God, the Maker of Paths.
Oponn ~ the Jester, the dual-aspected God of Luck.

story notes:
PART 1: PALE
CHAPTER 1:
Ganoes Paran (age 19, born 1142 B.S.) becomes aide to Lorn, Adjunct to Empress Laseen.

Ammanas (aka Shadowthrone, King of High House Shadow) & Cotillion (aka The Rope, Assassin of High House Shadow) release Hounds on a fishing village, carnage ensues. They take a teenage fisher girl... she becomes Sorry.

Topper, Claw commander (wears green), takes Ganoes from Itko Kan via a Warren. Unta is Ganoes' home.

CHAPTER 2:
Mages attack Moon's Spawn which is a basalt mountain floating above the city of Pale. Anomander Rake (aka Son of Darkness, Knight of High House Dark), leader of the black-skinned Tiste Andii (and resident of Moon's Spawn) unleashes his own sorcery in response. Nightchill and A'Karonys die. Calot dies as well though possibly because of treachery from Tayschrenn's power. Hairlock is cut in half. Quick Ben, part of Whiskeyjack's Bridgeburners squad, shifts Hairlock's soul to a marionette and entrusts it to cadre mage Tattersail (Calot's lover--a woman with some extra flesh). They hide what they are doing from Sorry.

Anomander Rake moves Moon's Spawn away from Pale and towards the Moranth Mountains.

Whiskeyjack's squad are very wary of Sorry.

CHAPTER 3:
Ganoes Paran ordered to take command of Whiskeyjack's squad--to get in place to kill Sorry.

Tattersail finds Bellurdan burned but alive with a burlap sack containing the remains of Nightchill.

Ganoes is stabbed to death by Sorry in a dark alley in Pale.

CHAPTER 4:
In death, Ganoes Paran is visited by the Oponn twins (brother and sister) who decide to meddle, i.e. give Paran his life back at the cost of someone close to him (against Paran's wishes).

Whiskeyjack's men know Sorry is an agent of House Shadow.

Shadow Hound Gear (the 7th Hound) is after Hairlock (as marionette). Hairlock tries to capture the Hound's soul but is thwarted by Tattersail. Captain Ganoes Paran stabs the hound with a sword (possibly a magical one) and the Hound retreats into a Warren.

PART 2: DARUJHISTAN
CHAPTER 5:
Crokus Younghand, a young thief, steals some jewels from a sleeping, half-naked rich hottie, then back on a rooftop in the Estate district, semi-witnesses the murder of Guild assassin Talo Krafar (who almost succeeds in shooting Crokus with his crossbow). The assassins responsible speak an ancient language and set after Crokus. The assassins have some curious sorcery on their side but are Crokus miraculously survives (largely due to the sudden appearance of an odd coin) to escape to the Phoenix Inn. The nameless assassins (beginning a Guild war) surmise that some "meddled" to keep Crokus alive and decide to leave him be.

CHAPTER 6 & 7:
Crone, a Great Raven and minion of Anomander Rake, searches for a certain sorcerous emanation from Darujhistan.

Rallick Nom (assassin and Phoenix Inn regular) hates Lady Simtal but somehow changes his mind about killing her, instead he kills one of her many lovers, Lim.

Baruk (High Alchemist and de facto power in Darujhistan) is visited by Crone. Crone disguises herself as a pet hound of Baruk's as Turban Orr pays a visit. Orr wants Baruk's blessing on a council vote declaring neutrality in the Malazan war. Baruk declines. Then Anomander Rake comes to call: he desires an alliance with Baruk. Rake is lending support (and sorcerers) to Caladan Brood.

Rake is 6½ feet tall, with jet-black skin, angled eyes, and carries a huge sword. He is Tiste Andii. Rake is after those of Pale's wizards who fled when the Malazan army attacked. He still seeks two of them.

Crokus' coin is from Oponn (the two-faced god of chance). As he shows it to Kruppe (another Phoenix Inn regular and prone to long-windedness), Kruppe immediately recognizes it and swipes it from an unknowing Crokus. Kruppe reports to Baruk. Baruk says to protect Crokus, "the coinbearer."

PART 3: THE MISSION
CHAPTER 8:
Whiskeyjack's squad sets sail across Lake Azur towards Darujhistan. Whiskeyjack is ignoring the Empress' suicidal plan and thinking up his own. His squad is laden with explosives.

Quick Ben enters a Warren and locates Hairlock (half-insane puppet) deep within. Quick Ben fears his hold on Hairlock is tenuous. Learns that Tattersail is still unconcious. Sets Hairlock off to divine Tayschrenn's plans.

