Good question. I assume it’s from Anomander Rake’s floating mountain thingie.
Sure, but that’s “Moon’s Spawn”. And I don’t recall a mention of gardens. 
-Joe
Moon’s Spawn. I was drawing a blank. Thanks.
“Gardens” could be a reference to the things that live on Moon’s Spawn.
I’m stretching. Really. I got nuthin’.
The Gardens of the Moon are part of the City of Darujistan.
As for Tool, he’s working towards other ends (see book three). It’s in the interest of the T’Lan Imass for the Malazan Empire to capture the city and use it as a base of operations for the rest of their campaign.
Is that something I should have picked up in the first three books? I feel like an idiot. I have no memory of that.
It might have been the gardens at whatshisface’s where they had the big party during the climax of the book?
Anyways, like I said, I can’t even remember much about the ending. I thought that Tool got himself killed against the Jaghut. I take it I’m wrong?
-Joe
Well phooey. I’m tempted to re-read, again. I’ve forgotten so much.
Tool isn’t dead. Dead-er. He’s back in the third book.
Well, it’s quite hard to kill a T’lan Imass, given as they’re undead and all. Tool stepped out of the action once the Tyrant was released.
C’mon, give Erikson more credit than that. The phrase “Gardens of the Moon” is clarified in book 6. I’m guessing it’s also mentioned in book 1, just as a total throwaway line (in pretty much the same manner Erikson introduces all sorts of other important information). I know I certainly missed it the two times I read book 1.
Good to hear. I’ve only read up to Book 5 at the moment.
Wait…but wasn’t everyone telling me earlier in this thread that a T’Lan Imass will do just about anything for the sake of killing a Jaghut? But when one gets released Tool…takes off?
-Joe
Like I said, I don’t really understand Tool’s motivation in Book 1.
HA! I don’t know what I was trying to prove, but I certainly proved it.
Anyways, I’m about a third into the second book and it’s certainly tighter and more comprehensible. I now know about the two who Ascended (and in retrospect it’s pretty obvious!), but the way that Fiddler and Apsalar talk about it I assume that we’ll someday find out how one Ascends?
Also, it seems that the T’lan Imass followed the orders of the old Emperor. I assume we’ll find out why. I’m kind of curious as to why they Empire even need an army, considering what the Imass can do. I imagine we’ll learn that one later, too?
-Joe
Okay, I’ve finally finished books two and three. There are a couple things that I could use some help figuring out.
First of all, I was annoyed at a few of the things I figured out in these books were actually spelled out shortly afterwards - kind of killed the thrill of victory for me.
Anyways, from Deadhouse Gates…
Why was there such fear of a Soletaken or D’Ivers getting into the House and Ascending? There’s lots of Ascendants. Why would THIS one have been such a big deal?
I kind of got the impression that the events in Deadhouse Gates pretty much encompassed all Soletaken everywhere…but that’s obviously not the case since we didn’t get any indication that Rake or Korlat were mindlessly running across the world to get to the Gate.
Besides, from what I understood in Memories of Ice, Trake (somehow) managed to go from killed by Chem’aile to Ascended. He was someone who was lost in his Soletaken form who then ascended.
So why were so many people trying to interfere with some Soletaken getting into the gate?
Then again, isn’t Rake also considered an Ascendant? He’s a Soletaken.
Now, in Memories of Ice…
I guess the single biggest thing that I didn’t understand here is why
SPOILERS BELOW FOR MEMORIES OF ICE, KIDS. NO BITCHING ABOUT THEM!
Dujek and his army (including Whiskeyjack) seemed determined to get themselves killed. They basically were willing to waste themselves and their armies for the sake of getting to Coral ahead of Brood because…well, I have no idea. Using the Seer to help Burn certainly wasn’t the reason - that plan belonged to Paran and Quick Ben.
So, why did they exhaust and destroy their armies just to get to Coral with exhausted troops and reinforcements that were too far behind to help? I just can’t see any reason for it.
Similarly, I can’t see why Rake was willing to take such a huge gamble with Moon’s Spawn. He just seemed to throw it away…but with Rake’s nihilistic streak I guess I can see him just having gotten tired of it or something.
Finally, I’ve got to say that I just loved Lady Envy and her “army”. Six(ish) individuals who are more of a threat to the Domin then entire armies was just hilarious from a fantasy perspective for me.
Finally Finally, I thought for sure that Quick Ben and Whiskeyjack were going to be our two guys who made it all the way through the books. Apparently not!
-Joe
It’s been a while since I’ve read these, but I’ll do my best:
I don’t recall that being the concern. The D’ivers an Soletaken were seeking the Path of Hands. Entering the Path of Hands would allow them to Ascend and essentially become the God of shapeshifters. That would give them control over D’ivers and Soletaken. To prevent that Shadowthrone set a false path towards the house(which did not contain the Path of Hands).
The problem was that the house was an Azath, and thus kept incredibly powerful creatures imprisoned. The shapeshifts were attacking the Azath. If it was killed, those imprisoned would be freed. There likely would have been those with a power comparable to that of the Jaghut Tyrant freed.
I think that it only affected shapeshifters on the continent.
As I said, the danger was not that a Soletaken Ascend, but that a Soletaken who Ascended through the Path of Hands would gain control over all D’ivers and Soletaken.
The original reason for sending half of the Malazans ahead was to break up any ambush set up near Coral. The Great Ravens were not able to reconnoiter the area, meaning that the armies were approaching Coral blind, and likely heading into some kind of trap. Dujek anticipated this and sent the Bridgeburners ahead to secure the area, and then have the Moranth drop in half of Dujek’s host. But the Pannions sent a company in before the Moranth could arrive. The Bridgeburners wasted the company, but alerted the Pannions to their presence. Just as Dujek arrived with the Moranth, the Pannions sent out their main force. Dujek decided that the advance force could do more good in a suicide attack than they could retreating and joining their own main force.
My guess is that he found the trade satisfactory.