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dellaposta's review against another edition
4.0
Book: 4 stars
Coltaine and his Chain of Dogs: Infinite Stars
This series is so impressive in terms of its vastness of scope. Two long books in, I still feel like Erikson is just barely scratching the surface of the world he’s created. Unfortunately, that can also lead to some frustrating reading.
Coltaine and his Chain of Dogs: Infinite Stars
This series is so impressive in terms of its vastness of scope. Two long books in, I still feel like Erikson is just barely scratching the surface of the world he’s created. Unfortunately, that can also lead to some frustrating reading.
winterg's review against another edition
4.0
4/5*
Edit.
My most beloved book from the malazan series. Why? it has my favorite cast of characters starting from Heboric and ending with Duiker, each of them was perfect on their own, and while I didn't like Felisin I pitied her and found her hate towards her sister a great plot device, and with Baudin being her "talon" being the very last thing that her sister left to her was genius as later on Baudin dies or does he? (I read Memories of Ice). ANYWAY, enough about characters, let's talk about the plot, I 10/10 for the plot while I DO THINK something could have been less complex looking at your spirit walkers I think i just fell in love with the complexity of it BUT AS MUCH I LOVE THIS BOOK and if I reviewed with my own bias in mind it would be a 5/5 book but for others it mostly like will be a 4/5, reason being that in the middle it feels like its being dragged on for no apparent reason and also Duikers arc is really annoying in the start as you don't really get attached to him until the bitter end. Would I read this again? YES, I see Deadhouse gate as a standalone from my eyes as the only CHARACTERS that get introduced here all new besides a few.
Edit.
My most beloved book from the malazan series. Why? it has my favorite cast of characters starting from Heboric and ending with Duiker, each of them was perfect on their own, and while I didn't like Felisin I pitied her and found her hate towards her sister a great plot device, and with Baudin being her "talon" being the very last thing that her sister left to her was genius as later on Baudin dies or does he? (I read Memories of Ice). ANYWAY, enough about characters, let's talk about the plot, I 10/10 for the plot while I DO THINK something could have been less complex looking at your spirit walkers I think i just fell in love with the complexity of it BUT AS MUCH I LOVE THIS BOOK and if I reviewed with my own bias in mind it would be a 5/5 book but for others it mostly like will be a 4/5, reason being that in the middle it feels like its being dragged on for no apparent reason and also Duikers arc is really annoying in the start as you don't really get attached to him until the bitter end. Would I read this again? YES, I see Deadhouse gate as a standalone from my eyes as the only CHARACTERS that get introduced here all new besides a few.
parita_g's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
svenrodian's review against another edition
4.25
A very entertaining read, but like the predecessor, it almost requires homework. Erikson built an incredible world, but the complexity and the scale make me appreciate individual scenes more than I can the whole composition. There are truly incredible characters, and the concepts are some of my favorite in any series. I expect I will raise my rating to a 5 by the time I finish the series or if I ever find the stamina to reread it.
moriaine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mathman329's review against another edition
4.0
2022 Book Review - Book No. 18: “Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen #2)” by Steven Erikson
Date started: 9/7/22
Date finished: 10/6/22
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(would recommend reading this series to anyone who likes high fantasy)
Spoiler free review: A couple of years ago, a friend had recommended this series to me with the weighty distinction as the greatest fantasy series of all time. It was daunting to think about starting a 10 book saga where the mass market paperbacks of more than half the series are over 1,000 pages each, but I finally dug in and read Gardens of the Moon, the first entry in the series, last year. After really enjoying that, I was excited to jump into Deadhouse Gates, which again was teased as being one of the best books in the series.
It would take a novel simply to explain everything that happens in this story and analyze some of those things, so I won’t be able to do that here. What I can talk about, though, after reading the first 2 novels in this series is the depth of the Malazan universe and what makes it so enjoyable. This world is full of warriors and assassins, priests and mages, gods and demons. The way they all interact and angle for their end goals propels the intrigue and the story forward, sometimes with dire outcomes. The universe is robust enough that few characters or locations appear in both novels, making this feel like part B of our introduction to the Malazan Empire. What does carry over, though, are some of the gods and their meddling with mortal affairs. We also get to experience more warrens, the realms that mages draw their power from and are home to some of these gods. Through the first 2 books, I am most intrigued with the way these beings function together and the way Erikson develops their characters.
I realize this is possibly the vaguest book review of all time, but all I can ask is that you trust me when I say it’s excellent fantasy writing. There’s political intrigue, epic quests, and deity interference the likes of which Martin, Tolkien, and Gaiman are known for. My biggest hope is that the rest of the series lives up to the hype of the opening books, especially Deadhouse Gates.
Date started: 9/7/22
Date finished: 10/6/22
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(would recommend reading this series to anyone who likes high fantasy)
Spoiler free review: A couple of years ago, a friend had recommended this series to me with the weighty distinction as the greatest fantasy series of all time. It was daunting to think about starting a 10 book saga where the mass market paperbacks of more than half the series are over 1,000 pages each, but I finally dug in and read Gardens of the Moon, the first entry in the series, last year. After really enjoying that, I was excited to jump into Deadhouse Gates, which again was teased as being one of the best books in the series.
It would take a novel simply to explain everything that happens in this story and analyze some of those things, so I won’t be able to do that here. What I can talk about, though, after reading the first 2 novels in this series is the depth of the Malazan universe and what makes it so enjoyable. This world is full of warriors and assassins, priests and mages, gods and demons. The way they all interact and angle for their end goals propels the intrigue and the story forward, sometimes with dire outcomes. The universe is robust enough that few characters or locations appear in both novels, making this feel like part B of our introduction to the Malazan Empire. What does carry over, though, are some of the gods and their meddling with mortal affairs. We also get to experience more warrens, the realms that mages draw their power from and are home to some of these gods. Through the first 2 books, I am most intrigued with the way these beings function together and the way Erikson develops their characters.
I realize this is possibly the vaguest book review of all time, but all I can ask is that you trust me when I say it’s excellent fantasy writing. There’s political intrigue, epic quests, and deity interference the likes of which Martin, Tolkien, and Gaiman are known for. My biggest hope is that the rest of the series lives up to the hype of the opening books, especially Deadhouse Gates.
rattleshirt's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
bossycake's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
the88shrimp's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5