CHAPTER 9:
One-eyed Toc the Younger catches up to Lorn out on the Rhivi plain just as she and two luckless guards fend of some Barghast warriors. Lorn is aided by a T'lan Imass named T'Oolan. The T'lan Imass are one of the 4 founding elder races and nearly immortal. T'Oolan is about 300,000 years old. Toc and Lorn head towards Pale by horse (where T'Oolan will presumably meet them, finding his own way).

Tattersail awakes. Ganoes Paran has been tending to her. Hairlock's been gone for two days and hurling threats at Ganoes. Tattersail tells him that Hairlock is most likely afraid of his sword--a sword Ganoes bought 3 years ago and had named "Chance." Hairlock wants both Ganoes and Tattersail dead but neither knows the reason why. Ganoes can not remember who tried to kill him, thinks there were two of them and knows he's got his life back because he is being used by a god.

Lorn holds an old grudge against Tattersail from when Lorn was a child. But Tayschrenn suggests that it be dropped (since they are different people now). Toc the Younger helps Tattersail lie about the Hound attack (due to 2nd Army kinship). They all discuss the meddling of gods (esp. House Shadow and Oponn).

Onos T'Oolan (Tool) says that the 300,000th millenium approaches heralding the end of the Imass Diaspora.

CHAPTER 10:
Paran tells Toc that Whiskeyjack had ordered him to lay low in Tattersail's quarters (lie). Paran reports that Tattersail believes that Lorn means to kill Whiskeyjack and his squad. Toc says that Lorn plans on killing Sorry but he suspects there's something more to it since Lorn is traveling with a T'Lan Imass (Tool). Toc believes that if Whiskeyjack and his squad are eliminated that the army could mutiny, rally behind Dujek Onearm, and embroil the empire in civil war. Paran wants to get to Whiskeyjack before Lorn does. Paran and Toc head towards Darujhistan.

Bellurdan means to arrest Tattersail on Tayschrenn's orders, but she's having none of that. Tattersail says that Lorn and Tool mean to free a Jaghut Tyrant. Tattersail refuses to go with Bellurdan (sees an out WRT the sack containing the remains of Nightchill) ... their contest involves a conflagration seen for leagues.

CHAPTER 11:
Within Kruppe's dream, Tattersail in the remnants of Nightchill, is visited by some T'lan Imass shamans and has her soul shifted to a not-really-pregnant Rhivi woman's unborn. Silver fox fur drops away from the new incarnation of Tattersail. Questions remain: what is Tattersail now? What will she remember of her former life?

Crokus seeks to better himself through education so that he can respectfully meet Challice D'Arle who he's besotted with. (It was her he'd seen on one of his thieving nights).

Whiskeyjack's men are posing as streetworkers in Darujhistan but are planting mines in key intersections and throughways.

Sorry follows Kruppe throught the marketplace to the Phoenix Inn. She's a bit thrown when hearing the word "seer" which was what Rigga, the old woman was. But then Cotillion reasserts his possession of her. To gain entrance to the Inn, Sorry kills Chert the doorman, a thug. Kruppe knows she's been following him. Crokus sees the blood on her dagger. While paying for a beer, Crokus' special coin spins magically on the bartop seen by the barman and Sorry. He nabs it back.

Quick Ben goes off on a sorcerous mission to the Shadow Warren.

CHAPTER 12:
Baruk tells Crone that there are two seekers after the Jaghut Tyrant's barrow somewhere in the Gadrobi hills. Many have looked for this barrow with no luck.

Quick Ben, surrounded by the Hounds of Shadow, strikes a deal with Shadowthrone: he will deliver the one responsible (i.e. Hairlock) for wounding the Hound Gear in return for removing his own death sentence. Shadowthrone agrees and too late realizes who Quick Ben really is: Ben Adaephon Delat, former High Mage of Seven Cities and reported dead. He had quit the Shadow acolytes. Shadowthrone calls him a shape-shifter. Quick Ben escapes Shadowthrone by means of word that whisks him away via a Warren of Chaos.

Crokus sneaks in to return the jewels belonging to Challice D'Arle and she catches him in the act. He announces his plans to court her properly. He exits in haste, unsure of the impression he's made.

Quick Ben and Kalam get into a melee with Guild assassins and others including Anomander Rake's which arrive from the sky. Rallick Nom is present. Rake doesn't want a contract to come to fruition between the Malazan army and the Guild. The Malazan army would employ them to pick off many of Darujhistan's nobles, thus making it easy to take the city. Quick Ben and Kalam wonder if they should do the job themselves.

CHAPTER 13:
Sorry is intent on killing Crokus but wants to divine Oponn's plans.

