Malazan Book of The Fallen - Chronology

Chronology

It is difficult to work out a precise timeline for events in the series due to some confusion with dates. However, a rough chronological ordering is possible. The dates given are by years of Burn's Sleep, the calendar used in the Malazan Empire.

• Night of Knives (1154)
• Blood Follows (c. 1154)
• The Lees of Laughter's End (c. 1154)
• The Healthy Dead (c. 1158)
• Midnight Tides (1161, with 1 chapter occurring in 1159 and another occurring in the time of The Elder Gods)
• Gardens of the Moon (1163)
• Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice (1163–64, these two novels occur simultaneously)
• House of Chains (Starts a couple of years before Deadhouse Gates and goes to somewhat after.)
• The Bonehunters (1164–65)
• Return of the Crimson Guard (c. 1165, just after The Bonehunters)
• Reaper's Gale (c. 1165 or 1166)
• Toll the Hounds and Dust of Dreams (takes place simultaneously)
• Stonewielder (estimated to start roughly half way through Dust of Dreams or maybe a little later)
• The Crippled God

Esslemont's next book Orb, Sceptre, Throne takes place at the same time as Stonewielder, Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God, it is set on Genabackis in Darujistan. With next book Blood and Bone Esslemont takes us to Jakuruku at the same time as Stonewielder and the other novels, with a scene that directly links the timeline of Stonewielder and Blood and Bone, the novel ends at the same time as The Crippled God. The Sixth and possibly last book takes place after the events of The Crippled God and serve as an epilogue to the series.

There are a few instances in Memories of Ice that hint at the events of Midnight Tides. Lady Envy travels to the city of Callows with one of her Seguleh, only to find the entire city destroyed. When she speaks to K'rul, he tells her that the destruction was carried out by a race of inhuman killers that are plying the world's oceans, seeking champions. The Seguleh champion mentioned in Reaper's Gale was found in the city of Gallows by the Tiste Edur. Another indication of Midnight Tides occurring simultaneously with the other two novels is a mysterious Tiste Edur that Captain Paran's squad finds washed up on the shores, who can be assumed to be the same Tiste Edur teleported away at the end of Midnight Tides, Theradas Buhn. Although Feather Witch's divination in Midnight Tides (p. 291) references that the Beast Hold has acquired two wolves as rulers, which only happens at the end of Memories of Ice. It also says that the Hold of the Azath stands besieged, which could be a reference to the Azath being literally besieged at the end of Deadhouse Gates, or the slow death of the Azath in Lether.

In the case of the novellas, it should be noted that The Lees of Laughter's End is presented before The Healthy Dead (i.e. in chronological order, rather than publication order) in the compendium version of the novellas, and should be read as such.