Deadhouse Gates is an epic fantasy novel by Canadian writer Steven Erikson, the second in his series Malazan Book of the Fallen. Deadhouse Gates follows on from the first novel, Gardens of the Moon, and takes place simultaneously with events in the third novel Memories of Ice. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom as a trade paperback on 1 September 2000, with a mass-market paperback edition followed on 1 October 2001. The first United States edition was published in hardback by Tor Books on 28 February 2005 with a mass-market paperback edition following on 7 February 2006. This is the only novel in the series where the UK and US editions share the same cover; the other US books use a different cover artist and style.
It received mixed to positive reviews, with critics praising the tones, the softer introduction, and the plot. Some critics criticized the …
Deadhouse Gates is an epic fantasy novel by Canadian writer Steven Erikson, the second in his series Malazan Book of the Fallen. Deadhouse Gates follows on from the first novel, Gardens of the Moon, and takes place simultaneously with events in the third novel Memories of Ice. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom as a trade paperback on 1 September 2000, with a mass-market paperback edition followed on 1 October 2001. The first United States edition was published in hardback by Tor Books on 28 February 2005 with a mass-market paperback edition following on 7 February 2006. This is the only novel in the series where the UK and US editions share the same cover; the other US books use a different cover artist and style.
It received mixed to positive reviews, with critics praising the tones, the softer introduction, and the plot. Some critics criticized the way the book starts again in another continent.
Listened to the audiobook this time. This book was amazing, the writing was certainly way better than in GotM. It had some very tragic characters and was pretty dark overall. The best part of it for me was the Coltaine's subplot 'Chain of dogs', which was really depressing but it portrayed war and refugees realistically. There was a certain subplot which wasn't wrapped up at the end so that was one star off 5.
This is not really a review just a re-post of my closing comments on my second read from the Buddy Books & Baubles buddy read. Thanks guys for motivating me to keep going. Because this book/series is so worth it!
A word of warning: if you don't do tragedies & sad stories, don't read this. The book is a saga of heartbreak of hopes that are not fulfilled of abysses to fall into with just a few bright lights in between that do not suffice to lift the darkness. The amount of death in this book in all its gory details is staggering.
A point of criticism: the pacing particularly in the middle made for slow reading. It's been a while since I needed a month for a book and ended up finishing it.
Nevertheless as follows a few pieces I really enjoyed and that make up for all the …
This is not really a review just a re-post of my closing comments on my second read from the Buddy Books & Baubles buddy read. Thanks guys for motivating me to keep going. Because this book/series is so worth it!
A word of warning: if you don't do tragedies & sad stories, don't read this. The book is a saga of heartbreak of hopes that are not fulfilled of abysses to fall into with just a few bright lights in between that do not suffice to lift the darkness. The amount of death in this book in all its gory details is staggering.
A point of criticism: the pacing particularly in the middle made for slow reading. It's been a while since I needed a month for a book and ended up finishing it.
Nevertheless as follows a few pieces I really enjoyed and that make up for all the dread produced by the Chain of Dogs.
A few favorite scenes / plot elements
One of my favorite scenes it the one that has Coltaine punch Gesler in the face. "they're almost ascended all 3 of them [and Coltaine]", even as Nether observes this I thought how Gesler's attitude mirrored that of Whiskyjack and Fiddler - who ends up re-enlisting at the end of the book - as the quintessential empire soldiers ...
Another is Cotillion talking to Apt and introducing himself as "Uncle Cotillion" and his talk of a daughter with whom he had a falling out and who has yet to forgive him. Also somewhere it is said he "never killed for money, he thought of himself as someone who fixes things" -> an interesting window into how he views himself
Kalam, basically everything he does in this book. But most of all his fight through Malaz city after Pearl pushes him overboard. "Not even Dancer would have taken him on." Go Kalam! Also fascinating is his decision to not pursue Laseen further.
Apsalar, and her jumble of memories always make great scenes. Great twist how she retains both Cotillions/Dancers memories and his muscle memory obviously
I believe Fiddler is my favorite character in this book especially Quick Ben sending him a few more munitions as goody <3 (of course the strange engineers in Coltains army are an extension of my fascination with Malazan sappers and Fiddler in particular, I never knew what a sapper was until I first read Malazan)
Probably underrated: Iskaral Pust. His crazy rants are such fun reads ... or listens - the audiobook voices really shine for all characters.
The hounds accompanying Fiddler & friends into the Azath.
Two historians - Duiker & Heboric - accompanying the two major subplots of this book
The whole book is an on-going heartbreak. In nearly every story line: the breaking and "reforging" of Felisin (including the deaths of Kulp and Baudin) The Chain of Dogs ... most of all the desparate final stand Duiker is watching from Aren, one keeps hoping ... Mappo and Icarium and just when I thought it was all horrible enough comes that final tidbit about how the elders blamed the destruction of Mappos village on Icarium to bind them together
Characters from this book I hope to see come back: Coltaine! Duiker Stormy, Gesler and Truth Apsalar (strictly speaking she's from the previous book but only emerges as Apsalar here) Minala Iskaral Pust highly unlikely: Baudin + Kulp.
I have a severe dislike for Felisin. Why is that? She has suffered a horrible fate. But somehow I can't empathize with her at all. Why is this? Corollary: I don't really like Heboric either.