Rake tells Baruk he started the assassin war. His sword killed Quick Ben's demon, Pearl.

K'rul tells Kruppe to be wary and to guard the Coin Bearer (Crokus).

CHAPTER 14 & 15:
Lorn heads to the Gadrobi Hills with Tool. Paran is headed there as well. And Sorry.

Paran and Toc the Younger meet Hairlock on the Rhivi plain. Toc dies. Quick Ben alerts the Hounds to Hairlock's presence. Quick Ben dooms Hairlock to the Hounds.

Lorn engages Kruppe, Coll, Murillio and Crokus. Coll is injured, Crokus is left alone and the others are knocked out.

Rake intervenes as the Hounds surround Paran. Rake kills the Hounds: Doan and Ganrod. The others disperse. Paran touches the blood of one of the dying Hounds and is transported to the chained warren of Rake's sword. The chains of various fallen warriors and hounds from this warren lead to the warren of Darkness (Kurald Galain). Paran calls upon Oponn and the male entity responds. Break the chains, free the hounds, Paran says.

Oponn and Shadowthrone come to an agreement: Paran is released of Oponn's hold (yet still carries the charmed sword Chance which is still a tool of Oponn), and Sorry is released of The Rope aka Cotillion.

CHAPTER 16:
Crokus meets with Sorry who has no memory of her possession or even her name. Together they head back to Darujhistan. Sorry takes on the name of Apsalar (same as the Lady of Thieves).

Paran meets up with a freaky 5-year-old on the Rhivi plain and realizes it is Tattersail's latest incarnation. Then later Paran meets up with the injured Coll, left alone. They tell each other the truth and come to trust each other. Coll Jhanim had split with his father's wishes and married a whore who changed her name to Lady Simtal and was able to disinherit Coll and have him declared dead. Paran says he is a Malazan deserter.

CHAPTER 17 etc:
Coll and Paran re-enter Darujhistan with Coll near death. They get to the Phoenix Inn, meet up with Whiskeyjack's squad. Mallet saves Coll from certain death.

Rallick Nom also saves Coll from death. His superior in the Guild, Ocelot accepted a contract out on Coll's life. But Rallick covers himself with otataral dust and fights Ocelot, killing him and getting wounded in the process.

Lorn and Tool enter the barrow of the Jaghut Tyrant. She finds the magical finnest which is shaped like an acorn. The Jaghut will re-animate in a day or two.

Murillio guesses correctly that Kruppe is also the Eel (Darujhistan's master spy) but Kruppe spells him into forgetfulness.

Many are planning on heading to Lady Simtal's fête.

PART 7: THE FÊTE
CHAPTER 20:
Lorn arrives in Darujhistan and is recognized by Circle Breaker. She proceeds to the Quip's bar, the HQ of Whiskeyjack's squad and assumes command.

... Rallick Nom antagonizes Turban Orr so that Orr challenges him to a duel in the midst of Lady Simtal's fête. Nom summarily dispatches Orr. Nom walks in on Murillio and Lady Simtal post-coitus and informs her that she's through. Murillio leaves her a dagger for her to kill herself with.

All the mages are ill due to the Jaghut Tyrant's sorcerous assault on the city. Quick Ben and another city mage, Derudan manage to defeat the Jaghut Tyrant which had taken possession of Crokus' uncle Mammot. Mammot is no more. A being integral to the Jaghut's demise is the Azath which manifests and odd house made of wood in the midst of Lady Simtal's garden (now Coll Jhamin's garden).

Assassin Guild master Vorcan, absolves Rallick Nom of any repercussions from killing Ocelot. Says she needs him. Then she sets off to kill the city mages. She's a High Mage herself. She kills many but is ultimately slain from a well-thrown brick (from Crokus?).

Crokus confronts Challice. She is innocent of betraying him and asks him what he wants... Crokus doesn't really know but realizes he doesn't want to be lovey-dovey with Challice D'Arle. He may be pining for Sorry/Apsalar.

Kruppe relieves Circle Breaker from employ as his spy.

Anomander Rake moves Moon's Spawn south of Darujhistan.

Dujek Onearm, under sentence of death from the Empress Laseen, takes command of a resistance army and promotes Whiskeyjack to his second-in-command. Gives his squad leave to quit if they desire. Dujek appoints Captain Paran to lead Whiskeyjack's squad. They all sign up but Kalam, Fiddler opt to escort Apsalar back to her hometown across the sea. Then they will rejoin Whiskeyjack's squad. Crokus heads to Unta with them.

Ganoes Paran still carries a torch for Tattersail.

Apsalar is still innocent yet changed and may possess some skills that Cotillion left behind.