1.68k reviews for:

Deadhouse Gates

Steven Erikson

4.25 AVERAGE


Excellent follow-up to a competent opener in Gardens of the Moon. Mostly full of new characters, with a couple holdovers/leftovers, but I missed Anomander Rake.

Has several Bataan Deathmatches types throughout, and continues to expand upon the interesting worldbuilding of the first by moving the plot on another continent.

Like the first, the plot keeps moving briskly, rarely stops to allow the reader to breathe. FWIW, upon completion I went out & grabbed book 3, Memories of Ice.

Me describing this book to my boyfriend:


I spent 800+ pages getting invested in this awesome storyline only for everyone to die at the end.

and I enjoyed it.

tl;dr malazan
adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

The feels...

Έχετε ονειρευτεί ότι υπάρχει ένα βιβλίο, τεράστιο σε έκταση, γεμάτο δράση σε κάθε σελίδα του, με πολλούς και πολυδιάστατους χαρακτήρες, του οποίου η υπόθεση είναι σύνθετη και εξελίσσεται με τον πρέπον ρυθμό, το οποίο είναι μέρος ενός τεράστιου κόσμου που εκτείνεται σε πάνω από 20 βιβλία; Εγώ το είχα ονειρευτεί.

Kαι τώρα το διάβασα.

Με το Deadhouse Gates κατάλαβα γιατί διάβασα τόσες φορές τους φανατικούς οπαδούς του Malazan να λένε πως το The Malazan Book of the Fallen είναι η καλύτερη σειρά βιβλίων που έγινε ποτέ. Και κατάλαβα απόλυτα γιατί όλοι λένε πως πρέπει να διαβάσεις και το δεύτερο βιβλίο της σειράς για να αποφασίσεις αν σου αρέσει ή όχι. Τα GotM και NoK μου άρεσαν από αρκετά έως πολύ αλλά με το Deadhouse Gates έμεινα με το στόμα ανοιχτό.

Δεν είναι η υπέροχη γραφή, ούτε οι φοβεροί χαρακτήρες, ούτε η άριστη δομή του βιβλίου με με εντυπωσίασε. Είναι το συναίσθημα. Από γέλιο, χαρά, ενθουσιασμό και δέος μέχρι θλίψη, στεναχώρια, αηδία και πόνο. Πιστεύω ότι όταν ένα έργο καταφέρνει να φέρει στην επιφάνεια τόσα πολλά και τόσο δυνατά συναισθήματα τότε δεν αναφερόμαστε σε ένα απλό βιβλίο.

Σε αυτό το σημείο, όχι απλά είμαι hooked με τη σειρά, αλλά δηλώνω και φανατικός οπαδός. Δυσκολεύομαι να φανταστώ πως ο Erikson θα ξεπεράσει τον εαυτό του μετά από αυτό.

Ω, και το τέλος του βιβλίου. Αυτό το τέλος...

Mappo

My goodness, this was good stuff. And harrowing. I think I might take a break from Erikson for a while and read something fluffier.

I wanted to like this book. Erikson's world-building is so deep. Like the first book he just builds and builds and builds. But in his first one, the payoff lasted longer (several hundred pages) and was more satisfying. I struggled to even finish it. And I've read that all his books follow this formula: a new place you've never seen, mostly new faces you've never seen, and a whole new history & culture. The guy can create worlds, but his writing style didn't do it for me here. Too bad.

It had a very raw and brutal depiction of war. The way the historian’s arc ends was very powerful. I loved Felisin’s chapters because they were more character-focused.
The writing made the book hard to red and I had to force myself to get through. Also Kalam has some very thick plot armor.

Loved the ride of reading it, even the darker parts, but the ending seemed a little unsatisfactory.

Steven Erikson does just a good a job as George R. R. Martin at creating amazing characters in a complex world, and then killing them horribly.

Thankfully, less major characters to remember than the last installment and yet remains a deep and complex story, with an absolutely cracking prose. Dialogue and characters are excellently written and the story just keeps unwinding and unraveling to reveal a world far larger and varied than I'd first imagined when I started reading Gardens of the Moon.

Much of what I wrote about the previous book applies here. Not a novel to be glossed over, as even seemingly minor details can make a significant reappearance in later chapters.
If you've got the time and the patience, i feel this series will pay back dividends.

I wouldn't call this book action-packed, though i did thoroughly enjoy it for it's wit, massive scope and layered detail. It's at times deep enough to fall into and you'd only need look at a few choice quotes to know why.

My 15 book 2018 target may suffer for this series, but so far it's been worth it.