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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
I'm still not completely sure what happened in this book, but I know that I liked it.
I think this just might be the bleakest book I’ve ever read. It physically hurt me to read large chunks of it. But the story was so, so good. It was dense, yes. And reading it was work, never just flowing effortlessly. There were times when it was emotionally almost more than I could handle. However, it was worth the effort. It was worth the heartache. Just the mention of the Chain of Dogs will probably be enough to give me chills for the rest of my days.
Deadhouse Gates is a truly sprawling tale. Taking place all on the same continent but following several distinct groups of characters, it's a brilliant follow-up to Gardens of the Moon. Erikson makes the risky choice of only following *half* the characters from GotM (the other half's story is told in Memories of Ice), but it pays off as he is able to take a step back from armies and battles and focus on the personal stories of soldiers swept up in the rebellion in the Seven Cities.
The heart of the story is the tale of the Chain of Dogs, the lone Malazan army on the continent trying to protect the refugees from the rebellion armies. When I read and finished GotM, I thought of the Malazan Empire as the "bad guys" of the story, but through the eyes of the Imperial Historian Duiker Erikson really shows us the nobility of the Malazan soldiers and the tragedy of the rebellion.
The other story threads are also filled with interesting characters both old and new which made the whole book a delight to read. Though I enjoyed GotM, it was Deadhouse Gates that truly drew me into the Malazan universe and made me willing to dedicate the next 2 months to reading this epicly long series.
The heart of the story is the tale of the Chain of Dogs, the lone Malazan army on the continent trying to protect the refugees from the rebellion armies. When I read and finished GotM, I thought of the Malazan Empire as the "bad guys" of the story, but through the eyes of the Imperial Historian Duiker Erikson really shows us the nobility of the Malazan soldiers and the tragedy of the rebellion.
The other story threads are also filled with interesting characters both old and new which made the whole book a delight to read. Though I enjoyed GotM, it was Deadhouse Gates that truly drew me into the Malazan universe and made me willing to dedicate the next 2 months to reading this epicly long series.
I'm still lost. Too many characters. And the ones I finally get to know and understand die. Or just aren't used the next book. I'll try the next book in this series. Why not?
Duiker, Coltaine, and Kalam were the greatest characters of this book. The amount of phenomenal actions these characters took in this book are absolutely insane. Beyond those three, the rest of the cast was great and I can't say I was bored by any of the POVs in this book. The story was dense, as I'm expecting with all the books, and that made reading it in large chunks exhausting, but overall it was good. All in all, this book left me feeling satisfied and I'm excited to see where the story will go from here! 8/10
Love the balls of telling a totally different story than the first book in the series on a totally different continent. A bit of a slog to get through at times, but that is purposeful and makes the ending much more impactful.
Deadhouse Gates was certainly more enjoyable than Gardens of the Moon in terms of characters and writing.
I found myself attached to these characters a lot more and Eriksons prose and storytelling was articulated incredibly.
I’m still finding a lot of things going over my head as Erikson provides no understanding to his world, however I’ve heard that Memories of Ice is when things really start to connect and make sense.
On to the next one!
I found myself attached to these characters a lot more and Eriksons prose and storytelling was articulated incredibly.
I’m still finding a lot of things going over my head as Erikson provides no understanding to his world, however I’ve heard that Memories of Ice is when things really start to connect and make sense.
On to the next one!
This book was amazing. The characters were very well drawn and the last paragraph of this book gave me goosebumps and shout out loud "that's fking awesome!!" I am starting the next book immediately.
Great book. One of the best Fantasy novels I have ever read. The whole story about Coltaine's Chain of Dogs is an epic and badass story that I hope to enjoy again. Erikson does a great job of developing his characters and especially great at articulating the misery and despondency suffered by some of them.