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nvonhein 's review for:
Deadhouse Gates
by Steven Erikson
Ouch. This book was brutal. Which is not to say I didn’t enjoy it because I definitely did but damn.
Some fantasy tends to glorify war. That is definitely not this book. Erikson removes even the temptation of this by following a historian observing the battles more than anything else, in all the horror and desperation. And then to add insult to injury, the historian never gets to record his observations as he ends up dying.
After all of this, Erikson pulls a 180, giving just the glimmer of hope for a possible resurrection, maybe saving this history to allow people to learn from it.
However, in parallel, we follow the more personal story of Icarium, cursed to constantly forget his past and never learn or grow, while his companion must forever try to keep him from terrible violence.
Erikson paints the struggle with futility and repeated violence unflinchingly, while giving the impression that we’ve barely scratched the surface of this world and that do much more is yet to come.
This book isn’t just a slog of despair. The world building is excellent and there are incredibly compelling personal stories along the way. And amidst all of this, I do look forward to reading the next book in this series. In the end, the noon was really good and I will be thinking about it for a long time but it is not easy to read.
Some fantasy tends to glorify war. That is definitely not this book. Erikson removes even the temptation of this by following a historian observing the battles more than anything else, in all the horror and desperation.
After all of this, Erikson pulls a 180, giving just the glimmer of hope for a possible resurrection, maybe saving this history to allow people to learn from it.
However, in parallel, we follow the more personal story of Icarium, cursed to constantly forget his past and never learn or grow, while his companion must forever try to keep him from terrible violence.
Erikson paints the struggle with futility and repeated violence unflinchingly, while giving the impression that we’ve barely scratched the surface of this world and that do much more is yet to come.
This book isn’t just a slog of despair. The world building is excellent and there are incredibly compelling personal stories along the way. And amidst all of this, I do look forward to reading the next book in this series. In the end, the noon was really good and I will be thinking about it for a long time but it is not easy to read.