This is not a bad book. Parts of it are pretty great, actually, especially everything dealing with Coltaine's Chain of Dogs. There are fascinating characters and some of the scenes are truly epic and vividly drawn. The problem is that Erikson makes very little effort to engage the reader. He's made an amazing, intricate world with fleshed-out societies, novel magic, numerous human and non-human peoples, but the author is so frustratingly obtuse and opaque about everything, to an extent that is completely counterproductive from a storytelling standpoint. His biggest fans gleefully celebrate this: "Erikson doesn't spoon-feed the reader!" I hate tedious exposition, info dumps, and "As you know, Bob" tactics as much as the next guy, but there's a difference between trusting in the audience's intelligence and pushing them into the deep end and flooding the pool with more water.
Erikson loves scenes where mysterious characters …
I...think I give up.
This is not a bad book. Parts of it are pretty great, actually, especially everything dealing with Coltaine's Chain of Dogs. There are fascinating characters and some of the scenes are truly epic and vividly drawn. The problem is that Erikson makes very little effort to engage the reader. He's made an amazing, intricate world with fleshed-out societies, novel magic, numerous human and non-human peoples, but the author is so frustratingly obtuse and opaque about everything, to an extent that is completely counterproductive from a storytelling standpoint. His biggest fans gleefully celebrate this: "Erikson doesn't spoon-feed the reader!" I hate tedious exposition, info dumps, and "As you know, Bob" tactics as much as the next guy, but there's a difference between trusting in the audience's intelligence and pushing them into the deep end and flooding the pool with more water.
Erikson loves scenes where mysterious characters do cryptic things for unexplained reasons. Many times this pays off 100 pages down the line with some kind of revelation: "Ah ha! That guy was laying the groundwork for this to happen!" Just as often, however, there is no payoff. At least not in the current volume. Perhaps in a future book, who knows? Fans of the series say that Malazan Book of the Fallen benefits from repeated readings, but with 10 main books and an estimated 9,000 pages, that's an investment of time that many people--myself included--are unwilling to make.
It would be different if Erikson made more of an effort to lampshade the numerous little seeds he's planting, or if this was a slim, tightly plotted volume. But very often there's no real hint or foreshadowing that something will turn out to be important, it's just a line or two.
Inserted in the middle of a thick paragraph.
In a 600+ page book.
As a result, there were many intended revelations that just fell flat for me, the dummy unable to retain a minor, mostly inconspicuous detail encountered weeks ago and a couple hundred pages back. "Huzzah! Minor Character has come to the rescue!" the book proclaims, while I'm trying to puzzle out who in the cast of thousands this fellow happens to be, and where he was last seen. (And don't forget, Minor Character might not have even showed up in THIS book, it could have been the previous one.)
Among Malazan fans, Gardens of the Moon is widely recognized as a slog, but "Deadhouse Gates is where things get good." I really wanted to like this series, but after two books and more than 1,200 pages I think I'm going to have to give the following volumes a miss. If you love both doorstopper fantasy AND books that demand (and REWARD, to be fair) constant and studious attention to detail, this is the series for you. If, like me, you're a less assiduous reader, you're going to have a tough time. Maybe I'm not hardcore enough, or lack the attention span. I would note that Glen Cook's Black Company series, one of the primary influences on the Malazan Book of the Fallen, manages a similar tale of epic fantasy war without presenting it in a package that's so irrationally indifferent to the reader.
Definitely better than the first book, but still not the facemeltingly awesome series some people say it is. One particular storyline seemed to plod on forever, only to end with literally everybody involved dying. But based on what I've read so far, nobody ever really dies in these books.
I found this book to be more engaging than Book #1, but it was still loaded with phrases, terms and histories I didn't understand...which I have slowly come to expect of this series. I was glad to get some consistency with characters in this story but also enjoyed the new characters that were introduced. I like the story when I read it, there is a lot of action in between the internal musings of the characters, but if an hour passes I forget where I left off or who was in what peril. This may be because I lack some building blocks for the story to understand where everyone is at. I'll continue to read the series but spending my time reading books that are a solid three may start to get a bit tiresome.
Review of 'Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This is the second book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series and it is just as good as the first one. The plot, setting, and characters are flawlessly executed and, in my opinion, this series is shaping up as one of the best epic fantasies I have ever read. Good guys and bad guys are blurred, as they are in [a:George R.R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1195658637p2/346732.jpg]'s A Song of Ice and Fire. The story is also similarly violent (if perhaps a bit less) and I was surprised when some good guys died; it's like no one is truly safe here. However, unlike A Song of Ice and Fire magic plays an important role in the story and worldbuilding. There are plenty of gods or Ascendants that mess up mortal's lives and serve to increase the scope of the story. Overall, I would highly recommend this series for any fan …
This is the second book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series and it is just as good as the first one. The plot, setting, and characters are flawlessly executed and, in my opinion, this series is shaping up as one of the best epic fantasies I have ever read. Good guys and bad guys are blurred, as they are in [a:George R.R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1195658637p2/346732.jpg]'s A Song of Ice and Fire. The story is also similarly violent (if perhaps a bit less) and I was surprised when some good guys died; it's like no one is truly safe here. However, unlike A Song of Ice and Fire magic plays an important role in the story and worldbuilding. There are plenty of gods or Ascendants that mess up mortal's lives and serve to increase the scope of the story. Overall, I would highly recommend this series for any fan of epic fantasy.
